If Arjuna really was invincible,then why,in the Kurukshetra battle, Krishna intervened to protect him ?

Question

So many times, in the great Mahabharata battle, Krishna broke his promise of not physically taking part in the war by protecting Arjuna from the divine, irrestible weapons of the enemies be it Karna, Drona, Bhagadatta,etc. Yet, Arjuna was considered to have no equal in warfare. Why this contradiction ?

Answer 1

The point that Krishna kept his promise to Duryodhan of not participating physically in the battle is technically correct. Not once did he raise any weapon other than the celebrated conch.

Yet, even before the first bugle of the war was blown, he had been craftily preparing the ground for so many events for several years. If you reflect on the entire epic, you will see Krishna's hand behind several events, ever since he came into his own after killing his maternal uncle (Kans). For Krishna, the epic war was a brilliant ruse to perform purgatory (yada yada hee dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharatah, ...)

Coming to Arjun, he was an "atirathi" (outstanding warrior), but no, he was not an "invincible" warrior. He had a brilliant mastery on archery, and was in many ways, better than his Guru, Dronacharya. Perhaps his DNA, coming as it was from none other than Indra (the King of Gods), had to do something with his skills?

To my mind, Arjun had two equals: Eklavya and Karna. I would put Karna on an even higher pedestal when it comes to warfare skills. While Arjun learnt the tools of his trade at Dronacharya's ashram, Karna did so at Parshurama's ashram. And had it not been for Krishna's urging that Arjun kill Karna when the latter had his back towards Arjun (attempting to lift the wheel of his chariot stuck in sand); Arjun might never have been able to emerge victorious. Yes, Arjun was a great warrior, but invincible he was not.

And why did Krishna keep assisting Arjun and the Pandavas? Remember, he had a promise bigger than the relatively trivial one that he made to Duryodhan to keep: "Yadaa yadaa hee dharmasya, glanirbhavati Bharatah ..."

I hope I have managed to answer your question to some extent.

Answer 2

KRISHNA INTERVENED IN KURUKSHETRA BATTLE NOT TO PROTECT ARJUN .BUT TO KEEP ARJUN AWAY FROM USING HIS MOST DESTRUCTIVE WEAPONS THAT WOULD HAVE ELIMINATE THE WORLD LIKE THE ATOMIC WEAPONS.THE OPPONENTS KARNA AND DRONA ASWATAMA AND THE LIKES WOULD NOT MIND DEMOLISH THE WHOLE WORLD .IN THE PRESENT WORLD AN ATOM AGAINST AN ATOM IS NOT ADVISABLE .SO IF ANYONE START WAR WITH ATOMS WE CAN NOT USE ATOMS AGAINST HIM INSTEAD WE HAVE TO ANNIHILATE THE OPPPONENTS WEAPONS THIS IS WHAT KRISHNA DID IN MAHABHARATHA ARJUN HAD THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE WEAPONS LIKE BRAMASTRA PASUPATHASTRA SAMMAOHANASTRA.KARNA RELIED ON HIS SAKTHI ASTRA THAT HE GOT FROM LORD INDRA IN EXCHANGE OF HIS KAVASA KUNDAL HE HAD NO OTHER SOURCE TO KILL ARJUN EXCEPT THAT BRAMASTRA .ARJUN NEVER TRIED TO USE THESE WEAPONS IN KURUKSHEDRA WAR RATHER HE RELIED MOSTLY ON HIS SKILL.KRISHNA RESTYRICTED ARJUN TO USE DIVYASTRAS .BECAUSE KRISHNA HAD HAD SOME PLANS TO TACKLE THE WEEAPONS F ROM THE OPPONENTS WITHOUT KRISHNA ARJUN COULD HAVE EASILY ELIMINATE THE WHOLE OPPONNENTS IN AN HOUR .LIKE WHAT HE DID AGAINST THE ASURAS IN INDRALOGA

Answer 3

Arjuna was the greatest warrior ever, yet, he was not a god, hence not *completely* invincible.

As you yourself noted, Krishna intervened against divine weapons against which even Arjuna could not have prevailed.

Answer 4

arjuna was not invincible, u are mistaken mate, if there was anybody who coulddodge death in the whole mahabharata battle it was bheesam pitahma, infact he wasnt invincible he jst had the power to prolong his life till eternity but the only one genuinely invincible was shri krishna himself, all the others were human beings who had to be mortals

Answer 5

Do you have any reasons to believe that an epic poem like Mahabharata, composed over a length of time , presumably by multiple authors, should have the internal consistency of a legal document?