Arjuna

There was a discusssion in a group about the Character Arjuna of Mahabharatam.. The view expressed was that Arjuna was rather weak and if he had not the support of the stalwarts like Krishna and Anjaneya, he was practically nothing

I cannot agree with this view.

My comments there

And if the contents of Mahabharatham and some other puranas are crtically considered we will find that Arjuna himself was the Nara in the Nara Narayana combine of Lord Vishnu.

And we have to consider the heroism of Arjuna who fought repeatedly with Lord Shiva himself in the form of Kirata in the Pasupatha episode.

We have to understand that practically no character worth his name in the epic is a coward or trifling.

Some like Duryodhana or Karna would have had some evil qualities..

But even they were genuine veeras. Getting support from friends and benefactors directly or indirectly from friends and allies is a recognized war strategy. That cannot be construed as a weakness.

Often, the method of narration and style of delivery in the epic too often tend to confuse the peripheral reader.

One literary technique adopted at least in Sanskrit literature is to praise some glorious characters with even exaggeration at places.

In this discussion we can say Krishna and Anjaneya were beneficiaries justly or unjustly of such exaggerated eulogies..

And characters like Arjuna suffered often unjustly in comparison.

A mature reader of the epic will definitely praise the Blessed Lord Krishna as the key director of the story but will never think of maligning Arjuna for that reason