Hiḍimbā

Hiḍimbā was a rākṣasī who lived in the great forest where the Pāṇḍavas took shelter after they escaped the burning house of lac (lākṣāgṛha). Her brother Hiḍimba, the rākṣasa lord of that forest, sent her to bring the Pāṇḍavas to him as prey. When she saw Bhīma, she fell in love with him and chose to protect the Pāṇḍavas instead.

After Bhīma killed Hiḍimba, Hiḍimbā asked Kuntī and Yudhiṣṭhira to let her marry Bhīma. Kuntī gave her blessing. From their union was born Ghaṭotkaca, the great warrior who gave his life in the Kurukṣetra war.

Hiḍimba, lord of the forest

Hiḍimba was the ruling rākṣasa of a great dark forest. He was powerful and fierce. He was used to eating any humans or animals who came into his land.

The Pāṇḍavas fled the burning lākṣāgṛha at Vāraṇāvata and entered the great forest. They were worn out, and they were carrying their mother Kuntī. They stopped to rest. While the others slept, Bhīma stood guard. Hiḍimba smelled the presence of humans, which reached him across the forest air. He sent his sister Hiḍimbā to find them and to bring the humans to him as food.

First sight of Bhīma

Hiḍimbā came, but when she saw Bhīma standing in the moonlight, tall and bright, shining like a deva, she was at once filled with love. She could not harm him or betray him. She came to him in human form, beautiful and gentle. She told him that her brother had sent her to bring him to him as prey, and that she could not do it. She said: “I love you. Come away with me. I can carry you through the skies, and we will live together in the mountain heights.”

She did not bring her brother his prey. When she did not come back, Hiḍimba came himself. He found his sister standing before Bhīma in a gentle, loving form. His anger at this betrayal of their rākṣasa duty added to his hunger for the prey.

The fight with Bhīma

Bhīma would not flee with her. Hiḍimba came and attacked, and Bhīma met him head on. It was a fierce fight between a great rākṣasa lord and the son of Vāyu. Arjuna had come forward to help, but Bhīma finished the fight himself. Bhīma lifted Hiḍimba above his head and threw him to the earth with a force that killed him. The fight woke the others.

Hiḍimba’s death cleared the forest of its rākṣasa lord and let the Pāṇḍavas go on their way.

After Hiḍimba’s death

Hiḍimbā’s brother was dead. She stood before the Pāṇḍavas and spoke openly. She asked Kuntī and Yudhiṣṭhira to let her have Bhīma as her husband, even for a short time, even only long enough to conceive and bear a child. She made no demand. She said what her heart needed and asked for their blessing.

Kuntī listened with kindness. She saw the dignity and honesty of Hiḍimbā’s love, and she gave her blessing, with one condition. Bhīma would spend the days with Hiḍimbā and come back to the Pāṇḍavas each evening. He would stay with her until she had borne his child. After that the arrangement would end. Hiḍimbā accepted these terms.

Ghaṭotkaca, the bald-headed son

In time Hiḍimbā conceived and gave birth to a son. His head was bald and round like a pot. So he was named Ghaṭotkaca (ghaṭa means pot, utkaca means hairless). He was an extraordinary child. He could fly and change his form at will. He was skilled in all rākṣasa māyā (magic) from birth, and he had great bodily strength. He was born already grown, as rākṣasas are.

Ghaṭotkaca bowed before Kuntī, before Yudhiṣṭhira and before all his uncles. He promised that whenever the Pāṇḍavas needed him, he would come. Then he left with his mother for the forests.

After his birth, the marriage of Hiḍimbā and Bhīma came to its natural end, as the terms had said. The Pāṇḍavas moved on.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva (the account of the Pāṇḍavas in the forest after Vāraṇāvata; no chapter numbers given)