Vyasa’s Mahabharata says that Arjuna, after marrying the Naga princess Uloopi, visited pilgrim centres in the South. Villiputturar, the Tamil poet, who wrote the Mahabharata in Tamil, goes further and extends the story by naming the places Arjuna visited, said V.S. Karunakarachariar in a discourse.
Villiputturar says that Arjuna visited Tirupati and bathed in the sacred waters there. Arjuna is then said to have proceeded to Srirangam. There is a mandapa in the Srirangam temple, which even today is known as Arjuna mandapa. Villiputturar, perhaps, worked back from this to come to the conclusion that Arjuna’s pilgrimage included Srirangam too.
Villiputturar also wrote about Arjuna visiting the Pandya Kingdom, where Chitravahana Pandya was the king. Arjuna sought the hand of the Pandya princess Chitrangada. The King then told Arjuna about a certain peculiarity in his family. One of the ancestors of Chitravahana Pandya had prayed to Lord Siva for progeny. Lord Siva appeared before him and asked him if he would be content with just one child. The king replied that all that he wanted was that the family line is not broken and he would be glad if had just one child. And so, every generation subsequently began to have just one child and, whether it was a son or a daughter, that child inherited the throne.
Chitravahana Pandya told Arjuna that if he married Chitrangada, the child born of the marriage would be the heir to the Pandya throne and Arjuna would have no claims on it. Arjuna agreed to the condition, and wed Chitrangada. The child born to Arjuna and Chitrangada was called Babruvahana.
The names Chitrangada and Babruvahana are the names found in Vyasa’s Mahabharata too, but the story is given a South Indian setting in Villiputturar’s version.
