A hunter. During the Mahabharata war, when Bhishma lay on the bed of arrows, he called Yudhishtira, who was pained to see him in that condition. To console him, Bhishma told him a story, in which Arjunaka was a character.

Once, the son of Gautami, an old Brahmin woman, died of a snake bite. A hunter called Arjunaka brought the snake to Gautami, and wanted to kill it immediately. But the snake claimed that Mrityu had tempted to commit the act. Mrityu appeared and claimed that the goddess of death had tempted him. This went on until it reached a stage where Gautami was deemed responsible for the child’s death since she had given birth to him. Gautami accepted the karma.

Bhishma said that one’s karma was the cause of everything and thus Yudhishtira was not to worry, as per Mahabharata Anushasanaparva Chapter 1.