Arjuna and Indra - A Father's Visit

The throne room of Amaravati was everything the stories described—crystal floors, celestial music, apsaras dancing in eternal celebration. And on the throne, the god who had fathered him and abandoned him in the same breath.

Indra: "Arjuna. My son."

Arjuna: "Lord Indra."

Arjuna bowed. Not as a son bows to a father. As a mortal bows to a god.

Indra: "You don't call me 'Father.'"

Arjuna: "I have a father. Pandu. He raised me, or would have, had he lived. You... visited my mother once."

Indra's perfect face showed something that might have been hurt.

Indra: "That visit gave you life."

Arjuna: "It gave me existence. Pandu gave me life. Kunti gave me life. The brothers I grew up with gave me life. You gave me... Genetics."

Indra: "I gave you the skills that will save your kingdom."

Arjuna: "Did you? Or did Drona give me those? Did my own practice, my own sweat, my own ten thousand hours of work give me those? I'm grateful for whatever divine blood runs in my veins. But I earned my skills."

Indra: "You're angry."

Arjuna: "I'm honest. You asked me to come to heaven. I came. You showed me wonders. I was impressed. Now we're talking, and you're calling yourself my father, and I'm wondering what that word means to you."

Indra descended from his throne—a rare condescension. He stood before Arjuna, and for a moment, they could have been any father and estranged son anywhere in any realm.

Indra: "I watched you. Every competition. Every battle. Every night you practiced until your fingers bled. I watched."

Arjuna: "Watching isn't parenting."

Indra: "For gods, it often is. We cannot interfere. The cosmic laws forbid—"

Arjuna: "You interfered enough to father me."

Indra sighed.

Indra: "I did. And perhaps that was wrong. Perhaps I should have left Kunti's prayers unanswered. But she called, and I came, and you happened. And once you happened, all I could do was watch."

Arjuna: "And now? Why summon me now?"

Indra: "Because war is coming. A war that will decide the fate of dharma for thousands of years. And you—my son, whether you accept the title or not—are at the center of it."

Arjuna: "So this is about utility. I'm useful now, so I'm claimed."

Indra: "This is about reality. I cannot change the past. I cannot un-absent myself from your childhood. But I can give you what you need for what comes next. These will help you survive. Will help you win."

Arjuna: "And in exchange?"

Indra: "In exchange, nothing. They're gifts. A father's gifts to a son who doesn't want them from him but needs them anyway."

Arjuna looked at the weapons. Each one could destroy armies. Each one was beyond price.

Arjuna: "I'll take them. But I want something else."

Indra: "Name it."

Arjuna: "Tell me one thing about my mother. Something from the night you visited her. Something that proves it wasn't just... transaction."

Indra was silent for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was different. Softer. Almost mortal.

Indra: "She was afraid. Young and afraid and newly married to a man who couldn't touch her. She called the mantra expecting... I don't know what. A solution. A blessing. Instead, I appeared. And she almost sent me away."

Arjuna: "Why didn't she?"

Indra: "Because I asked her not to. Not commanded. Asked. I told her I would leave if she truly wanted. That the mantra could be undone. That she didn't have to do anything she didn't choose."

Arjuna: "And she chose."

Indra: "She chose. Not out of duty. Not out of fear. She looked at me—really looked—and said, 'If you're going to be the father of my child, tell me something true. Something the god of thunder doesn't tell anyone.'"

Arjuna: "What did you tell her?"

Indra: "I told her I was lonely. That being king of gods is a beautiful prison. That I'd had a thousand consorts and never once been seen. She saw me. For one night, I was not a god. I was... something else. And you came from that."

Arjuna felt something shift in his chest. Not forgiveness exactly. But something adjacent to it.

Arjuna: "I'll take the weapons, And I'll use them well."

Indra: "Will you also take... Will you consider, someday, calling me Father? Not now. Not even soon. But someday?"

Arjuna: "I'll consider it. After the war. If I survive. If you watch me through that too."

Indra: "I'll watch."

Arjuna: "Then we have an arrangement. Not a relationship. Not yet. But an arrangement."

Indra nodded. And for the first time since Arjuna could remember, the king of gods looked almost humble.

Indra: "That's more than I deserve."

Arjuna: "Yes, It is."