Bhishma pitamaha,the grandfather to both kauravas and pandavas was trained by Bhagawan Parasuram himself.He was a ferocious warrior.Bhishma had five golden arrows,which when fired at an enemy is sure to give him death.Duryodhana,the main antagonist of the Mahabharatha decided to use these five arrows on the five pandavas in the Kurukshetra war.These arrows were sure to kill the pandavas and would have let duryodhana win the war.How Lord Krishna averted this disaster is this very interesting story of the five golden arrows.
Having lost to duryodhana in the 'Game of dice' and thus losing all ,the pandavas set out for their 12 year stay in forests as ascetics.They were supposed to spend 12 years in forests as ascetics and 1 year in total incognito.After these 13 years ,duryodhana promised to return everything pandavas owned before.If the pandavas were identified in the 13th year they had to spend another 13 years in the same way.Shakuni,the "Krishna" of the kauravas planned to identify pandavas in their incognito year and thus enjoy the property themsleves.
So duryodhana set out in search of pandavas at the end of their 12th year in exile.He wanted to take a bath and went to a nearby lake.In the lake there were 'Gandharvas' already bathing.As he was a prince,duryodhana asked them to leave the lake to himself.The gandharvas were really strong beings and thus challenged duryodhana to a fight.If duryodhana wins,he gets the lake.As always very over confident about his strength duryodhana accepted.The gandharvas easily overpowered him and were about to kill him.The pandavas,who were in guise of ascetics saw this and rescued duryodhana from the gandharvas.Duryodhana could not identify them as pandavas and hence being a prince asked the pandavas to grant a wish and he will fulfill it in return for saving his life.The pandavas who were self sufficient,thanked duryodhana and said when we need it we will ask for it.
So,in the mahabharatha war,krishna compelled arjuna to ask duryodhana the five golden arrows of bhishma.Duryodhana had to grant his wish and thus arjuna became the owner of these arrows.Thus,a great disaster was averted.