From: piglet.caltech.edu!sathi (Narayana Sateesh Pillai)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Re: Info required on ARJUNA (MAHABHARTA)
Date: 21 Nov 1992 08:06:49 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Distribution: alt
NNTP-Posting-Host: piglet.caltech.edu
Originator: sathi@piglet

In article <BxsAr6.1AD@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu>  
rkalia@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Rajesh Kalia) writes:
> I like to get some information on ARJUNA from MAHABHARTA. Here are few  
questions:
> 
> Why he was beloved to every character?
> Why he was so close to LORD KRISHNA compared to other PANDAV brothers?
> Why he was so much needed in the war against the KAURAVS?
> Why he was an ideal student?
> Why he was a perfect warrior?
> 
> If somebody can post few illustrations(from MAHABHARTA) answering the  
above asked
> questions then I hope it will be helpful.
> 
> Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

	I am not in a position to quote the Mahabharatha offhand. But I
think I can help out in answering a few of the questions. 
	Yudhisthura was too wise and serious. He was not a man of 
action, just brains. Bhima was "Jayan". He was the personification of 
brute force. And I believe he was also a bit on the ugly side. Arjuna was
the man of action. Young and wild. He was the youngest of Kunti's sons.
And as far as the other two (Nakulan and Sahadevan) go, they hardly made
a dent in history! And I think this might have been the reason for
Arjuna's popularity.
	Arjuna might have been close to Krishna for the following reasons:
1. They might have been the same age.
2. Subhadra was Krishna's sister.
3. They supposedly form a spiritual team: Nara and Narayana (i.e. they
    were close even before birth).

	Against the Kauravas, Arjuna was the equivalent of the ICBMs. 
Long range warfare!! Bhima was better in hand to hand combat. Yudishtura
was better at thinking than fighting. Arjuna was very good with the
bow and arrows. This is because he was the perfect student. Which brings
us to your next two questions.
	As far as being the ideal student is concerned, I don't know
about that. As far as his archery skills are concerned, it was his
characteristic. 
	I think you may be analysing too much by breaking up the 
characteristics of Arjuna and separating him from the other Pandavas.
Each had his own characteristics. Individually, they might do well, but
together, they were formidable. I think each character took after some
godly quality (perhaps because of the circumstances surrounding their 
birth) and amplified it. And that is not to show off one over the other,
but to excel each quality for the sake of showing others who follow 
them. And what is unique about them is that they stuck together as a team.
And that is why I think your last question is irrelevant. Together, the 3
brothers have the qualities to be the ideal warrior  (intelligence,
brute strength, and excellent coordination). But most important of all
is the quality of being human, which is what (in my opinion) caused
Arjuna to hesitate before the Mahabharatha war and ask Krishna for 
counsel.

	Of course, there may be other ackers who are more knowledgeable
in this area. Mine is but a humble attempt at asnwering your questions.


> 
> Rajesh Kalia.

TATA!
Sateesh
-- 
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