Editing Arjuna (section)

===Marriages and children===
[[File: Swayamvara Draupadi Arjuna Archery.jpg|thumb|Arjuna piercing the eye of the fish as depicted in [[Chennakeshava Temple, Belur|Chennakesava Temple]] built by [[Hoysala Empire]]]]
Arjuna married [[Draupadi]],<ref name="williams">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Handbook of Hindu Mythology |article=Arjuna |first=George M. |last=Williams |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7LOZfwCDpEC&pg=PA61 |isbn=978-0-19533-261-2 |access-date=22 June 2020 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416075935/https://books.google.com/books?id=N7LOZfwCDpEC&pg=PA61 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="johnson-arjuna">{{cite Q|Q55879169|last=Johnson|first=W. J. |article=Arjuna }}</ref> the fire born daughter of [[Drupada]], who was the king of [[Panchala Kingdom (Mahabharata)|Panchala]].<ref name="dalal38">{{cite book|first=Roshen|last=Dalal|title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&pg=PA38|year=2010|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-341421-6|page=38|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=16 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416075927/https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&pg=PA38|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the event of [[Lakshagriha]], Arjuna, his mother and brothers decide to hide from Hastinapura. One day, Arjuna learns that Drupada is holding an archery tournament to determine who should marry his daughter. The tournament was to lift and string a bow, and fire arrows to pierce the eye of a golden fish only by looking at its reflection in the water. At the Swayamvara, almost all the assorted monarchs were unable to complete the challenge. In the end, Arjuna, dressed as a Brahmin, wins the tournament.<ref name=ryanjonesdraupadi>{{cite book | last1 =Jones | first1 =Constance | last2 =Ryan | first2 =James D. | year =2006 | title =Encyclopedia of Hinduism | publisher =Infobase Publishing | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC | pages =136–137 | isbn =9780816075645 | access-date =23 September 2020 | archive-date =20 October 2022 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20221020070415/https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC | url-status =live }}</ref> Annoyed by their defeat, the kings attack Arjuna, but he defeats them and runs home to tell his mother of his success, shouting "look what we have found". Commentators vary as to whether Kunti thought he was referring to [[alms]] found in the forest or to some great prize unknown to her. She tells him that the find must be shared with his brothers, as they had always shared such things in the past.

This misunderstanding, combined with the protocol that the oldest of the brothers, Yudhishthira, should marry first, leads to the agreement that all five brothers marry her. This is one of the rare examples of [[polyandry]] in [[Sanskrit literature]].<ref name="williams"/><ref name="johnson-Draupadi">{{cite Q|Q55879169|last=Johnson|first=W. J. |article=Draupadi }}</ref> The brothers agreed that none should intrude if Draupadi was alone with one of the others, the penalty for doing so is a year to be spent in exile during which the culprit must remain celibate.<ref name="williams"/>

When Arjuna, his siblings, mother and Draupadi returned to Hastinapura, Dhritarashtra determined to avoid a rivalry developing for control of Hastinapur by splitting the kingdom, with half of it being left to his own eldest son, [[Duryodhana]], and half to the eldest son of Pandu, [[Yudhishthira]].<ref name="narlikar">{{cite book |title=Bargaining with a Rising India: Lessons from the Mahabharata |first1=Amrita |last1=Narlikar |first2=Aruna |last2=Narlikar |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19161-205-3 |page=225 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uMn6AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 |access-date=28 June 2020 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416075910/https://books.google.com/books?id=uMn6AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="flood">{{cite book |title=The Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation |first1=Gavin |last1=Flood |first2=Charles |last2=Martin |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-39308-385-9 |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uePAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT6 |access-date=28 June 2020 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416075840/https://books.google.com/books?id=7uePAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT6 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Arjuna inadvertently broke the pact with his brothers, intruding as he sought to collect weapons whilst Yudhishthira, was alone with Draupadi. He felt obliged to go into exile despite Yudhishthira's attempts to dissuade him.<ref name="dalal38"/> It was this event that led to him forming a close relationship with his cousin [[Krishna]]{{efn|The cousin relationship existing between Arjuna and Krishna was through Arjuna's mother, Kunti, and her brother, [[Vasudeva]], the father of Krishna. Both parents were children of the king [[Shurasena]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Roshen|last=Dalal|title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&pg=PA216|year=2010|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-341421-6|page=216|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=16 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416075910/https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&pg=PA216|url-status=live}}</ref>}} because he ignored the celibacy condition of the pact<ref name="williams"/> and married three people on his travels, the first of whom was a Naga princess named [[Ulupi]], with whom he had a son called [[Iravan]]. His second marriage was with a princess of Manipura, [[Chitrāngadā|Chitrangada]], who bore a son named [[Babhruvahana]]. The third was with [[Subhadra]], the sister of Krishna. This last event, which took place in [[Dvaraka]],<ref name="dalal38"/> is not the first meeting between Krishna and the Pandavas in the story but it does mark the start of a bond, sealed with the birth of the couple's child, [[Abhimanyu]], whom Krishna adores.<ref name="Hiltebeitel">{{cite book |first=Alf |last=Hiltebeitel |author-link=Alf Hiltebeitel |title=The Ritual of Battle: Krishna in the Mahabharata |date=5 July 1990 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vwWGX08JAx8C&pg=PA86 |isbn=978-0-79140-250-4 |publisher=SUNY Press |access-date=22 June 2020 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416075915/https://books.google.com/books?id=vwWGX08JAx8C&pg=PA86 |url-status=live }}</ref>