Week 11 Storytelling: Arjuna the Archer

Arjuna took a deep breath and stood up when his name was called. He went by the name of Karan since he was disguised as a Brahmin after he and his brothers had escaped the trap fire set by Duryodhana. Arjuna slowly walked up to where the magnificent bow lay, nervous but confident at the same time. This bow was the talk of legends! No one had managed to string the bow yet, let alone shoot it at a moving target. If he could do it, HE’D be the talk of legends AND he’d win Draupadi, the daughter of King Drupada.

All day, Arjuna had watched countless men walk up to the bow confident as can be and struggle to even pick it up! Only a few had been able to actually pick it up and attempt to string it and no one had successfully strung the bow yet. Arjuna placed his hand on the bow and a strange sensation washed over his body. It felt as if he and the bow were meant to be, that this bow had a special connection with him. With this feeling surging through him, Arjuna knew he could win the competition. He easily picked up the bow and proceeded to string it. The string was taut and hard to stretch out to its full length. It took all of Arjuna’s strength to pull the string long enough to reach both ends of the bow to hook it on. He finally managed to do it and the string snapped into place with a nice click! The crowd stared on in amazement and wondered how such a normal Brahmin like himself had managed to do something that had yet to be accomplished.

Now came the easy part for Arjuna as he had never doubted his ability to shoot down his target. He thought back to his training with Drona and let that be his motivation to succeed. The tricky part was aiming correctly because the objective of this test was to shoot the spinning target by looking at the reflection of it through a puddle of water. Arjuna stood up feeling powerful as ever and the crowd looked on in awe, as if they could feel the power emanating from him. He aimed his bow upwards toward the target and looked downward into the puddle to stabilize his aim. Once ready, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and shot the arrow.

He opened his eyes to the crowd gasping in awe and cheering for him. He had done it! King Drupada walked up to him with his beautiful daughter following right behind him.

“What a show you have put on!” he roared with a huge smile on his face. “You are fit to be the husband of my daughter now. Do you accept?” he asked.

Arjuna said yes and the crowd cheered and whistled for the two! From this day on, Arjuna was known as the mighty archer and his tale lives on forever!

Author’s Note: I chose to write about this scene because Arjuna is one of my favorite characters when it comes to Indian Epics. I thought this scene accurately portrayed Arjuna’s excellence in archery and I just wanted to tell it in my own words. The ease with which Arjuna accomplished this major feat should be noted because everyone who attempted prior to Arjuna failed miserably. This section is also the reason how Draupadi ends up marrying the Pandavas.

I told this story more from a scene I had seen in a television series that was a rendition of the Mahabharata. I thought it was more interesting than the book in my opinion although they were similar. I kind of see it as Arjuna’s starting tale to glory and fame! He’s known for his skills in archery and war and this is a good portrayal of those characteristics that he possesses in my opinion.

I chose this image for my story because I thought it was a very intriguing portrayal of Draupadi’s swamyavara. The fish spinning on that wheel was how the target was portrayed in the television rendition that I saw. It doesn’t show the puddle of water however, that Arjuna uses to aim at the target.

Bibliography: Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.

Arjuna wins Draupadi; Wikimedia Commons