Arjuna, Third of the Pāṇḍavas

Arjuna is the third of the five Pāṇḍavas. He is also called Pārtha, Dhanañjaya, Gāṇḍīvī and Savyasācī. He was the son of Kuntī and Indra, and the greatest archer of his age. He trained under Droṇācārya and became his dearest student. In the Mahābhārata war Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was his charioteer and gave him the Bhagavad Gītā.

The Mahābhārata tells of his twelve years of travel, his tapas (austerity) on the Himālaya, his five years in Svarga and his year in the Virāṭa palace. It also tells of his part in the war and his last journey. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, in its first Skanda, shows him after Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s departure. He is weak and grief-stricken, and his great powers are gone.

Birth

Arjuna was born in the forest. Kuntī called on Indra, king of the devas, with the consent and direction of Pāṇḍu. A great gathering of the devas, ṛshis, Siddhas and cāraṇas came to the birth. Gandharvas sang, apsarās danced, and the sky filled with flowers. A voice from the sky said that this child would surpass Kārtavīrya Arjuna and Paraśurāma in archery and would restore the honour of the Kuru line.

He was named Arjuna, meaning white, pure and bright. He was also called Pārtha (son of Pṛthā, that is Kuntī) and Dhanañjaya (winner of wealth). The Mahābhārata tells this in the Ādi Parva, in the Sambhava Parva (Chapters 120 to 138).

Training under Droṇācārya

Arjuna trained under Droṇācārya at Hastināpura with his brothers and the Kauravas. From the start Droṇa saw in Arjuna the best of his students, the one who would fulfil his deepest purpose as a teacher. Arjuna answered with complete dedication. He practised through the night when others slept. He asked for teaching beyond the set hours. No other student gave himself to it as he did.

Droṇa taught Arjuna every kind of archery. This included using all weapons from a chariot, from a horse, from an elephant and on foot. It included the use of divine astras (missile weapons) and shooting with both hands, called savyasācī (shooting with the left hand as well as with the right). He became the best archer of his generation. Droṇa also refused to teach Ekalavya, so that no student could claim to equal Arjuna.

The Āstra Darśana

At the āstra-darśana, the public display of arms in which the Kuru and Pāṇḍava princes showed their training before the court of Hastināpura, Arjuna was the central figure. He showed full mastery of every weapon and delighted the citizens and elders. At this event Karṇa came forward and challenged him. This was the first meeting of the two great rivals. Duryodhana made Karṇa king of Aṅga on the spot, so that his challenge to Arjuna could go ahead on equal footing.

The Drupada campaign

Droṇācārya asked for his guru-dakshiṇā (teacher’s fee): the capture of Drupada, king of Pāñcāla. The Kauravas attacked first and were driven back. Then Arjuna led the Pāṇḍavas. He sent Bhīmasena against Drupada’s elephant troops. He fought Satyajit, Drupada’s champion, and defeated him. Then he faced Drupada himself. He broke Drupada’s bow and killed his horses and charioteer. He would not kill him. Arjuna leapt onto Drupada’s chariot and seized him by force, so that he alone captured a ruling king. He brought Drupada before Droṇa to complete the dakshiṇā.

The twelve years of vanavāsa

In the years when the Pāṇḍavas lived at Indraprastha, Arjuna went into the private room where Draupadī was with Yudhishṭhira. Dharma pressed him to do this, for he had to fetch his weapons to help a distressed brāhmaṇa whose cattle had been stolen. Yudhishṭhira urged him to stay. But Arjuna held to the letter of the agreement the brothers had made, and he left for twelve years of vanavāsa (life in exile).

On this tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage) he did these things:

He married the nāga princess Ulūpī at Gaṅgādvāra and received from her the vara (boon) of being unbeaten in water.
He married Citrāṅgadā at Maṇipura and fathered Babhruvāhana.
He freed five apsarās from crocodile form at sacred tīrthas.
He met Kṛshṇa at Prabhāsa and went to Dvārakā.
At Dvārakā he fell in love with Subhadrā, the sister of Kṛshṇa. On Kṛshṇa’s advice he carried her off, in the form of marriage known as rākshasa. Balarāma was angry, but Kṛshṇa calmed him with his reasoning, and the marriage was celebrated with joy. Abhimanyu was born of this marriage.

He also received the Gāṇḍīva bow from Varuṇa through Agni. He held off Indra and all the devas for fifteen days while the Khāṇḍava forest burned. At the end of that battle Indra gave him the vara of all divine weapons at the right time. This is told in the Ādi Parva, Chapters 213 to 227.

Tapas and the Pāśupatāstra

At the start of the Pāṇḍavas’ exile in the forest, Vyāsa told Yudhishṭhira that Arjuna should do tapas to win divine weapons. Only extraordinary weapons could bring victory in the coming war. Yudhishṭhira gave Arjuna the Pratismṛti vidyā, and Arjuna went north to the Himālaya.

On the Himālaya Arjuna practised harder and harder tapas. He stood on one leg with his arms raised. He lived on fallen leaves, and then on air alone. Śiva came as a Kirāṭa hunter, and the two fought after a quarrel over a boar that both had shot. Arjuna fought on until his Gāṇḍīva bow was of no use, his quiver was empty and his sword was broken. He threw rocks and tore up trees, and at last fought with his bare fists, held fast by the Kirāṭa. Then he made a clay image of Śiva and offered flowers. He found the garland on the Kirāṭa’s head, and Śiva showed himself. Arjuna praised him with the Mahādeva Stava, and Śiva gave him the Pāśupatāstra.

Then the four lokapālas (guardians of the directions) came down one after another:

Yama gave the Daṇḍāstra.
Varuṇa gave the Vāruṇapāśas.
Kubera gave the Antardhāna and Prasvāpana astras.
Indra promised more weapons in Svarga.

Mātali came with Indra’s own chariot and took Arjuna to Amarāvatī. Arjuna spent five years in Svarga. He learned the celestial arts from Citrasena. He received the śāpa (curse) of Ūrvaśī, which Indra said would be the perfect disguise for the year of hiding (ajñātavāsa). He destroyed the Nivātakavacas in Pātāla with Mātali, and he received Indra’s own weapons. After five years he returned to the Pāṇḍavas, fully armed for Kurukshetra. This is told in the Vana Parva, Chapters 8 to 12 and 37 to 50.

Return with fourteen astras

Chapter 164 of the Vana Parva tells how Arjuna came back to the Pāṇḍava āśrama on Gandhamādana. He came down from Indra’s svarga and was reunited with his brothers and Draupadī. They had all waited anxiously for him through five years. He came back with fourteen divine astras, received in Svarga and the worlds beyond:

Āgneya, the astra of Agni
Vāruṇa, the astra of Varuṇa
Saumya, the astra of the moon, Soma
Vāyavya, the astra of Vāyu
Vaishṇava, the astra of Vishṇu
Āindra, the great weapon of Indra
Pāśupata, already received from Śiva at the meeting with the Kirāṭa
Brāhma, the weapon of Brahmā
Pārameshṭha, the weapon of Prajāpati (Brahmā)
Prājāpatya, another weapon of the Prajāpati line
The weapon of Yama, the daṇḍa weapon given by Yama
Saurya, the astra of Sūrya
Tvashṭra, the astra of Tvashṭā
The weapon of Kubera, from the lord of the northern quarter

With these astras the Pāṇḍavas were fully armed for the war at Kurukshetra. Kubera had recently sent word that Arjuna would soon return. The brothers’ joy at his return ended the Gandhamādana part of the forest exile.

The dice game and his oath against Karṇa

In the Dyūta Parva of the Sabhā Parva, Arjuna was in the assembly while the dice game took away everything the Pāṇḍavas owned. He saw Karṇa mock Draupadī, approve of her being stripped, and call the Pāṇḍavas “slaves” with open scorn. Arjuna swore in the assembly that he would kill Karṇa in battle.

In the Anudyūta Parva (Chapter 78), as the Pāṇḍavas left Hastināpura after the second dice game, Sañjaya described how Arjuna scattered sand toward his enemies. Scattering sand at a foe was a warrior’s gesture of scornful challenge. It showed that he treated them as dust, as already finished and scattered. It was his silent word that the ground they stood on would be their battlefield.

The Virāṭa Parva: Bṛhannaḷā and the ten names

In the thirteenth year of exile Arjuna took the disguise of Bṛhannaḷā, a eunuch skilled in dance and music. The disguise was possible because of Ūrvaśī’s śāpa. In Svarga Ūrvaśī had been drawn to Arjuna, but he looked on her as a mother, since she was the apsarā of Pūru, the ancestor of the Kuru line. Her curse was that he would become a eunuch. Indra turned the curse into a vara that suited the year of hiding. As Bṛhannaḷā, Arjuna taught dance and music to Princess Uttarā of Matsya through the year and lived in the women’s quarters of Virāṭa’s palace. His great nature showed only in the quality of his teaching (Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 12).

Before he entered Virāṭanagara, Arjuna praised Durgā in a stotra (hymn of praise). He prayed to the Devī who destroys the wicked, protects her devotees and fills all that exists. Durgā appeared and gave him the vara of safety and final victory (Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 6).

The northern cattle raid

The high point of Arjuna’s part in the Virāṭa Parva came when the Kaurava army raided the cattle of Matsya from the north. Virāṭa was away in the south, and Prince Uttara was the only defender. Draupadī, as Sairandhrī, proposed Bṛhannaḷā as his charioteer, and Arjuna drove Uttara’s chariot toward the enemy. Uttara saw the strength of Bhīshma, Droṇa, Karṇa, Aśvatthāmā, Kṛpa and Duryodhana, and his courage failed. Arjuna held him back by force and then told him who he was (Chapters 41 to 44).

Arjuna took Uttara to the śamī tree and brought out his divine weapons: the Gāṇḍīva, the quivers that never ran empty, and the Devadatta conch. He gave his ten names (daśa-nāmāni) as proof of who he was: Arjuna, Phālguna, Jīshṇu, Kirīṭī, Śvetavāhana, Bībhatsu, Vijaya, Kṛshṇa, Savyasācī and Dhanañjaya (Chapter 44).

In the battle that followed, Arjuna alone defeated the whole Kaurava force. He fought Bhīshma, Droṇa, Karṇa, Kṛpa, Aśvatthāmā and Duryodhana in turn. He used the Sammohana astra, won back the cattle, and took the fine upper garments of the commanders as trophies. The Kaurava army withdrew. This was one of Arjuna’s greatest deeds as a single warrior (Chapters 46 to 64).

The proposal for Abhimanyu’s marriage

When the Pāṇḍavas were made known to Virāṭa, the king offered his daughter Uttarā to Arjuna. Arjuna refused. He had been her teacher through the year, so he looked on her as a daughter, and marrying her would cast doubt on his character. He asked instead that Uttarā marry his son Abhimanyu. Virāṭa agreed with joy. The marriage was held at Upaplavya, with Kṛshṇa, Balarāma, Drupada and many allies present (Chapters 71 and 72).

The Bhīshma Parva: the Durgā stotra and the battle line

On the morning of the first day of the Kurukshetra war, both armies stood fully arrayed and battle was near. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa told Arjuna to stand pure and make an offering to Durgā Devī before he fought, to win victory over his enemies.

Arjuna got down from his chariot and offered the Durgā Stotra. It has thirteen verses and praises Durgā by many names. These include Siddha-Senānī, Māndara-Vāsinī, Kumārī, Kālī, Kāpālinī, Bhadrakālī, Mahākālī, Caṇḍī, Kātyāyanī, Karālinī, Vijayā, Skanda-Mātā, Brahmavidyā, Svāhā, Svadhā, Sarasvatī and Vedamātā. He ended with this prayer: “O Mahādevī, I have praised you with a completely pure heart. By your grace, may victory be mine always on this battlefield.”

Durgā Devī appeared in the sky before Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and blessed Arjuna. She said he was Nara, the ṛshi, with Nārāyaṇa as his companion, and so no one could defeat him, not even Indra. After this Arjuna’s confidence of victory was complete. He climbed back into his chariot, and he and Kṛshṇa blew the conches Pāñcajanya and Devadatta. This was Arjuna’s second Durgā stotra. The first he had offered at the start of the year of hiding, in the Virāṭa Parva.

In the Pāṇḍava battle formation, the Vajra Vyūha, Arjuna stood as protector at the centre. His task was to guard Śikhaṇḍī and to aim his arrows at Bhīshma through Śikhaṇḍī. It was Arjuna who brought about Bhīshma’s fall on the tenth day by guarding Śikhaṇḍī in this way.

The Sauptika Parva: the Brahmāśiras

Aśvatthāmā killed the sleeping Pāñcāla camp by night and killed the five Upapāṇḍavas. The Pāṇḍavas then chased him. The meeting ended on the bank of the Bhāgīrathī (Gaṅgā). Aśvatthāmā was cornered and desperate. He took a blade of grass (ishīkā) and charged it with the Brahmāśiras mantra. He released it with these words:

Apa-Pāṇḍavam bhavatu

This means “Let there be no more Pāṇḍavas.” The blade became a bolt of the first fire, a threat to all three worlds.

Kṛshṇa’s direction. Kṛshṇa saw this at once and urged Arjuna: “Now is the time for the divine astra that Droṇa taught you. Fire it to meet Aśvatthāmā’s. Protect your brothers. Do not delay.” Arjuna jumped from his chariot and held his bow and arrow firm. He bowed to the devatās, to his guru and to Śiva, and made ready to fire.

Vyāsa and Nārada appear. At that moment Vyāsa (Kṛshṇa Dvaipāyana) and Nārada came between the two astra-bearers, shining with divine radiance. Arjuna saw them and at once drew back his astra. He said: “I fired only to meet his. Now that the mahāṛshis have come, I take it back.” He then used the way of withdrawal and recalled the astra completely.

Arjuna’s special power. The Sauptika Parva marks this as an extraordinary act that no other being could have done, not even the devas or Indra. A weapon of the brahmāstra class, once let go, cannot be called back by anyone who has not kept perfect brahmacarya (celibate discipline) and satya-vrata (the vow of truth) with unbroken devotion. Releasing and then recalling it would split the head of any other person in two. Arjuna alone could do it. He was a true brahmacārī who had kept the vow all his life with full discipline. He was a satya-vrata, and he was devoted to his guru with steady reverence. The text names these as the reasons for his special power (Chapters 14 and 15).

Aśvatthāmā could not withdraw. Aśvatthāmā stood before the same mahāṛshis and could not call back his astra. He admitted that he had fired it in fear and rage, with a disturbed mind, and could not now undo it. On Vyāsa’s instruction he turned the Brahmāśiras toward the wombs of the Pāṇḍava women instead of withdrawing it.

The Bhāgavata account of Aśvatthāmā

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (1st Skanda, Chapter 7) tells of the time just after the Kurukshetra war. Aśvatthāmā had killed the sleeping Upapāṇḍavas to avenge his father Droṇa and his master Duryodhana. Draupadī was overcome with grief. Arjuna vowed to bring Aśvatthāmā’s head.

He chased Aśvatthāmā, who fled in terror. His horses were worn out and he had no one to protect him. He aimed a brahmāstra, meaning to destroy the whole Pāṇḍava line. Arjuna, guided by Kṛshṇa, answered with his own brahmāstra to stop the threat, and then withdrew both. He seized Aśvatthāmā, bound him and brought him before Draupadī.

Kṛshṇa urged Arjuna to kill Aśvatthāmā, because he had killed sleeping children and so was an ātatāyin (one who attacks without cause). Arjuna did not do it. He knew Aśvatthāmā was the son of his guru Droṇa and could not bring himself to kill him. He followed Draupadī’s own advice of mercy. He took the crest-jewel from Aśvatthāmā’s head and cut off his hair, which is a shame as heavy as death for a warrior. Then he sent him away.

Protecting Uttarā

In the Bhāgavata (1st Skanda, Chapter 8), Aśvatthāmā’s brahmāstra was loosed against the womb of Uttarā, and Arjuna got ready to meet it. Kṛshṇa told him to meet a brahmāstra with a brahmāstra. Aśvatthāmā did not know how to withdraw his, so only Arjuna could stop it this way. Arjuna performed ācamana (the sipping of water), walked around Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and released his own brahmāstra. When the two met and threatened to burn up the three worlds, Arjuna understood Kṛshṇa’s wish from his eyes and withdrew both. In this way he saved everyone.

The Anuśāsana Parva: who truly struck Bhīshma

After Bhīshma left his body through yoga at Kurukshetra and was cremated, Gaṅgā Devī rose weeping from the river. She grieved that her son had died at the hands of Śikhaṇḍī. Kṛshṇa set this right for her. In truth it was Arjuna (Dhanañjaya) whose arrows had given the deadly blows on the tenth day, not Śikhaṇḍī. Śikhaṇḍī standing in front of Arjuna’s chariot had only made Bhīshma lower his bow. Bhīshma’s vow forbade him to raise a weapon against one born female. Arjuna’s arrows, shot from behind that shield, were what brought him down. Kṛshṇa said that not even Devendra could have struck Bhīshma down while he held his bow. He added that Bhīshma had at last gone to svarga by his own will (icchā).

Bhīmasena and Arjuna had fanned Bhīshma’s body with pure cāmaras (whisks) during the pitṛmedha rites (funeral rites) that came before this scene. This is told in the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīshma Svargārohaṇa Parva (Chapter 168).

The Aśvamedhika Parva: Kṛshṇa’s farewell and the Anugītā

In the Kāmagīta, which closes Kṛshṇa’s comfort to Yudhishṭhira, Kṛshṇa speaks to Yudhishṭhira as “Kuntīputra” (son of Kuntī) and urges him to perform the great Aśvamedha. Arjuna is not addressed in this teaching. He is present throughout as one of the “other foremost men” who help console the king after the war (Chapters 11 to 13).

When Yudhishṭhira’s rule was secure, Arjuna and Kṛshṇa spent a season of joy together in the Maya-sabhā at Indraprastha, going over the wonders and hardships of the war. There Kṛshṇa told Arjuna that his purpose in Bhārata was fulfilled and that he wished to return to Dvārakā. He asked Arjuna to carry the news of his leaving to Yudhishṭhira, and Arjuna agreed with great difficulty. This farewell closes the Aśvamedhika Parva proper and opens the Anugītā Parva (Chapter 15).

Still in the sabhā, Arjuna told Kṛshṇa that the teaching given to him at Kurukshetra, the Bhagavad Gītā, had slipped from his confused mind (bhrashṭa-citta), and he asked Kṛshṇa to say it again. Kṛshṇa told him plainly that he could not recall the Gītā and repeat it word for word, since he had spoken it then while established in yoga. He said that Arjuna’s lack of śraddhā (faith) and his clouded buddhi (mind) displeased him. He would give the same essential truth through an ancient itihāsa, the account of the ṛshi Kāśyapa and the siddha who taught him the course of death, rebirth, karma and moksha (liberation). It ends with the khecarī-mudrā taught by Dattātreya. At the end Kṛshṇa asked Arjuna directly whether this was not just what he had heard on the battlefield at Kurukshetra. He said that this itihāsa, the Anugītā, carries the essence of the Gītā. He warned that only a person with a purified antaḥkaraṇa (inner mind), guided by a guru, can truly grasp it (Chapters 16 to 19).

The Bhāgavata: Arjuna’s lament after Kṛshṇa’s departure

In the Bhāgavata (1st Skanda, Chapter 15), Arjuna came back from Dvārakā after Kṛshṇa’s departure. He was hard to recognise. He was pale and joyless, his eyes cast down, and he was weeping. Yudhishṭhira was shocked at the change in him and questioned him at length.

Arjuna’s answer is one of the most moving passages in the Bhāgavata. He said:

“Kṛshṇa has deceived me. He has taken away the great tejas (brilliance) I had.”
“Even with the same bow, the same arrows, the same chariot and the same horses, without Kṛshṇa they are like ash in water, a conjuror’s trick, a seed in barren soil.”
“At the svayaṃvara of Draupadī, at the Khāṇḍava forest, in Svarga, in the war itself, every victory was won by Kṛshṇa’s grace alone. I was only the instrument.”
“When the Yādava women were being led away and attacked by cowherds, I stood with the same bow and arrows and could not even string the bow properly. Those who had once trembled before me now treated me with scorn.”

He remembered how close they had been. He said: “We ate together, slept together, walked together. He laughed with me, teased me, and called me friend. And in my pride I sometimes corrected him in front of others. He bore it all as a father bears the foolishness of a son. Now that ocean of mercy is gone, and I am hollow.”

After this long lament, Arjuna meditated on Kṛshṇa. Slowly the jñāna (knowledge) of the Gītā came back to him. The faults of past deeds and the clinging to enjoyment that had covered it melted away. He became guṇātīta (beyond the guṇas).

The Mausala Parva: his strength taken away by Kāla

Dāruka brought word to Hastināpura of the destruction of the Yādavas at Prabhāsa. Arjuna, the dearest friend of Kṛshṇa, set out at once for Dvārakā to see the people of his mother’s brother. He found the city like a widow who has lost her lord. The sixteen thousand queens of Kṛshṇa, now without a protector, cried out to him as their only refuge. Arjuna’s eyes were full of tears and he could not raise his face to look at them. To his eyes Dvārakā looked like a river of grief, its waters the lost Vṛshṇis and Andhakas. He fell weeping to the ground before Satyabhāmā, Rukmiṇī and the others who gathered round him (Chapter 5).

He then went to Vasudeva, also called Ānakadundubhi, and clasped his uncle’s feet. Vasudeva mourned that his own grandsons Pradyumna and Sātyaki, the dear students of Arjuna in archery, had set off the ruin by their quarrel. Yet he said the true cause was the curse of the brāhmaṇas. Kṛshṇa could have turned it away, but chose not to. Kṛshṇa had slain Keśin, Kaṃsa, Ekalavya, Śiśupāla and Pauṇḍraka the king of Kāśī, and had overcome countless kings. Vasudeva passed on to Arjuna Kṛshṇa’s last instructions. He said he himself had resolved to give up food and follow Balarāma into death. He put the kingdom, the women and the jewels into Arjuna’s care, and said the truth: “I am Arjuna, and Arjuna is I” (Chapter 6).

At dawn Vasudeva gave up his body through yoga, and his wives climbed onto his pyre. Arjuna performed his cremation with the honours due to one who has performed an Aśvamedha. He completed the funeral rites for all the slain Vṛshṇis. Then he led the great departure of the surviving elders, women and children from the city, with Vajra, Kṛshṇa’s great-grandson through Aniruddha, as the chosen king. As soon as they had left, the ocean rose and swallowed Dvārakā whole.

On the road at Pañcanada, Ābhīra robbers armed only with staves fell on the caravan to seize the women. The calamity of Kāla came down fully on Arjuna. With great effort he could hardly string the Gāṇḍīva. His divine astras would not come to his mind, and his quivers, once never empty, ran dry. He could not defend the people, and he watched the robbers carry off many of the Vṛshṇi women. With bitter shame he understood that the strength of his arms had been Kṛshṇa’s presence flowing through him, and that it was now withdrawn. He settled the rest of the survivors, placing the people of Kṛtavarman at Mārtikāvata and the others at Indraprastha, and he crowned Vajra king (Chapter 7).

Grief-stricken and weakened, Arjuna came at last to the āśrama of Vyāsa and told him all that had happened. He told of the destruction of the Vṛshṇis born of the mushala (iron club), the departure of Kṛshṇa and Balarāma, and the failure of his own weapons and strength. Vyāsa comforted him. He taught that the great Yādava warriors had been consumed by the curse of the brāhmaṇas and should not be mourned. He taught that Kṛshṇa was Nārāyaṇa himself, who had lifted the burden of the earth and returned to his own abode. He taught that Kāla, Time, is the seed and the end of all the worlds. Time gives strength in the season of rise and takes it away in the season of ruin. In the same way Arjuna’s astras, their task done, had gone back to their sources. Vyāsa advised that the hour for the Pāṇḍavas’ own great departure had come and that this was their highest good. Arjuna took leave of Vyāsa, returned to Hastināpura and told Yudhishṭhira all that had befallen the Yādava race (Chapter 8).

The Mahā Prasthānika Parva: giving up the Gāṇḍīva

When Yudhishṭhira decided on the great departure, Arjuna was the first to agree, murmuring “Kāla, Kāla”. The other brothers followed him. They set out toward the east with the six and the dog that followed them. Arjuna alone still carried the Gāṇḍīva and the two quivers that never ran empty, out of attachment to this treasure. On the shore of the sea Lauhitya, Agni appeared blazing with seven flames. He recalled how he had burned the Khāṇḍava forest through Arjuna’s strength and the power of Nārāyaṇa. He told Arjuna to give back the bow that he had once brought from Varuṇa. At his brothers’ urging Arjuna threw the Gāṇḍīva and the quivers into the waters (Chapter 1).

On the northward road beyond the Himavat, Arjuna fell to the ground. Yudhishṭhira named his faults. They were pride in his valour, a vow he had not kept (he had boasted that he would burn all his enemies in a single day and had not done so), and scorn for other archers (Chapters 2 and 3).

The Svargārohaṇa Parva: with Kṛshṇa in Svarga

Yudhishṭhira entered the true Svarga after the vision of Naraka had passed. In that vision Arjuna’s own voice had been among those calling to him from the dark. Yudhishṭhira saw Kṛshṇa, also called Govinda, shining in glory and worshipped by the devas. He held his divine cakra and the other celestial weapons in bodily form. Beside him stood Arjuna, radiant with great tejas, worshipping Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as he had served him on earth. Here the eternal companionship of Nara and Nārāyaṇa was shown in Svarga. Arjuna, the Nara of that eternal pair, stood forever at the side of Nārāyaṇa (Chapters 2 and 4).

Sources

Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 120 to 138
Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapters 213 to 227
Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Anudyūta Parva, Chapter 78
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapters 7, 8, 14 and 15
Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 8 to 12 and 37 to 50
Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 164
Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 1 to 72
Mahābhārata, Bhīshma Parva, Chapter 23
Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 13 to 15
Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapters 14 and 15
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīshma Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 168
Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 11 to 13 and 15 to 19
Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapters 5 to 8
Mahābhārata, Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapters 1 to 3
Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapters 2 and 4