In the great war of Mahabharata, Arjun’s Gandiva bow and his arrows were feared in the whole world. Big warriors could not stand in front of him. But do you know that after some time of this war, this magical power of Arjun suddenly disappeared.
The situation became so bad that Arjun, who could single-handedly defeat the entire army, lost even to the common bandits. There is a very deep mystery hidden behind this shocking incident, the description of which is found in our mythological texts.
Information is available from this book
We get the most authentic information about this entire incident from the Mausal Parva of the Mahabharata text written by Maharishi Vedvyas. It is told in this book that all this happened after Lord Krishna left this earth i.e. his great sacrifice.
In fact, whatever magical and divine powers Arjun possessed, they were not actually his own. He got those powers because of the presence and blessings of Lord Shri Krishna. As long as Krishna was on earth, Arjun remained invincible.
Arjun got the responsibility
According to the story of Mahabharata, when Lord Krishna decided to wrap up his pastimes and go to Vaikuntha, there was a huge uproar in the city of Dwarka. After Krishna’s departure, Dwarka was about to sink into the sea. In such a situation, the responsibility of safely evacuating the women and children of Krishna’s family was entrusted to Arjun.
When Arjun was returning to Hastinapur with all of them, on the way he was attacked by a group of ordinary bandits named Kaaba. The robbers started taking women with them.
Arjun lost his senses
When the bandits attacked, Arjun picked up his Gandiva bow as usual. They were fully confident that they would kill these bandits in a moment. But then something happened which shocked Arjun. At that time Arjun was not able to string his own bow.
He had completely forgotten those divine mantras which used to release never-ending arrows from his quiver. The power of all his arrows and bow had completely disappeared in one stroke.
Arjun’s pride broken
The result was that Arjun became helpless in front of those petty bandits and he was defeated. Arjun’s pride was completely shattered by this incident. They understood that nothing in this world is stronger than time. He realized that he had no existence without Krishna.
After returning to Hastinapur, he told all this to Maharishi Vedvyas. Vyas ji explained to him that his objective has now been accomplished. After this, Arjun and his brothers left Rajpath and assumed renunciation and went towards the Himalayas.
(Disclaimer- This article is based on religious beliefs, prevalent beliefs and information mentioned in available religious texts.