Yudhistira enters heaven

Yudhistira was surprised to see all the Gods there. He bowed down to all. Indra, sensing this, asked Matali to come with a chariot adorned with flowers.
While this was happening, Indra and Yama started decking and dressing Yudhistira.
Then with the Gods, Yudhistira climbed up on the chariot.
He was taken to the court of Indra, where he was offered a seat and the choicest of food and drink.
Indra said It is because of your deeds that you have been able to come to heaven in your mortal form. Yudhistira said he wanted to see Krishna.
Indra said he would arrange for a chariot for him, to be taken to Vaikuntha.

On his way, he saw Brahma sitting in his place, his four heads reciting the scriptures. He bowed down to Brahma, who blessed him. From there, Yudhistira went to the abode of Shiva, at Kailasha. There Yudhistira saw Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha and Kartikeya, along with Nandi and Bhringi.  Yudhistira bowed down there. Shiva hugged him and said Yudhistira was indeed fortunate, that he was able to come to heaven in his mortal body.

From there, Yudhistira went to Vaikuntha. He saw the marvelous part of the heaven which was here Vishnu lived. Vishnu seeing Yudhistira, got up and greeted Yudhistira. Yudhistira said he was coming there with wife and brothers, but they had perished on the way.
Vishnu said there were already there. Yudhistira said he wanted to see them. Vishnu come with me.
Saying this, Vishnu took him northwards and opened a door.
It was dark inside. Yudhistira was unable to see a thing. He then started hearing voices. He heard the dead ones calling out to him, including his brothers. They said you are great and have reached heaven. We were not that great sinners, but we have to be in hell.
Yudhistira could only hear voices but could not see a thing. He asked Vishnu what was this? He thought he was in the abode of Yama and not in heaven.

He asked Krishna - Why am I seeing hell?

Head of Sudhanwa

Arjuna hurled a rock which Sudhanwa cut off.
Arjuna then picked up three arrows and adjusted them on his bow. He said I will kill you with these.
Sudhanwa said I do not fear death. I wished to die after seeing Krishna and now that I have seen Krishna, death can take me away. I will perform my duty as a Kshatriya and fight you. I will cut off all your arrows.
Seeing Sudhanwa's pride, Arjuna hurled the thee arrows. Seeing the arrows, Sudhanwa started taking the name of Krishna. The arrows touched Sudhanwa , who cut them into two and they fell on the ground. Arjuna felt insulted. Suddenly the cut arrows rose from the ground and aimed themselves towards Sudhanwa. The broken arrows pierced Sudhanwa who fell dead. One of the arrows cut off Sudhawa's head. The cut head began taking the name of Krishna. The soul of Sudhanwa merged with Krishna. It fell on Krishna's feet. Krishna lifted the head in his hands. Krishna the called out to Garuda. Garuda appeared there. Krishna asked Garuda to place the head in Prayaga.
Shiva saw this. He asked his bull to go behind Garuda and stop him from throwing the head in the waters of Prayaga. Durga seeing this said Do not send your bull. He will fail, Garuda is doing what Krishna has asked him to do.
Shiva got angry and asked the bull to proceed.
The bull approached Garuda and said Shiva wanted Sudhanwa's head.
Garuda said he had come on Krishna's orders and will not be able to give the head.
The two started quarreling and soon began fighting. Garuda lifted the bull and hurled him. The bull went and fell near Shiva. Seeing Durga said I told you this would happen.
Shiva sent for Nandi. He asked him to get the head from Garuda and bring that. He also gave his trident to Nandi.
Garuda saw Nandi coming with Shiva's trident. He hurled the head in the waters. Nandi caught the head and brought it to Shiva.

Back home, Hamsadhwaja was wondering what had happened to his son. Suratha, the other son, said I will get Krishna for you.

Saying this, he started getting ready to fight. 

Ashwatthama meets Shiva

Ashwatthama got angry hearing the words of Kripa. He said he would go ahead with his plan, and if none would come with him, then he would go alone. He would kill the son of Drupada and the Pandavas in their camp. Any one who came to their rescue would also get killed. I have promised the king that I will do so, and I will make sure I succeed. Also, the day Dhristadyumna killed my father, I promised myself that I would kill him.
Kripa was quiet.
Ashwatthama went near the camp, with Kripa and Kritavarma following him.
Near the camp they saw a person. He was covered in ashes and had matted hair. With a two headed drum in hand, he was wearing tiger skin. This was Shiva who was acting as the doorkeeper. He asked Ashwatthama not to go inside. Ashwatthama said he would go and asked the person to step aside.
Shiva said I am the doorkeeper here and you will need to fight me to get inside.
Angry Ashwatthama started shooting arrows which were all swallowed by Shiva.
Ashwatthama realized that this was not any ordinary person.
He said You do not seem to be in pain after swallowing my weapons. My quiver is empty but you are standing peacefully. Please tell me Who are you?
Shiva revealed his identity.
He then said He would stay there till he was instructed to leave.
Not knowing what to do, Ashwatthama built a Shiva Linga with sand and started worshiping that.

Shiva pleased asked Ashwatthama what he wanted. Ashwatthama said he wanted Shiva to leave.

Jayadhrata prays to Shiva

Jayadhrata felt insulted. He did not know how to face Duryodhana. He wanted to kill the Pandavas. He decided to pray and the strength from the Gods. He decided to pleased Shiva and get boons from him.
He went to the Himalayas and concentrating, he began meditating on Shiva. His penance was austere. Seeing his devotion, Shiva appeared before him in the guise of a brahmin.

Shiva said Leave your meditation and ask for a boon. Jayadhrata opened his eyes and saw a brahmin in front of him. Jayadhrata asked him who he was, and the brahmin said he was Shiva. Jayadhrata then said If you are truly Shiva, show me your real self.

The brahman then showed him his self. Glowing body with snakes curled around, clad in tiger skin. A trident on his right hand and a two headed small drum in his left. The moon glowing on his head.

Jayadhrata fell on his feet, prostrate. When Shiva asked him to ask for a boon, he said he wanted to kill the Pandavas. Shiva said he was unable to do so. Saying so, Shiva went away.

Jayadhrata started praying again and Shiva came again. Jayadhrata asked for the same boon again. Shiva said he would not be able to help. Finally after many pleading, Shiva said Jayadhrata would be able to defeat Abhimanyu, the valiant son of Arjuna and the nephew of Krishna. This would break the Pandavas.

Saying this, Shiva went away and Jayadhrata set forth for Hastinapura. 

Arjuna and the hunter

Arjuna started his meditation on the peaks of Himalaya. He lived on leaves falling off trees. He slowly sgave off food, eating leaves once in a month. Slowly he gave that up too, sitting lost in his meditation.
First he was sitting. Then started meditating, standing on one foot.
The inhabitants of the peak went to Shiva and requested him to appear in front of Arjuna.
Shiva and Durga then took the form of a hunter and huntress. Taking a bow called Jayanti, he went where Arjuna was meditating.

It so happened that a big wild boar suddenly came dashing towards Arjuna. Arjuna took aim and was about to shoot his arrow, when he was stopped. A hunter told him not to shoot, as the boar was his target and he had come chasing the animal form far.
Not listening, Arjuna released his arrow. The hunter also released his arrow.
Both hit the boar at the same time.

Arjuna asked the hunter - Who are you, who roam fearless in the forest with your woman.  I shot my arrow first, seeing that, why did you release your arrow. I will kill you.

The hunter laughed and said - Who are you, O ascetic. Where have you come from. I am the lord of this place. The boar fell from my arrow, so why do you fret and fume? You do wrong and yet want to kill me. Show me your skill.

Arjuna asked the hunter to get ready. The hunter said he was ready.

Arjuna was surprised. He was showering arrows, but the hunter was unaffected. Who was this person? Arrows broke into two when they struck him. Frustrated Arjuna struck the hunter with his bow and the hunter snatched the bow away from his hand.

The two then began wrestling but even there Arjuna could not win. Arjuna was not sure what to do. He was on the ground. He quickly made a Shiva Linga from the sand, put a garland around that and uttered a silent prayer to Shiva.

He was surprised to see the garland he had offered, hang around the neck of the hunter.

Arjuna prostrated himself before the hunter and said he was begging for forgiveness as he was not aware of His true identity.

The hunter said What you did would not have been possible for any ordinary mortal. I will give the vision to see what is reality.

Arjuna, with Shiva's grace, then saw Shiva standing there with Uma.

Arjuna, with folded hands, started singing praises of Shiva. Shiva hugged him and said You do not know of your own true identity. You are the sage Nara, born on this earth. This Gandiva that you hold, none other than you can handle it. I return back to you, your weapons that you fired at me. I am pleased with you, ask what you want.

Arjuna said Please give to me the weapon, Pashupata.
Shiva gladly gave it to Arjuna along with the mantra for the weapon. He said You alone can handle this. Use this very carefully.

Arjuna said When the war between Kauravas happens, Please come there.

Shiva said Hari (Krishna) is there with you, why do you need Hara (Shiva)? Both Hari and Hara are the same. I will be around to help during the war.

Saying this, Shiva and Uma vanished. 

Arjuna asked to please Shiva

Yudhistira and the pandavas greeted Vyasa and gave him a place to sit. Vyasa said to Yudhistira - Deep in your heart you are fearing your enemies. That is why I have come here. Your bad times will soon be over and god times will come. Your brother, Arjuna, is Nara reborn. I will give him a mantra that will help him get to meet Shiva.
Leave this forest. Sitting here will not help. Go around pilgrim spots.

Saying this Vyasa taught the mantra to Yudhistira and left.

Yudhistira then left that forest along with his brothers and Draupadi. Following the course of the river Saraswati, they came across a forest called Kamakya.

One day Yudhistira called Arjuna and said - The Kuru elders are adept at yielding all kinds of weapons. I trust you my brother to be our savior. Go somewhere and meditate on Shiva. See Shiva and the other Gods and ask for the knowledge of the divine weapons.  Go to the Himalayas and live there.
Saying this, Yudhistira taught Arjuna the mantra given by Vyasa.

Arjuna picked up his weapons and left for his journey to please the Gods. 

Shiva intervenes

Narada seeing the fight not stopping went to Kashyapa, father of the Gods. He said Are you aware that your son, Indra, is fighting Krishna. Indra is loosing the battle and Krishna is yet to use the Sudarshana. If Krishna releases the Sudarshana, Indra would be dead.

Kashyapa started thinking what to do next. He thought of Shiva. He requested Shiva to join the battle. Shiva agreed.

Going there Shiva said to Krishna, You have defeated Indra. You, Narayana, had made Indra the king of heaven. Why do you want to dethrone him?

Krishna said the fight was because of the Parijata tree. As a bounty from the Cosmic Ocean, everyone had rights to that, so why should Indra alone have it.

Shiva went to Indra and asked him to give the tree to Krishna. Indra said the Parijata tree was something that made the identity of the heaven. If the Parijata went away, heaven would be incomplete.

Shiva said Krishna is none other than Narayana, who is your brother. As a brother, you should respect his wish.

Shiva then asked Krishna to respect Indra. Krishna bowed down to Indra, who hugged him. Giving the Parijata tree to Krishna, Indra said this tree will remain with you, till you are on the earth. The moment you leave, the tree will return back.

Sages talk about Draupadi's past births

The all knowing sages decided to visit Drupada and attend the wedding of Draupadi with the Pandavas.
The guards at the gate informed Drupada that great sages like Durvasa and Jamini had come with their disciples. Drupada went to welcome them. He welcomed them, gave them seats to sit and then washed their feet. He asked them how come they had graced him with their presence.

They said they had come to tell Drupada that his daughter was destined to marry and have husbands. Dhristadyumna said he had not heard of anything like this before. He had heard of men having five wives, bit not of any woman ever having more than one husband.

Yudhistira said As their mother had said, they would marry agree to the marriage only if Drupada agreed to marry his daughter to all five of them. He said the word of the mother was equal to that of the Vedas.

Kunti hearing the discussion came there. She bowed down to all the sages and wondered what was to be done.

Vyasa, who was also there, said he would tell them why Draupadi was to have five husbands.

In the Treta Yuga, Draupadi was the daughter of a brahman. She was a devotee of Shiva and worshipped him to get a suitable husband. She would pray with great devotion and would ask Shiva to bless her with a great husband. Whenever she asked for a husband, she would say it five times.
Shiva appeared before her and said she would be blessed with five husbands.

The maiden was stunned and said why was the great God playing tricks on her? Shiva said that she had asked for a husband five times, which is why she was getting five husbands. Shiva said you will have five husbands and will also be counted as a pious woman.

The maiden killed herself in the waters of Ganga. She was reborn as the daughter of the king of Kashi. Not having married, her friends used to ridicule her. She went and meditated. Dharma, Vayu, Indra and Ashwini Kumars appeared before her and asked her the reason for her meditation.

She said she wanted a husband. The Gods asked her to choose among them. For the maiden, they all looked the same and she could not decide. She kept quiet. The Gods gave her a boon of having five husbands. They told her to give up her body, saying in the next birth, she would get five husbands.

Vyasa said this was the maiden now born as Draupadi. Of the Gods, who had blessed her, they are all born as the Pandavas. So she is destined to marry the five Pandavas.

Agastya, who was there, said he would tell what he was aware of.

Once, Yama was busy doing a sacrifice. As a result, no human on earth died. The Gods were terrified. They went to Brahma and asked him to do something. Brahma went to the Naimisha forest where Yama was performing the sacrifice. He told Yama that he needs to do justice to people faced on the work they are performing, and not sit and perform sacrifices. Yama said when other Gods performed sacrifices that was fine, but when he performed the same, that was bad. Brahma was wondering what to say when from his body, a being emerged. He had a quill for writing in his right hand and a palm leaf in his left hand. His name was Chitragupta. Brahma handed Chitragupta to Yama saying, his work will be keep track of all the deeds of people on the earth.
Happy Yama went and completed his sacrifice. When Brahma and the other Gods were  returning back, they saw a river with golden lotuses blooming in it. The lotuses were flowing with the current of the water. They wondered where the lotuses had come from, their scent was wonderful. Indra asked to Pawan to find out. Pawan left but did not return for long. Indra then asked Yama to go. He went and he too did not return. He then asked the Ashwini Kumar to go. They went and did not return either. Indra then decided to go himself.

He saw a maiden sitting and crying. Her tears were falling in the water and forming the lotuses. Indra asked her who she was and why she was crying.

She said she was a daughter of Daksha. She told Indra that before him, four other Gods had come to her and wanted to marry her. Indra also expressed his desire to have her.
She took Indra high up in the mountain, where where a handsome man was meditating. This was Shiva. The maiden told Shiva that these Gods wanted to marry her. Shiva asked Indra to lift a mountain. When Indra did that, he saw Pawan, Yama and Ashwini Kumar trapped below the mountain. Shiva said he would take Indra and the other Gods to Vishnu. Vishnu would decide what to do.

Vishnu said the four Gods would be born on the earth. Indra would also be born on earth. The maiden would also be born there and she would have all five of them as her husbands then.

Agastya said, this maiden is none other than Draupadi who is destined to have five husbands.

Listening to all this, Drupada agreed to have his daughter wed the five Pandavas.

Neelakantha

Hearing these words of Uma (Durga), Shiva had his bull prepared. Riding his bull, he reached the spot where the churning had happened. He was accompanied by Durga on her lion, Kartikeya on his peacock and Ganesha on his mouse.

Indra welcomed Shiva and said all the goods that risen from the ocean had been distributed and there was nothing else left.

Shiva got angry. At first he had been ignored and now he was being told there was nothing for him.

Seeing Shiva angry, the Gods were scared. They did not know what to say. Seeing this, the sage Kashyapa approached Shiva with folded hands. He said I will tell you about the churning.

Rishi Durvasa had a garland made from the flowers of the Parijata tree. He presented that garland to Indra, who was then riding the elephant, Airavata. Indra, thanking the sage, placed the garland playfully on the teeth of the elephant.

The elephant could not stand the perfume coming the garland and dashed it to the ground, in front of Durvasa.

Seeing this Durvasa cursed Indra. You did not respect my gift. Let all your wealth and prosperity be lost.

Lakshmi, who was wealth and prosperity vanished into the ocean. Without Lakshmi, the entire heaven was lifeless.

Ending his tale Kashyapa said, this was why we churned the ocean. We went to Vishnu who helped us get Mandara and Vasuki for the churning.

Kashyapa took Shiva to the churning spot where he showed him a wounded Vasuki lying there,

Shiva said for my sake, I want you to churn the ocean once more. Again the churning started.

Not able to bear the pain anymore, Vasuki began to emit poisonous fumes. No one could stand this, and all started fleeing.

The Gods then started praying to Shiva, asking for a way out from this.
With one gulp, Shiva gulped the poison and held it in his throat. With the effects of the poison his throat became blue, and from then onward Shiva got a name, Neelakantha.

The Gods were very grateful. Shiva then asked the Gods to take back Mandara from where it had been brought. They all tried but could not. Shiva then effortlessly lifted the mountain and placed it where it belonged. He freed Vasuki and all went back to their homes.

Narada goes to Shiva

The Gods and the demons had finished the churning of ocean. All were aware of what had happened except Shiva. Narada went to inform Shiva about the churning of the ocean.

Narada went to Kailash and bowed down before Durga and Shiva. He informed Shiva about all that had happened. He told Shiva that Vishnu had got back Lakshmi and the gem called Kaustava. Indra had got the horse Uchchaihshravas and the elephant, Airavata. The nectar had also come which would make all who consumed it, immortal.

Narada said all Gods had got something from the Ocean except Shiva. Narada asked Shiva what he wanted. While Shiva kept quiet, Durga got angry. She said look at your Lord. He has a necklace made of bones. He has ashes and dust as the coating on his skin. He does not need precious gems nor does he need sandal wood paste. He is all immortal and has no need for any nectar. He has a bull as his vehicle and has no need for any other vehicle. He has no need for a wish fulfilling tree.
Daksha had once ignored your Lord, and as you know, he had called for his destruction and had to get a head of a goat, as his head. Shiva has accepted all that has been discarded like animal skins, bones, ashes and dust.