Mahabharata Characters 35 – Bhima 05 – Bhima’s heroics during incognito exile

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata Characters course. We are discussing about Bhima and we have come to the stage of the nearly the end of the exile of the Pandavas and they are in the Gyanatvas and Keechaka has just tried to molest Draupadi and Draupadi fervently begged Bhima for help. So, Bhima seeing that Draupadi was disconsolate decided to act immediately, but he decided to act discreetly so that their incognito state would not be exposed.
Now, Bhima told Draupadi that just on the outskirts of the city, there is a dancing hall and normally in the evening hours that would be free. So, you can tell Keechaka that you will meet him over there and if you meet him over there, you can tell him to come alone at night and I will be there over there. So, Draupadi felt relieved on hearing that Bhima would act to protect her and Bhima ever eager to exhibit his military prowess and now having a cause, fully justified cause for exhibiting his martial prowess, his physical prowess, now eagerly waited for the evening.
So, as expected Keechaka the next morning itself approached Draupadi or Sharindri and he said, oh beautiful one, you saw yesterday that the king is powerless and actually I am the real king over here and nobody can stop me from doing anything. If you accept me as your lord, then I will decorate you with garments and garlands and ornaments and you will have nothing lacking. Just please me and Draupadi, though internally feeling revolted by his words, put on a smile externally on her face and said, oh hero, I have been nursing an attraction for you secretly.
And I would like to act on it, but my powerful husbands should not discover it. Therefore, we will have to lie together in secret. Come tonight to the dancing hall at the outskirts of the city.
And Keechaka was delighted and he could barely wait for the evening to come. And he dressed himself, he ornamented himself, put fragrances on his body and was eagerly anticipating. Draupadi, she felt sick of the words that she had spoken for a chaste woman to say that she has attracted, she is attracted to another man, even if it is a falsity, even if still that sort of statement is sickening.
And she waited for the evening and then as the evening asked him, she slipped discreetly into the room and waited. And Keechaka entered his mind filled with fantasies of erotic enjoyment. And he said, oh beloved, where are you? My heart longs for you.
I thirst for your beauty. And poetically he started expressing his craving and Draupadi hiding behind a curtain said, oh hero, my heart too longs for you. Please come here.
And Draupadi at a certain distance and in between behind another curtain was Bhima. Now Keechaka, wanting to enjoy, had drunk a little bit, he wanted to be intoxicated so that it could heighten his enjoyment. And in that drunken state, he was just moving a little groggily.
As he passed by to where the voice was coming from, suddenly Bhima emerged from behind the curtain and he says, I am your death. And bang, he hit him on the head. And Keechaka was stunned.
And he is looking what happened, what hit me? And then he saw Draupadi in the distance watching with a smile on her face. And he realized he had been tricked, felt shocked and angered. And he got up, shaking off his drunken stupor, he started fighting.
And he hit back at Bhima and Bhima pounded him and both of them fought fiercely. And they fought and fought and fought. But over a period of time, now Keechaka was thinking, who is this person? He was thinking, I am among the greatest wrestlers in the world.
And who is this person? I’ll crush him. But as he fought here, he found that this person’s strength and skill was unmatched. In fact, it was not only as good as his, it was better than his.
And he found himself tiring. He kept fighting, kept fighting desperately, tried to grab this being, whoever it was, in a fierce grip and crush the air out of his body. But Bhima had caught him and was pounding him on the ground again and again and again.
Keechaka, as Bhima was also holding him in a death grip, Keechaka suddenly took in breath and exhaled vigorously, expanded his chest. And because of that force, he broke free from Bhima. And breaking free, he used his full energy to hit back at Bhima.
Bhima endured the blow and countered it quickly. Bhima was already angry because of the injustices which the Kauravas had done, because of the austerities and sufferings that they had gone through in the forest. And on top of that, because of the insult that this wicked being had done to Draupadi.
So all that pent up anger, along with his zeal for fighting, they all came together and that was too much for Keechaka. And soon he was overpowered and Bhima pounded him again and again and again. And reduced him not just to a lifeless mass, just by his pounding.
But Keechaka became not just a lifeless mass, but a shapeless mass. His head, his arms, his legs practically sank into his torso. And he just became a shapeless mass, pounded into that shapeless mass as he left his body.
And Bhima turned towards Draupadi and he said, this wretched one who dared to attempt to defile you, now has gone to the abode of Yama. Already rest in peace now. He will trouble you no more.
Your honour is redeemed. And Draupadi was relieved and delighted. And Bhima told her to depart quietly and he also departed from another way.
There is no celebration apart from Bhima and Draupadi’s mutual celebration. Because they wanted to keep their identity covered. And as Draupadi entered the queen’s palace, he told the guards, go to the dancing hall.
There is the one who tried to molest another’s wife and he has met the end that befalls such people. And the guards, being surprised to hear her words, went. And initially they could not identify what this mass was.
But then seeing the remnants of the royal clothes and the jewels and the ornaments and gradually they discerned, oh, this was Keechaka and he was dead. They were shocked. And the news spread like a wildfire throughout the city.
And citizens from everywhere came to see the spectacle. Keechaka, who was undefeatable in war, had been defeated. Who could have done this? There were barely, the number of warriors who could fight with Keechaka could be barely counted in the hands.
Who could have done this? They were stunned when the king heard this. He was also stunned. Now, Keechaka, he was a Suta and he had some Suta followers who were also powerful warriors and they were enraged at the death of their commander.
And they said that, they came to know, they knew because Keechaka had already said that they was going for a rendezvous, a meeting with Sherendri. So they told that the Sherendri is the cause of the death of Keechaka. So therefore, on his funeral pyre, Sherendri should also be put and she should also burn to death.
And now they were so angry and they were so restive on the verge of violence that again Virat could not check them. And they just charged into the queen’s palace and grabbed Sherendri. And he says, the one who you cause to die, he will become the cause of your death.
You will die with him and you will burn on his funeral pyre. So this is a perverse example of a distortion of Sati. Sati is a husband dies and a wife voluntarily goes with him because she wants to attain the same destination.
Here, first of all, they were not husband and wife. It was just one man who desired another man’s wife, which itself was illicit. And on top of that, the woman was being forced.
But that was their perverse way of taking revenge for the death of Keechaka. And as they were dragging, Draupadi realizing that she had no shelter, she started calling the five Pandavas by their secret name, Jaya Sena, all the names. So now she called out and when Bhima heard his secret name being called out.
Now, they used the secret names because they did not want the five Pandavas and Draupadi, they did not want to reveal their mutual connection to each other, but still they wanted to have mutual communication going on. So, he called out, but as they were going out, near the Queen’s palace was the kitchen. And kitchen, Bhima heard.
Vallabha heard and as soon as Vallabha heard this, immediately he ran. He understood what was happening. He took one glance and instead of directly confronting, he covered his face with a cloth that covered most of his face, kept his eyes, of course, open and then he grabbed a huge log of wood, something which would act like a mace.
And he stood right in the entrance of the crematorium where Keechaka was going to be cremated and his followers intended to burn Draupadi also. And as his followers came dragging the resisting and screaming Draupadi, suddenly he stood before them like the messenger of death, roaring in anger. And when they saw him looking like a mountain, they were shocked.
This person is the cause of the death of Keechaka. Now, they were torn. On one side, they thought that we will take revenge against him.
On the other side, they thought he looks so fearsome. If he kills Keechaka, he will kill us also. So, before they could decide what they would do, Bhima pounced on them and he just took Draupadi and he took her to safety and he attacked those sutas.
And they tried to fight initially, but when they saw their strength was no match, they started fleeing. But Bhima ensured that those who had tried to attack a faultless woman and tried to burn her alive like they were not spared. And one by one by one, the vicinity of the crematorium was itself reduced to a crematorium.
There, Keechaka’s followers met their death at the hands of Bhima. And when the news spread, Bhima just killed them one by one. And now, at this time, the other citizens, on one side, they were afraid, they were outraged at what was happening.
Now, it was completely wrong for Sharendri to be taken like that. But at the same time, Keechaka’s followers were powerful. And if the king was not opposing, how could they oppose? So, they had kept a distance from this whole situation.
And that’s why there was no one to witness the rout and the death of Keechaka’s followers. But eventually, they could hear near the crematorium a huge fight going on. It was a quick fight.
And when the screams stopped, screams of the followers of Keechaka stopped, then there was silence as Bhima slipped away from there quickly to maintain his guise. The citizens came and when they saw Keechaka’s followers dead, shocked, and they saw Sharendri going back from there, they were struck with fear. And they ran back to the king and they told him that all the followers of Keechaka, like his primary assistants, they are also dead.
King killed by the same person, formidable might, the husband of Sharendri. So, when Virata heard this, he said, put all of them on one funeral pyre and burn them all together and give them a funeral, which is worthy of a good funeral. He ordered them.
But still, the citizens were still going there. And he said that the Sharendri, she is the terror for our city. He said, she is beautiful and her husbands are vengeful and men by nature are lustful.
So, this is a very volatile combination. And if somebody does some wrong to her, then who knows what her Gandharva husbands will do to us. She is a terror for us.
And when Sharendri would walk on the streets, people shrank away from her. And Virata thought about this and he called his Queen Sudeshana and told that, tell Sharendri that she can please leave this kingdom and go wherever she likes. He says that, all our citizens are afraid of her.
In fact, I am also afraid of her. And we would request her to depart from here and she can go wherever she pleases. And when he spoke this to her, he says, I am so afraid of her, of her husband Sivarath and of confronting her, offending her anyway, that I do not have the courage to meet a woman who is supposed to be his maid servant.
It is quite an extraordinary situation. But this was the effect which Bhima’s single-handed routing of Kichaka’s followers brought about in the minds of the citizens of Virata. So, when Sudeshana went and told to Sharendri this, Sharendri, she became grave and she said, kindly allow me to stay here for just two more weeks.
Two weeks was the time for the Pandavas to, for their Gyatwas to end. And she said, after that, I will go my way. And if you allow me this favour, then my husbands will be forever grateful to you for that.
And regarding the king’s fear, I will keep myself out of the way of other men. And I am sure other men will also keep out of my way. So, men will in general keep out of my way.
So, Sudeshana agreed and she said that, you stay in the queen’s palace itself in your chamber and do not go anywhere. So, Draupadi sort of sequestered herself and stayed over there. Meanwhile, the news of Kichaka’s death spread not just throughout the kingdom of Virata, but to the neighboring kingdoms also.
It spread to the neighboring kingdoms because there they also knew he was a formidable king. And normally, if the head of state or the head of the army of a country is assassinated suddenly, then naturally the other kingdoms will come to know and they will see that, fortunately, this country has become weak now. Maybe we can attack this country and overpower, expand our territory.
So, thinking also, these were the thoughts of Duryodhana. Duryodhana had sent spies far and wide to try to find the Pandavas and the Aghyatvas. But it seemed as if they had almost disappeared from the face of the earth.
Nowhere could they be found by the spies. And at the same time, he started thinking that the Pandavas are such famous, chivalrous, powerful warriors. How can they hide? And as he was pondering the mysterious death of Kichaka, and when he heard about the details, Kichaka had been overpowered in unarmed combat and wrestling and beaten to death just by the blows of the fist.
And he had been reduced to a shapeless mass of flesh. For this is a characteristic of Bhima in action. So, he said that this is probably the work of Bhima and if Bhima is there, then if we attack the kingdom of Virat, now Virat has already become weak because Kichaka the commander is dead and his assistants are also dead.
So, then surely the Pandavas, because they have served, they have taken residence of and got benefit of Virat’s kingdom, out of their duty to the king, they will surely come out of the hiding in order to fight to defend Virat. And when they come out to fight like this, I will be able to catch them. And thinking thus, he was thinking at that time, Susharma, who was the king of the Trigartas, who was ally of Duryodhana, he spoke.
He said that the Matsya king, Virat, his kingdom was also known as Matsya kingdom. So, he said this kingdom of Virat has actually been a thorn in my side for a long time. He says now with their commander dead, it is a good opportunity for us to overpower them and to increase our wealth and increase our military forces and resources.
So, Duryodhana felt that, like the gods had spoken through Susharma or maybe he knew that he was being supported by Dhanavas, maybe Dhanavas had spoken through Susharma. It is a very good idea. And they made a plan that Susharma would attack from one side.
He had a formidable army, he would attack from one side. And when the king along with his army had gone to defend the kingdom from his side, then the Pandavas, the Kauravas, full army will attack from the other side. And in this way, their victory would be certain because now the Kauravas would have the advantage.
So, when the news came that Susharma had charged on the kingdom of Virat and in those times, the attack would not be on the civilians, the attack would be on the wealth and the wealth would also not be destroyed. So, the cows would be considered to be like a primary form of wealth and the cows would be arrested and captured. And that would be a signal of the intention to attack.
It was a challenge. And then the kingdom to whom the king, to whom the cattle belong, that king would come out to fight and the cattle would be put aside and then the kings would fight. So, as this fight was about to, when, so the king, Susharma came and took the cows at one outskirts of the kingdom.
And then when the king heard about this news, he immediately got off his throne, ordered his army and he said, let us charge in the forest. And he told that Kanka, you should also come with me. Now Yudhishthir, he had told that he was a Brahmin, but he also had a Kshatriya belt and he said surely he can also fight.
And then he also told that Granthik, Tantripal and Vallabha, they should also come because the Virat was also a shrewd person. He knew, although they were acting as horsemen, cowherd men and cook, he saw that they had the belt and the capacity to fight. And now without Keechaka, he knew that every able commander, every able man that he could get, he would need.
And he told that not only should they be asked to, allowed to fight, invited to fight, but they should be given honorable positions. They should be the leader of men and they charged out. And as they charged out, Bhima went into the forefront and Virat was fighting, fighting and Susharman, as he fought, Virat fought heroically, but he was old.
Susharman gradually overpowered him. Remaining Kandavas were fighting and overpowering his army. But Susharman charged on Virat and he wanted to arrest Virat.
And he thought, if I can arrest him by having the king hostage, I’ll be able to win the war. And as he thought like this, he closed in on Virat and he almost arrested him. At that time, Kanka, Yudhishthira saw what had happened and immediately called out to Vallabha, Bhima.
He said, just see the king is being arrested, go and save him. And when Bhima heard this, he just turned around and charged towards Susharman. And Susharman was stunned to see the ferocity of that attack.
He tried to fight back, but he had actually come to Virat and he had overpowered Virat, killing his chariot here, killing his horses and jumping on to the, and he had knocked down his weapons and jumping on to the chariot, he had put a sword around his neck to have him arrested. But Bhima came with such ferocity that before Virat could, before Susharman could do anything, Bhima had knocked him. And Susharman started fighting with Bhima and seeing the opportunity, Virat broke free and he also picked up a weapon and started fighting gallantly.
In the short time, Bhima pounded Susharman to powder, pounded him, pounded him, overpowered him. Susharman was shocked. What kind of strength is this? Who is this person? Normally, when two armies are fighting, one army knows the strength of the other army.
Who are the commanders? Who are the heroic warriors on their side? This was an unknown person, but he was an unknown person, but he was unstoppable, unmatchable, intolerable. Susharman was shocked. In a short while, he was completely overpowered and Bhima was about to deliver a decisive fatal blow, but Virat told him stop.
He said, then Susharman, he turned towards Susharman and he said, oh foolish, why did you, person, why did you attack us like this? Do you think we are powerless? And then Bhima told him, would you accept that you are the servant of Virat? Only then on that condition can you live, otherwise you will have to die. So, Susharman hung his head down, humiliated and accepted. And in this way, Bhima exhibited his military prowess for protecting Virat and bringing him victory for him.
And this same Bhima would get an opportunity for even greater military prowess, martial prowess exhibition in the Kurukshetra War. So, Bhima had, he was a quintessential Kshatriya, itching for an opportunity to fight. But even this Bhima did not immediately succumb to a bloodlust when eventually the war became inevitable and the peace negotiations almost failed when first Drupada’s messenger went, Brahmin messenger went to the assembly of Kurus and he came back unsuccessful when Sanjay came and Sanjay asked for peace without giving any promise, which was useless.
And finally, war became inevitable. At that time, Krishna decided to go. So, at that time, Bhima said, O king, O Krishna, try your best to gain peace.
We should avoid bloodshed. And Krishna seeing this started teasing Bhima. And he said, Oh, it is true indeed that when the actual moment of war comes, then even great heroes become fearful.
How otherwise can we explain that you, O Bhima, who spend your 13 years of the forest, often panting heavily, often sweating, grinding your teeth in anger, you were itching and longing and craving for revenge. How could you now when the opportunity for revenge is there, now talk about peace, except unless it is due to fear. So, Bhima rose up like an angry person and he said, O Krishna, you know very well that I am not fearful.
I am ready to fight and if the fight happens, then I can defeat my enemies. But I do not wish for any unnecessary violence to take place. So, therefore, if the matter can be resolved without violence, then let that resolution take place.
So, this shows that Bhima was not just a sort of brainless fighting person. He had a very sensitive heart. And he, that is seen a few times throughout the Mahabharata.
And here we see even his concern for avoiding unnecessary bloodshed. But unfortunately, the sensitivity that was there in his heart, there was not even a drop of that sensitivity in the heart of Duryodhana. And that is why Duryodhana rejected the peace proposal of Krishna and the war became inevitable.
How all Bhima exhibited his heroics in the war, we will discuss in our next session.