Who is Arjuna?

The finest archer

Arjuna was the third Pandava, son of Kunti and Indra, the king of the gods. At his birth a voice from the sky promised he would be the greatest bowman alive. He became the favourite student of Drona: when the teacher asked his pupils what they saw of a wooden bird in a tree, the others saw the tree, the branch and the bird. Arjuna saw only its eye.

Winning Draupadi

At the bride contest of Draupadi, kings from across the land failed to string a giant bow. Arjuna, disguised as a poor Brahmin, strung it and sent five arrows through the target. On returning home, his mother told her sons to share what they had brought, and so Draupadi became the wife of all five brothers.

Arjuna went on to marry Krishna’s sister Subhadra, who became the mother of Abhimanyu. He earned the bow Gandiva from the fire god, and the divine weapon Pashupata from Shiva himself, after fighting him unrecognised.

The Bhagavad Gita

On the first morning of the war, Arjuna asked Krishna, his charioteer, to drive between the two armies. He saw his grandfather, his teacher and his cousins waiting to fight him, put down his bow, and said he would not fight. Krishna’s answer is the Bhagavad Gita: what duty is, what cannot die, and how to act without being ruled by the result.

How Arjuna’s story ends (spoilers)

Arjuna brought down Bhishma, killed Jayadratha to avenge his son, and killed Karna, not knowing until afterwards that Karna was his elder brother. After Krishna’s death he found that his strength was gone. He fell on the final walk to the Himalayas, humbled at last.