As the story continued, Arjuna reached the Himalayas and started to pursue penance. One day, a wild boar surged towards him and was about to attack. Arjuna being alert, pulled his bow and shot the boar. At the same time, another bow also hit the boar. Surprised Arjuna saw a hunter standing with a bow. Both of them started arguing about who hit the prey first.

Arjuna wondered who the hunter was, so he decided to pray to Lord Shiva. He then noticed that all the flowers which Arjuna offered to Lord Shiva were around the hunter’s neck. The Hunter, indeed, was Lord Shiva in disguise to test Arjuna’s strength. Lord Shiva blessed Arjuna with one of the most powerful weapons, the Pashupatastra. He also got several other celestial weapons from Lord Shiva. Arjuna had become invincible after obtaining all the divine and celestial weapons.

Arjuna was then invited by Indra, the King of gods and also Arjuna’s divine father. Urvasi, one of the apsaras, cursed Arjuna to become a eunuch, i.e. neither a man nor a woman, for dismissing her and not paying attention to her. But Lord Indra explained to Arjuna that this curse was a boon that would help him during the year.

While Arjuna enjoyed his stay in Indraloka, his brother and wife Draupadi were missing him. They spent many years without Arjuna. One day a sage called Brihadaswa visited them and narrated a story of King Nala, who also lost everything in a game of dice just like the Pandavas. But in the end, he emerged victorious, regaining his kingdom, his wife, and also his health. This story helped Yudhishthira to gain his confidence and look forward to better days. They all visited many sacred places and heard many mystical stories.

During their travel, Bheema had an encounter with a huge monkey. He tried to frighten the monkey by shouting but instead, the monkey warned Bheema not to go any further since it was the path of the gods. Angry Bheema demanded the monkey to move out of his way. Bheema thought to pull the monkey out of the way by pulling its tail but to his amazement, he could not move it even an inch. He tried his best, exerted himself, put all his strength, strained every muscle, but still could not move the monkey.

It was then that the monkey revealed its true identity. The huge monkey was none other than the great Hanuman- Son of the wind god. He gave his parting blessing to his brother that he would be present on the flag of the chariot of Arjuna. He blessed Bheema and assured him that they would be victorious in the forthcoming battle.

Disclaimer: Some of the dialogues in the narration have been inspired by C Rajagopalachari's Mahabharata.

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