42. ARJUNA REACHES INDRALOKA

SRIMAD MAHABHARATA > AARANYA PARVA > INDRALOKA GAMANA PARVA > CHAPTER 42 - ARJUNA REACHES INDRALOKA

“Vaishampaayana said, ‘After the Lokapaalaas had gone away, Arjuna – that slayer of all enemies – began to think, O monarch (Janamejaya), of the chariot of (Lord) Indra! As Gudaakesha (Arjuna) gifted with great intelligence was thinking of it, the chariot filled with great brightness and guided by Maatali, came dividing the clouds and illuminating the sky and filling the entire directions with its rattle deep as the roar of mighty masses of clouds. Swords, missiles of terrible forms, maces of frightful description, winged arrows of divine splendor, lightnings of the brightest effulgence, thunderbolts, propellors furnished with wheels and worked with atmosphere expansion and producing sounds loud as the roar of great masses of clouds, were on that chariot. There were also on that chariot fierce and huge-bodied Naagas with fiery mouths, and heaps of stones white as the fluffy clouds. The chariot was drawn by ten thousand of horses of golden colour, filled with the speed of the wind. Furnished with prowess of illusion (Maayaa in Sanskrit), the chariot was drawn with such speed that the eye could hardly mark its progress. Arjuna saw on that chariot the flag-staff called Vaijayanta, of blazing effulgence, resembling in colour the emerald or the dark-blue lotus, decorated with golden ornaments and straight as the bamboo. Looking a charioteer decorated in gold seated on that chariot, the mighty-armed Paarthaa (Arjuna) regarded it as belonging to Devas.

“While Arjuna was occupied with his thoughts regarding the chariot, the charioteer Maatali, bending himself after descending from the chariot, addressed him, saying, ‘O lucky son of Shakra! Shakra (Lord Indra) Himself wishes to see you. You ascend without loss of time this car that has been sent by (Lord) Indra. The chief of the immortals (Lord Indra), your father – that Deva of a hundred yagnas – has commanded me, saying, ‘Bring the son of Kunti here. Let the Devas see him.’ Shakra (Lord Indra) Himself, surrounded by Devas, Rishis, Gandharvas and Apsaras, waits to see you. At the command of the punisher of Paaka (Lord Indra), therefore, you ascend with me from this to Devaloka. You will return after obtaining weapons.’

“Arjuna replied, ‘O Maatali, you mount without loss of time this excellent chairot, a chariot that cannot be attained even by hundreds of Raajasooya and Ashwamedha yagnas. Kings of great prosperity who have performed great yagnas distinguished by large gifts (Dakshina in Sanskrit), Devas and Daanavaas are not competent to ride this chariot. He that has no Tapas merit is not competent to even see or touch this chariot, far less to ride on it. O blessed one, after you have ascended, it, and after the horses have become still, I will ascend it, like a good man stepping into the high-road of honesty.’

“Vaishampaayana continued, ‘Maatali, the charioteer of Shakra (Lord Indra), hearing these words of Arjuna, soon mounted the chariot and controlled the horses. Arjuna then, with a cheerful heart, purified himself by a bath in Ganga. Kaunteya then duly repeated (inaudibly) his customary prayers (Japa in Sanskrit). He then, duly and according to the ordinance (Vidhi in Sanskrit), gratified the Pitris with oblations of water (Tarpanam in Sanskrit).

“Lastly, he commenced to invoke the Mandara (possibly present-day Mandar Parvat in Banka district, Bihar, India) – that king of mountains – saying, ‘O mountain, you are always the refuge of holy, heaven-seeking Munis of virtuous (Punya in Sanskrit) conduct and behaviour. It is through your grace, O mountain, that Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas attain heaven, and their anxieties gone, sport with Devas. O king of mountains, O mountain, you are the ashrama of Munis, and you hold on your chest numerous sacred shrines (Teerthaa in Sanskrit). Happily, I have stayed on your heights. I leave you now, bidding you farewell. Often I have seen your tablelands, bowers, your springs, brooks, and the sacred shrines on your chest. I have also eaten the savoury fruits growing on you and have slated my thirst with gulp of perfumed water oozing from the body. I have also drunk the water of your springs, sweet as Amrita itself. O mountain, as a child sleeps happily on the lap of his father, so have I, O king of mountains, O excellent one, sported on your chest, echoing with the notes of Apsaras and the chanting of Vedas. O mountain, every day have I lived happily on thy tablelands.’

“Thus having bidden farewell to the mountain (Mandara), that slayer of hostile heroes – Arjuna – blazing like the Sun himself, ascended the divine chariot. The Kuru prince gifted with great intelligence, with a glad heart, travelled through the sky on that divine chariot bright as the Sun and of extra-ordinary achievements. After he had become invisible to the mortals of the earth, he saw thousands of chariots (Vimaana in Sanskrit) of extra-ordinary beauty. In that region, there was no Sun or moon or fire to give light, but it blazed in light of its own, generated by virtue of ascetic (Punya in Sanskrit) merit. Those brilliant regions that are seen from the earth in the form of stars, like lamps (in the sky) – so small in consequence of their distance, though very large – were seen by the Paandavaa, stationed in their respective places, full of beauty, brightness and blazing with splendour all their own. There he saw Rajarishis crowned with ascetic success, and heroes who had yielded up their lives in battle, and those that had acquired heaven by their Tapas, by hundreds upon hundreds. There were also Gandharvas, of bodies blazing like the Sun, by thousands upon thousands, as also Guhyakas, Rishis and numerous tribes (Gana in Sanskrit) of Apsaras. Seeing those self-effulgent regions, Phaalguna became filled with wonder, and made enquiries of Maatali. Maatali also gladly replied to him, saying, ‘These, O Paarthaa, are virtuous persons stationed in their respective places. It is these whom you have seen, O noble one, as stars, from the earth.’ Then Arjuna saw standing at the gates (Indraloka) the handsome and ever victorious elephant – Airaavata – furnished with four tusks and resembling the mountain of Kailaasa with its summits. Travelling along that path of the Siddhas, that foremost of the Kurus and the Paandavaa (Arjuna), sat in beauty like Maandhaataa – that best of kings. Filled with eyes like lotus leaves, he passed through the region set apart for virtuous kings (Raajivalochana in Sanskrit). The celebrated Arjuna having thus passed through successive regions of heaven (Swargaloka in Sanskrit) at last saw Amaraavati, the city of Shakra (Lord Indra).’”