Ulūpī
Ulūpī was the daughter of Kauravya, king of a nāga clan, and a princess of the nāga realm under the water. She met Arjuna at Gaṅgādvāra during his twelve years of vanavāsa (forest exile). Moved by love, she drew him down into the nāga world with the irresistible power of the nāgas. She told him plainly that she loved him. She answered his worry about his vow, and he spent one night with her. Before he left she gave him a vara (a boon): he would be invincible against all water-born creatures. She appears again in the Pāṇḍava Aśvamedha yajña, where she helps Babhruvāhana bring Arjuna back to life after the battle between father and son.
Love for Arjuna
Ulūpī had seen Arjuna and was moved by deep love for him. He reached Gaṅgādvāra and bathed in the Gaṅgā. She then acted at once. With nāga power she drew him down through the river into the bright palace of her father’s realm under the water.
The Mahābhārata tells this in the Ādi Parva, Chapter 214.
The talk about the vow
Arjuna told her about his vow. His twelve-year exile came from the agreement with his brothers about Draupadī, and it included brahmacarya (self-restraint). He feared that accepting Ulūpī would break the vow.
Ulūpī answered with care. The vow, she said, was only about not intruding on Draupadī and the arrangement among his brothers. It was not a vow of celibacy toward all women everywhere. Accepting her would break neither the spirit nor the letter of that agreement. She also appealed to his duty as a kshatriya and protector. If he sent her away, she said, she would die of grief, and that would rest on him. Arjuna accepted.
The Mahābhārata tells this in the Ādi Parva, Chapter 214.
One night and the vara
Arjuna stayed one night with Ulūpī in the nāga world. In the morning, as he got ready to go back to the upper world, she gave him a vara. In all waters he would be invincible against all water-born creatures: fish, nāgas and sea-monsters. The gift came from her own nature and power as a princess of the water realm.
The Mahābhārata tells this in the Ādi Parva, Chapter 214.
The Aśvamedha, the sañjīvana maṇi and Bhīshma’s death
During the Pāṇḍava Aśvamedha, Babhruvāhana, Arjuna’s son by Citrāṅgadā, killed Arjuna in battle at Maṇipura without knowing who he was. Ulūpī was there. She called the sañjīvana maṇi, the supreme life-giving gem of the nāga world, and laid it on Arjuna’s chest. He came back to life at once. (Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 80)
Then she told why she had planned this very battle. At Kurukshetra, Arjuna had struck down Bhīshma while Bhīshma, held by his vow, had lowered his bow before Śikhaṇḍin. The Vasus and Gaṅgā judged this to be adharma. They decreed that Arjuna would fall into naraka (hell) unless his own son one day defeated him in battle.
Her father, the nāga king Kauravya, learned of this decree and pleaded with the Vasus for Arjuna. They answered that only Babhruvāhana’s victory over Arjuna could pay the debt. So Ulūpī came to Maṇipura and herself stirred up the fight. She said that this brought no pāpa (sin) on Babhruvāhana. Arjuna heard the whole truth and said he was fully satisfied with all that Ulūpī had done. By her own act she ended a śāpa (a curse) that the Vasus themselves had laid on him. (Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 81)
Her return to the Gaṅgā
Arjuna and his brothers gave up the world and set out on the great departure. The women of the household each went their own way. Ulūpī, the serpent-king’s daughter, entered the waters of the Gaṅgā and went back to the watery realm of the nāgas, from which she came. Citrāṅgadā went to Maṇipura. The other mothers stayed near Parīkshit. So Ulūpī left the mortal world as the Pāṇḍava household came to its end at the close of the age.
The Mahābhārata tells this in the Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapter 1.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 214
- Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 80–81
- Mahābhārata, Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapter 1