All the five Pandavas reached Kamyaka forest. They built a hut and began to live there. Bhima and Draupadi tried to persuade Yudhishthira to attack the Kauravas and take revenge. Yudhishthira said they should first fulfil the condition of the game and complete their exile. In the meanwhile, Krishna and sage Vyasa arrived at Kamyaka forest along with King Drupada. They tried to soothe the Pandavas. Sage Vyasa advised Arjuna to proceed towards Indrakeela mountain.
Arjuna reached Indrakeela mountain and met an old sage who asked him to leave his weapons behind. But Arjuna did not obey the sage, so the sage revealed himself to be Indra. He asked Arjuna to search for divine weapons. Arjuna made a Shiva-linga on the bank of river Jahnvi and was absorbed in deep meditation praying to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva knew the purpose of Arjuna but he wanted to test him. Arjuna was absorbed in meditation of Lord Shiva. At that time a wild boar uprooting trees and crushing hills charged towards Arjuna.
Arjuna at once picked up his bow and arrow. In the meantime, Lord Shiva reached there disguised as the Bheela.
Simultaneously, the Bheela and Arjuna shot at the boar. Arjuna’s arrow struck the boar in the mouth whereas the Bheela’s arrow struck in the back. The boar was killed instantly. Unsure about who killed the boar first, they decided to settle it with a contest. The contest between them went on for long, but Arjuna could not beat his opponent.
When Arjuna found that he could not defeat his opponent, he placed a garland on the Shiva-linga and prayed to Lord Shiva. Suddenly, he saw the Bheela wearing the garland and realised that the Bheela was Lord Shiva himself. He asked for forgiveness. Lord Shiva, pleased with Arjuna, gave him the Pashupata weapon. Lord Shiva after giving Arjuna the sermon of knowledge and devotion disappeared from there. Being blessed thus Arjuna moved forward.
On the way, he met the charioteer Matali. Indra sent his special chariot to escort Arjuna to Amaravati, his abode in heaven. When Arjuna reached there, all the gods welcomed him. Arjuna thanked them all for their hospitality. He gave each of them due respect. Pleased with Arjuna’s devotion the gods provided him with the knowledge of some special divine weapons. The knowledge given by the gods and continuous practice of using divine weapons made Arjuna highly skilled. Indra, chief of gods, asked Arjuna to do war with the demons. Arjuna fulfilled the request of Indra who gave him his divine weapons ‘Vajra’. Not to speak of humans Arjuna was unassailable even to gods. Arjuna learnt the art of music and musical instruments and dance from Chitrasena, a gandharva.
Urvashi, one of the beautiful nymphs, had fallen in love with Arjuna. But unfortunately, Arjuna did not love her. He gave her the respect that he would give his own mother. This made her so angry that she cursed him saying that since he could not return her love, he would turn into a eunuch.
Immediately regretting her hasty words, she relaxed the curse saying that it would be effective for one year only whenever he wished for it. Arjuna bowed to her wish and went back to the earth.
