There's this rumour rife in internet and Quora that Arjun was a lesser archer because when the robbers attacked, he couldn't even string the Gandiva and protect Krishna's kinsmen. Your thoughts?
Hi bro!
Warning: Very firmly Arjun stan.
Before anyone makes snap judgements, we should try to understand the context of the situation.
This situation is after Krishna’s death. Arjun’s time on Earth is close to its end, his divine weapons taken back.
Krishna’s people are also disorganized, the warriors dead and gone, only the women and children left, many of them, maybe even thousands of them.
Arjun alone is leading them to safety, in something like a convoy, when robbers mount a guerilla attack against him. One man cannot be everywhere, I believe. In spite of that, he does string his bow, he does string Gandiva, even though he has lost Akshaya Tunira, he fights nonetheless, and he rescues almost everyone singlehandedly even in this situation, as evidenced by Vajra, Krishna’s grandson, being crowned the King of Indraprastha (please do not mention Vrishaketu, that’s not a canon character), and many of Krishna’s wives being alive enough to take Sanyaas afterwards.
Arjun fights, unlike many I can name in better situations than this. It might not have been a complete victory, I have not read that far, this answer is based on discussions with people who have read that far and snippets of canon citations, but Arjun won to the best of his ability. He was Krishna’s friend to the end. He did his duty, and prevailed.