Fire God presents Gandiva Dhanush to Arjuna and engulfs the entire Khandava Forest
No doubt, Arjuna was blessed with Gandiva Dhanush by Firegod. Let us understand why he was given such a divine weapon. The fire god wished to burn the entire Khandava forest which Lord Krishna and Arjuna helped him with.
I will explain this in detail in this post here.
Once Lord Krishna and Arjuna went to the Yamuna river along with some other people of Indraprastha. All of them were celebrating there. Lord Krishna and Arjuna were sitting on their thrones and saw a Brahmin approaching them. He was the Fire God or Agnidev who expressed his desire to engulf the entire forest. The fire god also stated his inability to engulf the entire Khandavavan since the Takshaka snake being protected by Indra dev was residing in that forest along with its family. Indra dev used to put out the fire by raining over them.
Let me take you the tale of why he wished to engulf the forest now.
(Please check the below video👇 in Hindi)
A long time ago there was a king named Swetaki, who used to possess energy comparable to Lord Indra. He carried out a lot of yajnas through Ritwijas. By offering for so many years, their eyes started out hurting out of the yajna smoke. They by no means joined King's yajna. King pleaded with many however no one agreed to come and operate Yajna. They all had been exhausted and requested the king to pray to Lord Rudra. King went to Kailash and started out meditating for the lord. Seeing his vigorous penance, Lord Shiva appeared and advised him to pray to the fire god for twelve years. King did so and Pleased Lord Shiva blessed him by announcing he would send the great Sage Durvasa to function his yajnas. King Swetaki which was done by sage prepared for the Bhumipal yajna, Durvasa. Yajna continued for twelve years. King was appreciated by all who went to heaven. Whereas the fire god lost all his charm he never wished to take offerings anymore from anyone. He looked pale and lost his shine. He went to Lord Brahma and mentioned that "Lord! I have been pleased by the offerings done by the king But out of reluctance I have now Lost all my glamour and wish to get back to my form like before."
Lord Brahma suggested he burn and engulf the entire Khandava forest along with the animals in order to get back to his form. Fire god tried but was unable to do so. He went back to Brahma again and Lord advised him to wait there until the arrival of Lord Krishna and Arjuna.
Later when the Fire god requested Both of them to help. Arjuna informed him that he had no weapons or chariots to fight a battle in opposition to Lord Indra and additionally, to Fight mightily Lord Krishna also wanted weapons at that time. Fire God remembered Varuna Dev and informed him to supply him with the Dhanush and chariot with Kapi dhwaja. Arjuna had the Dhanush. Lord Krishna was given Chakra and mace by the Fire god and Varuna god respectively. Fire god started burning the whole forest with both Krishna and Arjuna being presented there in the chariot. They all roamed there and killed all the animals. Indra Dev seeing the fire started raining over the forest but the rain could not reach the fire. Takshaka snake was In Kurukshetra at that time. His son Ashwasena and his wife were there in the forest. In order to rescue her son from the fire, she ate him alive and tried to fly away into the sky but Arjuna cut off her head with his arrow. However, Indra Dev rescued the son by creating a storm and rain there. Indra along with other deities fought with Lord Krishna and Arjuna there. Lots of animals and demons were killed there by Lord Krishna's chakra. All the Deities could not save the forest and were defeated by both of them. They all left for heaven. Fire god with such massive fire engulfed the entire forest and the animals except for the Aswasena snake, Mayasura demon, and Sardanka bird.
Later Mayasura, as advised by Lord Krishna, built a
mesmerizing sabha Bhawan in Indraprastha for the Pandavas.
Read how did Takshaka's son Ashwasena attack Arjuna during the Mahabharata war
Great
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