Arjuna Leaves on a Year’s Exile
The Pandavas now settled down comfortably in their new city. Then, one day, sage Narada happened to visit Indraprastha, where he was received with great honour and respect. All the brothers prostrated themselves at the feet of the sage to seek his blessings. Then Yudhishthira called Draupadi to pay obeisance to Narada. She touched the sage’s feet and then withdrew gently to sit with her five husbands.
‘Yes, I have heard that she is wedded to all of you,’ Narada said. Then, after a pause, he added, ‘I am indeed very happy to see that you are all living together in peace and love.’ He then raised his right hand as a gesture of his blessing. ‘But I must also caution you, dear children, against the possibility of jealousy and misunderstanding creeping into your minds at some stage. Let me, for instance, share with you a similar situation. Sunda and Upasunda were two brothers who fell desperately in love with a beautiful woman, Tilottama. But after marrying her, they could not adjust themselves to the relationship. So their marriage ended on the rocks. Well, if a man can have more than one wife, why can’t a woman have more than one husband? Why should there be any discrimination between men and women? Remember that what holds a marriage together is love and understanding.’
Although a ripple of embarrassment appeared on their faces, the Pandava brothers nodded their heads in tacit understanding of what the sage had said.
After Narada left Indraprastha, they sat together to sort out their relationship with Draupadi. After some deliberation, it was agreed that although she was wife to all of them, she would have a man– woman relationship with each of the brothers for only a period of one year at a time. If during this period any brother, knowingly or unknowingly, intruded into the privacy of the other, he would have to leave Indraprastha for a year to atone for this lapse on his part. Accepting this arrangement unreservedly, they all began to live with Draupadi in peace and amity.
One day, Arjuna found himself trapped in a difficult situation. A Brahmin came to him late one evening and asked him to retrieve his three cows that had been stolen by some thieves.
‘I need your help, O illustrious prince. If you don’t help me, I will starve, without milk and butter. I’m sure you know how much sage Vasishtha adored Nandini, his cow.’
Arjuna was caught in a dilemma. Since Yudhishthira was at that time sleeping with Draupadi in his bedroom, which also served as their weaponry, he could not enter it. That would be intruding into his brother’s privacy. So, greatly perplexed, he said to the Brahmin, ‘For certain private reasons that I cannot explain to you, it is impossible for me to have access to my weapons. So, most regretfully, I must express my inability to retrieve your cows. Please forgive me for my helplessness.’
But the Brahmin did not believe him.
‘I can see that you are trying to seek refuge in some excuse. Isn’t it your duty as a Kshatriya to help a Brahmin in distress?’ Then, glowering at Arjuna, he raised the pitch of his voice and said, ‘If you don’t help me get back my cows, I will be left with no option but to curse you. So you may now choose between my blessing and my curse.’
Scared by the Brahmin’s threat, Arjuna decided to risk entering Yudhishthira’s bedroom. Since the couple was deep in sleep at that time, he was able to bring out his Gandiva and arrows. In no time, he was able to capture the thieves and retrive the Brahmin’s cows, for which he received his blessings.
But, next morning, Arjuna presented himself before Yudhishthira and narrated the entire incident.
‘In view of this grave lapse on my part, dear brother, you must give me permission to go into exile for a year.’
Yudhishthira, however, responded with a gracious smile on his face.
‘No, dear Arjuna, in that situation you had no choice. So why do you blame yourself for something over which you had no control?’
‘I can see that you are saying this out of your love for me,’ said Arjuna. ‘But I feel that a serious lapse like this cannot be condoned. So go I must.’
Very reluctantly, Yudhishthira gave him permission to go away for a year. Tearfully, his brothers bade him farewell as he walked out of the palace.
After travelling a few miles away from Indraprastha, Arjuna stopped at the bank of the Ganga for a bath. Leaving his clothes on the bank, he dived into the river. Deeper and deeper he went till he saw, to his great amazement, a beautiful young woman swimming towards him. Before he could collect himself, he heard a soft and sensuous voice: ‘I have never seen anyone so handsome. I have fallen in love with you.’
Arjuna too had come under the spell of this woman’s beauty. But before he could say anything, she asked him in the same seductive voice, ‘Who are you?’
‘I am Arjuna, one of the Pandava princes.’
‘So that explains your charisma,’ the woman cooed. ‘That regal demeanour, that glow on your face… Indeed, I should have guessed that you are a prince.’
Arjuna also asked her who she was and how she happened to live under water.
‘I am Ulupi, daughter of the king of the Nagas. I live with my father in our palace here, under the water.’ Then, bending her head coyly and looking sideways, she said: ‘Wouldn’t you like to rest your weary limbs for a night in my private chamber?’
‘No, I can’t,’ Arjuna replied, ‘because I’m bound to a pledge.’ But when he explained how he could not touch any other woman, she laughed it away.
‘That vow, O Prince, was limited only to your wife Draupadi, not any other woman. So come to me. Don’t deny yourself the gift of love, even if it is only for one night.’
As Arjuna stared at her, dumbfounded, she caught his right arm. He was now swimming behind her as if pulled by some irresistible force.
Next morning, as she bade him farewell with tears in her eyes, she said, ‘Isn’t one moment of unbounded rapture more fulfilling than a long life without love?’
From there, Arjuna proceeded towards the Himalayas and then wandered about the eastern part of the country. Since he wanted to see the entire Bharatavarsha, he now turned southward and crossed the Godavari and Kaveri rivers. But when he stopped in Manalur, its king, Chitrasena, offered him warm hospitality after he learnt that the traveller was Arjuna, the illustrious Pandava prince.
But here too, Arjuna was attracted to the king’s daughter, Chitrangada, who looked like an apsara. Her body delicate as a dove’s, her eyes sparkling like starlight, Arjuna was enthralled by her. But when he proposed to her, she said, ‘Since I am an only child of my father, I must leave the decision to him. So why don’t you ask him for my hand?’
Arjuna then approached King Chitrasena with his proposal. But he was told that he would marry his daughter to him only if he agreed to leave behind Chitrangada, and any male child she bore him.
‘This is because I’d like to have an heir to my throne,’ the king said. ‘So far the gods have denied me this boon.’
Arjuna readily accepted this condition and stayed in Manalur for about three months.
Since Arjuna had nearly completed a year’s exile, he decided to travel back northward. On his way back, he stopped in a village near Dwaraka, where he ran into Gada, an old friend who was also a cousin of Krishna. While he stayed for a couple of days at his house, Gada talked most of the time about Subhadra, Krishna’s sister. So enticing was his description of Subhadra that Arjuna fell in love with her even without seeing her. In his mind’s eye, he conjured up the image of a woman who was a blend of beauty and grace. So he decided to use every possible means to win her love.