Arjuna

For other uses, see Arjuna (disambiguation).Partha redirects here. For the lm, see Partha (lm).

Arjuna (pronounced [rdun] in classical Sanskrit) wasthe 3rd of the Pandava brothers. He is considered as theprotagonist of the Mahabharata with Krishna and playsa key role in the Bhagavad Gita.[1][2][3][4] He was mar-ried multiple times, to Draupadi, Subhadra (Krishnassister), Ulupi, and Chitrangada. His children includedSrutakarma, Iravan, Babruvahana, and Abhimanyu.

1 Etymology and other namesThe name Arjuna means bright or shining (lit.bright or silver (cf. Latin argentum)).[5]

The Mahabharata refers to Arjuna by twelve dierentnames. In the story, these names are given when PrinceUttara of Matsya asks Arjuna to prove his identity. Therst ten names are spoken by Arjuna himself, while thename Kapi Dhwaja is also used to refer to his chariot,the Nandi Ghosha .The names and their meanings areas follow:.[6][7][8]

Arjuna - shining or famous like silver

Phalguna or Falguna - one born under the star named'Uttara Phalguni'

Vishnu - conqueror of enemies.

Kiriti - one who wears the celestial diadem, Kiriti,presented by Indra

Shwetavahana - one with white horses mounted tohis chariot

Bhibatsu - one who always ghts wars in a fairmanner. Bibhatsu or Bibhatsa means 'the frighten-ing one'.[9] The word bibhatsa means -loathsome,hideous, detestable, nauseous. Arjuna was so calledbecause he created scenes of bibhatsa during warwith his enemies.

Vijaya - always wins on war

Paartha - son of Pritha, another name for Kunti.

Savyasachi - skillful in using both arms, ambidex-trous

Dhananjaya - one who brings prosperity and wealthin the land where he goes to

Gudakesha - One who has won over sleep (gu-daka+isha)

Kapi Dhwaja - Having ag of Kapi (monkey) inhis chariot (Arjunas ag displayed an image ofHanuman from a previous encounter)

Parantapa - one who concentrates the most, de-stroyer of enemies from his concentration

Gandivdhanava - one who possessed the mighty bownamed 'Gandiva' whichwas created by Lord Brahma

2 Birth and youth

Boon of Indra to Kunti

Arjuna was born into the royal family of Hastinapura. Hewas acknowledged as a son of Pandu by his rst wifeKunti, though he was fathered by the grace of the godIndra, rather than by Pandu who was cursed that he woulddie if he tried to father children. Arjuna was the third son,after Yudhishthira and Bhima. Younger to him were the

1

2 4 MARRIAGE TO DRAUPADI

twin sons born of Pandus second wifeMadri, Nakula andSahadeva.After the death of Pandu (and Madris subsequent sui-cide), the Pandavas and their mother lived in Hastinapura,where they were brought up together with their cousins,the Kaurava brothers. Along with his brothers, Arjunawas trained in religion, science, administration and mili-tary arts by Drona and Bhisma.One day, when the princes were playing a game, they losttheir ball in a well. When the rest of the children gave upthe ball as being lost, Arjuna stayed behind trying to getit. A stranger came by and extracted the ball for him bymaking a chain of sarkanda (a wild grass). He threwthe rst one to pierce the ball, then the second one topierce the free end of the rst one and then the third oneto pierce the tail of the second one and so on till he couldreach it. When an astonished Arjuna related the storyto Bhishma, Bhishma realized that the stranger was noneother than Drona. He ordered Arjuna to call the sage andasked him to become the Kuru princes teacher. Seekingrefuge from Panchala, Drona agreed.

3 Tutelage under DronaUnder Dronas tutelage, the Kauravas and the Pandavas,along with the princes of Hastinapuras allies and vassals,learned weaponry. Arjuna became Dronas favorite andmost accomplished pupil; specically, he became a mas-ter in using the bow and the arrow. In a famous incident,Drona deemed that out of all his students, even his ownson Ashwatthama, none but Arjuna had the steadfast fo-cus to shoot the eye of a bird on a tree; he was provenright.[10]

In two other incidents, the reader sees how Arjunas des-tiny is shaped. Arjuna was the only one with the skilland fortitude to save his teacher from an attack from acrocodile. In reality, the attack was a ruse Drona usedto test his students. In another story, Arjuna, noticingBhima eating in the dark, trained himself to shoot accu-rately without visualizing his target. Impressed by Ar-juna, Drona promised his pupil that he would make Ar-juna the greatest archer that ever lived or ever would live.Drona adhered to this vow so strongly, that when he dis-covered a Kirat prince Ekalavya of superior archery skill,Drona demands him into cutting o the thumb of his hand(needed to draw the bow) so that he kept his promise toArjuna.As part of his gurudakshina, Arjuna and his brothers, at-tacked Panchal and captured King Drupada, with Arjunamaking the arrest himself. Drona requested this in orderto settle an old grudge he had with Drupada. Secretly,Drupada was greatly impressed by Arjuna and wished forhim to marry his daughter, Draupadi.At the end of their training, the Kuru princes displayedtheir talents to their elders in an arena. There, Arjuna

steals the show, using divine weapons to great eect.However, before he can be crowned as the victor of thetournament, he is challenged by Karna. Karna matchedArjunas feats. But due to his low birth, Karna is notallowed to compete and gets insulted by Bhima and theothers for being a sutaputra; this incident marks the be-ginning of a feud between Karna and Arjuna that lastsuntil the end of the story.As the Pandavas and Kauravas grew older, a crown princehad to be named. Yudhishthira won the nomination overDuryodhana. Angered, Duryodhana plotted with his un-cle Shakuni, who masterminded a plan to kill the Pan-davas. The Kauravas have a house of wax built; they de-sired to send the Pandavas vacationing to the wax house,under some pretense, before setting the house on re.Alerted of the scheme by Vidura, the Pandavas evadedthe trap. Arjuna and Bhima wanted to declare war, butYudhisthira cooled them down. Under his orders, Ar-juna, Kunti, and the Pandavas faked their deaths and wentinto hiding.

4 Marriage to Draupadi

the Swayamvara of Panchalas princess, Draupadi

Still in hiding, the Pandavas disguise themselves asbrahmins and attend the Swayamvara of Panchalaprincess Draupadi. Out of all of the great kings and otherKaurava princes, only Karna and Arjuna are able to dothe established challenge. The test is to lift, string, andre Pinakin to pierce the eye of a golden sh whilst onlylooking at its reection. This test demanded concentra-tion, sense of timing, and precision of an archer. Drupadahad designed this test with Arjuna in mind. At rst Karnais able to lift and string the bow, but when he is aimingto re the shot, Draupadi rejects Karna (in some depic-tions with Krishnas prodding) for his low-birth (Karnawas thought to be the son of a charioteer, when in facthe was the six son of Kunti). Arjuna accomplished thestringing and shooting of the bow after all other kingspresent there fail.In some versions of the story, Arjuna is the only prince(of the Kaurava/Pandava party) to have interacted with

5.1 Saving Mayasura 3

Draupadi before. When attacking/kidnapping Drupada,Draupadi, trained inmartial arts due to Panchals attitudestowards gender neutrality, ghts with Arjun,but Arjunaafter some while he stops and stops her by saying that hecannot ght a woman.In some versions of the Swayamvara, Arjuna is forbiddenby Kunti to attend the Swayamvara. Kuntis reasoning isthat Yudhishthira or Duryodhana would be the only ac-ceptable candidates for Draupadis hand; anyone else, notset to inherit the throne, would be an insult to Panchal.She allows Bhima to attend because he is Yudhishthirasheir and could win Draupadi for his brother without con-troversy. When Arjuna disobeys her anyways, as he isring the arrow, he swears to God that if wins Draupadishand, he would never disobey his mothers commands.When the brothers returned with Draupadi, Arjuna jokedto his mother that they had brought alms. Dismissively,and without looking because she was preoccupied, Kuntiasks him to share it with his brothers. Holding hismothers orders as a divine command, he requested hiselder brother to accept Draupadi. Yudhishthira, observ-ing that all of his brothers were attracted to Draupadi,decided she would their common wife. Draupadi hadto marry all ve of the Pandavas. Her ve sons, onefrom each of the Pandava brothers, are known as theUpapandavas.[11] Srutakarma is the son of Arjuna.The brothers followNaradas advice on a sharing arrange-ment with regard to Draupadi: each brother would haveexclusive rights over her for a year, after which the man-tle will shift to the next brother. Moreover, any brotherintruding on the privacy of the couple would have to goon a twelve-year Tirtha-yatra.At this point in the Mahabharatha, the Pandavas revealedthat they were alive. With both Duryodhana and Yud-hishthira being crown princes, tensions are high. Un-der Bhishmas advice, the kingdom is split, with theKauravas getting Hastinapur and the Pandavas gettingKhandavaprastha. Khandavaprastha, however, was an ex-tremely underdeveloped land and had infertile soil, re-quiring extensive tilling, so the Pandavas set to work re-building the land. Their cousins Krishna and Balaramagive them aid.

5 Burning of Khandava VanaIn some versions of the story, this was the rst time Ar-juna meets Krishna. In any case, Khandavaprastha waswhere Arjuna and Krishnas friendship is truly forged.Once when roaming in the Khandava Vana, Arjuna andKrishna met the god of re, Agni. Agni was in greathunger and needed to burn down the entire KhandavaVana to quench his hunger. But Takshaka, the serpent-king lived in the same forest and was a friend of Indras.So the latter brought down heavy rains to thwart Agnisplans to burn the woods. Agni requested Krishna and Ar-

juna to help him realize his goal.[12]

The three of them then invoked Varuna, the God of theoceans, who blessed Arjuna with the Gandiva the moonbow created by Brahma. In this way, Arjuna came intopossession of his famous bow. Agni also gave Arjuna anincandescent chariot with four horses yoked, and bear-ing a ag that would one-day be occupied by Hanuman.Arjuna also obtained his famous conch.[13]

With Krishna using the Sudarshana Chakra[13] Arjunaand Krishna waged a successful battle against Indra andhelped Agni burn down the entire Khandava Vana includ-ing all its demons and evil spirits. Indras anger was me-tered by his pride in his son.

5.1 Saving Mayasura

Srikrishna oer to build a palace, to mayasura

In their demolition of Khandava Krishna and Arjunahad saved one demon, Mayasura.[12] Owing Arjuna aboon, Mayasura told that he would build a palace forYudhishtra. As Mayasura was a great architect of theAsuras, he soon constructed the Maya assembly hall a gigantic palace for the Pandavas, lled with ancientbooks, artifacts, and jewels. This hall was famous forvisual illusions. Thus, Khandavaprastha was renamedIndraprastha.[14]

6 Arjunas Tirtha-yatra and In-draprastha

During an incident when Takshaka stole Brahmins cows,Arjuna was forced to violate Yudhishthira and Draupadisprivacy while they were playing the game of dice, as hehad left the Gandiva in their room. Despite the under-standing of all and being forgiven by both Yudhishthiraand Draupadi, Arjuna accepted the punishment agreedwith Narada and set o on a twelve-year tirtha-yatra.

4 6 ARJUNAS TIRTHA-YATRA AND INDRAPRASTHA

Arjuna enters Dharmas Budoir

6.1 Meeting Uloopi

Ulupi meets Arjuna

Arjuna started his pilgrimage by visiting the source of theriver Ganga. It was here that he met the Naga princess,Uloopi. She was mesmerized by Arjun and forcefullytook him to Naga Lok (the land of the snake-people) andgave him a choice: if he married her, she would let himgo; otherwise, she would not. He married her, and theyhad a son called Iravan.[15][16]

6.2 Chitrangadaa at ManipuraArjuna visited other Tirthas in India, including Kalingaand the ashrams of the Saptarishis, Agastya, Vasishta andBhrigu. Finally he reached the palace of Manipur. Herehe met king Chitravahanas daughter, Chitrangadaa. Chi-trangadaa fell in love with him and requested the kingfor her marriage. Upon discovering Arjunas true iden-tity, the king readily agreed. Since Chitrangadaa washis oldest child and Manipur practiced equal primogeni-ture, which Hastinapur did not practice, the king soughta promise from Arjuna that Chitrangadaa and any of herand Arjunas children would remain in Manipur as Chi-travahanas heirs. Arjuna thought for some while andagreed.[17][18]

6.3 Reaching Dwarka and Subhadra

Arjuna and Subhadra.Painting by Raja Ravi Varma.

Arjuna moved to other Tirthas, including the southern re-gions in Kerala. Finally he reached Dwarka, the placewhere his cousin Krishna resided. Arjuna had, in hischildhood, heard about Krishnas sister, Subhadra. Kr-ishna, wishing to further tie their families, knew of Ar-junas visit and devised a plan to arrange their meet. Ac-cordingly, Arjuna disguised himself as a yati and stayedat Krishnas palace. Subhadra fell in love with Arjunaand desired to marry him. Because Balarama had already

5promised Subhadra to his favorite disciple, Duryodhana,Krishna advised Arjuna to kidnap Subhadra. Balarambecame furious upon learning of the abduction but ispacied byKrishna, after he showed that the wedding reinwas in Sudhadras hand, which showed her consent. Thecouple stayed in Dwaraka for a year, and then anotheryear in Pushkar. However, Draupadi had made it clearthat no other Pandava wife would be allowed to stay in hercity, so Arjun, as per Krishnas advice, tricked Draupadiinto meeting Subhadra as a milkmaid. Draupadi realizedshe had been tricked, but she forgave Subhadra and lether stay in Indra-prastha, allowing her to give companyto Arjuna in the four years when he was not with Drau-padi. In due course,Arjuna and Subhadra gave birth to ason, Abhimanyu.[19][20]

7 Conquest for Rajasuya

Arjuna went for Rajasuya Yaga

Possible route taken by Arjuna for the Rajasuya sacrice.

Arjuna was sent north by Yudhisthira to subjugate king-doms for the Rajasuya Yagya, so that he could be crownedEmperor of Indraprastha. The Mahabharata mentions

several kingdoms to the east of Indraprastha which wereconquered (or otherwise peacefully bent-the-knee) byArjuna. Some of them are:[21]

Bhagadatta of Pragjyotisha- He repelled Arjuna foreight days straight but impressed with Arjunas skillagreed to pay tribute. Bhagadatta was also a greatfriend of Pandu.

Vrihanta, the king of Uluka Modapura, Vamadeva, Sudaman, Susankula, the

Northern Ulukas, and the kings of those countriesand peoples

Devaprastha, the city of Senavindu Viswagaswa of Puru's race Seven tribes called Utsava-sanketa Kshatriyas of Kashmir and also king Lohita along

with ten minor chiefs

Trigartas, the Daravas, the Kokonadas, and variousother Kshatriyas

town of Avisari Rochamana ruling in Uraga Singhapura adi Regions Suhma and Sumala Valhikas Daradas along with the Kambojas Robber tribes that dwelt in the north-eastern regions Lohas, the eastern Kambojas, and northern Rishikas country of the Limpurushas ruled by Durmaputra Harataka Various lakes and tanks sacred to the Rishis regions ruled by the Gandharvas that lay around the

Harataka territories. Here the conqueror took, astribute from the country, numerous excellent horsescalled Tittiri, Kalmasha, Manduka.

North Harivarsha city of Sakraprastha

8 ExileAfter Yudhisthira succumbed to Shakuni's challenge inthe game of dice, the Pandavas were forced to be in exilefor 13 years, which included one year in anonymity.

6 8 EXILE

Kiratarjuniya

8.1 Penance for Pashupatastra

Indra had promised Arjuna to give him all his weaponsbut except Vasavi Sakthi which is his most powerfulweapon as he gave to Karna for his Kavach and Kundal(Armour and earrings).Sensing an impending war withthe Kauravas,Sage Vyasa advised Arjuna that he obtainthe Pashupatastra from Lord Shiva. Following the adviceof Sage Vyasa to go on a meditation or tapasya to attainthis divine weapon, Arjuna left his brothers for a penance.Arjuna traveled for a while before reaching the moun-tain Indra keeladri, Vijayawada. Here he sat in medi-tation in the name of Lord Shiva. Shiva appeared soonenough in the guise of a hunter, who challenged Arjunato a ght. While being thoroughly dominated by Shiva,Arjuna became confused as to how an ordinary huntercould best a warrior like himself. He prays to Shiva forstrength, and then sees the oerings he made to Shivaaround the hunters neck. Shiva was very pleased with thebravery and prowess of the prince. Consequently, Shivatransformed himself to show his real avatar and blessedArjuna with the Pashupatastra.Shiva warned that this as-tra will not work on Kripa and Shivas partial incarnationAshwatthama,both were born immortal (Chiranjivi) andhence cannot be killed in any manner.Mahadev (Shiva) hugged him and said: O Phalguna,I have been pleased with thee for thy act is without aparallel. There is no Kshatriya who is equal to thee incourage, and patience. And, O sinless one, thy strength

and prowess are almost equal to mine. O mighty-armedone, I have been pleased with thee. Behold me, O bullof the Bharata race! O large-eyed one! I will grant theeeyes (to see me in my true form). Thou wert a Rishi be-fore. Thou wilt vanquish all thy foes, even the dwellers ofheaven; I will as I have been pleased with thee, grant theean irresistible weapon. Soon shall thou be able to wieldthat weapon of mine.[22]

Other devas like Kubera, Yama, Varuna and Indra fol-lowed suit and blessed each of their potent weapons toArjuna. Indra also invited his son to his palace in heaven.Arjuna was amazed at the splendor of his fathers palaceat Amaravati. Dancers like Urvashi, Tilottama, Rambhaand Menaka entertained him. There was a huge banquetserving dierent varieties of heavenly dishes. Arjunalearnt song and dance from the Gandharva, Chitrasena.Indra himself taught him to wield the divine weapons andalso gave him his own Vajra.

8.2 Urvashis curse

Urvashis curse

Indra noted the passionate glances exchanged betweenArjuna and Urvashi during his stay. However, Arjunarefuseed her advances, alleging that he had heard of herrelationship with his ancestor Pururava, and hence shehad the status of a mother, equal in respect to Kunti.[23]Urvashi, annoyed at this, cursed him that he would be-come a eunuch who would have to live among women,singing and dancing. On Indras request, and regrettingher anger, Urvashi reduced her curse to a period of one

7year of Arjunas choice. In some versions of the story,Urvashi curses Arjuna with womanhood, but always re-duces the curse to a years length.

8.3 Trial with Devastras: slaying Rak-shasas at heaven

Arjuna gets the opportunity to test his skills with the di-vine weapons at Indras palace itself. Arjuna was takento the palace of the Nivatakavachas, a tribe of Rakshasaswho had a magnicent palace under the oceans. Arjunaused the mohini-astra and the madhava-astra to demolishthese asuras.He was also taken to Hiranyapuri, a palace in the skycreated by a witch Puloma and his asura tribe of theKaalakeyas. Here Arjuna uses the Pashupatastra and an-nihilates the demons.

8.4 Meeting HanumanContinuing his quest, Arjuna visits the site of Rama Setuin Dhanushkodi. There, he openly questions why, ifRama had been such a great archer, he hadn't simply builtthe bridge out of arrows. Angered at Arjunas tone andhis apparent questioning of Ramas prowess, Hanumanconfronts Arjuna in the form of an ordinary monkeyand challenges him to prove his superiority by build-ing a bridge of arrows that could bear his (Hanumans)weight. Tensions escalate until Arjuna pledges to defeatHanuman or kill himself, going so far as to frivolouslyuse divine weapons to build bridge after bridge, whileHanuman uses his god-given strength to destroy themall. Eventually, Krishna intervenes, chiding Arjuna forhis excessive pride and Hanuman for allowing his love ofRama to overcome his pacism. Regaining his compo-sure, Hanuman pledges to reside in Arjunas battle stan-dard (ag) during the Kurukshetra war.[24]

8.5 Eunuch at Viratas KingdomMain article: Brihannala

Along with his brothers, Arjuna spent his last year ofexile in the kingdom of Virata, Hastinapura. This isthe place where Urvashis curse is implemented and Ar-juna becomes a eunuch called Brihannala (within them-selves Pandavas called him Vijaya).[25] At the palace,he teaches song and dance, qualities he had learnt fromChitrasena [King of the Gandharvas in Devalok], to theKing Viratas daughter, Uttar. Later, Arjuna arrangesfor Uttara to become his daughter-in-law by marryinghis son Abhimanyu to her. At the same time, he pre-vents Subhadra from marrying Abhimanyu to Balarama'sdaughter Vatsala, as the Kurus nd cousin-cousin mar-riages taboo.

Brihannala - Eunuch at Viratas Kingdom

Hearing about the death of Kichaka, Duryodhana sur-mises that the Pandavas were hiding in Matsya. A hostof Kaurava warriors attack Virata, presumably to stealtheir cattle, but in reality, desiring to pierce the Pandavasveil of anonymity. Full of bravado, Viratas son Uttar at-tempts to take on the army by himself while the rest ofthe Matsya army has been lured away to ght Susharmaand the Trigartas. Per Draupadis suggestion, Uttar takesBrihannala with him, as his charioteer. When he seesthe Kaurava army, Uttar loses his nerve and attempts toee. There, Arjuna reveals his identity and those of hisbrothers. Switching places with Uttar, Arjuna takes upthe Gandiva and Devadatta. Eager to defend the landthat had given him refuge, Arjuna dressed up as Brihan-nala encountered the legion of Kaurava warriors. OnlyBhishma from the Kaurava side recognized, Arjuna whowas in turn dressed up as Brihannala single handedly de-feats Karna, Drona, Bhisma, Aswathama, Kripacharyaand host of Kuru warriors in one to one combat.Arjunathen res a weapon, obtained from heaven, to put ene-mies to sleep. This astra called sammohana puts enemiesinto sleep and gave Arjuna time to bring back the cattles.Though Bhishma knows counter to this weapon he didn'tuse the counter weapon,so that he thought the war wouldthus end. His victory was so complete that he took theclothes of all the Kuru warriors before leaving.[26]

9 Kurukshetra War

9.1 Bhagavad Gita

Main article: Bhagavad Gita

As the battle draws close, Arjuna is overcome with self-doubt about the righteousness of the war against his ownkith and kin. He is distraught at the thought of having to

8 9 KURUKSHETRA WAR

A statue of Arjuna and Lord Krishna, with Krishna as the sarathior charioteer

ght with his friends and family such as his dear teacher,Drona and grandsire Bhishma. It was then that Krishnatook charge and explained the necessity and inevitabilityof the war toArjuna. This conversation is a key part of theMahabharata known as Bhagavad gita, and is consideredas a holy scripture of Hinduism.Arjuna plays the role of the reader in the Bhagavad Gita.As Krishna dispenses the advice, Arjuna asks the ques-tions.The Bhagavad Gita primarily takes the form of a philo-sophical dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna.

9.2 Battles fought at Kurukshetra

Defeat of Jayadratha

Arjuna was a key Pandava warrior and played a hugerole in the Kurukshetra war. His ag bore the symbolof Hanuman.[27]

Some of the crucial battles fought by Arjuna are as fol-lows:

Death of Bhagadatta: On the thirteenth day whenAbhimanyu was slayed. Arjuna was busy ghtingBhagaddata the king of Pragjyotisha who came witha thousand elephants and attacked him. During the

battle Bhagaddata shot an irresistible arrow Vaish-navastra which could kill Arjun but he was saved byKrishnas timely intervation. Which fell on Krishnaand formed a garland. Bhagadatta was later killedby an arrow shot by Arjun

Death of Bhisma: Throughout the rst nine-daysof battle, Arjuna was unable to defeat Bhisma.Thiswas partially due to his own reluctance to ght hisgrandsire, as well as Bhismas terric skill. AsKrishna became frustrated with Arjuna, he took uparms against Bhishma himself, at least twice. Notwanting history to blame Arjuna for forcing Krishnato break his vow of non-aggression, Arjuna man-aged to talk Krishna down and fought with renewedvigor. On the tenth day of the war, after askingBhishma himself how to best defeat him, Arjunatook Shikhandi in his chariot. As Bhishma wouldnot raise weapons against a woman, Arjuna was ableto attack Bhisma unimpeded. Tears owing from hiseyes, Arjuna pierced Bhishmas entire body with ar-rows, eventually forcing Bhisma to fall down withArjunas arrows acting as a bed. Per Bhishmas re-quest, he provided a pillow of arrows for his head,as well as water by piercing the earth and allowingGanga to nourish her son. Bhishma praises Arjunafor this and asks Duryodhana to make peace withthe Pandavas.[28]

Killing of the Trigartas: Attempting to dis-tract him so that Dronacharya could captureYudhishthira, Susharma and the Trigarthas chal-lenged Arjuna to a ght to the death. On the twelfthand thirteenth days of battle, Arjuna killed them toa man.[29]

Death of Jayadratha: Arjuna held Jayadratharesponsible for Abhimanyus death on the thirteenthday of the war. He vowed to kill him the verynext day before sunset, failing which he would killhimself by jumping in a pyre. The Kauravas hidJayadratha from Arjuna, knowing that Arjunasdeath would result in a Kaurava victory. However,Krishna created an articial eclipse by usinghis Sudarshana Chakra to hide the sun, forcingKauravas to believe the day was over and Arjunasdeath was imminent. Wishing to mock Arjuna,Jayadratha went to the head of the army in joy,even as the sun emerged from the eclipse. Arjunamakes his arrows to carry away Jayadrathas head.This was because Jayadratha had a boon from hisfather that whoever would be responsible for hishead falling to the ground would have his own headblown up. That is why Arjuna carried the severedhead of Jayadratha to his father, who was awokenfrom his meditation by the sudden landing of asevered head on his body and since he ended updropping it to the ground, he had his head blown

9up.

Arjuna Slays Karna, page from a copy of the Razmnama,Mughal period

Death of Karna: Karna and Arjuna were swornenemies in the epic, each having taken an oath tokill the other in the battle.Anticipating a likely bat-tle to the death between Karna and Arjuna, Kr-ishna warned Arjuna calling Karna to be the fore-most of the heroes.[30] On the seventeenth day ofbattle the two foes faced each other once more.This battle between Arjuna and Karna is perhapsthe most cataclysmic and awesome of the great epic.The warriors on the battleeld and the devas inheaven watched the battle in speechless amazementand terried admiration of the strength and skill ofthese two greatest of warriors.The battle was ini-tially evenly matched until Karna red a Nagastra,which unbeknownst to Karna, was inhibited by Ash-wasen, a deadly serpent seeking vengeance on Ar-juna. Krishna intervened and saved Arjuna fromcertain death by pressing down the chariot with hisfoot. The battle again continued with neither war-riors gaining the upper hand; but then Karnas char-iot wheel gets stuck in the mud resulting from aprior curse on Karna. Further, owing to a curseKarna received from his guru Parasurama, Karnaforgot the mantra to invoke the Brahmanda astra.Karna got down from his chariot to free the wheel

and asked Arjuna to pause, reminding him of theetiquette of war. The epic states that Arjuna, al-ways righteous, hesitated to attack his foe at thisjuncture. Meanwhile, as Karna tried to extricatehis chariot wheel, Krishna reminded Arjuna of allthe atrocities that Karna committed against the Pan-davas, such as his instigation and participation oftheir wife Draupadis public humiliation and disrob-ing, and the killing of Arjunas son Abhimanyu. Kr-ishna commands Arjuna to attack by claiming thatKarna sided with Duryodhans adharmic actions andhad no right to argue for the rules of engagement. Itwas then Arjuna used the Anjalika weapon and de-capitated Karna.

10 Conquest for AshvamedhaAfter the conclusion of the war, the Pandavas take chargeof Hastinapura, the undivided realm of their ancestors.Yudhishira appointed Arjuna as the in-charge for thearmy and security forces of Hastinapura.[31]

Yudhisthira decided to hold the Ashvamedha Yagna, orhorse sacrice, to grant them the title of Chakravarti(Emperor). Arjuna led the armed forces which fol-lowed the horse around its random wanderings. He re-ceived the submission of many kings, either without orfollowing an armed confrontation. He was thus instru-mental in the expansion of the Pandava domains. Someof the campaigns are as under:

Uttarapatha, including those of Pragjyotisha,Uluka, Modapura, Vamadeva, Sudaman, Su-sankula, Northern Uluka, Puru kingdom ofViswagaswa, Utsava-Sanketa, Lohita, Trigarta,Darava, Abhisara, Kokonada, Ursa, Simhapura,Suhma, Sumala, Balhika, Darada, Kamboja.

Transoxiana region (Sakadvipa or Scythia), theLohas, Parama Kambojas, Northern Rishikas (orParama Rishikas), Limpurushas, Haratakas, Gand-harvas and the Uttarakurus.

Trigarta: Ketuvarman and Dhritavarman King Vajradatta, son of Bhagadatta Saindhava Manipura and death by Babruvahana:

Arjuna went to Manipura, where the king wasBabruvahana, his own son with Chitrangadaa.Seeing his father Babruvahana came all the wayto receive Arjuna. Arjuna was very upset thatBabruvahana did not respect the duties wor-thy of a King and did not ask for war. Hecursed his son as a coward and asked him to

10 11 DEATH

Arjuna is killed by his son Babhruvahana in battle - a compositeRazmnama illustration circa 1616

prepare for war. In the ght between father andson Babruvahana killed Arjuna, but Ulupi, thesnake-princess used the Mritasanjivani, a boonfrom Ganga Devi to bring Arjuna back to life.It is later stated that the defeat was because ofArjunas using of Shikhandi to plot Bhishma'sdeath and the unethical killing of Karna.[32]

Magadha, Rajagriha and King Meghasandhi Chedi and other kingdoms Kasi, Anga, Kosala, Kirata and Tanga kingdoms.

Arjuna accepted due honors from respective rulers.

Dakarna Nishada: Arjuna was able to defeat the Nishada

King, the son of Eklavya.

Andhra people led by Mahishaksha, tribes of Kolwahills

Saurashtra, Gokarn city and Prabhaska Dwarvati and Vrishni race Punjab Gandhara

Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple

Arjuna built the Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple dur-ing his conquest in South India.Aranmula Parthasarathy

Temple is one of the "Divya Desams", the 108 templesof Vishnu revered by the 12 poet saints, or Alwars[33]located near Aranmula, a village in Pathanamthitta Dis-trict, Kerala, South India.The temple is dedicated toParthasarathy, Lord Krishnas role as Arjunas Charioteerin the Mahabharatha war.[34] Legend has it that Arjunabuilt this temple, to expiate for the sin of having killedKarna on the battleeld, against the dharma of killing anunarmed enemy.

11 Death

Arjuna throws his weapons in water as advised by Agni

Upon the onset of the Kali yuga and the departure ofKrishna, Arjuna and other Pandavas retired, leaving thethrone to their only descendant to survive the war ofKurukshetra, Arjunas grandson Parikshita. Giving upall their belongings and ties, the Pandavas, accompaniedby a dog, made their nal journey of pilgrimage to theHimalayas. It is also to be noted that the listener of theMahabharata is Janamejaya, Parkishits son.Except for Yudhishthir, all of the Pandavas grew weakand died before reaching heaven (only Yudhishthir is al-lowed to keep his mortal body). Arjuna was the fourthone to fall after Draupadi, Sahadeva and Nakula. WhenBhima asks Yudhishthira why Arjuna isn't permitted thesame, the reason given is Arjunas extreme pride in hisskills as an archer and that he had said that he would con-sume all the foes of the Pandavas in a single day but proud

11

of his heroism he did not however accomplish what hehad said. Draupadi also falls because while she claimedto love all the Pandavas equally, she had a soft spot forArjuna.[35]

12 Character of ArjunaThe character of Arjuna is described as one whose mindis spotless and clean of all impurities. Krishna in the Bha-gavad Gita refers to Arjuna as Anagha, which means pureof heart or sinless. Arjunas nobility is manifested in hismagnanimity in victory and compassion towards adver-saries. He bears all the injustice of the Kauravas withstoicism and yet hesitates to kill them just before the war.But Arjuna has a Jealousy point. He thinks that he is onlythe best, most powerful and skilled archer in the world.This made him to fall and die while they were travellingto the HimalayasAs Nara of Nara Narayana (an avatar of Vishnu), Arjunaembodies Kshatriya manhood. Krishna being Narayanaof the Nara Narayana avatar, symbolizes the atman, andhence the two are inseparable. Arjuna was chosen by Kr-ishna to be his dearest friend and disciple. In the greatepic, on several occasions, Krishna reveals his great andeternal love for Arjuna. Such was the love that Krishnahad for Arjuna that he states to Arjuna: Thou art mineand I am thine, while all that is mine is thine also! He thathateth thee hateth me as well, and he that followeth theefolloweth me! O thou irrepressible one, thou art Naraand I am Narayana or Hari! We are the Rishis Nara andNarayana born in the world of men for a special purpose.O Partha, thou art from me and I am from thee! O bullof the Bharata race, no one can understand the dierencethat is between us!"[36]

Krishna states that no one in the world is dearer to himthan Arjuna and that there is nothing in the world that hewouldn't give his friend. In battle, when Arjuna takes avow to either kill Jayadratha before sunset or else immo-late himself, Krishna remarks to his charioteer, Daruka,that neither his friends nor kinsmen nor relatives nor anyother is dearer to him than Arjuna.[37] Krishna refersto Arjuna as Purusharshva, which translates to best ofmen.And there is a wife of Arjuna who is the one who isclose to Arjuna, Marsha or Masha.

13 Modern referencesArjunas extraordinary talents and skills have made him acommon name in popular culture.

The American astronomer Tom Gehrels named aclass of asteroids with low inclination, low eccen-tricity and earth-like orbital period as Arjuna aster-oids.[38][39][40]

The Arjuna Award is presented every year in Indiato one talented sportsman in every national sport.

Arjun is a third generation main battle tank devel-oped for the Indian Army.

Mayilpeeli Thookkam is a ritual art of dance per-formed in the temples of Kerala. It is also known asArjuna Nrithyam (lit. Arjunas dance) as a tributeto his dancing abilities.

There have been a serial and a lm based on Arjunas lifeand exploits.

Earth Maiden Arjuna is a Japanese animated televi-sion series created by Shoji Kawamori. This seriesis based on Arjuna and the Mahabharata. Arjuna:Into the Another World is the soundtrack producedfor the series.

Arjun: The Warrior Prince is a 2012 mythologicalaction lm narrating the events in Arjunas life.

In the 2013s Mahabharat Arjun was portrayed byShaheer Sheikh for which he received unanimouspraise and world-wide fame.

Additionally, the protagonist in Steven Presseld's bookThe Legend of Bagger Vance, Rannulph Junuh, is basedin part on Arjuna (R. Junuh).[41]

14 In Modern TelevisionIn B.R.Chopras Mahabharat, Arjunas role is played byArjun (Firoz Khan).In 2013 Mahabharat Television series, Arjuna is por-trayed by Shaheer Sheikh.

15 Notes[1] Gopal 1990, p. 69

[2] The Bhagavad Gita. Retrieved 3 November 2013.

[3] The Mahabharata. New York, NY: Penguin Classics.2009. ISBN 0140446818.

[4] The Bhagavad Gita. New York, NY: Penguin Classic.2003. ISBN 0140449183.

[5] Monier Williams Online Dictionary. uni-koeln.de. Re-trieved 23 March 2015.

[6] Fowler, Jeaneane Fowler, Merv. Bhagavad Gita : a text &commentary for students. Brighton: Sussex Academic. p.10. ISBN 9781845193461.

12 16 BIBLIOGRAPHY

[7] Kapoor, edited by Subodh (2002). The Indian ency-clopaedia : biographical, historical, religious, adminis-trative, ethnological, commercial and scientic (1st ed.).New Delhi: Cosmo Publications. p. 1927. ISBN9788177552577.

[8] Sarma, Bharadvaja (2008). Vyasas Mahabharatam ineighteen parvas : the great epic of India in summary trans-lation. Kolkata, India: Academic Publishers. p. 372.ISBN 9788189781682.

[9] Gopal 1990, p. 79

[10] Parmeshwaranand, Swami (2001). Encyclopaedic dictio-nary of Puras (1st ed.). New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. pp.512513. ISBN 9788176252263.

[11] Menon, [translated by] Ramesh (2006). The Mahab-harata : a modern rendering. New York: iUniverse, Inc.pp. 220235. ISBN 9780595401871.

[12] Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa. Tedding-ton, Middlesex: The Echo Library. 2008. pp. 518520.ISBN 9781406870459.

[13] Menon, [translated by] Ramesh (2006). The Mahab-harata : a modern rendering. New York: iUniverse, Inc.pp. 302304. ISBN 9780595401871.

[14] Verma, retold by Virendra; Verma, Shanti (1989). TheMahbhrata : (the great epic of ancient India). NewDelhi: Pitambar Pub. Co. p. 28. ISBN 9788120907324.

[15] The Mahabharata, Book 1 of 18: Adi Uloopi gave her hus-band a boon which allowed him to be invincible in wa-ter. She was on extremely good terms with her co-wife,Chitrangada, and very fond of her stepson Bhabruvahan,son of Chitrangada and Arjun. She later restored Arjunto life when he was defeated and killed by the Manipurprince.Parva. Forgotten Books. pp. 513515. ISBN9781605066110.

[16] Mahabharata Text.

[17] Menon, [translated by] Ramesh (2006). The Mahab-harata : a modern rendering. New York: iUniverse, Inc.p. 266. ISBN 9780595401871.

[18] Mahabharata Text.

[19] Mahabharata Text.

[20] Mahabharata Text.

[21] Mahabharata Text.

[22] The Mahabharata, Book 3: Vana Parva: Kairata Parva.

[23] Menon, [translated by] Ramesh (2006). The Mahab-harata : a modern rendering. New York: iUniverse, Inc.p. 467. ISBN 9780595401871.

[24] Hanuman and Arjuna.

[25] Kapoor, edited by Subodh (2002). The Indian ency-clopaedia : biographical, historical, religious, adminis-trative, ethnological, commercial and scientic (1st ed.).New Delhi: Cosmo Publications. p. 4462. ISBN9788177552577.

[26] K M Ganguly(1883-1896)The Mahabharatha Book 3:Vana Parva Section XXXVI sacred-texts.com,October2003,Retrieved 2014-03-18

[27] Menon, [translated by] Ramesh (2006). The Mahab-harata : a modern rendering. New York: iUniverse, Inc.p. 563. ISBN 9780595401888.

[28] Ganguly, Kisari. The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa.

[29] Menon, [translated by] Ramesh (2006). The Mahab-harata : a modern rendering. New York: iUniverse, Inc.ISBN 9780595401888.

[30] The Mahabharata, Book 8: Karna Parva: Section 72.sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 23 March 2015.

[31] Mahabharata Text.

[32] Mahabharata Text.

[33] 108 Vaishnavite Divya Desams: Divya desams in MalaiNadu and Vada Nadu. M. S. Ramesh, Tirumalai-TirupatiDevasthanam.

[34] David Abram; Nick Edwards (2004). The Rough Guide toSouth India. Rough Guides. p. 348. ISBN 1843531038.

[35] The Mahabharata, Book 17: Mahaprasthanika Parva:Section 2. sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 23 March 2015.

[36] The Mahabharata, Book 3: Vana Parva: Arjunabhiga-mana Parva: Section XII. sacred-texts.com. Retrieved23 March 2015.

[37] The Mahabharata, Book 7: Drona Parva: Abhimanyu-badha Parva: Section LXXIX. sacred-texts.com. Re-trieved 23 March 2015.

[38] S. Lewis, John (1996). Rain of iron and ice: the veryreal threat of comet and asteroid bombardment. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. pp. 8283.

[39] Lee, Ricky J. Law and regulation of commercial miningof minerals in outer space. Dordrecht: Springer. ISBN9789400720398.

[40] de la Fuente Marcos, C.; de la Fuente Marcos, R. (Febru-ary 12, 2015). Geometric characterization of the Ar-juna orbital domain. Astronomische Nachrichten 336 (1):522. arXiv:1410.4104. Bibcode:2015AN....336....5D.doi:10.1002/asna.201412133.

[41] Gita on the Green: The Mystical Tradition BehindBagger Vance - Steven Rosen - Google Boeken.Books.google.com. 2002-05-30. ISBN 9780826413659.Retrieved 2013-08-09.

16 Bibliography Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam, ed. Indiathrough the ages. Publication Division, Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting, Government of In-dia.

13

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Arjuna Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjuna?oldid=666568079 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Bryan Derksen, Graft, Heron, Ellywa,TUF-KAT, Darkwind, Charles Matthews, Jay, Tb, Haukurth, Imc, Carlossuarez46, Robbot, Astavakra, Hemanshu, Jondel, Arun, DocWat-son42, Bkonrad, MichaelHaeckel, 20040302, Gyrofrog, Gadum, Sonjaaa, Antandrus, Ravikiran r, Mzajac, DragonySixtyseven, Mc-Cart42, Master Of Ninja, Discospinster, Brianhe, Rich Farmbrough, Forbsey, Dbachmann, Bender235, ESkog, CanisRufus, Alren, Dara,VishalB, Kwamikagami, Adambro, Bobo192, John Vandenberg, Sivaraj, Sabretooth, Sam Korn, HasharBot~enwiki, Raj2004, Lectonar,DreamGuy, Wtmitchell, R6MaY89, Sfacets, Woohookitty, Sandius, Shreevatsa, Ganeshk, Kurzon, Kosher Fan, Tabletop, Dangerous-Boy,Rameshl, Marcg106, Deltabeignet, , Ketiltrout, Koavf, Ceefour, Wikirao, Hermione1980, Margosbot~enwiki, JiFish, Gprasadh,Chobot, DaGizza, Bgwhite, Gwernol, Mercury McKinnon, YurikBot, Musicpvm, CambridgeBayWeather, Rsrikanth05, TheMandarin,Srini81, Rohitbd, Msikma, Iruka~enwiki, Welsh, Coderzombie, Number 57, Priyanath, Zzuuzz, Asnatu wiki, Bayerischermann, Mastaba-habibel, Kevin, JLaTondre, Pratheepps, DoriSmith, Tajik, RG2, A.Nath, SmackBot, MattieTK, Sze cavalry01, Frasor, Jagged 85, Kin-tetsubualo, Edgar181, Supersaiyan, Vassyana, Gilliam, Chris the speller, Pradeep adiga~enwiki, ImpuMozhi, Sisodia, Ramas Arrow,OrphanBot, Lazar Taxon, Lantrix, Karthik.raman, Neptunekh, Anoopkn, Ovshake, RandomP, Amit g v, Kukini, Zahid Abdassabur, Piz-zadeliveryboy, Rigadoun, RomanSpa, Hvn0413, Kirbytime, Optakeover, BranStark, Jijithnr, GDallimore, Tabhijeet, Bharatveer, JFor-get, Ganeshbot, CmdrObot, Dgw, Cydebot, Subravenkat, Goldfritha, Gogo Dodo, Arun athmanathan, Ghostexorcist, Thylacine222,Basantjaitly, Kaymant, Thijs!bot, CopperKettle, I do not exist, Samdlaw, Sturm55, Michael A. 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17.2 Images File:Arjuna_Slays_Karna,_page_from_a_copy_of_the_Razmnama,_Mughal_period.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/

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17.3 Content license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Etymology and other names Birth and youth Tutelage under Drona Marriage to Draupadi Burning of Khandava Vana Saving Mayasura

Arjunas Tirtha-yatra and Indraprastha Meeting Uloopi Chitrangadaa at Manipura Reaching Dwarka and Subhadra

Conquest for Rajasuya Exile Penance for Pashupatastra Urvashis curse Trial with Devastras: slaying Rakshasas at heaven Meeting Hanuman Eunuch at Viratas Kingdom

Kurukshetra War Bhagavad Gita Battles fought at Kurukshetra

Conquest for Ashvamedha Death Character of Arjuna Modern references In Modern TelevisionNotes BibliographyText and image sources, contributors, and licensesTextImagesContent license