Arjuna

Arjuna or Arjun(Sanskrit: अर्जुन, arjuna) is one of the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' (cf. Latin argentum). Arjuna was such a peerless archer that he is often referred to as Jishnu - the undefeatable. The third of the five Pandava brothers, Arjuna was one of the children borne by Kunti, the first wife of Pandu. Arjuna is considered to be an incarnation of Nara, the younger brother of Narayana. He is sometimes referred to as the 'fourth Krishna' of the Mahabharata.

Life

Arjuna or Pārtha was a master archer and played a central role in the conflict between the Pandavas and their adversaries, the sons of Dhritarashtra known as the Kauravas. Arjuna was reluctant to take part in battle because of the slaughter he knew he would cause in the enemy ranks, which included many of his own relatives. He was persuaded by his charioteer and close friend, Lord Krishna, to change his mind. Their dialogue about issues involved in war—courage, a warrior’s duty, the nature of human life and the soul, and the role of Gods—forms the subject of the Bhagavad Gita, one of the key episodes in the epic Mahābhārata. He also played the key role in killing Karna, his arch-rival, in reality an unknown brother, on the side of the Kauravas. He bears a total of ten names: Arjuna, Phalguna, Jishnu, Kiriti, Shwetvaahana, Vibhatsu, Vijaya, Pārtha, Savyasachi, and Dhananjaya.

Birth

Pandu was unable to sire a child. His first wife Kunti had, in her maiden days, received a boon from sage Durvasa, which enabled her to invoke any deity of her choice and beget a child by such deity. Pandu and Kunti decided to make use of this boon; Kunti invoked in turn Yama, Vayu and Indra and gave birth to three sons. Arjuna was the third son, born of Indra, king of the demi gods (devas).

Personality

The son of Indra, Arjuna is said to have been well-built and extremely handsome; he married four times, as detailed here. Arjuna was also true and loyal to his friends, among others the great warrior Satyaki and his cousin and brother-in-law, Sri Krishna. He was also sensitive and thoughtful, as demonstrated by his misgivings about the Kurukshetra war, which caused Sri Krishna to impart the Gita to him. His sense of duty was acute; he once chose to go into exile rather than refuse to help a brahmin subject.

The Diligent Student

It is as a warrior that Arjuna is best known. The foundation for his career as a warrior was laid young; Arjuna learned everything that his guru Dronacharya could teach him, attaining the status of "Maharathi" or outstanding warrior. A well known story about Arjuna exemplifies his powers of concentration. Guru Dronacharya once decided to test his students in their skill of archery. He hung a wooden bird from the branch of a tree and then summoned his students. He asked the first one to aim for the bird's eye but not shoot just yet. He then asked the student what the student could see. The student replied that he could see the garden, the tree, flowers, etc. Drona asked him to step aside and not shoot. He repeated the same process with a few other students. When it was Arjuna's turn, Arjuna told his Guru that the only thing he could see was the bird's eye. This satisfied the Guru and he allowed Arjuna to shoot the bird. The lesson here is the power of focus. Arjuna once noticed his brother, Bheema, who was a voracious eater, eating in the dark as though it was daylight, and realized that if he could practice archery in the dark he would be a master.

Draupadi

His skill in archery was to have an unlikely utility; it won him the hand of Draupadi, his first wife, the daughter of Drupada, king of Panchala. Drupada held a contest to choose a suitable match for his daughter. A wooden fish was suspended high above a reflective pool of oil; furthermore, the fish rotated. Contestants were required to string a heavy bow and then hit the eye of the rotating fish, but were allowed to aim only by looking at the fish's reflection in the pool of oil. Many princes and noblemen vied for the hand of the princess of Panchala. Some (including Karna) were disqualified on grounds of low birth. Although the Pandavas and their mother were in hiding at that time, Arjuna had dressed as a high-caste snaataka Brahmin and was allowed to compete. It was Arjuna, the peerless archer, who alone was able to accomplish the set task.

All the five Pandava brothers had attended the tournament without informing Kunti, their mother. They returned home in triumph, bringing the princess Draupadi with them. From outside the house, they called out: "Mother, you will never believe what we have got here! Make a guess!" Busy with her work, Kunti refused to be baited. "Whatever it is, share it between yourselves equally, and do not quarrel over the matter," she said. So seriously did the brothers take even this casual statement of their mother, that they resolved upon making Draupadi their common wife. It says something about the magnanimity of Arjuna that, having won his bride single-handedly, he 'shared' her with all his brothers willingly.Despite marrying all five brothers, Draupadi loved Arjuna the most and always favoured him, and he preferred her of all his wives.

Legend has it that Draupadi had requested of Lord Shiva, in a previous life, that she would have a husband with five desireable husbandly traits in this one. Despite being warned by Lord Shiva that this wasn't possible she insisted and the result was the separate embodiment of each of the five qualities in the five Pandava brothers. Initially Draupadi's parents didn't agree to her marriage to all the Pandavas, but when he was told of this boon, King Drupada agreed.

Adherence to his Duty

The brothers agreed upon a protocol governing their relations with Draupadi, their common wife. No brother would disturb the couple when another brother was alone with Draupadi; the penalty for doing so was exile for a year. Once, when the Pandavas were still ruling over a prosperous Indraprastha, a brahmin came in great agitation to Arjuna and sought his help: a pack of cattle-thieves had seized his herd and only Arjuna could retrieve them. Arjuna was in a dilemma: his weaponry was in the room where Draupadi and Yudhishthira were alone together, and disturbing them would incur the penalty agreed upon. Arjuna hesitated for but a moment; in his mind, coming to the aid of his subject in distress, especially a brahmin, was the raison d'etre of a prince. The prospect of exile did not deter him from fulfilling the duty of aiding the brahmin; he disturbed the conjugal couple, took up his weaponry and rode forth to subdue the cattle-thieves. Upon finishing that task, he insisted, in the teeth of opposition from his entire family, including the two people whom he had disturbed, upon going away on exile.

Marital engagements

Apart from Draupadi, Arjuna was the husband of three other ladies, Chitrāngadā, Ulupi and Subhadra. All of these events occurred during the period when he went into exile alone after having disturbed Draupadi and Yudhishthira in their private apartments.

Chitrāngadā: Arjuna traveled the length and breadth of India during his term of exile. His wanderings took him to ancient Manipur in the eastern Himalayas, an almost mystic kingdom renowned for its natural beauty. Here he met the gentle Chitrāngadā, daughter of the king of Manipura, and was moved to seek her hand in marriage. Her father the king demurred on the plea that, according to the matrilineal customs of his people, the children born of Chitrāngadā were heirs to Manipur; he could not allow his heirs to be taken away from Manipur by their father. Arjuna agreed to the stipulation that he would take away neither his wife Chitrāngadā nor any children borne by her from Manipur. A son, whom they named Babruvāhana, was soon born to the happy couple and thus became the heir to his grandfather's kingdom.

Ulupi: While Arjuna was in Manipur, Ulupi, a Naga princess of noble character, became infatuated with him. She drugged him and abducted him to her realm in the netherworld that he might become her husband, but later restored Arjuna to the lamenting Chitrāngadā. Uloopi played a very major part in the upbringing of Babruvāhana and had much influence with him; he allowed her to restore Arjuna to life after he was slain in battle by Babruvāhana.

Subhadrā: Arjuna decided to spend the last portion of his term of exile in an orchard near Dwaraka, the residence of his cousins Balarama, Krishna and Subhadrā, who were the children of his maternal uncle Vasudeva. He and his cousin Subhadrā fell in love with each other, aided by Krishna, who loved both Arjuna and Subhadrā. Knowing that the entire family would view with disfavour the prospect of Subhadrā becoming the fourth wife of her cousin Arjuna, Krishna facilitated the elopement of the couple and their departure for Indraprastha. On Krishna's advice, Subhadrā drove the chariot from Dwaraka to Indraprastha. Krishna used this fact to persuade his family that Arjuna had not abducted Subhadrā, but rather the reverse: she had kidnapped him.

A single son, Abhimanyu, was born to Arjuna and Subhadra. Parikshita, son of Abhimanyu and Uttarā, born after Abhimanyu was killed in the battlefield, was the sole surviving dynast of the Kuru clan, and succeeded Yudhistra as the emperor of the Pandava kingdom.

Gāndeeva

Shortly after his return to Indraprastha, Arjuna visited the Khandava forest with Krishna. They encountered Agni, the fire-god, who was ill from consuming ghee as one king had performed many 'yagnas' (ritual invocations with fire), thus feeding ghee to Agni. He asked Arjuna and Krishna's help in consuming the forest in its entirety to restore him to health. Takshaka the serpent-king, a friend of Indra's, resided there and Indra thus causes rain whenever Agni tries to burn his friend's home. Arjuna told Agni that he must possess a powerful unbreakable bow to withstand the power of Indra's astras. Agni invoked Varuna, and gave Arjuna the Gāndeeva, an incredibly powerful bow, which gave its user sure victory in battle and a divine chariot, with powerful white horses that do not tire and cannot be wounded by normal weapons.

Arjuna tells Agni to proceed, and fights a duel with his father which lasted several days and nights. A voice from the sky proclaims Arjuna and Krishna the victors, and tells Indra to withdraw.

Mayasabhā

In the burning of the forest, Arjuna spared one Asura, named Maya, who was a gifted architect. In his gratitude, Maya built Yudhishtra a magnificent royal hall, unparalleled in the world. It is this hall, which triggers the pinnacle of Duryodhana's envy, causing the game of dice to be played.

In exile

After Arjuna's return to Indraprastha, several crucial incidents described in the Mahābhārata took place, culminating in the exile of all the five Pandava brothers and of their common wife Draupadi. Arjuna's training during this period is particularly significant in the war to come.

Pashupata: During the fifth year of their exile, Arjuna leaves the others and proceeds to the Himalayas to do tapas to Lord Shiva, to obtain the Pashupata, Shiva's personal astra (i.e. "weapon"), one so powerful as to lack any counter-astra. Shiva, pleased with his penance, decides to test him further. He causes an asura in the shape of a wild boar to disturb Arjuna's penance. Incensed at the boar, Arjuna chases it, and shoots an arrow at it to kill. At the same instant, another arrow from the bow of a rude hunter (Shiva) also hits the boar. The hunter and Arjuna argue about whose arrow killed the boar. This leads to an intense duel between the two. The hunter deprives Arjuna of all his weapons. Arjuna, ashamed at this defeat, turns to the Shivalinga that he has been worshiping during his penance, and offers it some flowers in prayer, only to find that the flowers have magically appeared on the body of the hunter instead. Arjuna realizes the hunter's identity, and falls at Shiva's feet. Shiva grants him knowledge of the Pasupata.

After obtaining this astra, he proceeded to Indraloka (heaven), spending time with his biological father Indra, and acquiring further training from the devas. He destroys the Nivatakavachas and Kalakeyas - two powerful asura clans that resided in the skies, and menaced the gods. The clans had obtained boons from Brahma as to be undefeatable by gods. Arjuna, being a mortal man, could destroy them with his training.

Urvashi's curse: While in Indraloka, Arjuna was propositioned by the apsara (celestial danseuse) Urvashi. Urvashi had once been married to a king named Pururavas, and had borne a son named Ayus from that liaison; Ayus was a distant forebear of Arjuna, hence he regarded Urvashi as a mother. Arjuna reminded Urvashi of this connection while rejecting her advances. Urvashi got annoyed at this rejection, saying Arjuna has insulted her by spurning her advances. Urvashi rebuked Arjuna and told him that a danseuse is not concerned with earthly relations of any sort. Yet Arjuna could not overcome his scruples; "I am a child in front of you," he said. Chagrined at this response, Urvashi cursed Arjuna with impotence. Later, at Indra's behest she modified her curse to last only one year, and Arjuna could choose any one year of his life during which to suffer the life of a eunuch. This curse proved fortuitous; Arjuna used it as a very effective disguise for the period of one year when he, his brothers and Draupadi all lived incognito while in exile.

After spending 12 years in the forest, the Pandavas spent the thirteenth year of exile incognito, as stipulated by their agreement with the Kauravas, in disguise at the court of King Virāta. Arjuna made use of the curse put on him by the apsara Urvashi and chose this year in which to live the life of a eunuch. He assumed the name Brihannala. At the end of one year, Arjuna single-handedly defeated a Kaurava host that had invaded Virāta's kingdom. In appreciation of this valour, and being appraised of the true identity of the Pandavas, King Virāta offered Arjuna his daughter in marriage. Arjuna demurred on grounds of age as well as that Uttarā was like a daughter to him, owing to his having been (as a eunuch) her tutor in song and dance. He proposed that Uttarā should marry his young son Abhimanyu. This wedding duly took place; the posthumous son born of that union was destined to be the sole surviving dynast of the entire Kuru clan.

Arjuna and Hanuman

In addition to the guidance of and personal attention from Krishna, Arjuna had the support of Hanuman during the great battle of Kurukshetra.

Arjuna entered the battlefield with the flag of Hanuman on his chariot. This came about when Hanuman appeared as a small talking monkey before Arjuna at Rameshwaram, where Sri Rama had built the great bridge to cross over to Lanka to rescue Sita. Upon Arjuna's wondering out aloud at Sri Rama's taking the help of "monkeys" rather than building a bridge of arrows, Hanuman (in the form of the little monkey) challenged him to build one capable of bearing him alone. Unaware of the monkey's true identity, Arjuna accepted the challenge. Hanuman then destroyed all Arjuna's bridges, who then decided to take his own life. Vishnu appeared before them both, chiding Arjuna for his vanity, and Hanuman for making the accomplished warrior Arjuna feel incompetent. As an act of 'penitence', Hanuman agreed to help Arjuna by stabilizing and strengthening his chariot during the upcoming great battle.

Outbreak of war

Upon finishing the period of their exile, the Pandavas seek the return of their kingdom from the Kauravas, who refuse to honour the terms of the agreement. War breaks out.

The Bhagavad Gita

Krishna's elder step brother, Balarama, ruler of Dwaraka, remained neutral, as both Kauravas and Pandavas are kinsmen of the Yadavas. Krishna. Krishna became Arjuna's personal charioteer during the 18-day war and protects Arjuna upon numerous occasions from injury and death. The term "Charioteer" in connection to Krishna is interpreted as "One who guides" or "One who shows the way"; apart from protecting Arjuna from all mishap, Krishna also showed Arjuna the righteous way by revealing the Bhagavad Gita to him in the hours preceding the battle.

As the two armies fell into battle-formation and faced each other on the battlefield, Arjuna's heart grew heavy. He saw arrayed before him his own kinsfolk: the elders of his clan on whose knees he had once been dandled as a child, the very guru Dronacharya who first taught him to wield the bow all those decades ago. Will it be worthwhile, he asked himself, to annihilate his own kindred for the sake of a kingdom? Arjuna falters as the war is about to begin; he resorts to Krishna for guidance.

It is at this juncture that Lord Krishna reveals the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna. In it, Krishna deems it Arjuna's duty to struggle to uphold righteousness, without consideration of personal loss, consequence or reward; the discharge of one's moral duty, he says, supersedes all other pursuits, whether spiritual and material, in life.

The Bhagavad Gita is a record of the conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna. The relationship between Arjuna and Krishna is representative of what is ideal for all mankind: Man guided by God. The Bhagavad Gita records the Lord comforting and guiding a mortal who is facing a terrible moral crisis, and is an important scripture in Hinduism.

Arjuna's Military and non-Military expeditions

Soon after the completion of Military Education

The Mahabharata mentioned Arjuna made many journeys. After completing his education in military science from preceptor Drona, Arjuna set forth to north and north west, to proclaim his skills as the greatest bowman in the world. (MBh 1.141). He defeated King Vipula and King Sumitra of Sauvira and a Yavana (Indo-Greek) king in these expedition.

Arjuna's Pilgrimage

Arjuna reached the source of river Ganga traveled along the Gangatic plain to reach the eastern ocean near Vanga and Kalinga, then traveled south along the coast and back up the western shore to Prabhasa near Dwaraka where he fell in love with Subhadra, the sister of Vasudeva Krishna. At the source of the Ganga he met the Naga princess Ulupi. At Manipura, he met princess Chitrangata. He beget a son named Iravat upon Ulupi and another son named Vabhruvahana upon Chitrangata. Subhadra's son Abhimanyu was Arjuna's most dearest son.

Arjuna's Military Expedition to North for Rajasuya

Arjuna mounted a military expedition to collect tribute from northern kings for the Rajasuya sacrifice of King Yudhisthira, his elder brother. On this expedition, he allied with the powerful king Bhagadatta, a former friend of Arjuna's father Pandu. He subjugated many kings like Vrihanta of Uluka kingdom, Modapura, Vamadeva, Sudaman, Susankula, the Northern Ulukas. He camped at Devaprastha, the city of Senavindu after defeating it. He then defeated king Viswagaswa and Paurava. He then marched against the seven tribes of Utsava sanketa. He defeated the kingdom of Kashmira and king Lohita. Then Trigartas attacked him with their allies. Arjuna defeated them. (This could have turned them to enemies who would later revenge upon Arjuna during Kurukshetra War. Arjuna went far north west to attack the city of Simhapura (a Kamboja city). He defeated Kambojas and Lohas and their allies. (This later resulted in Kamboja's turning against Arjuna during Kurukshetra War. Arjuna then followed the route along Sindhu river leading to Tibet. He defeated the northern Rishikas and Kimpurushas under king Durmaputra and Harataka a kingdom of Yakshas (Guhakas). He subjugated them by diplomacy. He later reached the Manasa lake surrounded by Gandharva hamlets and defeated all of them. He then entered the northern Harivarsha (Uttara Kuru Kingdom). Arjuna was asked to return from this place since there cannot be war there.

Other expeditions

During the time of Pandava exile into woods, Arjuna left his other brothers and embarked on a journey to the Himalayas to meditate upon lord Siva. He obtained celestial weapons from Siva. From there he was taken by Indra into the domains of Devas (assumed to be in Tibet, beyond the Yaksha and Gandharva territories surrounding Kailas range and Manasa lake). He took part in several wars that took place in this region between Devas and a group of Asuras called Nivatakavachas. Arjuna is mentioned as helping Devas to fight against the Nivatakavachas (who dwells near the sea). A lengthy passage (Mbh 3. 166 to 3. 173) mentions how Arjuna went into the wonderful cities in the enemy territory and raided an Asura city named Hiranyapura, destroying it.

After the Kurukshetra War, Arjuna set for yet another expedition, for collecting tribute for king Yudhisthira's Ashwamedha sacrifice (MBh 14.82 to 14.87).

The Kurukshetra war

Thus fortified in his belief of the righteousness of his chosen course of action, Arjuna takes up arms and essays a important role in the winning of the war by the Pandavas.

The slaying of Karna

Arjuna killed his maternal brother Karna, another formidable warrior who was fighting in aid of the Kauravas against the Pandavas, not realizing their relationship. Karna and Arjuna form a terrible rivalry when Karna sought to revenge himself upon Arjuna's guru and the princely order for his humiliation. Arjuna is further provoked when Karna insulted him and Draupadi and has an indirect role in the murder of Arjuna's son Abhimanyu in battle. Arjuna helps his brother Bhima kill Karna's son just before the previous day of Abhimanyu's death. They both bring this terrible and personal rivalry to a climactic battle of terrifying proportions. For a long, long time, powerful weapons are discharged by the two warriors at terrifying pace without relent. The prowess and courage of both is marveled by the millions of other soldiers. Karna, knowing that he cannot kill Arjuna by any means, takes out his snake arrow to kill Arjuna and he knows that he cannot use the snake arrow again since he has promised his mother Kunti.

He uses this snake arrow against Arjuna but the snake Aswasena, whose mother was killed by Arjuna, entered the arrow. Lord Krishna saves his friend and devotee Arjuna at this crucial juncture. Then Arjuna becomes mad with anger and shame and rained innumerable arrows at Karna. Krishna urged Arjuna to kill Karna when he is attempting to raise his chariot, reminding him of Karna's own lack of mercy and regard for the rules of war in the brutal killing of Arjuna's son Abhimanya. Arjuna thus kills Karna. In the end Karna's sins doom him, marking another instance in the Mahābhārata of how an individual's actions serve to mark his destiny, and the need to lead a virtuous life.

The slaying of Jayadratha

In another memorable battle, Arjuna annihilated a whole akshouhini (109,350) of Kaurava soldiers in one day to avenge the entrapment and murder of his son Abhimanyu, by the Kaurava Army. Having pledged to enter the fire if he failed to kill the Sindhu king Jayadratha, whom he held responsible, by the end of the day, Arjuna slew the army. In the climactic moment at sunset, thousands of warriors still separate Arjuna and Jayadratha. Seeing his friend's plight, the Lord Krishna, his charioteer, raises his Sudarshana Chakra to cover the Sun, faking a sunset. The Kaurava warriors rejoice over Arjuna's defeat and imminent death, and Jayadratha is exposed in a crucial moment. Arjuna released a powerful arrow that decapitates Jayadratha. Jayadratha's father, the sinful king, Vridhakshtra, had laid a spell on his son so that anyone who caused the son's head to fall to the ground would cause the father's own head to burst. Jayadratha's head flew from the arrow to his own father's hands, who was meditating near the battlefield; the father, in his shock drops the head and himself dies of his own blessing.

After the War

After the conclusion of the war, the Pandavas take charge of Hastinapura, the undivided realm of their ancestors. Their great victory, the wide support they gained for their cause and the defeat of the many kings who had supported the Kauravas, all unite to make them feel that the time is right to hazard the performance of the Asvamedha Yagna, or "horse sacrifice", to grant them the title of Chakravarti ("Emperor"). The sacrifice required that after preliminary rituals, a horse is let loose to wander where it will. The kings upon whose lands the horse wanders all have a choice: they may either accept the master of the horse as their own liege lord and offer their submission to him, or they may resist. Arjuna led the armed host which followed the horse around its random wanderings. He receives the submission of many kings, either without or following an armed confrontation. He was thus instrumental in the expansion of the Pandava domains. His war campaign into the Uttarapatha resulted in the reduction of over thirty tribes/Kingdoms including those of Pragjyotisha, Uluka, Modapura, Vamadeva, Sudaman, Susankula, Northern Uluka, Puru kingdom of Viswagaswa, Utsava-Sanketa, Lohita, Trigarta, Darava, Abhisara, Kokonada, Ursa, Simhapura, Suhma, Sumala, Balhika, Darada, Kamboja. After subjugating the robber tribes of the mountains, Arjuna went to the Transoxiana region (Sakadvipa or Scythia) and conquered the Lohas, Parama Kambojas, Northern Rishikas (or Parama Rishikas), Limpurushas, Haratakas, Gandharvas and the Uttarakurus.

The Pandava brothers decide, at an advanced age, to renounce the world. They entrust the kingdom to Parikshita, the son of Abhimanyu and grandson of Arjuna. The Pandavas, including Arjuna, then retire to the Himalayas and depart the world.

Contrast with Karna

There are many parallels between Arjuna and Karna. Both were master archers, and competed for Draupadi's hand. A deeper connection lies in the fact that the two felt strong ties to the Kaurava side, both through friendship and through blood. Karna's ride with Krishna is very similar to the Sacred Bhagavad Gita, in which Krishna reminded Arjuna of his duty. Their decisions, along with the consequences to themselves and their families, are used to emphasize the importance of following duty, as Krishna expounded.

Arjuna serves as an excellent example of a diligent student, epitome of concentration and skillful individual who was blessed and protected with more boons because of Lord Krishna's attachment towards him. The blemish to his name is his helping his brother Bhima to kill Karna's son, killing of Bhisma pittamah with the help of Shikhandi and making his brother Yudhistra to tell a lie which resulted in brutual killing of his guru Drona.

Other Names of Arjuna

• Partha (son of Pritha, another name for Kunti).
• Jishnu (the Irrepressible)
• Kiriti (Shining Diadem, which was gifted by Indra)
• Shwethavahana (one of Shining Steeds)
• Bheebhatsu (the Fair Fighter)
• Vijaya (the Victorious)
• Phalguna (one born under the asterism "Uttara Phalguna")
• Savyasachi (one capable of working a bow with either hand)
• Dhananjaya (winner of Great Wealth)
• Gandeevi (the owner of Gandeeva, his bow)
• Krishna (the dark-skinned one, named by Pandu out of his admiration of Krishna)
• Kapidhwaja (With the Monkey banner) as Hanuman sat on his banner. It is mentioned that his banner was of a monkey even before the great war.
• Gudakesha (conqueror of sleep, given in childhood itself, after he started practising archery skills in the dead of night)

References

External links

• http://mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/arjuna.htm
• Summary and Complete translation of Mahabharata