Arjuna

The third of the five Pandava brothers in
the Mahabharata, the later of the two
great Hindu epics. Arjuna is born when
his mother, Kunti, uses a powerful
mantra to have a son by Indra, the king
of the gods.
Arjuna is the prototypical kshatriya
warrior-king. He is described as peerless
in battle, a hero ever ready to defend the
truth, and a person always faithful to his
word—but at times arrogant, egocentric, quick to anger, and inclined to use
force to settle disputes.
Arjuna is most famous as an archer,
as which he has no equal. When he and
his brothers are studying archery with
their teacher Drona, Arjuna outshines
them all with his dedication and ability,
but his spiteful side can be seen in the
story of Ekalavya. Ekalavya is a tribal
boy who wants to learn archery from
Drona, the royal archery teacher, but is
refused because of his low birth.
Undaunted, Ekalavya makes a clay
image of Drona, treats it as his teacher
(guru), and through his assiduous practice and his devotion to his guru
becomes the most skilled archer on
earth. When Arjuna discovers this, he
becomes jealous and complains to
Drona, since the teacher has promised
Arjuna that no one will surpass him as
an archer. Drona asks Ekalavya how he
has become so skillful, and when he
learns that Ekalavya has worshiped
Drona’s image as his guru, Drona notes
that he is entitled to a preceptor’s fee
(dakshina). As his fee he requests
Ekalavya’s right thumb, a gift that will
considerably diminish Ekalavya’s
shooting abilities since its loss will
impair his ability to draw a bow.
Ekalavya fulfills Drona’s wish without
hesitation but from that day on he is no
longer better than Arjuna.
Another instance of Arjuna’s narrowmindedness comes in his claim that
another great rival, Karna, cannot compete in a royal shooting competition
because Karna is a foundling, and his
lineage is thus unknown. Karna is a
close companion of Arjuna’s cousin
Duryodhana, and because of this insult
the relations begin to deteriorate
between the Pandavas and the
Kauravas, the two branches of this
extended family. The final result is the
fratricidal civil war that is the climax of
the epic.
Throughout the Mahabharata,
Arjuna is associated with numerous
heroic exploits. To fulfill a promise given
to his teacher Drona, Arjuna defeats
King Drupada, who has earlier insulted
Drona. Through a feat of archery, he
wins the hand of Draupadi by drawing a
bow that others cannot even lift and
then hits a target suspended in the air.
He aids the fire god, Agni, in the burning
of the Khandava forest. He shields Agni
from the rain by creating a tent of arrows
that keeps the forest covered. During the
year that the Pandavas spend incognito,
after twelve years of exile in the forest,
Arjuna takes the guise of the eunuch
Brhannala and in this guise wins a great
battle against the Kauravas.
His greatest exploits occur during the
epic’s climactic eighteen-day war, in
which he defeats the Kaurava armies,
fights all their major figures, and finally
53
Arjuna
kills his long-standing adversary Karna,
who is actually his own half brother.
After destroying the Kauravas in
the Mahabharata war, Arjuna serves
his elder brother, Yudhishthira,
who becomes king; after the conflict,
however, the need for such a warrior
has passed.
Arjuna is also known as a listener. At
the moment when the great war is about
to begin, Arjuna has sudden doubts
about the propriety of killing his friends
and relatives, even during a just war. To
allay his doubts and to help him regain
his resolve, his charioteer Krishna
recites the Bhagavad Gita, one of the
single most influential Hindu religious
texts. The Gita’s advice on the nature of
Self, struggle, and the search for God has
served to counsel those fighting literal
and metaphorical battles, most notably
Mohandas K. Gandhi during the struggle
for Indian independence.