Mukasura or Mukāsura (मुकासुर) was an ''

asura Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indian religions, Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Deva (Hinduism), Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhism, Buddhi ...

'' in the

Indian epic Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called ''Kavya'' (or ''Kāvya''; Sanskrit: काव्य, IAST: ''kāvyá''). The ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata'', which were originally composed in ...

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

''. He was a friend of the

Kauravas ''Kaurava'' is a Sanskrit term which refers to descendants of Kuru, a legendary king of India who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the epic ''Mahabharata''. Usually, the term is used for the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and his wi ...

and the son of Upasunda, who was sent to disturb the austerities that

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...

was performing at Indra keeladri, geographically now in

Andhra pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. Mukasura went to the forest where Arjuna was practicing his vows of prayer,

vigil A vigil, from the Latin ''vigilia'' meaning ''wakefulness'' (Greek: ''pannychis'', or ''agrypnia'' ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word ''vigilia'' has become genera ...

, and fast and attacked Arjuna in the form of a boar. Arjuna was actually conducting his penance to please Siva and obtain the great weapon called '' pasupatha-astra'' (the missile of pasupatha, the lord of the animate world). Lord Siva sends Mukasara in the form of a boar to test the severity of Arjuna's penances. He follows the boar in the guise of a hunter. Arjuna gets angry at the disturbing beast and shoots an arrow, while Siva simultaneously pierces it with an arrow of his own. A big argument over who has killed the boar follows, and a great fight ensues between Arjuna and Lord Siva. In the end, Siva appreciates the valour of Arjuna and grants hims the boon of the missile. Kiratarjuneeyam of

Bharavi Bharavi () was a 6th century Indian poet known for his epic poem '' Kirātārjunīya'', one of the six ''mahakavyas'' in classical Sanskrit. Time and place As with most Sanskrit poets, very few concrete details are available about Bharavi's life ...

and a

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

kavyam with the same name has the same storyline.

References

*Acharya Chandrashekhar Shastri: ''Puranon ki unmol kahaniyan'' (Hindi), 2006 Asura Mythological pigs {{Hindu-myth-stub