Lauhitya is the sea of the eastern quarter, toward the region of the rising sun. The Pāṇḍavas reached it on the first stage of their great departure, the Mahāprasthāna. It is holy as the place where Agni appeared before the heroes who had given up the world. He told Arjuna to give up the divine bow Gāṇḍīva. The bow was then cast into the waters to be returned to Varuṇa.

The sea in the east

The Pāṇḍavas had given up the world and journeyed east. They passed from land to land and saw many rivers and seas. At last they came to the shore of the sea called Lauhitya in the east, the ocean of the region where the sun rises.

Arjuna had still kept with him the bow Gāṇḍīva and the two inexhaustible quivers, out of lingering love for their treasure, though the time for weapons was over.

Agni and the bow Gāṇḍīva

On that shore Agni stood in the path in the form of a person. He was as vast as a great mountain and blazed with seven flames. He named himself Pāvaka. He reminded Arjuna that, through Arjuna’s might and the power of Nārāyaṇa, he had once burned the Khāṇḍava forest. He then ordered that Gāṇḍīva, which he had long ago brought for Arjuna from Varuṇa, be given back to Varuṇa, because it had no more use.

His brothers urged Arjuna, and he cast the great bow and the two quivers into the waters of Lauhitya. Agni vanished on the spot.

The way onward

From this shore the heroes turned south. Then they went round the coast toward Dvārakā, and from there turned north for the last climb. Lauhitya is remembered as the place where the last and dearest of Arjuna’s attachments was given up. (Mahābhārata, Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapter 1)

Sources

Mahābhārata, Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapter 1