Let me tell you a tale. A tale of the most glorious person to have existed.

Someone who was kind and gentle and a genuine ray of sunshine in a story otherwise clouded by doom and despair.

#Mahabharat #Arjun

#Arjun

A Thread about - perhaps the most dynamic character in the story, steeped in glory and larger than life, he’s Krishna’s darling.

He’s the one with the wheeled feet, the one who gives his love as easy as handing out gifts, the mediator between brothers at war.

Arjun’s arc as a charachter can perhaps be split in three.

The period before his solo exile.
His solo exile, The Rajasuya, the Dice Game and the second exile upto his quest to meet Shiva.
The third from his quest to meet Shiva to the end of the Kurukshetra.

Arjun before his exile,(perhaps to be attributed to still being remarkably young) for all the promising talent he exhibits, does not have much of an opinion on anything, or rather - remains silent in most situations. When he speaks, its careful, measured, and well-placed. Mostly.

He is yet still a baby of the family, and defers to Yudhisthir and Kunti and is tenderly protected by them and Bheem in return. While he shows flashes of his future brilliance, its still to an extent restricted by naïveté and youth.

In a weird way - he never seems to truly lose this naïveté and natural wonder he has for the world. Not even at his worst. Its a startlingly refreshing outlook from the charachter who is as knee-deep in a gruelling war as the entire story is.

Apart from being a harbinger of glory and prosperity, Arjun also brings in his own kind of witty humour, a spin of romance, and tops it of with stunning talent in music and dance. He is refreshing with his ideas and thoughts, his approach so riveting he humanises God himself.

The references used here are primarily limited to Bibek Debroy’s translation of the Mahabharat alone. Occasionally, KMG has also been used.
You can read KMG here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/index.htm
You can purchase Bibek Debroy’s Play Books version here: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/The_Mahabharata?id=5VziP-_XUT8C

The Mahabharata begins with salutations to some very exalted and important people.
Narayana - Krishna
Nara - Arjuna
Saraswati as Saraswati
And Vyas himself.
Even as the story begins - we get quite a sweet intro to him.

I will not be touching base on Arjun's skills as a warrior too much. That was done fabulously well in this thread:
Please refer. I'll involve only those bits that service his character arc as a person. https://twitter.com/abhilegend000/status/1248991325661188096?s=19