Bhima's adventure

(This chapter on the pilgrimage of Pandavas has a few more stories, of Mandhata, Jantu, Useenara, Ashtaavakra and, Yavakrita and of Vishnu’s incarnation as Varaha (a boar). Let us leave them aside for the time being and make some progress with the main story. The idea is to run them in parallel in kunjunny.blogspot as and when time permits. This approach has one drawback. The side stories may fall way behind. But, let us see how it goes.
One adventure in this episode, of Bhima bringing the Saugandhika flowers, has inspired many plots in traditional art forms such as Kathakali.)

We left the Pandavas after their meeting with the Yadavas in Prabhasa. Yudhishthira had turned down the suggestion of immediate war on Kauravas. They, soon, left the Prabhasa and moved on crossing the rivers Yamuna and Saraswati towards the North. They saw Mount Kailasa in front. The Pandavas wanted to climb the peak, but, sage Lomasa discouraged them saying that it was beyond them.

Further on, the group lead by Lomasa saw the mountain named Gandhamadana. By then, most of them were too exhausted to climb up the mountain. Bhima offered to carry all on his shoulders. But, the Pandava, in spite of his super human strength, was himself exhausted after a while. He, then, remembered Ghatokaca who was born to him in the demon Hidimbi. Ghatokkaca had promised Bhima that he would appear before his father the moment Bhima thought about him. The Pandava decided to get help from his mighty son for trekking up the mountain slopes. Ghatotkaca appeared before the Pandavas as soon as he sensed that he was wanted. Bhima asked the giant to carry the rest of the team. He would manage to climb the mountain on his own.

They soon entered a forest full of banana plants (Kadalee Vanam).The Pandavas refreshed themselves looking at the beauty of the forest. It had a variety of exotic plants bearing beautiful flowers. The whole place was filled with a special fragrance. None of them had smelt anything like that before. Soon, Draupadi spotted a flower that was blown by wind from which emanated the unique fragrance. It was given the name, Saugandhika, because of its special fragrance. Draupadi was enchanted and requested Bhima to look for more of those.

In search of the Saugandhika flowers

Bhima was delighted that he got a chance to please his beloved wife. He looked all over the forest, but, could not find any. So, he asked his son to take care of the group and moved forward keeping track of the special smell.

The Pandava was in an ebullient mood and wanted to show off his strength. He uprooted huge trees and shouted aloud making tremors through the whole forest for no reason. Wild animals, even the lions and elephants, ran away in fright.

Then he found an old monkey, huge in size, blocking his way. It was lying across his path, apparently in exhausted sleep. The big noise made the monkey open its eyes. It spoke. “I have been sleeping peacefully as I was tired. What business did you have to wake me up? Anyway, the path up this hill is beyond the reach of humans. Why don’t you go back and leave me in peace?”

Bhima replied. “I am Bhima, the Pandava. I am looking for some special flowers up this mountain. I fear nothing and will not let anything blocking my path. You are in my way. You better move off.”

The monkey replied. “I am too old and weak to get up. If you insist on moving forth, you better jump over me”.

Bhima said. “I cannot do that out of respect for my elder brother, Hanuman. So, I insist that you give me way.”

Then, the monkey suggested a solution. “If you do not want to jump over me, then, why don’t you make way by pushing my tail aside?”

Bhima thought that to be a good idea. He caught hold of the tail with his left hand and tried to push it aside as though that was the easiest thing that he ever did. But, the tail appeared to be heavier that what Bhima thought. So, he used both hands and tried. It did not seem to make much difference. Bhima was embarrassed and used all his strength. Soon, sweat started flowing down his body. However hard Bhima tried, he could not move the tail of the monkey even by an inch.

That was a big blow for the morale of the Pandava. He could lift several elephants in one go with ease. He had fought and killed a large number of demons of formidable nature. But, with all his strength he could not move the old monkey’s tail even a bit!

Bhima bowed before the mighty monkey and asked him. “Tell me who you are. You are no ordinary monkey. Are you a god in disguise? I did not realize how great you are. Please pardon me for my rudeness”.

Then, the monkey replied. “I am your brother, Hanuman. It was necessary for you to have deep humility to go further up from here. Otherwise, you would draw the wrath of gods. That is why I tested you.”

The two, then, locked themselves in an affectionate embrace. This was their first meeting. The gentle caresses of Hanuman restored the strength in Bhima.

Hanuman, then, told his story and the part he played in Ramayan in brief on Bhima’s request. (It is narrated in more detail by sage Markandeya further on). Hanuman also gave several valuable advices to Bhima. He promised to appear on the flag mast of Arjuna’s chariot in the war ahead and disappeared from the scene.

We complete Bhima’s adventure in search of the flowers in the next episode.

(Note. The guardian deity of air, Vayu, was Hanuman’s father. So was he of Bhima. The story of Ramayana took place in the second epoch, Treta Yuga, thousands of years before the birth of Bhima. In this sense, Hanuman was the elder brother of the Pandava)