Khandava Forest

In the Mahabharata, the later of the two
great Hindu epics, the Khandava forest
is consumed by Agni, a god whose material form is fire itself. According to the
story, Agni becomes sick and is advised
that he can only be healed by eating the
creatures in the Khandava forest, many
of whom are enemies of the gods. Agni
makes seven attempts to “eat” the forest,
but is always thwarted by the storm-god
Indra, who rescues the forest by dousing
it with rain. Agni is perplexed and solicits the help of the god Krishna and his
companion Arjuna, the world’s greatest
archer. To help Agni, Arjuna is given the
Gandiva bow and an inexhaustible
quiver of arrows. When Agni again
begins to burn the forest, Arjuna keeps
off the rain by shooting a flight of
arrows so thick that it forms a canopy
over the forest. In this way Agni is cured
of his illness.