9 Lesser Known Facts about Arjuna

Great Souls
by Jessee R - May 4, 2015

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Arjuna is one of the protagonists of Mahabharata Epic. He was fearless, brave and brilliant in archery. He was the third among the Pandvas. Pandu and Kunti were
his father and mother respectively. The conversation between Arjuna and Krishna during the war is very much renowned as Bhagavad Gita. He had four wives.
Draupadi, Uloopi, Chitrangada and Krishnas sister Subhadra. Arjuna was the beloved student of Dronacharya. He was very fond of him. Drona secretly worshiped
Arjunas brilliancy in archery.
Arjuna means shining. He had several other names like Phalguna, Partha, Vijaya, Swetashan, Dhanjanjaya, Juishnu, Sarvasaji, Bhibatsu and Gandivadhari.

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Here we are uncovering some lesser known facts about Arjuna from Mahabharata.

1. Arjuna Once Rise up to Kill Yudhishtira

Yudhishtira is the eldest of all the other Pandavas. He never wanted to be in a part of any evil things. But there was no their ways than a war to get their rights. So
Yudhishtira also fought in the war. Maybe he fought half- mindedly. One day, Yudhishtira had to fight with Karna. Karna was very skillful in firing arrows. He could
have even defeated Arjuna. Anyway, Yudhishtira was defeated badly in the war between two of them. He was wounded and humiliated. The Dharmaputra instantly
wanted the death of Karna.
He called Arjuna and told all the incidents. But it seemed Arjuna had no interest in taking revenge against Karna. This made Yudhishtira angry. He couldnt think that
Arjuna stayed inactive after hearing the failure of his elder brother. Hence, he started using sarcastic words. Yudhishtira also asked him what the use of Gandiva was.
At this point, Arjuna couldnt tolerate. He took his bow to kill Yudhishtira. Suddenly Krishna reached this place. Arjuna told Krishna that he had taken an oath that he
would kill anyone who blamed his Gandiva. Krishna strongly offended it and said humiliation was equal to murder. Thus, Arjuna humiliated Yudhishtira not to break
his pledge.

2. A Kirata Defeated Arjuna

Arjuna is known as the undefeatable warrior in the world. We heard no stories about the failure of Arjuna. But he had failed once before a man from the woods or a
Kirata. The Kurukshetra battle was all set to begin. Indra was very concerned about the safety of his son, Arjuna because Karna was his rivalry. He knew that Karna
could have defeated the middle man of Pandava. So Indra went to Karna in the appearance of a Brahmin. He asked Karnas Kavacha which was innately given to him
by birth. Nevertheless, Karna couldnt disappoint anyone who wanted anything from him. Therefore, using a sword he separated it from his body and gave it to him.
In return, Indra gave him the most powerful weapon, Vajrayudha.
Indra said this to Arjuna. And added that he wanted Pashupatastra from Lord Shiva in order to compete with Vajra. Because it had such a destruction power. So
Arjuna went to penance Shiva and left his family. While he was in meditation, a Kirata reached his place and challenged Arjuna. Kirata and Arjuna intervened in a
harsh war. At last, the Kirata won. The Pandava knew that no ordinary forest- man could beat him. Soon he realized that it was Lord Shiva himself by seeing an
offering he made to Shiva on his head. Shiva praised his skills and gifted him with the Pashuatastra. After that, some other Devas like Kubera, Yama, Varuna and
Indra came to give him their weapons.

3. He was a Skillful Dancer also

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Arjuna was once in Amaravathi (the place of Indra). He went there accepting an invitation from his father. It was really the heaven. There were world beauties,
Urvashi, Menaka, Rambha, and Tilothama. Four of them entertained Arjuna with their performance. He also got to eat many tasty dishes from there. At this time, he
was interested in singing and dancing. Chitrasena, a Gandharva taught him both of it. He was a brilliant learner. So he by hearted all that his teacher taught.
There was a huge dance performance by Urvashi in front of Arjuna and all other Devas in Indraloka. After that performance, she approached Arjuna with a sexual
desire. But Arjuna was not attracted by her. Moreover, he saw her in the place of mother. So he addressed her as the mother. This was a huge humiliation for
Urvashi. She became furious and cursed him that he would live as a eunuch for one year. Arjuna became terrified to hear this. Then Agastya told him that it would
become a boon when they were living in exile. That happened. They lived in Viratas palace without revealing their identity. At that time, Arjuna became Brihandala,
the dance teacher of Uthara (the daughter of King Virata).

4. Meeting with Hanuman

Before the battle set in, Arjuna made a long journey for collecting all powerful weapons. During the saga, he reached the place of Ramasetu at Dhanushkodi. Many
Vanaras hard worked to make it a reality. There were Hanuman also. So he pompously told Hanuman that if Rama was a great archer, why did he seek the help of
Vanaras? He could have built a strong bridge of arrows using his skill in firing arrows. Hanuman couldnt tolerate this. He challenged Arjuna to make one. Hanuman
asked him to build a bridge enough only for himself. Arjuna thought this would be an easy task.
He made a bridge which could bear more the weight of Hanuman. But Arjuna failed. The strong bridge saw the soil soon after Hanuman put his single feet onto it.
Hanuman made use of the god- given strength to teach Arjuna a lesson. He made much stronger bridges. But thestory was not different. He made use of divine and
powerful weapons while wondering why this was happening. But no arrows could bear the weight of Hanuman and all broke down. Soon, Krishna reached the place
and touched the next- built bridge once. Then asked Hanuman to be on top of it. But this time it was not broken down. Hanuman was sure that this was Rama. So he
started praising him. Arjuna thanked him. After this incident, Hanuman promised Arjuna to be his flag- sign during the whole Kurukshetra war. That made Arjuna
even more powerful.

5. No Amphibious Creatures could Defeat Arjuna

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At the time when Arjuna was living in exile, he was badly intoxicated. It happened while he was taking a bath. At the same time, there came a beautiful Naga
princess, Uloopi. She was attracted to Arjuna. Arjuna was young, beautiful and he could attract any girl with his charisma. But at the time of their meeting, Arjuna
was unconscious. He was badly affected by the poison.
Uloopi used a boon given by the Goddess of Ganga to make Arjuna alive. It was Mritasanjeevani. After regaining consciousness, Arjuna was asked to marry her. But
he tried to defend saying he was living in exile. But it didnt matter to her. She wanted him as her life partner. At last, Arjuna agreed. Thus, Uloopi gave her a boon
that he would not be defeated by any amphibious creatures.
Uloopi came to rescue Arjuna from troubles many a times. She redeemed him from the attack of Babruvahana and the curse of Vasus.

6. Arjuna Freed Varga and Her Friends from a Curse

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This incident also happened when he was living in exile. He reached an Asram during his journey. There were many Sages living. After reaching there, he was
surrounded by the Rishis. They said that they could not bathe or perform rituals as there was a cruel crocodile living in the nearby lake. They requested him to find a
solution for this. Arjuna decided to kill the crocodile.
So Arjuna came into the lake. As they said, there was a crocodile. He was not afraid of it. Because Arjuna had a boon from his wife, Uloopi not to get wounded or
defeated by amphibians. Arjuna fought with it and pulled it to the land. Suddenly, the crocodile became a women. She was cursed to be a crocodile. She also added
that once she and her friends disturbed a sage. The furious sage cursed them to be crocodiles. Her name was Varga. After rescuing her from the curse, Arjuna was
requested to rescue her friends also. He accepted the request and freed Saurabha, Budbuda, Lata and Samichi from the curse.

7. Drona Took a Thumb for Arjuna

We already made you aware about the story of Ekalavya. He was a tribal prince who wanted to become a great warrior. He was humiliated by the Great Guru Drona
because he was not from a Kshatriya dynasty. But he couldnt pluck out Drona from his mind. Ekalavya already saw him as his Guru. Without being disappointed, he
made a statue of Drona with clay and started practicing in front of it. The burning thirst of knowledge and passion to learn made him a great archer.
Once Drona was able to find the brilliance of Ekalavya in archery. He saw the statue also. He was not pleased. Instead, he became worried. Dronas mind travelled
crooked roots. He asked Guru Dakshin from Ekalavya. He was very happy hearing this. The poor boy thought Drona was pleased. But the story was different. Drona
wanted his thumb. Without being hesitated, he gave him what he asked.
Why he asked it? Because he feared that Ekalvya could ever beat Arjuna. Arjuna was the most beloved student of Drona. He did not want anyone defeat Arjuna.
Thumb is the most wanted finger in archery. One could not fire arrows without using thumb. So Drona asked it to make Ekalavya disable and Arjuna, undefeatable.

8. Arjuna Broke the Dharma of Battle Sometimes

One should keep dharma while fighting. It was not fair to apply weapons upon a warrior without any weapon. Every warrior was taught the Yudha Dharma while
they learned. Arjuna also learned it. But he denies it sometimes to kill his enemies.
Bhishma was the leader of Kaurava army. No one could ever beat Bhishma. Days passed in the war and no winners nor losers. Pandava wanted Bhishma to fall off.
But he stood like a mountain, made many destructions to the Army of Pandava. So they brought Shikhandi, a eunuch (child of Drupada) into the battle field. They
sent him to fight against Bhishma. But there was Arjuna hiding behind him. Bhsihma threw his weapon saying he would not fight with a eunuch. But Shikhandi did
not stop fighting. At the time Bhishma became weaponless, Arjuna successively fired many arrows which was against the Dharma of war. Hence, he fell down.

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After the falling of many Maharatha, Karna took charge as the Senapati. He and Arjuna had rivalry from their childhood. Both of them started fighting. It was a
furious war ever in the history of Mahabharta. Both knew same weapons and also how to defend it. Time passed by, no one won. But soon, Karnas chariot wheel
was lowered into the mud by a Brahmin curse. So he said Arjuna that he was going to raise it and not fire arrows as it was against Yudha Dharma. He descended
from the chariot and tried hard to raise it.
Krishna asked Arjuna to kill him. Because he would not get a better time than this. Arjuna was hesitated. But at last, he chopped his head. He would not have done
this. We can surely say that if Karna was in the place of Arjuna, he would not take his weapon to kill the unarmored man whoever was the adviser be.

9. Arjuna Saved Drona from the Attack of a Crocodile

One day, the teacher of Pandava and Kaurava was caught by a crocodile. He was a brave warrior. So he could easily fight with it to rescue himself. But he wanted
test his students. Hence, he screamed loudly for help. His students reached the place by hearing their Gurus cry. Everyone was terrified to see the scene. Maybe they
thought that the crocodile was very powerful, so that their Guru couldnt defeat it. All of them stood paralyzed. Drona was disappointed to see this.

But soon, Arjuna took his bow and fired many arrows against the crocodile. Hence, it left Drona and died. Drona was very pleased to see this. He could sure that
Arjuna was the brilliant among all his hundred and five students. So he gave him the Brahmastra, the most powerful weapon mentioned in the Mahabharata.

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