Maṇimanta Vadha and Kubera Darśana
This episode is told in the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata, Chapters 158 to 162. Bhīma climbs the peak of Gandhamādana with his brothers. He blows his conch and claps his arms, and the sound disturbs the city of the yakshas, the guards of Kubera. The yakshas and rākshasas attack him, and Bhīma kills many of them. Their captain Maṇimanta fights him one to one and dies.
Then Kubera comes in his Pushpaka vimāna (flying chariot). He tells the Pāṇḍavas why Maṇimanta died. He blesses them and promises that Arjuna will soon return.
The ascent of Gandhamādana
The Jaṭāsura episode was over. The Pāṇḍavas and their companions were waiting for Arjuna to return, and more time had passed. They now climbed the main peak of Gandhamādana. This is a divine mountain, and its upper slopes are beyond what ordinary people can cross. The Pāṇḍavas could climb it, helped by the power of their tapas (austerity) and by the guidance of Lomaśa. (Vana Parva, Chapter 158)
At the top Bhīma was full of joy. He blew his conch with all his strength and clapped his huge arms together. The thunder of the sound rang through all the valleys and caves of the mountain. (Vana Parva, Chapter 158)
The yakshas and rākshasas attack
The upper peak lay next to the divine city where Kubera’s yakshas stood guard over the mountain realm of the king of the north. The yakshas took the great noise as an attack on their rule and an intrusion on holy ground. A large force of yakshas and rākshasas came down on Bhīma with weapons and supernatural powers. (Vana Parva, Chapter 159)
Bhīma fought them. It was a great battle. Bhīma fought the army of the unseen world almost alone, and the other Pāṇḍavas stood back. He destroyed the yakshas in great numbers with his gadā (mace), his fists and the sheer force of his presence. The fight was fierce, but there was no doubt who would win. Bhīma was strong, and he had not come to harm anyone.
Maṇimanta’s challenge and death
Maṇimanta was the captain of Kubera’s yaksha forces. He came forward to challenge Bhīma himself. He was a powerful being and a warrior of high standing among the yakshas. The two fought one to one, Bhīma’s great bodily strength against Maṇimanta’s divine nature. Bhīma won. He struck Maṇimanta down with his gadā on the heights of the mountain and killed him. (Vana Parva, Chapter 159)
The yakshas who were left ran away to tell Kubera.
Kubera arrives and tells of Agastya’s śāpa
Kubera is the king of the yakshas and the deva of wealth. He is one of the guardians of the directions, and he guards the north. He came in his divine Pushpaka vimāna with a following of a thousand yakshas to see what had happened. He landed in front of Bhīma. (Vana Parva, Chapter 160)
Kubera was not angry. He showed understanding. He told the whole history. Many years before, the yaksha Maṇimanta had shown great disrespect to the ṛshi Agastya. Agastya was sitting in deep tapas on the mountain, and Maṇimanta urinated on him. When Agastya’s tapas was disturbed, it came out as a śāpa (a curse): Maṇimanta would be killed by a human being. That śāpa was now fulfilled.
Bhīma had done no wrong. He was the instrument through whom a ṛshi’s word came true. (Vana Parva, Chapters 160–161)
Kubera’s blessings
Kubera then spoke to all the Pāṇḍavas. He saw their righteousness and knew that their stay on the mountain was part of their journey in dharma. He gave them his blessing in three ways.
First, his yakshas and rākshasas would no longer stand against the Pāṇḍavas. They would protect them during their stay in the forest.
Second, his divine servants would bring the Pāṇḍavas food. The Pāṇḍavas and their companions would not go hungry in these high lands.
Third, and most welcome to them, he told them that Arjuna would soon return. Arjuna had been in Indra’s svarga (heaven), receiving the divine weapons, and the time of his return was near. (Vana Parva, Chapter 162)
The Pāṇḍavas received Kubera’s blessings with deep thanks. Yudhishṭhira quietly told Bhīma he should not have caused such a disturbance with his conch and his arm-clap. In a place where divine beings live, he said, one must move with care. Bhīma accepted the gentle correction. Kubera then left in his vimāna.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 158–162