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.
