My trials, tribulations, triumphs and more... - Arjuna.

Prologue

In this story, I'm trying to write the events of Mahabharat from the perspective of Arjuna, the protagonist of the epic Mahabharat.

Arjuna has always been my hero and inspiration. I don't know the reason but have always felt some kind of connection with Arjuna. For as long as I remember, have always admired and have had immense respect for Arjuna, and would like to think that may be I was a soldier in his army or his student:) during Mahabharat times. Whatever it is, he was and will always be my hero and inspiration.

There are various facets of Arjuna that I admire, he was not only an exceptional and feared warrior but also a very noble, sensitive, intelligent and kind hearted person. He was extremely focused and dedicated to his art and was always willing to learn something new to enhance his skills. He was consistently brilliant throughout his life, and his exploits were never a flash in the pan. In my view, this amazingly consistent brilliance throughout his life is what separates Arjuna from the rest of the mortals. Also, he exhibited high level of restraint, and always acted responsibly.

Arjuna was a well rounded dynamic personality, who not only excelled in warfare, but was extremely good at arts too, had sound knowledge of Vedas, was a nature lover who roamed around the forests/mountains, loved to have fun, had good sense of humour. Hard to find anyone in the epic have such kind of dynamic personality as Arjuna, with the only exception being that of Lord Krishna. Arjuna was a charismatic personality, who mesmerized and swept beauties of his time off their feet.

Arjuna was supremely confident of his abilities and skills, which sometimes was misconstrued as arrogance and pride but in reality he was very humble. He was a calm and composed character and rarely prone to outbursts. He was deeply sensitive and emotional individual but most of the times restrained in expressing himself freely, except in the company of his friend, guide and philosopher Lord Krishna.

Arjuna had a close and deep friendship with Lord Krishna, and they used to spend lots of time together. Lord Krishna at various instances in the epic reiterates his immense love and friendship for Arjuna. He mentions at one instance in the epic that, "Those, who love Arjuna, love Him; those who hate Arjuna, hate Him"; May be Lord Krishna anticipated some modern renditions/serials would portray Arjuna in bad/negative light, and he gave explicit warning there? Who knows, Kanha is always mischievous and mysterious...

I got inspired to write this story after reading some amazing books/articles on Arjuna by various authors like Dr.Sweety Shinde (author of 'Arjun: Without A Doubt'), Debashis Chatterjee (author of 'Invincible Arjuna'), Maggi Lidchi-Grassi (author of 'The Great Golden Sacrifice of the Mahabharata'), BORI Critical Edition (translated by Bibek Debroy), Kishore Mohan Ganguli, Lakshmi Telidevara (author of various articles/stories on Arjuna) etc.

Arjuna did not brood over destiny and fate, instead took the challenges of life head-on without any complaints and emerged stronger. He was like a man on a mission.

After seeing some TV serials, reading some blogs/articles recently, which portray the great hero Arjuna in a negative/bad light, I thought may be it was time to write something which sheds some true light on this glorious hero from my perspective.

Disclaimer:

I read a lot, and it helps me unwind and forget everything else. I love to read anything that interests me, be it mythology, thrillers, sensitive/emotional portrayals, biographies, and so on. But, I have never written any story/book so far. This is my first attempt, hence it is bound to have many mistakes, so please pardon those.

This is a fictional story (but will try my best to retain the spirit of the epic wherever I could fit in, as per BORI/ KMG renditions) and if this story in anyway offends you, then I apologise in advance and it was not my intention to do so. If you disagree with any of the viewpoints, then please ignore the story.

True greatness of Arjuna can be gauged by the below verses from the Bhagavad Gita itself.

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, Verse 78:

yatra yogeśhvaraḥ kṛiṣhṇo yatra pārtho dhanur-dharaḥ

tatra śhrīr vijayo bhūtir dhruvā nītir matir mama

Translation:

Wherever there is Shree Krishna, the Lord of all Yoga, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be unending opulence, victory, prosperity, and righteousness. Of this, I am certain.

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 10, Verse 37:

vṛiṣhṇīnāṁ vāsudevo 'smi pāṇḍavānāṁ dhanañjayaḥ

munīnām apyahaṁ vyāsaḥ kavīnām uśhanā kaviḥ

Translation:

Of the descendants of Vrsni I am Vasudeva (Lord Krishna), and of the Pandavas I am Dhananjaya (Arjuna). Of the sages I am Vyasa, and among great poets/thinkers I am Ushana.

Note: Now, I have understood how truly difficult it is to write a story, and hats off to all those brilliant writers out there, who write so splendidly and at the same time update the chapters pretty quickly. I will try to update a chapter once in about a week/ fortnight. I hope to continue this story as long as I can, but since I haven't gotten the chance to test my endurance level in writing, so let's see how long it lasts. This is purely a pursuit to offer my debt and gratitude to the great hero Arjuna for inspiring me, and want to show this majestic hero in all his glory. Also, in part, I'm writing this story because, I think there are some out there who do have similar admiration and respect for Arjuna, as I do.

--- This story is my humble homage to the inspiring hero Arjuna ---