The jungle-covered area of Gokarna (a few kilometres northeast of Kathmandu) was once the capital of Nepal. Gokarna was considered a sacred site and took its name from the holy city of Gokarna in Karnataka, in Southern India, a major place of Shiva worship. During the reign of the seventh Kiranti king, the hero of the epic Mahabharata, Arjuna, reputedly paid the country a visit. Arjuna managed to impress Shiva, who had disguised himself as a Kiranti, with his extraordinary arrow shooting skills.