Arjuna went into deep meditation chanting the Mantra given by sage Vyasa. He stood alone in the wilderness of the Himalayan forest fixing his mind on the divine image of Lord Siva as known to him. Arjuna left all thoughts of food or his worldly comforts. He ate the bare minimum just to retain life within the frame of his meditating body. In the beginning he ate on alternate days whatever fruit he found within reach. Then, he reduced the frequency to one meal of fruit every week and later to every month. He gave up eating fruits altogether and sustained on leaves alone. Finally, he just drank water and abstained from eating completely. In the last stage he left drinking water, too and survived on air alone.
The sages in trouble
The very Sanskrit word for meditation is Tapas which means “heating up”. It is said that severe penance with deep meditation devoid of food and drinks cause the world around and above to be heated up. Arjuna’s penance was so intense that all sages around started feeling the heat from it. They knew with their divine powers what Arjuna was after. So, they went to Lord Siva with a request to bless Arjuna without delay.
Siva to test Arjuna
The Lord smiled hearing what the sages came to say. He replied. “I am aware of Arjuna’s Tapas. I also know what the Pandava is seeking. You may go in peace as I assure you of immediate action. But, before I grant weapons with such powers I need to make sure that he deserves them. The Pandava is too proud of his fighting skills. Divine weapons are safe only in the hands of men with pure minds devoid of all such emtions.”
Arjuna under attack
It so happened that a demon by name Mooka was passing by Arjuna at that time. The demon, by nature, took all humans as enemies. He wanted to kill Arjuna and transformed himself into the form of a boar.
The Pandava was in deep meditation and was awakened to find himself under attack. Arjuna wasted no time and was about to dispatch a sharp arrow from his powerful Gandiva. Then he heard a voice asking his to stop. He turned and found a hunter chasing the same boar. The hunter was accompanied by several others. One of them was a woman, apparently his wife. The others were presumably his helpers.
The hunter said. “I have been chasing this beast. I live by hunting and this animal is rightly mine.” Ignoring the warning Arjuna dispatched his arrow to the boar. The moment his arrow pierced the animal another one, sent by the hunter, struck it from the opposite side. The fat boar fell down dead and transformed itself into its original form of demon.
Then, the hunter came angrily charging that Arjuna wrongly claimed what was his game. He dared the Pandava to try his arrow on himself and see the consequences.
An open fight
This challenge provoked the fighting spirit in the meditating Pandava. He pulled a separate arrow from his Gandiva and sent it with great power to the hunter. But, the usually unfailing arrow seemed to miss the target this time. Meanwhile, an arrow from the hunter pierced Arjuna’s frail body, weak from months of hard penance.
Arjuna wasted no time and continued to dispatch arrows one after another in quick succession. Somehow, none of them appeared to have any effect on the stout body of the hunter. Besides, Arjuna’s quiver, believed to hold an unlimited supply of arrows, soon became empty!
So, the Pandava was never the one to give up so easily under any circumstance. He rushed to the hunter and struck his head with his powerful Gandiva. But, to the horror of Arjuna, he found his famous bow split into two pieces. Arjuna tried to cut down the hunter with his word with the same result.
Left with no arms, the Pandava served blows on the hunter with his bare fists. Even that seemed not to make an impact on the enemy. But, a couple of hard blows from the enemy’s hooks drained the Pandavas of all his strength. He fell down on the ground and found himself panting for breath.
In remorse
Arjuna was in total despair. This had never happened to him in the past. He has faced much more powerful enemies and always has won with ease. Now, he has been beaten to total surrender by an insignificant forest dweller. Lying on the ground with all pride in his powers vanquished, Arjuna thought about his dear Lord, Siva. He made an image of the Lord with mud and started worshipping him with leaves he picked up from the ground. The Pandava could not believe his eyes finding the leaves disappear in the next instant. Looking around in surprise he found them duly adorning the matted hair of his tormenting enemy. Then, realization came to Arjuna. All the strange events that took place meant only one thing, that his invader was not an ordinary hunter. He prostrated before the Lord disguised as hunter and begged for pardon. The Pandava immediately sensed that it was His divine spouse, Parvathy, who stood next to the Lord.
The god’s blessing
Lord Siva ran his hands over the wounds on Arjuna’s body. The Pandavas found, not only his wounds healed, but also his strength back by the divine touch. The Lord knew what Arjuna sought. So, revealed the secret of the powerful arrow, by name Pasupata. Its secret was unknown even to other gods, let alone to human beings. The Lord warned Arjuna that it should be used only on powerful enemies, that too as the last resort. Otherwise, it could burn the whole world down.
Arjuna bowed before the mighty Siva and received the gift in reverence. The Lord disappeared from the scene after that with his divine spouse and other companions.
Gifts from other gods
Arjuna had other divine visitors immediately after Lord Siva left. The presiding deities of the four directions, Indra, of the East, Yama or South, Varuna of West and Kubera of North descended on the scene. They all blessed Arjuna with many divine weapons and disappeared. Lord Indra extended an invitation to the Pandava to his abode in heaven. He promised to send his personal chariot to Arjuna on his return.
(We come to the end of the “Chapter of the Hunter or Kairata Parvam”, here. This story has inspired many in the past. An ancient Sanskrit poet by name Bharavi wrote a grand poem based on the story. Several temples have murals and sculptures on themes from this story. Kathakali has a famous episode woven around this event .of Mahabharatam)
