- Maharaj Pandu - He conquered the whole earth and all the powerful kings from all directions came with joined hands in front of him recognizing him as the supreme hero equal to Purandara Indra.
Pandu had strength, courage and enterprise. After marrying, he decided to conquer the earth and vanquish many enemies. ‘Pandu, lion among men, went to the east and defeated the Dasharnas in battle, thereby spreading the fame of the Kouravas. Then with his army, which had many flags flying and many elephants, horses, chariots and infantry, he attacked Darva, the king of the Magadha kingdom, who was proud of his valour and had made enemies out of all the kings. He was killed in Rajagriha and his treasury, transport and armies seized. Then Pandu went to Mithila and conquered Videha in battle. O bull among the Bharata lineage! Then the fame of the Kurus spread to Kashi, Suhma and Pundra. Through the strength of his own arms. Pandu, the scorcher of foes, burnt kings with the great net of his flaming arrows and his dazzling weapons. He was like a great fire and defeated with his army the kings and their armies. After conquering them, Pandu engaged them in the work of the Kurus. Having been thus vanquished by him, all the kings of the earth recognized him to be the only warrior on earth, like Purandara among the gods. All the lords of the earth came and worshipped him with joined hands.
2. Gandivdhari Arjuna - A single arrow caused the most elite warriors to be defeated. He is invincible and his feats are infinite. The protaganist and the supreme hero of the Bharata. The great Dhananjaya.
Partha used a firm hand to bring them down with the force of his sharp, polished and broad-headed arrows. The implements of war were shattered, the fortifications were destroyed. In that battle, Dhananjaya brought down large standards and the best of pennants and large numbers of infantry, chariots, horses and elephants. Struck by the arrows, they lost their lives. Their bodies became immobile and they fell down on the ground. O king! In that great battle, their armour and their bodies were mangled by the supreme weapon named after Indra. The Chedis, the Panchalas, the Karushas and the Matsyas, together with all the Parthas, began to roar. The soldiers and leaders of the army153 were terrified, like a herd of deer at the sight of a lion. The wielder of the Gandiva and Janardana roared in great delight. The Kurus, together with Bhishma, Drona, Duryodhana and Bahlika, saw that Indra’s terrible weapon had extended everywhere and was like the end of a yuga. Their limbs were sorely wounded from the weapon and they saw the sun was withdrawing its rays. They saw that twilight was near and that the sun was streaked with red. They decided to withdraw. Having performed deeds and won fame in the world, Dhananjaya had triumphed over the enemies. Having completed his tasks, together with his brothers, the lord of men retired to his camp for the night. When night set in, there was a terrible and great uproar among the Kurus. ‘In the battle, Arjuna has killed ten thousand charioteers and seven hundred elephants. All those from the eastern regions, all the masses of Souviras, the Kshudrakas and the Malavas have been brought down. Dhananjaya has accomplished a great deed. No one else is capable of accomplishing this. O king!154 King Shrutayu, the lord of Ambashtha, Durmarshana, Chitrasena, Drona, Kripa, Saindhava, Bahlika, Bhurishrava, Shalya and Shala, together with Bhishma, have been vanquished by Kiriti, the maharatha of the world, through the valour of his own arms.’ O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Having spoken these words, all those who were on your side went to their camps. There were thousands of torches to bring illumination and many beautiful lamps. All the warriors and leaders among the Kurus settled down for the night, terrified of Kiriti.
3. Abhimanyu - The cub of the lion, the son of Arjuna who terrified even the greatest of Kaurava Maharathas like Drona and Karna and they agreed that no one could defeat Abhimanyu in a fair battle.
Drona, the great archer, told all of them, ‘Have you been able to detect any weakness in this young one? He is roaming around in all the directions. You had better search out your forefathers now. Behold this son of Pandava. He is quick and is a lion among men. The path followed by his chariot and the circle of his bow can be seen. He affixes and releases arrows extremely swiftly. His arrows confound me and afflict my breath of life. But I am delighted with Subhadra’s son, the destroyer of enemy heroes. When Subhadra’s son roams around on the field of battle, I am extremely gratified. The angry maharathas cannot detect a weakness in him. He is dexterous in the use of his hands and releases great arrows in all the directions. In the battle, I do not see any difference between him and the wielder of Gandiva.112 At this, oppressed by the arrows of Arjuna’s son, Karna again spoke to Drona. ‘I am oppressed by the extremely terrible and energetic arrows of the young Abhimanyu. Nevertheless, I remain stationed here. His arrows are terrible and possess the energy of the fire. They are sapping my heart now.’
He countered the greatest of the Maharathas like Drona, Kripa, Karna, Ashwathama and Kritavarma in a group attack.
‘Sanjaya replied, “Abhimanyu, the descendant of the Pandu lineage, penetrated your soldiers. He used his sharp arrows and made all the kings retreat. At this, Drona, Kripa, Karna, Drona’s son, Brihadbala and Kritavarma, Hridika’s son—these six rathas surrounded him. O great king! On seeing that Saindhava had assumed an extremely heavy burden, your soldiers attacked Yudhishthira.100 There were those who stretched bows that were as long as palm trees. They showered down many arrows on Subhadra’s brave son. But Subhdra’s son, the destroyer of enemy heroes, used arrows in that battle to counter all those great archers, who were skilled in all forms of learning. He pierced Drona with fifty arrows and Brihadbala with twenty, Kritavarma with eighty and Kripa with sixty arrows. Arjuna’s son stretched his bow up to his ears and used ten extremely forceful and gold-tufted arrows to pierce Ashvatthama. In the midst of the enemy, Phalguna’s son used a yellow, sharp and tufted arrow to pierce Karna in his ear. He brought down Kripa’s horses and the two charioteers who guarded his flanks.101 He then pierced him between the breasts with ten arrows.
4. Parikshit - When Parikshit decided to slay Kaliyug (Kali purusha), Kaliyuga trembled and fell at the feet of Maharaj Parikshit begging him for mercy. There is an Arjuna reference here showing how Parikshit honored the bloodline of his Grandfather Arjuna.
Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.17
Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who could fight one thousand enemies single-handedly, thus pacified the personality of religion and the earth. Then he took up his sharp sword to kill the personality of Kali, who is the cause of all irreligion.
When the personality of Kali understood that the King was willing to kill him, he at once abandoned the dress of a king and, under pressure of fear, completely surrendered to him, bowing his head.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who was qualified to accept surrender and worthy of being sung in history, did not kill the poor surrendered and fallen Kali, but smiled compassionately, for he was kind to the poor.
The King thus said: We have inherited the fame of Arjuna; therefore since you have surrendered yourself with folded hands you need not fear for your life. But you cannot remain in my kingdom, for you are the friend of irreligion.
He was one of the best kings in Mahabharata and the earth flourished in his reign. He respected women, did great efforts for upholding the lives of widows, orphans and disabled people. He was perfect in every way.
Your father was devoted to dharma, great-souled and a protector of his subjects. Hear how that great-souled one led his life. The four varnas were respectively established in their own dharmas and the king, who was himself well versed with dharma protected them there, in accordance with the dictates of dharma. Illustrious and with infinite might, he protected the goddess earth. He hated no one. Nor did anyone hate him. Like Prajapati himself, he treated all beings impartially. O king! Established in their respective duties, the Brahmanas, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas and the Shudras were protected impartially by the king. He maintained widows, orphans, the disabled and the poor. He was handsome and like another moon to all creatures. Through that truthful and greatly powerful king, everyone was content and blessed with good fortune. The king became Sharadvata’s student in the science of weapons.140 O Janamejaya! Govinda141 loved your father. He was immensely famous and loved by all the worlds. He was born in Uttara’s womb when the Kuru lineage was almost destroyed. Therefore, Soubhadra’s142 powerful son came to be known as Parikshit. The king was learned in royal norms of dharma and artha and had all the qualities. He was in control of his senses and of himself. He was intelligent and was served by those who were wise. He had great wisdom and was completely familiar with the norms of righteous conduct. He had conquered the six vices.143 Your father protected his subjects for sixty years.
4. Janamejaya - Enraged by his fathers death he decided to wipe out all the Nagas in the earth by his sacrifice.
The snake-sacrifice then started according to the prescribed norms. The officiating priests, who were learned in their respective duties, went about prescribed tasks. They dressed themselves in black garments and their eyes became red from the smoke. Chanting mantras, they offered oblations into the sacrificial fire. As they poured oblations into the mouth of the fire and uttered the names of the snakes, the hearts of the snakes trembled in fear. Thereafter, the snakes dropped into the blazing flames, wretched and screaming piteously at each other. They swelled, breathed hard and intertwined their heads and tails. In large numbers, they fell into the blazing fire—white, black, blue, old and young. Crying out terrible screams, they fell into the lofty and blazing flames, in hundreds, thousands, millions and tens of millions. O supreme among Brahmanas! Many snakes perished powerless. Among those which perished, some were small as rats, others large as trunks of elephants, or gigantic and immensely strong like mad elephants. Snakes of many colours, poisonous, terrible, like clubs and with immense strength, fell into the fire in large numbers, as a consequence of their mother’s curse.
Even snakes like Takshak and Vasuki were trembling with fear.
‘Meanwhile, as soon as Takshaka, king of snakes, heard that King Janamejaya had been instated in the snake-sacrifice, he went to Purandara’s150 palace. The supreme snake told Purandara everything and confessing the evil that he had done, fearfully sought refuge. Indra was very pleased and told him, “O Takshaka! O king of snakes! You have nothing to fear here from the snake-sacrifice. For your sake, I have already pacified the grandfather.
But Vasuki became extremely distressed on seeing that many snakes were continuously falling into the fire and only a few remained in his lineage. Vasuki, supreme among the snakes, was miserable with grief and told his sister with a grieving heart, “O fortunate one! My limbs are burning. I can no longer see the directions. I am about to fall because I have lost consciousness. My mind is whirling. My sight is failing. My heart is about to burst. Completely numbed, I may fall into the blazing fire without resisting. Parikshit’s son’s sacrifice will go on until he has exterminated our race. It is clear that I must also go to the land of the ancestors. O sister! The time for which I gave you to Jaratkaru has come. O sister! Save us and our race.
Namo Narayana 🙏🏻🪔🪷🦅
Hara Hara Mahadeva 🙏🏻🪔📿🔱