MARCH MYTHS: DAY 2, WILLIAMSJI MAVELI WRITES, " GANDIVA, THE BOW OF ARJUNA "

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• MARCH MYTHS: DAY 2,
• WILLIAMSJI MAVELI WRITES,
• "  GANDIVA, THE BOW OF ARJUNA  "

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Gandiva,

Originally in Sanskrit:

is the bow of Arjuna,

the hero of the Hindu epic

Mahabharata

The bow was created by Brahma,

 the Creator of universe,

the supreme God in Hindu theology

Symbolizes masculine power,

The strongest bow which is unbreakable,

Along with the bow comes

two quivers of arrows.

 Gandiva is not just the bow,

but the strongest, sharpest bow,

The arrows in the quivers never get over.

Thus the user of the gandiva can keep up

a constant and insistent firing of arrows,

 Whenever the string of the bow is twanged

it makes a sound like thunder,

Striking fear in the hearts

of the enemies of the user,

Arjuna used it in Kurukshetra war

 Besides Krishna and Arjuna

no one could wield the bow.

When fired, the bow made

 the sound of thunder.

It has special qualities

like being indestructible,

having 100 bow strings,

 Which always gave the wielder

 a heavy advantage over his opponent.

After the war, in Svargarohanika Parva,

Agni reappears before Arjuna,

asking him to return Gandiva

along with the quivers to Varuna.

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BY

WILLIAMSJI MAVELI

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