Arjuna's dwelling in the wood,” the 16th of the minor
parvans of Mhbhr.). § 247: The Pāṇḍavas continued to
reside there, and by their prowess they brought many kings
under their sway, and on account of their virtue the whole
race of the Kurus grew in prosperity. After some time robbers
lifted the cattle of a brahman, who then repaired to Khāṇḍava-
prastha and reproved the Pāṇḍavas. Arjuna heard it; but the
chamber where the Pāṇḍavas had their weapons being then
occupied by Yudhiṣṭhira with Kṛṣṇā, Arjuna was obliged
to violate the established rule by entering the chamber.
Then, armed with the bow and attired in mail and riding on
his war-chariot decked with flagstaffs, he pursued the thieves
and compelled them to give up the booty. Then, notwith-
standing Yudhiṣṭhira's objections, he went to the forest to
live there for twelve years (I, 213).—§ 248: Arjuna set
out followed by brahmans conversant with the vedas and
vedāṅgas and devoted to the contemplation of the Supreme
Spirit (adhyātmacintakāḥ), by mendicants (bhaikṣāḥ) devoted to
Bhagavat (Bhagavadbhaktāḥ), by reciters of the Purāṇas (sūtāḥ
Paurāṇikāḥ), and by reciters of sacred stories (divyākhyānāni),
etc., and settled at Gaṅgādvāra, where the brahmans performed
innumerable agnihotras. One day when Arjuna had performed
his ablutions in the Gaṅgā, and offered the oblations of water to
his deceased ancestors, and when he was about to rise up from
the stream desirous of performing his sacrificial rites before
the fire, he was drawn away to the bottom of the water by
Ulūpī, the daughter of the Nāga king Kauravya of the lineage
of Airāvata, urged by the god of desire. There he saw
a sacrificial fire, where he performed his sacrificial rites, by
which Agni was much gratified. Ulūpī persuaded him that
it was a greater merit to give himself up to her than to keep
the vow of a brahmacārin, and having spent the night there,
he in the morning, accompanied by Ulūpī, came back to
Gaṅgādvāra. Ulūpī, taking leave of him there, said that he
would be invincible in water (I, 214).—§ 249: Then he
set out towards the Himavat and came to Agastyavaṭa
and the mountain of Vasiṣṭha; in Bhṛgutuṅga he bestowed
many thousands of kine, etc., on brahmans and visited
many tīrthas (especially all those in Aṅga, Vaṅga, and
Kaliṅga). At the gate of the kingdom of Kaliṅga the
brahmans desisted from following him further; he crossed
Kaliṅga, beheld the Mahendra mountain adorned with the
ascetics, and went to Maṇipūra, proceeding slowly along the
seaṣore. There he married Citrāṅgadā, the daughter of king
Citravāhana (b), and dwelt there for three years. When
Citrāṅgadā had given birth to a son, Arjuna set out on his
wanderings again (I, 215).—§ 250: Then Arjuna went to
the tīrthas at the southern ocean. There five tīrthas were
shunned on account of five crocodiles that seized the devotees:
Agastyatīrtha, Saubhadra, Pauloma, Kārandhama (giving the
results of a horse-sacrifice), and Bhāradvāja's tīrtha. Arjuna
plunged into the Saubhadra (so called after a maharṣi), and
was seized by a crocodile, which he dragged to the shore.
It then became the apsaras Vargā, the friend of Dhanapati
(Kubera). When she with her four companions (Saurabheyī,
Samīcī, Vudvudā, and Latā), going to the abode of Kubera,
had in vain tempted an ascetic brahman, that brahman had
cursed them, saying that they should become crocodiles for
100 years (I, 216). Vargā said: “As we asked the ṛṣi
to grant us pardon, he said: ‘100 and 100,000 are all
indicative of eternity; but the words 100 as employed by me
is to be understood as a limited period; you will be delivered
by an exalted individual, and those waters shall become
sacred and purifying under the name of Nārītīrthāni.’ The
devarṣi Nārada directed us to these lakes, and said that
Dhanañjaya (i.e. Arjuna) would soon deliver us.” Arjuna
then also delivered the other four apsarases. Then he pro-
ceeded to Maṇipūra to see Citrāṅgadā; with her he had
begotten king Babhruvāhana. Then he proceeded towards
Gokarṇa (I, 217).—§ 251: Then Arjuna visited the tīrthas
on the shores of the western ocean, and arrived at Prabhāsa.
There Madhusūdana (= Kṛṣṇa) visited him, and he and
Arjuna, who were the ṛṣis Nara and Nārāyaṇa, sported
there for some time. Then they went to the Raivataka
mountain, after Kṛṣṇa had caused this mountain to be well
adorned by many artifices; there he saw the performances
of the actors and the dancers. The next morning they set
out for Dvārakā, welcomed by the Bhojas, Vṛṣṇis, and
Andhakas. There he dwelt in the mansion of Kṛṣṇa for
many days (I, 218).