Brhannala

This was the identity assumed by
Arjuna, one of the five Pandava princes,
during the year they lived incognito
after twelve years of forest exile. The
Pandavas are the heroes of the
Mahabharata, the later of the two great
Hindu epics, which details the struggle
for power between the Pandavas and
their cousins the Kauravas. At one point
in their struggle, Arjuna’s older brother,
Yudhishthira, has lost all the brothers’
freedom and possessions to the Kauravas
in a game of dice. As a penalty for this
loss, the Pandavas have to go into exile
for twelve years and spend the thirteenth
year back in society, unrecognized. It is
understood that if the brothers are discovered during that year, they will be
banished again. Arjuna, the epic’s most
heroic warrior, disguises himself as a
eunuch named Brhannala, knowing that
no one will suspect him in such guise. He
spends the year living in the women’s
quarters of the palace, singing and dancing as a eunuch. At the end of the year,
still in his eunuch’s garb, Arjuna takes
part in a great battle in which he defeats
the troops of the Kauravas.