Devalok
From the epics · 2 tellings · East India, North India

Ulupi, the princess under the river

On his exile Arjuna is pulled beneath the Ganga by Ulupi, a naga princess, who wins his love by argument and gives him power over every water creature; years later, when his son Babhruvahana kills him, she revives him with a naga gem and tells him it freed him from the curse of the Vasus for Bhishma's death.

Who is in it

Texts: Mahabharata

The story, beat by beat

  1. Arjuna bathes in the Ganga; Ulupi pulls him under to her father's palace.
  2. She argues his vow of celibacy does not bind him with her.
  3. He stays the night; she gives him mastery over water creatures.
  4. Years later Babhruvahana kills Arjuna; Ulupi revives him with the gem.
  5. She explains it lifted the Vasus' curse.

love rescue curse serpents

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Mahabharata, Adi Parva 216

North India · Gangadvara, where the Ganga enters the plains All traditions

Arjuna, on twelve years' exile, camps where the Ganga comes down to the plains. Bathing, he is dragged under by Ulupi, daughter of the naga king Kauravya, and finds himself in her father's palace with a fire burning, where he finishes his rites. She tells him she loves him. He says he is under a vow; she answers that the vow concerns Draupadi only, and that saving a life is a greater duty, for she will die without him. He stays the night and returns at sunrise, and she gives him a boon: every creature of the water will yield to him.

Mahabharata, Adi Parva, tr. K. M. Ganguli (Project Gutenberg 15474)

Primary text (translation)

Mahabharata, Ashvamedhika Parva 79 to 81

East India · Manipura All traditions

Years later Arjuna follows the sacrificial horse to Manipura. His son Babhruvahana comes out to welcome him; Arjuna scorns a son who will not fight, and Ulupi rises from the earth and urges the boy to battle. Babhruvahana's arrow kills his father. Ulupi brings a gem that brings dead nagas back, lays it on Arjuna's chest, and he wakes. She explains: the Vasus had sworn to curse him for striking down Bhishma while Bhishma fought Shikhandi, and agreed it would end if his son killed him.

Mahabharata, Ashvamedhika and Mausala Parvas, tr. K. M. Ganguli (Project Gutenberg 15477)

Sources: Mahabharata, Adi Parva, tr. K. M. Ganguli (Project Gutenberg 15474); Mahabharata, Ashvamedhika and Mausala Parvas, tr. K. M. Ganguli (Project Gutenberg 15477)

More stories with the same people

From the epics

The chariot from Raivataka

Arjuna sees Subhadra at the Raivataka festival; Krishna advises him to carry her off rather than risk a swayamvara; the Yadavas rush to arms and Balarama rages until Krishna persuades them to bring Arjuna back for the wedding. The Bhagavata has Arjuna come as an ascetic, Subhadra want him too, and her parents agree.
Legend

The riddle on the swing (Ghatotkacha's bride and Barbarika's birth)

Krishna proposes Kamakantakata, Mura's daughter, as Ghatotkacha's bride; he wins her in Pragjyotisha with a riddle and in battle, she carries him to Indraprastha, and their son is born grown, named Barbarika for his hair and Suhridaya by Krishna. Khatu gives the boy a mother called Morvi or the Naga princess Ahilavati, who teaches him war, and has Shiva give the three arrows and Agni the bow.
From the epics

The hunter and Arjuna

In exile Arjuna does austerities in the Himalaya to win weapons for the coming war.
Temple legend

The Pandavas and the bull of Kedar

After Kurukshetra the Pandavas seek Shiva to be cleansed of the killing of kin.
From the epics

Agni asks Arjuna to give back the Gandiva

The Pandavas set out on their last journey; Arjuna still carries Gandiva and the two quivers.
From the epics

Arjuna and the Gandharva Angaraparna at the Ganga

A Gandharva king bars the Pandavas from the Ganga at night; Arjuna burns his chariot, spares him at Yudhishthira's word, and receives the seeing-science, horses and the advice to take a priest.
From the epics

Chitrasena the Gandharva captures Duryodhana

Duryodhana goes to the forest to gloat over the exiled Pandavas; the Gandharva king Chitrasena takes him prisoner on Indra's order, and the Pandavas free him.
From the epics

Varuna gives the bow Gandiva, and takes it back

At Agni's request Varuna gives Arjuna the bow Gandiva, two quivers and a chariot before the Khandava fire; at the end Arjuna throws the bow back into the sea for him.