Khandava Forest- Hindu LocationLocation · Landmark"The Burning Forest"
Also known as: Khandava Vana, खाण्डव, and Khāṇḍava
Description
Agni was sick from twelve years of sacrificial ghee and needed to consume the Khandava forest to heal. Arjuna and Krishna stood guard while he burned it, holding off Indra's rain with a canopy of arrows. From the flames they spared the architect Maya, who built the Pandavas their palace at Indraprastha.
Mythology & Lore
Agni's Hunger
The Khandava was an immense forest on the Yamuna's banks, and the Naga king Takshaka had made it his refuge. Indra protected the forest out of friendship with Takshaka, sending rain each time fire threatened the trees.
The fire god Agni was sick. He had consumed so much sacrificial ghee through King Shvetaki's twelve-year sacrifice that his digestion had failed. Brahma prescribed a cure: consume the entire Khandava forest, herbs and fat-rich vegetation and all. But each time Agni tried, Indra doused the flames. Agni needed mortal help.
He found Arjuna and Krishna resting by the Yamuna, disguised himself as a brahmin, and told them what he needed. In return, Agni summoned Varuna, who gave Arjuna the Gandiva bow and two inexhaustible quivers. Krishna received his discus. The warriors took their positions at the forest's edge, and Agni set the Khandava alight.
The Burning
The fire swept through every direction. Creatures that tried to flee found Arjuna's arrows waiting. He built an impenetrable net of shafts around the burning perimeter. Nothing escaped. Indra arrived with the gods and unleashed rain, but Arjuna shot a canopy of arrows overhead that shielded the fire from every drop. Krishna's discus cut down anything that broke through.
The battle between Arjuna and Indra, son against divine father, raged until a celestial voice declared that Arjuna could not be defeated and that Indra should withdraw. Indra retreated. The forest burned to nothing.
What Survived
Takshaka was not there. He had gone to Kurukshetra and missed the fire. His son Ashvasena slipped through Arjuna's barrier. He survived, and he never forgave Arjuna.
The Danava architect Maya was fleeing the flames when Krishna told Arjuna to spare him. Maya, grateful, offered to build anything the Pandavas desired. He constructed the Maya Sabha at Indraprastha, an assembly hall with floors of crystal that looked like water and pools of water that looked like crystal. Duryodhana walked into one of the pools, and his cousins laughed. The humiliation set events in motion that ended at Kurukshetra.
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