Khaandavprasth to Indraprasth

Araavalee Hills, thorny jungles, non-arable land was Khaandavprasth. Naag family and Asur were ready to fight with Paandav. Krishn said to Yudhishthir - "See what your dear Great uncle has given to you, and this injustice has been approved by that old man Bheeshm. All this shows that they are all going to meet their fate. But that is only in future, for now let us see what we can do to disappoint the blind king." Krishn called Indra and told Him to change the face of that piece of land. He said to Him - "Till now it was called Khaandavprasth, but after you have changed it, it will be called Indraprasth. Make it so beautiful and so fertile that there is no equal of this land except your Indra Puree." Indra said - "Vishwakarmaa will help you."

On an auspicious day the reconstruction of the place began. Vyaas read holy incantations and Vishwakarmaa's magic began to work. You get sweet fruits only when you put the seed of your dreams, manure of your labor on the land of Karm (actions).That is what Paandav did here.

Krishn said to Arjun - "Make your kingdom mighty and extend it. Shakuni should not even know about all that. If you cannot win any kingdom then marry there. Duryodhan is burning in the fire of insult. When he will do what, nobody knows. And for now I would like to go back to Dwaarakaa." Yudhishthir was very unhappy to hear this but as Krishn had to go so He had to go. He went away.

Arjun's Praayashchit Travel

Paandav were living happily in Indraprasth. After a few days when Krishn had left, Naarad came to Yudhishthir to see them. Yudhishthir received him with all the honor and sent for Draupadee. She also prostrated to him and went away to her palace. After the preliminaries Naarad advised him on ruling the kingdom. He also said to him - "This Draupadee is the wife of all five of you, so you must be careful that there is no conflict among you because of her. There were two brothers Sund and Upasund who were inseparable. Once they met an Apsaraa named Tilottamaa. Both fell in love with her and in that rivalry they killed each other. I told you this so that nothing comes in between you brothers. You are powerful till you are united."

So they decided that Draupadee should spend a year in the house of each of five brothers. And if she is alone with one of them, any other brother should not intrude on their privacy, he must go to forest for a year. They were very happy with this arrangement and there was no chance of any kind of quarrel now.

One day, some people took some cows of a Braahman. Braahman complained about it, so Arjun had to go to bring his cows, he rushed to bring his bow but at the same time he remembered that their weapons ere kept in Yudhishthir's palace and so his bow. Draupadee was also there. According to the rules, he was not supposed to go there otherwise he would have to go to one year exile for Praayashchit, but since he had to help the Braahman, so he had to go to Yudhishthir's palace and bring his bow. He brought the bow from there, and brought the Braahman's cows back. Then he got ready to go to forest for Praayashchit. Although Yudhishthir said - "You need not to go to forest, you are my younger brother, this rule is more true for elder brothers.", but Arjun said - "Rules are rules and they are same for everybody, so I will have to do my Praayashchit travel. Please permit me to go to all sacred rivers." With great unwillingness Yudhishthir allowed him to go.