Bhima : Devdutt Pattanaik

First City, New Delhi, Feb 2006

They humiliated his wife. Dragged and disrobed her in full view of the court. He avenged her humiliation. Killed them all. Drank their blood. Abandoning dharma in the process. His name was Bhima, the powerful one, the second Pandava. Yudhishtira’s muscle man of a brother, as simple as he was strong.

Bhima’s father, Pandu was cursed that he would die if he ever touched his wives. So the only way Pandu could have sons was if he let his wives use a magic formula that forced gods to give them children. He chose the gods. First, he told his first wife to invoke Yama, god of death and order. Thus was born the regal Yudhishtira. Then he asked her to invoke Vayu, the wind-god, who gave him the mighty Bhima. Then she invoked Indra, the king of the gods, who gave her the skilled Arjuna. She then shared the formula with Pandu’s second wife, Madri, who called upon the Ashwini twins, celestial physicians, who gave her two sons, the handsome Nakula and the wise Sahadeva.

Why did Pandu choose Vayu? Was it because Vayu, the wind, was the father of Hanuman, the divine monkey, mightiest of gods? Perhaps he knew that Yudhishtira could never be king unless he had a powerful warrior beside him. A henchman who did as he was told without question or thought.

Such henchmen are often arrogant. And the Mahabharata informs us that years later, Bhima encounters Hanuman who appears to him a weak old monkey lying across the road. “Step aside,” Bhima tells him, too proud to walk around him. “I am too old,” says Hanuman in a pitiable tone, “Push my tail aside and make way for yourself.” Bhima tries to kick the monkey away. But he finds the monkey too heavy. Then he tries to brush the tail aside. Even the tail is too heavy. He then uses his hands. But he cannot move the tail by an inch. He uses both his hands and all his might and still he cannot lift the tail. Then it dawns on him. This is no monkey. This is his half-brother Hanuman, trying to teach him a lesson in humility. Falling at his feet, Bhima says, “Always sit atop Arjuna’s chariot, blessing him with strength, wisdom and humility.”

Why did Bhima not ask Hanuman to sit atop his chariot? Why did he give Hanuman’s grace to his younger brother? This action gives an insight into Bhima’s character. He constantly did things for others. Rarely for himself. And perhaps that is why in the Mahabharata we get a sense that he was always taken for granted.

Pandu died soon after the birth of his sons. He could not control his desire for Madri. A guilty Madri jumped into the funeral pyre leaving Kunti to take care of all five Pandavas. The Pandavas were contenders to the throne of Hastinapur, and as a result they were much hated by their cousins, Kauravas, whose father Dhritarashtra, though blind, became ruler of Hastinapur after Pandu’s death. The orphaned Pandavas thus grew up in a rather hostile atmosphere with an uncle and cousins who did not want them around.

The Kauravas did everything to make the Pandavas miserable. But Bhima ensured no harm came to his brothers. He fought for them, made the Kauravas pay if they ever made any Pandava cry. He annoyed the Kauravas so much that they drugged him, tied him and threw him into the Yamuna. Luckily for Bhima, he was rescued by serpents, Nagas. They claimed to be ancestors of his mother Kunti. And according to a folklore in North India, they gave him a wife who bore him a mighty son called Barbareek.

Bhima was born on the same day as Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava. They were arch enemies. Both learnt the art of wrestling and mace warfare from Balarama, Krishna’s eldest brother. But Duryodhana was always Balarama’s favourite. Balarama wanted Duryodhana to marry his sister, Subhadra, but Krishna ensured she eloped with Arjuna. Never Balarama’s favourite, Bhima was not considered worthy of Subhadra even by Krishna.

The Kauravas gifted the Pandavas a palace and set the building alight as soon as the Pandavas moved in. The Pandavas survived the assassination attempt but Kunti feared for the life of her children. She decided not to return to Hastinapur. Instead she let the world believe she and her children were dead. They lived in hiding far away from the city near the forest.

It is said that everyday Kunti sent out her sons to fetch food. Whatever was brought was shared. Bhima was given half of all that was collected. The rest was divided amongst the remaining four brothers and their mother. Such was Bhima’s appetite. It was said that Bhima had the constant expression of a hungry wolf. He was a glutton. He could eat forever.

But he was not lazy. When he walked he carried his mother on his shoulders and his two younger brothers, Nakula and Sahadeva, in his arms. Yudhishtira and Arjuna walked beside him. He was the protector. Everyone could rely on him.

During this time in the forest. Bhima killed many Rakshasas, probably barbarian forest dwellers. There was Baka who terrorized local villages by forcing them to give him a cartload of food every day. Baka ate the food, the bullocks and the driver of the cart. But he met his match in Bhima.

Hidimba, a Rakshasa woman, fell in love with Bhima on hearing how he killed the mighty Baka. She came to Bhima and said, “If you kill my brother, Hidimba, you can marry me and I will take care of your mother and your brothers.” Bhima killed Hidimba and became the first Pandava to get married. Hidimba took care of the Pandavas. But Kunti did not like the idea of having a Rakshasa as her daughter-in-law. She wanted a princess for a daughter-in-law whose royal father would protect her sons from harm. So she forced Bhima to abandon Hidimbi and the son she bore him, Ghatatkocha.

Bhima’s victory over Baka and Hidimba and his marriage to Hidimbi has ensured he has a great fan following in tribal and rural India especially members of the lower strata of society. Even today, Bhim-sen is much adored deity of the countryside. Much more than Arjuna who by is popular amongst the upper castes of priests and warriors. This class and caste divide is evident in the weapons the two brothers use. Bhima uses the club, used by brutes, while Arjuna uses the sophisticated bow, reserved for the Aryan elite. Remember the tale of the tribal Ekalavya whose thumb was cut by Drona because he dared to learn archery.

Significantly, Peter Brooke’s Mahabharata has a black man playing the role of rash yet lovable Bhima and a white man playing the skilled and sharp Arjuna. Wonder if any racial prejudice crept into the casting to reflect the caste prejudice. Hidimba is also played by a black woman. Her son, Ghatatkocha, sacrificed by Krishna to save Arjuna, is also played by a black actor. To be fair to Peter Brookes, in his story, even Apsaras are black and Shiva is played by a Japanese actor. But still the thought is interesting.

Eventually, Bhima and his brothers married Draupadi, the princess of Panchala. And per the terms of marriage, he was allowed to have Draupadi to himself exclusively for one year, after Yudhishtira. After that, she would let her go for a year each to Arjuna, then Nakula and finally Sahadeva. Bhima’s second turn would come five years later. It is interesting that while Bhima was allowed to have the larger share of food, he had to share his wife equally.

Bhima was obsessed with Draupadi (she had such effect on all men). He would do anything for her and she knew it. While Yudhishtira would temper rage with righteous conduct, Bhima would submit to raw emotions. Draupadi took full advantage of that. In the thirteenth year of exile, th

at the Pandavas were supposed to live in hiding, Kichaka tried to rape Draupadi. Yudhishtira refused to come to her rescue for fear of exposing their identity. Rational thought came in the way of rage. But Draupadi wanted revenge. She went to Bhima, provoked him and got him to kill Kichaka. He did not care about the consequences when it came to serving as Draupadi’s avenging angel. While all the Pandavas fought in the Kurukshetra for principle and property, only he fought to avenge Draupadi’s humiliation and to help her tie the hair. He killed all the Kauravas, drank their blood and offered the blood to Draupadi so that she could wash her hair with it and finally bind it.

We are told that Bhima could never forgive or forget. After the war, he continued to taunt the blind old Dhritarashtra, describing in gruesome detail, each time the family sat together for dinner, of how he killed each of his hundred sons. Disgusted, Dhritarashtra finally decided to renounce royal life and retire to the forest. His wife Gandhari and his sister-in-law Kunti joined him. There they were killed in a forest fire.

In the final chapter of the Mahabharata, we are told that Bhima went to hell because he was a glutton. His fondness for food indicates his association with baser emotions – rage, lust. In the Drona Parva, we are informed his emblem was of a lion. And he was a lion. Arrogant and vengeful. But he would never be king. The leader of the pack. He was after all too much brawn and too little brain, too much heart and too little head.

rajdeep

I do not agree that Bhima was too much brawn and too little Brain. This I guess is not a complete understanding of Bhima. Just refere to his talks with Yudhishthira at the end of the War or with Krishna during Udyoja Parva. It just goes on to show Bhima’s compassionate side. He is simple but not stupid. Infact he has the wisodm of a simple man, a man whose visons is not frosted by the ironny of knowing too much. Bhima means the terrible…..but he is terrible in more than one sense of the word….he is not terrible like just that arouses fear…but something that is trule awe-inspiring…he is Bhima not just in strength or power but also in service and selflessness and devotion.
Bhima was begotted through Vayu…because he was to be the Prana vayu of the brotherhood.

[Reply to this comment]

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik Reply:
May 1st, 2009 at 7:46 pm

Wow…:-)….don’t take it so personally…..usually mythology creates archetypes where one facet is presented as stronger than another…people can argue Arjuna was actually very strong….but he will never replace Bhima in that place….likewise Bhima’s positioning is rooted to the strength space not wisdom space…for that one dialogue you mentioned, you will hear never people say “as wise / compassionate as Bhima”, will you?

May 01, 2009 @ 7:13 pm

Ashish

Actually there is another story as to why arjuna has the Hanuman flag and not bhima. It is the story that involves Arjuna building a bridge, strong enough to withstand hanuman.

May 05, 2009 @ 8:10 am

Oh and no, Bhima and Duryodhana were not born on the same day. Bhima was older than Duryodhana. Gandhari gets so jealous on learning that Kunti has had two kids and she has been pregnant for a really long time (for much more than 9 months) that she pushes on the foetus in her womb really hard and a lump of meat comes out of her. It is then that Veda Vyasa makes a 101 pieces of that meat, put them in jars and creates babies out of them. 101st is a baby girl called Dushala.

May 05, 2009 @ 8:15 am

Girish

It was very nice to have a total knowledge of Bhima. want to know more about kaurav’s sister “dushala”, nothing much has been mentioned about her.

Oct 26, 2009 @ 10:01 pm

Das

I feel the summation about Bhima’s character is not quite right. Afterall he was the backbone of the Pandava army and did not get due credit for all his brave exploits. Know for his immense strength, he never crossed the lakshman rekha set by his elder brother. Even during Arjuna’s final war with Karna he was behind Arjuna to give him full strength and courage. Earlier he had defeated the likes of Drona and Karna with ease in the battle , which even Arjuna could not emulate. His son Ghatothkacha was sacrificed to save Arjuna.I do not think Bhima got his due in Mahabharatha and there appeared to have been a bias towards Arjuna’s role.

Nov 07, 2009 @ 11:39 am

Amit

Hi,
Dear Devdutt ji,

Great work on simplification of Mahabharat Characters,I have a question though.

When was for the First time in recorded History we came to know about the happening of Mahabharat. Was it in the form of a great tome unearthed in someplace in Bharat or as folklore.

I have many questions regarding this.. but please do answer it for the starters.

Best wishes and regards
Amit

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

although the oral history was around for many centuries before that, the written document was composed between the fall of Mauryan Empire and the rise of the Guptas…..

Nov 16, 2009 @ 2:23 pm

RISHI

DR. Devdutt Pattanaik. before writing anything else about any Mahapurush we should think atleast twice so that we can avoide the next generation by misguiding. the way you wrote about “BHIMA” in your above article is completely misguiding this generation. and it really seems like you havnt read the Mahabharata complete. you just turned over the pages where BHIMA was speaking or you just thought that “what he would speak” & just turned the page.
let me tell you what “BHIMA” was in the real Mahabharata. 1)you said draupadi used bhima. but i would say its a mans duty to kill that cruel who tries to rape his wife. & thats what Bhima did. if yudhishthir can bear wanwas of 12 years as he promised to duryodhana who was his foe. why he cant do this for draupadi who was his wife? being unknown is that what so important for yudhishthira than draupadi’s character? what if kichaka would have raped her? yudhishthira would have left her and he would have married someone else. but Bhima wasnt like yudhishthira he knew Drupadi is scared of Kichaka that he could rape her at any time. And he was the one who explained her he gave her courage. and without knowing his bros he killed that creul and his followers just with his arms. and he was completely succeded in this coz yudhishthira dint know anythin about it.
2)Bhima had farsight. when draupadi’s wastraharan was happening only he was the one who roared against it. he was telling yudhishthira that bro permit me i will kill these cruels right now and you be the king of the emperor. but yudhishthira dint listen to him and after twleve years what happened about 40 lakh ppl died in the war. coz of this nobody taught asrtravidya the next generation and India’s power got limited since then. and since that time foriegn ppl were started attacking India but India couldnt protect his self and you know the further history i guess and the current situation of India and who was reasponsible for this?
If yudhishthira would have allowed him to fight at that time only 4-5 ppl( karna, duryodhana, shakuni, duhushasana) would have been standed against them. rest all were at pandavas side at that time.
He was the man to whom everyone on this earth used to fear but he never feared anyone nor he ran away infront of anyone in war unlike KARNA,DURYDOHANA, etc.
He was the man with full of power who killed Kichaka without any weapon & he killed his 105 followers as well without any weapon. & let me tell you infront of these Kichaka & his followers even Bhishma pitamaha & karna were ineffective. he killed so many rakshashas wihtout any weapon, just with his arms.

there is so much that i can tell you about Bhmia. but please do not misgiude ppl by writing anythin like this. Mharshi Vyas wanted Indian generation like Bhima so powerful they thought that by reading Mahabharata the next generation would idolise Bhima. they will become so powerful that no enemy would dare to look at India. but everything went wrong becoz of the writers of the next generation.

and thats why “we should idolise Bhima.”

Nov 16, 2009 @ 5:12 pm

Ashish M

I find Mahabharata to be a very random tale because of such things only, some character who were “favored” are always in the “limelight” and the others are often ruthlessly sacrificed to further the “favored” ones.

Interestingly, though the Ramayana tries to maintain a straight honest storyline, Mahabharata has a more “sab kuch chalta hai” storyline (lets kill this dude to save Arjun with the explanation that he is Krishna’s favorite). I think this is reflected in India now with the shift from the society being more Ram-Ramayana-centric (around partition – people trying to follow ideals), to the present more Krishna-Mahabharata-centric society where the goal is often more important.

I am getting to be a real fan of yours because you are taking a logical thinking man approach to mythology.

Nov 26, 2009 @ 4:54 am

ravi polapragada

Tell me the reason why , amongst the five(bhima,duryodhan,keechaka,bakasur,and jarasandha), the first one to kill one of the other four, shall be the slayer of the remaining?

Dec 28, 2009 @ 4:42 pm

Ashu

Im sorry Mr Devdutt but you have got quite a few facts wrong here. The whole story of why Hanuman sits in Arjuna’s chariot and why Draupadi requests Bheema (and only him) to kill Keechak is messed up! Also why Kunti does not allow Bheema to stay with Hidimba. I suggest you do a little googling if you cant get hold of the original book.

Jan 03, 2010 @ 5:14 pm

Harish Kumar

This article is a classic case of what happens when a complete ignoramus decides to write on spiritual topics just to position himself as an interpreter of spiritual ideas (and to obtain management lessons from ancient scriptures.)

Bhimsena is an exalted personality whose yogic knowledge and powers remain (and will remain) unequalled in Bharat or anywhere else in the universe.

Lets take two ideas on which the author seems fixated upon. His gluttony/physicality and vengefulness.

Bhimasena was advanced in yoga that he had the ability to use even Rajas and Tamas in the service of the Lord and not merely Sattwa. This is a very difficult type of Yoga and in fact very humans can do it and is difficult for even the greatest of Gods. Bhimasena was an expert in that. He could do that easily. In his life there is a lesson of complete surrender to Sri Krishna and how even the basest of emotions can be divinised and deployed in the service of the Supreme Divine.

What we see as vengefulness and anger and “raw emotions” is nothing but the activity of the outer personality or what Sri Aurobindo calls the Outer Being when the Inner Being has decided to use Rajas in the service of the Lord. Our Spiritual Guru the great Devadutt Pattanaik completely misses the Divine Movement of the Inner Being and concentrates on the Outer Being which will only deploy Rajas as anger and hatred and vengefulness. He is fixated on the vehicle and forgets the Driver.

In fact most Indians cannot comprehend the possibility of Rajas as a component of Yoga. They think being spiritual means being Sattwic and soft natured and polite and tolerant. Sattwic Yoga is all that Indians know. And this is greatly responsible for all the criminal activity which takes place in India.This explains why criminals rule over neighbourhoods and politicians swindle our country. Because they know that the Indians do not know how to use Rajas as a part of Yogic Sadhana. The people will sit quiet and do nothing. Only Stillness. No Movement.

Mar 07, 2010 @ 11:50 pm

I would like to elaborate on many of the great Yogic Powers of Bhimasena, but I have no time now and will come later and do it.

Mar 07, 2010 @ 11:53 pm

The importance the Hindu society gives to Arjuna is baffling. It shows most don’t read the Mahabharata and rely on misguided charismatic people to enlighten them on spiritual matters.

One possible reason for the adulation of Arjuna could belong because he was a participant in the dialogue which became the Bhagavad Gita. But this is like giving importance to a weak student who took extra lessons and tuition and completely forgetting the brilliant student who did not require any sort of teaching because he knew intrinsically all there is to know.

Its worthwhile to note that even after the Gita was revealed to him , in which Krishna asks him to lead a life committed to the Divine, and keep that relationship with the Divine above all familial relations, Arjuna cries unconsolably after the death of his son Abhimanyu. It took a monumental effort on the part of Krishna and Bhima and to get the fellow back into fighting mode, once again tell him the importance of saving Bharat from the forces of Darkness and how Nation was above personal tragedies.

But Bhima was always clear-cut about his role in the cosmic scheme of things, kshatriya dharma, the need to exclusively serve the divine. And so when he saw his son Ghatothkach was badly injured , he advises him to get close to the Kaurava army and die falling on them and wipe out a large section of the instruments of Darkness. GhatothKach follows his Father’s orders and wipes out an entire battalion collapsing on them with his gigantic frame. Bhima stands out as devotee and intellectual par excellence , Arjuna a sentimental fool and pitiable miserable fellow.

Mar 08, 2010 @ 12:46 pm

NVRamanan

For the several fans of Bhim here, there is a good book in Malayalam called Randamoozham. An English Translation is available called Second Turn; a better English version is available on the net, by Prem Pannicker. You can find him on his blog Smoke Signals. This book y the reknowned MT Vasudevan Nair tell the Mahabharata from Bhim’s point of view

Apr 29, 2010 @ 5:29 pm

badrinath

Dear All
With out proper study if anybody writes this is what going to happen
First of All Bheema is more powerful that anyone (except Krishna)
Before writing anything we should study other study material also like simply studying Mahabaharatha will not give proper picture their are lot of quotes on Bhima in Upanishad and in vedas also Like Ambranisutha and Manyusutha and you can take reference of Mahabharathatatparya nirnaya of Sri Madhavacharya and ever sharnkarachary also this will give correct picture of Bhima

Bhima picture is total different from what has been given.
This is my view.

Aug 12, 2010 @ 11:11 am

Nithya Palanisamy

I have been a great admirer of Bhima and all the Pandavas for their adherence to Dharma. But recently while re-reading the Mahabharatha I started focussing on Bhima taunting Dhritarastra, he was not able to forgive or forget, despite having killed them all with his bare hands, as if that is not able to quench his revenge, he continues to taunt poor old Dhritarashtra and Ghandari, so that they are pained into leaving for the forest. This has brought the exalted image of Bhima I had in my mind to a low level. This is a painful let down, but any clue as to what the other Pandavas were doing when Bhima was so insensitively taunting Dhritarastra? Was he not given good advice by Kunti or the other Pandavas?

Devdutt Reply:
August 15th, 2010 at 5:19 am

We are forgetting that Bhima is a character in a STORY…the point is not whether HE is great or not…the point is WHY do you want him to be great?…..Observe how people get attached to characters in tales, albeit sacred tales, and this attachment leads to rage and anger

Aug 14, 2010 @ 4:31 pm

Devdutt Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist

Bhima

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