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Draupadi III - Arjun

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Just then a sentry approached Drupad and said that five brahmins were wanting an audience. Drupad invited them in. The five were the most unlikely brahmins anyone had ever seen. The one in the centre stepped forward and said that he wanted to participate in the contest. There was a peal of laughter all around. "This is a bow and not a string of rosary beads," someone said. Krishna intervened, "There have been brahmins who have carried arms. If he succeeds Draupadi will have a husband. If he fails we will have fun at his expense. Let him try."

The brahmin bowed before the bow and lifted it with one hand. He strung an arrow and knelt at the pool of liquid. He looked down at the reflection and concentrated for a few minutes. Before any one realised it, he had discharged the arrow and it had pierced the eye of the fish. Karna got up and angrily said, "My parentage is at least known to all. I doubt this man knows who his father is." Karna reached for his quiver, but before he could draw, the brahmin's arrow had snapped Karna's bow in two.

Duryodhana glared at his maternal uncle, Shakuni. He took Shakuni aside and said, "The only person who could possibly draw faster than Karna was Arjun. These five have to be the sons of Pandu. You were responsible for killing them. You had hatched the plan of burning them in the house of lac. You had confirmed that your plan had succeeded and that they were dead. But the sons of Pandu are alive and kicking and here!"

Shakuni asked Duryodhana to keep silent. "Do you want the world to know that we had conspired to kill your cousins?" He pushed Duryodhana out of the hall and asked the entourage to follow.

Drupada asked the brahmin who his parents were and from which family he hailed. "I am Arjun, the son of Pandu and Kunti, the grandson of Vichitraveerya and Ambalika, the great grandson of Shantanu and Satyavati and the grand nephew of the venerable Bheeshma," said the brahmin, "And these are my brothers, Yudhishthir, Bhim, Nakul and Sahadev."

"And they did not die in the Lakshagrah," added Krishna. "They are here at my invitation." This news did not please Drupada very much. He would have preferred that Draupadi marry Karna than a student of his enemy, Drona. Krishna realised what was going through Drupada's mind. He requested Drupada to let bygones be bygones. "You can never find a better son-in-law than Arjun. See how Draupadi is blushing with joy."