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अर्जुनवनवासपर्वन् (arjunavanavAsaparvan)

 
Mahabharata
English
Arjunavanavāsaparvan (“the section relating to Arjuna's dwelling in the wood, ” the 16th of the minor parvans of Mhbhr.). § 247: The Pāṇḍavas continued to reside there, and by their prowess they brought many kings under their sway, and on account of their virtue the whole race of the Kurus grew in prosperity. After some time robbers lifted the cattle of a brahman, who then repaired to Khāṇḍavaprastha and reproved the Pāṇḍavas. Arjuna heard it
but the chamber where the Pāṇḍavas had their weapons being then occupied by Yudhishṭhira with Kṛshṇā, Arjuna was obliged to violate the established rule by entering the chamber. Then, armed with the bow and attired in mail and riding on his war-chariot decked with flagstaffs, he pursued the thieves and compelled them to give up the booty. Then, notwithstanding Yudhishṭhira's objections, he went to the forest to live there for twelve years (I, 213).--§ 248: Arjuna set out followed by brahmans conversant with the vedas and vedāṅgas and devoted to the contemplation of the Supreme Spirit (adhyātmacintakāḥ), by mendicants (bhaikshāḥ) devoted to Bhagavat (Bhagavadbhaktāḥ), by reciters of the Purāṇas (sūtāḥ Paurāṇikāḥ), and by reciters of sacred stories (divyākhyānāni), etc., and settled at Gaṅgādvāra, where the brahmans performed innumerable agnihotras. One day when Arjuna had performed his ablutions in the Gaṅgā, and offered the oblations of water to his deceased ancestors, and when he was about to rise up from the stream desirous of performing his sacrificial rites before the fire, he was drawn away to the bottom of the water by Ulūpī, the daughter of the Nāga king Kauravya of the lineage of Airāvata, urged by the god of desire. There he saw a sacrificial fire, where he performed his sacrificial rites, by which Agni was much gratified. Ulūpī persuaded him that it was a greater merit to give himself up to her than to keep the vow of a brahmacārin, and having spent the night there, he in the morning, accompanied by Ulūpī, came back to Gaṅgādvāra. Ulūpī, taking leave of him there, said that he would be invincible in water (I, 214).--§ 249: Then he set out towards the Himavat and came to Agastyavaṭa and the mountain of Vasishṭha
in Bhṛgutuṅga he bestowed many thousands of kine, etc., on brahmans and visited many tīrthas (especially all those in Aṅga, Vaṅga, and Kaliṅga). At the gate of the kingdom of Kaliṅga the brahmans desisted from following him further
he crossed Kaliṅga, beheld the Mahendra mountain adorned with the ascetics, and went to Maṇipūra, proceeding slowly along the seashore. There he married Citrāṅgadā, the daughter of king Citravāhana (b), and dwelt there for three years. When Citrāṅgadā had given birth to a son, Arjuna set out on his wanderings again (I, 215).--§ 250: Then Arjuna went to the tīrthas at the southern ocean. There five tīrthas were shunned on account of five crocodiles that seized the devotees: Agastyatīrtha, Saubhadra, Pauloma, Kārandhama (giving the results of a horse-sacrifice), and Bhāradvāja's tīrtha. Arjuna plunged into the Saubhadra (so called after a maharshi), and was seized by a crocodile, which he dragged to the shore. It then became the apsaras Vargā, the friend of Dhanapati (Kubera). When she with her four companions (Saurabheyī, Samīcī, Vudvudā, and Latā), going to the abode of Kubera, had in vain tempted an ascetic brahman, that brahman had cursed them, saying that they should become crocodiles for 100 years (I, 216). Vargā said: “As we asked the ṛshi to grant us pardon, he said: ‘100 and 100, 000 are all indicative of eternity
but the words 100 as employed by me is to be understood as a limited period
you will be delivered by an exalted individual, and those waters shall become sacred and purifying under the name of Nārītīrthāni.’ The devarshi Nārada directed us to these lakes, and said that Dhanañjaya (i.e. Arjuna) would soon deliver us.” Arjuna then also delivered the other four apsarases. Then he proceeded to Maṇipūra to see Citrāṅgadā
with her he had begotten king Babhruvāhana. Then he proceeded towards Gokarṇa (I, 217).--§ 251: Then Arjuna visited the tīrthas on the shores of the western ocean, and arrived at Prabhāsa. There Madhusūdana (= Kṛshṇa) visited him, and he and Arjuna, who were the ṛshis Nara and Nārāyaṇa, sported there for some time. Then they went to the Raivataka mountain, after Kṛshṇa had caused this mountain to be well adorned by many artifices
there he saw the performances of the actors and the dancers. The next morning they set out for Dvārakā, welcomed by the Bhojas, Vṛshṇis, and Andhakas. There he dwelt in the mansion of Kṛshṇa for many days (I, 218).