Exile period of the Pandavas

After the game of dice, that Yudhisthira had lost against Duryodhana, the Pandavas were sent to an exile for a period of 13 years. Several notable events happened as Pandavas along with Draupadi went into exile. The below mentioned are some significant events that took place during that period of time:

Arjuna’s Divyastras
Vyasa visits them and tells Arjun to appease Shiva for Pashupatastra he does that and then Indra arrives and takes him to swargaloka Arjun spends nearly 10 years to get all astra’s and fights with Indra’s enemies as return favour, rejects Urvashi’s advances and gets cursed by her to live as a eunuch for a year. Meanwhile the other brothers and Draupadi miss Arjun and then they meet sage Vrihadashwa, who first explains to Yudhishthir what happened to him is nothing new Rama lived in exile for 14 years and King Nala gambled away his kingdom like you and lived in exile till he won it back. Yudhishthir learns how to win a dice game from him. Then Narad comes and tells them to go on Tirth yatra. They leave Kamyaka turn east to Gomati river and visit Gaya and sage Markandeya Rishi ashram who basically advises Draupadi wife should forgive husband then they move southwards towards Mahendra giri and go to Parshuram ashram follow river Godavari and visit rishi Agastya ashram. Then turn westwards follow Narmada and go to rishi Kanva Ashram then Prabhasa where they again meet Krishna and Yadavas who again suggested war but Yudhishthir says matter of few more years. They visit Pushkar and Naimisharanya then go to Gandhamadan mountain to Kubera’s territory where Bhima fights with Kubera’s army to bring Saugandhika flower for Draupadi. Then Arjun returns. The five Pandava reach Dvaitavan to spend the last few years of exile. Jayadrath spots Draupadi and kidnaps her Pandava defeat his army humiliate him and bring her back.

The 13th Year – Agyatavas
After completing 12 years of Vanavas, the Pandavas decided to hide in the Matsya kingdom during 1 year of the Agyatavas. All of them went there in disguise.
• Yudhistir : He assumed the name of Kanka and became a sabhasad of the king Virata.
• Bheem : He assumed the name Ballav and became the cook.
• Arjuna : He assumed the name Brihannala and became the dance, etc. teacher of princess Uttaraa.
• Nakula : he assumed the name Granthik and took the charge of maintaining the horses.
• Sahadev : he assumed the name Tantripal and took the charge of maintaining the cows.
• Draupadi : she assumed the name Sairindhri and became the assistant of queen Sudeshna.

Draupadi, flowers & Bhima
Once in Badarikasrama forest, Draupadi scented the Saugandhika flower and was deeply attracted to it. The lotus species was not to be located easily. Bhima went in search of the flower and ended up at Kubera’s palace. He was stopped in his tracks by the rakshasas called Krodhavasas, but he defeated them all and reached the lotus pond. He also slew the rakshasa Maniman a wicked demon, who had in the past, incurred a curse from Rishi Agastya by spitting on his head. Being unused to the water of the pond, Bhima fell asleep on its shore. Later the Pandavas arrived with Krishna and Draupadi in search of Bhima. They met Kubera who offered them baskets of Saugandhika lotuses and sent them on their way. Kubera was especially happy, as the slaughter of Maniman had relieved him of the curse too. It was also during this search that Bhima met Hanuman in the forest and sought his blessings.

Killing Jatasura
In another minor incident in the epic, Jatasura (a demon), disguised as a Brahmin abducted Yudhisthira, Draupadi and the twin brothers, Nakula and Sahadeva during their stay at Badarikasrama. His objective was to seize the weapons of the Pandavas and to ravish Draupadi. Bhima, who was hunting during the abduction, was deeply upset when he came to know of Jatasura’s evil act on his return. A fierce encounter followed between the two gigantic warriors, where Bhima emerged victorious by decapitating Jatasura and crushing his body.

Humiliation of Jayadratha
In another event in the Kamyaka forests, Jayadratha, a Sindhu King, abducted Draupadi when the Pandavas were away. On returning, the Pandavas learnt about this from Sage Dhaumya, followed and reached Jayadratha’s army in the forest. Jayadratha was no match to the strength of Bhima, who humiliated him by shaving his head and leaving him with just five patches of hair. Later on, Jayadratha later plays a major role in the Kurukshetra War in slaying Abhimanyu.

Bheema – Cook at Virata’s kingdom
Along with his brothers, Bhima spent his last year of exile in the kingdom of Virata. He disguised himself as a cook named Vallabh (within themselves Pandavas called him Jayanta). Once during a great festival, people from neighbouring countries had come to the kingdom of Virata. There was a wrestling bout where a wrestler from a different state, Jimuta proved to be invincible. Much to the delight of King Virata and his subjects, Bhima challenged Jimuta and knocked him out in no time. This greatly enhanced the reputation of the Pandavas in an unfamiliar territory.
Kichaka Vadha

Death of Kichaka
Kichaka, the army commander of Virata, tried to sexually assault Draupadi, who was under the guise of a maid named Sairindhri. Bhima dressed himself as a woman and lay in wait for Kichaka inside Draupadi’s room. He slew him the moment he tried to touch him.Kickaka was crushed and slaughtered in to a meat ball by bhima .
Susarma’s defeat

After Yudhisthira succumbed to Shakuni’s challenge in the game of dice, the Pandavas were forced to be in exile for 13 years, which included one year in anonymity. Indra had promised Arjunan to give him all his weapons sensing an impending war with the Kauravas, on the condition that he obtain the Pashupatastra from Lord Shiva. Following the advice of Sage Vyasa to go on a meditation or “tapasya” to attain this divine weapon, Arjuna left his brothers for a penance. Arjuna traveled for a while before reaching the mountain Indra keeladri, Vijayawada. Here he sat in meditation in the name of Lord Shiva. Shiva appeared soon enough in the guise of a hunter, who challenged Arjuna to a fight. While being thoroughly dominated by Shiva, Arjuna became confused as to how an ordinary hunter could best a warrior like himself. He prays to Shiva for strength, and then sees the offerings he made to Shiva around the hunter’s neck. Shiva was very pleased with the bravery and prowess of the prince. Consequently, Shiva transformed himself to show his real avatar and blessed Arjuna with the Pashupatastra.
• Other devas like Kubera, Yama, Varuna and Indra followed suit and blessed each of their potent weapons to Arjuna. Indra also invited his son to his palace in heaven. Arjuna was amazed at the splendor of his father’s palace at Amaravati.
• Dancers like Urvashi, Tilottama, Rambha and Menaka entertained him. There was a huge banquet serving different varieties of heavenly dishes. Arjuna learnt song and dance from the Gandharva, Chitrasena. Indra himself taught him to wield the divine weapons and also gave him his own Vajra.

Urvashi’s curse
Indra noted the passionate glances exchanged between Arjuna and Urvashi during his stay. However, Arjuna refuses her advances, alleging that he had heard of her relationship with his ancestor Pururava, and hence she had the status of a mother, equal in respect to Kunti. Urvashi, annoyed at this, cursed him that he would become a eunuch who would have to live among women, singing and dancing. On Indra’s request, and regretting her anger, Urvashi reduced her curse to a period of one year of Arjuna’s choice. In some versions of the story, Urvashi curses Arjuna with womanhood, but always reduces the curse to a year’s length.

Arjuna gets the opportunity to test his skills with the divine weapons at Indra’s palace itself. Arjuna was taken to the palace of the Nivatakavachas, a tribe of Rakshasas who had a magnificent palace under the oceans. Arjuna used the mohini-astra and the madhava-astra to demolish these asuras. He was also taken to Hiranyapuri, a palace in the sky created by a witch Puloma and his asura tribe of the Kaalakeyas. Here Arjuna uses the Pashupatastra and annihilates the demons.

Meeting Hanuman
Continuing his quest, Arjuna visits the site of Rama Setu in Dhanushkodi. There, he openly questions why, if Rama had been such a great archer, he hadn’t simply built the bridge out of arrows. Hearing this, Hanuman gets angry and challenges Arjuna to prove his superiority by building such a bridge, which Hanuman would try to destroy. Tensions escalate until Arjuna pledges to defeat Hanuman or kill himself, going so far as to frivolously use divine weapons to build the bridge, while Hanuman uses his god-given strength and ability to increase his size to destroy Arjuna’s bridge. Eventually, Krishna intervenes, criticizing Arjuna for his excessive pride and Hanuman for allowing his love of Rama to overcome his pacifism. Regaining his sense, Hanuman pledges to reside in Arjuna’s standard(flag) during the Kurukshetra war.

Brihannala – Arjuna at Virata’s Kingdom
Along with his brothers, Arjuna spent his last year of exile in the kingdom of Virata, Hastinapura. This is the place where Urvashi’s curse is implemented and Arjuna becomes a eunuch called Brihannala (within themselves Pandavas called him Vijaya). At the palace, he teaches song and dance, qualities he had learnt from Chitrasena, to the King Virata’s daughter, Uttarā. Later, Arjuna arranges for Uttara to become his daughter-in-law by marrying his son Abhimanyu to her. At the same time, he prevents Subhadra from marrying Abhimanyu to Balarama’s daughter Vatsala, as the Kurus find cousin-cousin marriages taboo.

Hearing about the death of Kichaka, Duryodhana surmises that the Pandavas were hiding in Matsya. A host of Kaurava warriors attack Virata, presumably to steal their cattle, but in reality, desiring to pierce the Pandavas’ veil of anonymity. Full of bravado, Virata’s son Uttar attempts to take on the army by himself while the rest of the Matsya army has been lured away to fight Susharma and the Trigartas. Per Draupadi’s suggestion, Uttar takes Brihannala with him, as his charioteer. When he sees the Kaurava army, Uttar loses his nerve and attempts to flee. There, Arjuna reveals his identity and those of his brothers’. Switching places with Uttar, Arjuna takes up the Gandiva and Devadatta. Eager to defend the land that had given him refuge, Arjuna dressed up as Brihannala encountered the legion of Kaurava warriors. Only Bhishma from the Kaurava side recognized, Arjuna who was inturn dressed up as Brihannala. Arjuna then single handedly defeats Karna twice and also Duhsasana, Drona, Duryodhana, Ashwatthama,Kripa and Bishma. Then Arjuna fires a weapon, obtained from heaven, to put enemies to sleep. This astra called sammohana puts enemies into sleep and gave Arjuna time to bring back the cattles. Though Bhishma knows counter to this weapon he didn’t use the counter weapon,so that he thought the war would thus end.

Nakula
Yudhisthira’s loss in the game of dice meant that all Pandavas had to live in exile for 13 years. Once in exile, Jatasura, disguised as a Brahmin, kidnapped Nakula along with Draupadi, Sahadeva and Yudhisthira. Bhima rescued them eventually, and in the fight that ensued, Nakula killed Kshemankara.
In the 13th year, Nakula disguised himself as an ostler and assumed the name of Granthika (within themselves Pandavas called him Jayasena) at the Kingdom of Virata. He worked as a horse-trainer who looked after horses in the royal stable.

Sahadeva

Yudhisthira’s loss in the game of dice meant that all Pandavas had to live in exile for 13 years. Once in exile, Jatasura, disguised as a Brahmin, kidnapped Nakula along with Draupadi, Sahadeva and Yudhisthira; Bhima rescued them eventually. In the 13th year, Sahadeva disguised himself as a Vaishya and assumed the name of Tantipal (within themselves Pandavas called him Jayadbala) at the Kingdom of Virata. He worked as a cowherd who supervised the maintenance and upkeep of all cows in Virata’s kingdom.

The Agyatvas/Agnaatvaas is one of the most interesting phases in the Mahabharata epic. It started after the 12-year exile period of the Pandavas. The rule was that during the incognito period if the Pandavas were discovered with their true identities, they would serve another 12 years of exile in the forest. Eventually, the Pandavas completed their exile and this ended with Abhimanyu being married to Uttara and the Pandavas decide to call a war against the kauravas. This is followed by the greatest wars in Hinduism- the Kurukshetra War.