Story of Chitrangada and Arjun happens during the one year exile period in Mahabharata for entering the room of Draupadi and interpreting her courtship with Yudhisthira. During the one year, Arjun had numerous strange encounters and married couple of women.
During his one year pilgrimage, Arjun reached Manipur. He had heard wonderful stories about the warrior princess of Manipur, Chitrangada, and wished to meet her.
Chitrangada dressed like a man and lived like a prince in her kingdom. But she too had heard wonderful stories about Arjun and had fallen in love with him even without seeing him.
The exciting news of the arrival of Arjuna in her kingdom made her self-conscious and insecure. She was afraid that Arjuna will be repelled by her masculine form. She therefore prayed to Lord Shiva to turn her into a modest and playful young girl.
But when she approached Arjuna in the form of a beautiful young girl, he hardly paid any attention to her as he had seen more beautiful women in his life. His eyes were searching for the warrior woman whose wonderful stories he had heard.
Chitrangada realized her folly and requested Shiva to turn her back into her original form – a warrior princess.
Arjuna fell in love with the warrior Chitrangada and he asked the king of Manipur for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The king agreed on the condition that the child born to them will be the king of Manipur and will not leave the kingdom. The couple agreed to the condition and got married.
Arjun and Chitrangada had a son named Babruvahana.