← Back to the Banyan, at this story ← Kalyanasaugandhikam: Bhima, Hanuman and the flower (Kathakali) · The Yaksha's questions at the lake →

STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Southeast Asia · regional retelling

Arjunawiwaha: Arjuna's seven heavenly wives

Variant

Java's oldest great kakawin turns Arjuna's heaven stay into a wedding of seven.

In Mpu Kanwa's Old Javanese kakawin (c. 1030, King Airlangga), Arjuna meditates on Mount Indrakila; gods send seven apsaras and then Indra as an old Brahmin to test him. After Arjuna defeats the asura Niwatakawaca he gets seven days in heaven, marrying each apsara. A boar-and-hunter episode has Shiva giving him the Pashupata. Moral: remain in the world to serve others.

Who: Arjuna, Indra, Niwatakawaca, Shiva

Places: Java

Where this comes from

• regional-literary · Wikipedia: Arjunawiwaha

See it on the tree · All stories

← Kalyanasaugandhikam: Bhima, Hanuman and the flower (Kathakali) · The Yaksha's questions at the lake →