Week 7 Story: Bhima the Boastful

Bhima fighting with Duryodhana, Wikicommons

Bhima the Boastful

It is the closing moments of the war with the Duryodhana's army, and Bhima spots Duryodhana at the surface of the lake taking a breath. Their eyes lock and Bhima begins to make his way towards Duryodhana. At this point Bhima is covered in blood after he had mutilated and drank the blood of Dushasana. Bhima at this point had already encountered Duryodhana on many occasions. The two were both formidable opponents of nearly equal strength. Bhima was armed with his mace, and it was forbidden to strike below the waist with a mace as it is deemed not deemed honorable. Bhima and Duryodhana fight for some time, all the while Krishna is urging Bhima to strike Duryodhana with his mace at his thighs. Bhima feels that he can not win this fight and finally gives into Krishna's advice and strikes both of Duryodhana's thighs. Duryodhana falls to the ground as he is mortally wounded. Bhima has won the duel, but at the cost of his honor. Duryodhana accuses Krishna of being a trickster and that he was unfair in his actions. Krishna is quick to respond that all actions were deserved through karma. After the war, Bhima and his brothers journey to Hastinapur where they mourn the lives lost in the war.
Some time passes and the brother begin to age and come closer to death. Sensing their immanent end the brothers begin to discard their belongings and gather themselves for the journey to the Himalayas so they can enter heaven. Yudhishthira passes down the throne to the grandchild of Arjun to carry on the legacy of the Pandavas.
The trek is long and arduous on the brothers as they are not as strong as they once were in their younger years. One by one the brothers begin to fall. Finally it comes to Bhima's time. Bhima is ultimately confused as to why he is unable to make it to the top of the mountain to enter heaven.  Yudhishthira reveals to him that perhaps it was his vice of gluttony that had deemed him unfit. Perhaps it could have also been the displays of Bhima on the battlefield, as he was often boastful and at times not honorable. The true reason is unknown, but what is known is that Bhima did not make it to the top of the Himalayas and into heaven.

Authors Note: I began with the story of where Bhima had just started the duel with Duryodhana. It did not explain in great detail the significance of striking below the waist with a mace, which is a big deal as it is dishonorable. It is also important that Bhima does not make it to the top of the Himalayas so I kind of meshed Bhima's story into a condensed version.

 p. 162. Death and savagery. / R. K. Narayan

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 16, 2017 at 11:50 AM

    Hi Brad,

    I think you did a great job on your story and I like that you allowed the reader decide for himself the reason that Bhima was unable to make it to the top of the mountain. I would like to know more about Bhima's mutilation, and how Duryodhana was able to defend against it. Either way, great job!

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  2. UnknownOctober 26, 2017 at 7:25 PM

    Brad,

    This was one of the most critical moments in the entire epic, and I love that you chose to go more in-depth about this battle. Because you gave some vivid imagery about Bhima, I felt like I could see him in my mind. This is a great way to engage your audience! You could even add more of it in order to make the characters seem like they were having a conversation. Even though this part of the story is rather dark, you presented it in a way that makes Bhima look like a warrior. He is, after all, one of the heroic Pandavas, so you did an awesome job of always making him the center of your stories! Keep up the great writing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownOctober 29, 2017 at 7:14 PM

    Brad,
    It's cool to see you take a portion of the story from the readings and go more in depth into it allowing us as readers to more fully understand what is going on. Like Jeremy mentioned, I too think the element of readers filling in the blanks of the story help to make it all make more sense.

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