Characters of Mahabharata : A

Arjuna

It is indeed befitting that this series of Mahabharata characters starts off with someone as heroic as Arjuna. 

• Son of Pandu and Kunti(through invocation of Lord Indra)
• Winner of Draupadi's hand, Husband to Subadhra(Krishna's sister), Chitrangada and Ulupi
• Father of Shrutakirti, Abhimanyu, Babruvahana and Iravan respectively
• Grand father of Parikshit, the sole survivor for the throne of Hastinapur post kurukshetrawar
• Favorite and devoted student of Drona
• Converser of the Bhagavad Gita 

It seems to me that the universe or the fate, if I could say so, was hell bent on making Arjuna what he was(compare with the ill fated Karna). First, it was Guru Drona who asked for an unfair guru dakshina from Ekalavya to ensure Arjuna's supremacy in Archery. Then it was Kripacharya and others who prevented Arjuna from fighting with Karna quoting Karna's lineage. Then it was at the swayamvara of Draupadi where Karna, who was then a King was denied a chance(lineage, again) whereas Arjuna disguised as Brahmana was allowed. Then there was Krishna all the time from removing his doubts and hesitations to faking a sunset to kill Jayadratha, slayer of his son Abhimanyu to pushing him to attack Karna at an inappropriate time. Then there was Chitrangada who brought back Arjuna to life when he was killed in war by his own son Babruvahana. Then there were the gods who presented him with divine weapons on many occasions. Even the curse by Urvashi turned out in his favour as he spends the thirteenth year of exile as Eunuch by the name Brihanalla. 

On a different note, Arjuna was blessed with Darshan of Shiva(through penance at Himalayas during the period of exile) and Vishnu(Cosmic form of Lord Krishna at Kurukshetra). However his pride, not tamed even by his encounter with Hanuman becomes the reason for his not attaining the Heavens in mortal form.

More on alphabet A to be continued...