Matali

Shiva disappears from the Himalayan peak, and Arjuna is still reeling from having seen the god face to face — when the sky lights up and four more gods arrive. Yama, Varuna, Kubera, and Indra have come to reveal who Arjuna really is, what he is meant to do, and to arm him for the war that awaits.

While Arjuna sits on Mount Mandara thinking of Indra's chariot, the divine vehicle itself appears — driven by Matali, drawn by ten thousand tawny horses, stocked with divine weapons and blazing with light. Matali announces that Indra himself awaits his son. Arjuna bathes in the Ganga, offers his prayers, bids farewell to the mountain, and ascends into the celestial regions — where the stars reveal themselves as the luminous abodes of the righteous.

As the chariot rises as if into the sky, confounding its occupants, Varshneya watches Bahuka's extraordinary control over the horses. He weighs the evidence — is this Matali, Shalihotra, or Nala himself? The age matches, the knowledge matches, but the deformed body gives him pause. He decides not to conclude without proof.

While the Pandavas are thinking of Arjuna, Indra's chariot driven by Matali suddenly appears in the sky, carrying Arjuna. He descends, pays respects to Dhoumya, Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Draupadi, is worshipped by Nakula and Sahadeva, and the Pandavas honor Matali before he departs. Arjuna presents the gifts from Indra, recounts his acquisition of weapons from Indra, Vayu, and Shiva, and his entry into heaven, then happily goes to sleep with his brothers.

After the lokapalas depart, Indra smiles and tells Arjuna he had known him before. When Arjuna asks Indra to be his preceptor for learning weapons, Indra tests him — suggesting he might use celestial weapons against humans. Arjuna vows he will only use them to ward off other weapons, and Indra, satisfied, reveals the test and commands him to go to his abode to learn all divine weapons.

Matali arrives in Indra's divine chariot and tells Arjuna he will go to heaven in his physical body. As the chariot soars upward with the speed of mind and wind, Arjuna sits so steadily that Matali is astonished — noting that even Indra himself loses his balance when the horses first move.

Harivahana — Indra himself — tells Arjuna that the time has come to pay his preceptor's fee. But before revealing the task, he makes Arjuna promise to do it. Arjuna agrees, and learns what the king of the gods requires: the destruction of thirty million nivatakavachas, the invincible danavas who live along the ocean shore.

Arjuna crosses the terrible ocean, passes through its wonders, and descends into the city of the daityas. The roar of his chariot fills the streets — and the danavas, mistaking him for Indra, tremble, close their gates, and arm themselves for what is coming.

Arjuna circles the asura city, raises the conch Devadatta to his lips, and blows — gently. The sound stupefies the sky itself. From every direction, the Nivatakavachas emerge, armed and countless, and a battle begins that the gods themselves have come to witness.

Arjuna and Matali, Indra's charioteer, are surrounded by the nivatakavacha asuras, who rain down lances, clubs, and arrows from every direction. Arjuna drives them back with the Gandiva, Matali tramples them under the horses' hooves, and when the asuras press the attack, Arjuna deploys the brahmastra and the madhava weapon — slicing their weapons to pieces and piercing each asura with ten arrows.

The danavas unleash a storm of rocks, water, wind, fire, and finally a terrible darkness that confounds Arjuna and terrifies Matali. Arjuna counters each elemental assault with divine weapons, but when the darkness falls, even his charioteer loses his senses — and Arjuna must steady himself before he can fight on.

The Nivatakavachas retreat into their city, become invisible, and shower rocks from sky and earth, restraining Arjuna's horses and chariot. Oppressed and scared, Arjuna hears Matali's command: unleash the vajra weapon. He does — and his arrows become like the vajra itself, penetrating every maya and striking the danavas down.

After the battle, Arjuna enters the Nivatakavacha city — a place more beautiful than the abode of the gods themselves. He asks Matali why the gods do not live there, and learns that his entire mission was divinely ordained: the gods could not kill these asuras, but Arjuna, arriving at the destined time, has accomplished what they could not.

Returning from battle, Arjuna spots a celestial city drifting through the sky — jewel-laden, impossible to conquer, avoided even by the gods. He asks Matali what it is, and learns the story of the boon that made it invulnerable — and the single condition that will undo it.

Arjuna learns the danavas of Hiranyapura can only be killed by a human. He orders Matali to drive him to the city, and a battle begins that pushes even the greatest archer to his breaking point — until he bows to Rudra and unleashes a weapon that assumes a thousand terrible forms.

Arjuna returns to Indra's abode, his mission complete. Matali recounts every detail of the battle — the destruction of Hiranyapura, the maya, the slaying of the nivatakavachas. Indra, delighted, declares that Arjuna has paid a great preceptor's fee and that Yudhishthira will conquer the earth through his strength.

Enraged by the death of his son, Ravana marches out with his rakshasa army and attacks Rama with terrifying maya — creating illusory soldiers and even false forms of Rama and Lakshmana. But when Indra sends his own chariot, driven by Matali, Rama mounts it and invokes the brahmastra, an arrow that envelops the lord of rakshasas in a mass of blazing flames from which nothing remains — not even ash.