Week 9 Story: Arjuna and Lavya

Arjuna and the Citizens of Hastinapura
Source: Google Image

Arjuna and Lavya

The Pandavas have been training to become Hastinapura’s greatest warriors for five years now. They are reaching they’re 16th birthdays and our about to set out for their trek through the woods, a journey all young warriors must take on their 16th birthday. The adventure is supposed to last one week, and the boys are to go into the deepest part of the woods with their guru. They could hardly wait.

On the first day of their journey, they all picked a weapon or skill of choice to focus on for the rest of their training. This selection is usually no surprise as warriors generally show some sort of interest in a specific skill set. Bhima, who has always been stronger than his brothers, chose a large mace made of cement. Yudhishthira choice the chariot; Nakula choice horse training, and Sahadeva choice the sword. Arjuna was last to choose and knew exactly what he wanted. Since he was little, he dreamed of being the greatest archer in the world. As the smallest of his brothers, he felt inferior to them while growing up and decided to partake in a skill he knew did not require height or girth. He became quite good at archery, but wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to be the best.

Arjuna was constantly bragging about his archery skills to anyone who would listen. He would put other people down just to bring himself up. He started forming enemies within his own family, especially his coin sims who took most of the verbal abuse.

After Arjuna chose archery as his skill of choice, his bragging became unbearable.  His brothers became so annoyed, they decided to teach him a lesson while in the woods. They all got together and told Arjuna they were going to play hide-and-seek. Arjuna loved competing with his brothers because it was a chance for him to prove he is better than them. He happily agreed to play.

Bhima agreed to be the seeker and started counting down from 100 so his brother could hide. Adjuna ran as fast as he could and his under mulch near a pond. Bhima loudly yelled, “Ready or not, here I come!,” and Arjuna fell quiet.

The other brothers quickly emerged from their hiding spots and left their brother in the mulch thinking they were all still playing. While snickering, the four brothers left the area and went to go find food.

After two hours of hiding, Arjuna started to get anxious. He figured he had won by now and thought he might as well go relieve Bhima from still looking for him. He emerged from his spot and realized he had no idea where he was. He had run so fast in order to find the best spot that he failed to keep track of where he was going.

He started to wander around searching for his family. After an hour of walking, he came across a singing voice. He turned a corner and saw a beautiful woman cleaning her arched near a bush. He walked over and asked her what she was doing with that weapon and if she had stolen it. Clearly offended, the woman stood up and exclaimed, “My name is Lavya, and I am the greatest archer in the world.”

Arjuna stood for a moment before throwing back in laughter. “Foolish girl. I am Arjuna, the greatest warrior in the world!”

“Care to fight for the title?,” Lavya asked. Arjuna couldn’t say no to a chance to prove he was finally who he wanted to be.

“What’s your game?,” asked Arjuna as he pulled on his bow from his back.

“We’ll both take one shot at each other while we are holding apples on our head. Whoever gets the closest bullseye will take the title.”

“Ha! Fair enough! I’ll go first.,” Arjuna said confidentially.

Lavya got in position with the apple from her bag and waited patiently for Arjuna. Arjuna shot the Apple directly in the middle with ease and laughed as he took his position for Lavya’s shot.

“No one can hit a shot as perfect as me! You’ll never be the world’s greatest archer as long as I’m with bow and arrow!,” said Arjuna.

He continued to mock Lavya as she got ready in an attempt to distract her. She remained silent the entire time.

“Just give up! You will never be able to hit a shot as perfect as mine!”

Finally, she spoke. “If that is true, there is only one thing to do.”

She rose her arrow and shot his thumb right off.

Adjuna’s dream of being the greatest warrior was dead, and Lavya disappeared into the night.

Author's Notes: This story is based on Ekalavya's Story in the Epified version of the Mahabharata. In the original story, Arjuna meets Ekalavya in the wood and discovers he is an amazing archer, probably the best in the world. Arjuna became enraged that another person was not only as good as an archer as him, but they were trained by the same teacher. In order to appease Arjuna, Drona demanded Ekalavya shoots his thumb off so Arjuna could remain the greatest archer of all time.
In my version, I did the traditional gender bending in all of my stories (making Ekalavya a woman), but I also made Arjuna the one to have is thumb taken off. By making Arjuna unlikable and mean to his cousins, I foreshadowed the battle between the group of boys.

Bibliography: Epified's Karmic Revolution