Bhīma Rasapāna

This account is from the Sambhava Parva of the Ādi Parva of the Mahābhārata. Duryodhana could not bear the growing strength and fame of Bhīmasena. He poisoned Bhīma’s food and had him thrown, tied up, into the Gaṅgā. Bhīma sank to the world of the nāgas (serpents). There hundreds of serpents bit him, and their venom cancelled the poison in his body. Vāsuki, the nāga king, was told who he was and gave him eight pots of nāga-rasa to drink. Bhīma slept for eight days, woke much stronger than before, and went back to Hastināpura.

Why Duryodhana hated Bhīma

The five Pāṇḍavas were brought to Hastināpura by the forest ṛshis (seers) who had looked after them after Pāṇḍu’s death. Dhṛtarāshṭra knew them and accepted them as his nephews. They grew up with the hundred Kauravas.

From the start, Bhīmasena made the Kauravas very uncomfortable. His body was immensely strong, and he showed it freely and happily. He grabbed Kauravas by the hair, ducked them in water, broke their play things, and sat on their heads when he climbed trees. He did not do this out of ill will. He acted with the high spirits of a child born of Vāyu, and he did not know how strong he was.

Duryodhana could not stand this. More than the hurt to his body, he saw that Bhīma’s presence put all the Kaurava princes in the shade. He decided that Bhīma must be removed. He began to plot with Karṇa and Śakuni. (Ādi Parva, Chapters 128–129)

The poisoning

Duryodhana invited the Pāṇḍavas on a pleasure trip to the Gaṅgā. He had the food, and especially Bhīma’s share, mixed with poison. Bhīma ate heartily and without any doubt, and he took in the poisoned food.

When the poison took hold, Bhīma fell into a stupor. Duryodhana had him tied with vines and ropes while he was helpless, and had his unconscious body thrown into the Gaṅgā. Bhīma sank to the bottom. (Ādi Parva, Chapters 128–129)

The nāga world

Bhīma sank through the water and reached the world of the nāgas, which lies in the regions under the river bed. Hundreds of nāgas, the serpents of the lower world, attacked him at once and bit him all over his body.

This saved him. The venom of the nāgas was so strong, and so exactly opposite in nature to the poison Duryodhana had given him, that the two cancelled each other. The nāga venom took away the whole effect of the human poison. Bhīma woke up and had his senses again. (Ādi Parva, Chapters 128–129)

Vāsuki knows Bhīma

Vāsuki, the great nāga king, was called. Among those present was a nāga named Āryaka. He is called the grandfather of Kuntī’s grandfather, so he was a close ancestor of the Pāṇḍavas through Kuntī’s line. Āryaka knew Bhīma and told Vāsuki who the young man was.

Vāsuki received Bhīma with honour and asked him what he wanted. Bhīma asked to drink the nāga-rasa, the strong essence of the nāga world that gives great strength. Vāsuki gave it to him. (Ādi Parva, Chapters 128–129)

The eight pots of nāga-rasa

Each pot of nāga-rasa held the strength of a thousand elephants. Bhīma drank eight pots, one after another. With each pot he felt the divine strength flow through his body and stay there for good.

After the eight pots, Bhīma lay down to sleep, because the body needed time to take in so much power. He slept for eight days in the nāga world.

When he woke, Vāsuki and the nāgas sent him back up. Bhīma came out of the Gaṅgā and walked to the place where Yudhishṭhira and Kuntī were waiting. He had been gone eight days. They had been sick with worry, not knowing what had happened to him. (Ādi Parva, Chapters 128–129)

Yudhishṭhira’s instruction

Bhīma told Yudhishṭhira and Kuntī everything. Yudhishṭhira listened carefully. Then he told Bhīma, in private, to say nothing of this to anyone. He was not to tell anyone that he had been poisoned, or thrown into the river, or that there was a nāga world and a rasa. Yudhishṭhira said that if Duryodhana learned his plan had failed, he would make a worse one. It was better that Duryodhana did not know. It was also better that the enemy did not know of Bhīma’s new strength until the right time.

Bhīma obeyed. He went back to ordinary life in Hastināpura as if nothing had happened. Duryodhana was puzzled that his plan seemed to have had no result. He went on plotting, but now with more care. (Ādi Parva, Chapters 128–129)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Sambhava Parva, Chapters 128–129