Draupadi's Mahabharat

Part 38

I nodded. Agni dev had come and not met me, his daughter, this showed that the work he had given Arjun was really important.

"Please inform everyone Panchali that I am going and don't worry I will be fine" said Arjun and went away with Govind.

" Aarya? Parth has gone with Govind to finish an important work assigned by Agni dev" I said addressing to Yudhisthir.

"Agni dev? He assigned some work to Arjun? What are you saying Priye?" asked Yudhisthir confused.

I told them the whole story. They were as surprised as me. 

"I think we should go and help Arjun" said Bheem.

"No we should not do that, if Agni dev has sent only Arjun then we should not interfere in between, we should just wait over here" said Yudhisthir.

So we waited till Arjun arrived. And finally he did with Govind. I immediately went to him and almost hugged him till I realised that it was not my year with him.

" Are you fine?" I asked.

" Don't worry Sakhi, your husband is a very brave and powerful man" said Govind.

"I know that Govind and I don't doubt him for that but I just wanted to make sure that he is fine" I said a bit annoyed.

__________________________

The next day we went to look at the forest which Arjun had burnt down in seconds. That's what I thought I was not sure because I never got a chance to talk to him after that.

Suddenly Indra dev appeared in front of us. Arjun saluted him as he was his father. We all followed him saluting Indra dev.

"I don't want any respect from you people" said Indra Dev.

This was the whole story:-

This forest was cursed by Lord Indra to be an infertile land and was inhabited by the Nagas (snakes) and Rakshasas.The forest was under the reign of the Naga ruler, Takshaka. At the same time, Lord Agni, the Fire God reached out to Krishna and Arjun to help him devour the forest to satisfy his hunger. They agreed to help Agni since it would be a good chance for them to set up the capital city in that land. Since it was a land cursed by Indra, they were sure that Indra would try to protect the forest. Arjun asked Agni to hence give him proper weapons to combat with Indra easily. Agni called Varuna, the Water-God and asked him to give Arjun, the Gandiva – the most powerful bow and an inexhaustible quiver of arrows. A chariot was also given to Arjun which always drove in top speed.

The Khandava forest was then burnt by wildfires from Agni. Most of the inhabitants [Nagas and Rakshasas] were killed. Takshaka fled to Takshila and later on took his revenge during the war .

Indra was angry with Arjun and Krishna for helping Agni to devour the forest and engaged in a fight with them. He used many weapons and illusions during the fight, but he was no match for Arjun's might and the Gandiva. Indra, in the end was pleased with Arjun and gave him the entire forest to be set up as their Capital City – duly named as Indraprastha! Arjun was widely called as Gandivadhari (the Wielder of the Gandiva Bow) since this famous duel with Indra.

Krishna called Vishwakarma, the architect of the Devas to help the Pandavas construct Indraprastha. Vishwakarma, also called Maya also built the royal palace. The palace was famous for its grandeur and illusions. The floor of the palace was built with illusions and walls were encrusted with precious stones.