Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.94

c7.94

4) Gāṇḍiva and Arjuna. Arjuna agreed to protect the Khāṇḍava forest from rain, if Indra sent rain when Agni began eating the forest. But, realising that Arjuna possessed no weapons to effectively oppose Indra, Agni requested Varuṇa to give the following to Arjuna, viz., the Gāṇḍiva bow and a quiver wherein the arrows will never be exhausted, and the chariot marked with the symbol of monkey and drawn by four horses—all kept by Candra. Varuṇa at once made a present of the above to Arjuna. And, it was with the aid of this Gāṇḍiva, that Arjuna defeated Indra at the time of Khāṇḍavadāha. (See Khāṇḍavadāha). Arjuna had taken a secret vow to cut off the head of anyone who asked him to give the bow to some one else. (Karṇa Parva, Chapter 69).