Bhimasena

Leaving the banks of the Jahnavi, the Pandavas travel westward through Kurukshetra, worshipping at sacred rivers, searching for a new home in exile. They find it in the Kamyaka forest on the banks of the Sarasvati — a place beloved by sages, teeming with animals and birds — and settle there with the brahmanas who have accompanied them.

Vidura travels alone to the Kamyaka forest to meet the exiled Pandavas. Yudhishthira sees him approaching from a distance and confesses his fear to Bhimasena — that Vidura has been sent by Shakuni to challenge him to yet another game of dice, to strip them of even their weapons.

Krishna Vasudeva has left. The dice game is over. Yudhishthira, his brothers, and Draupadi prepare to leave Hastinapura for the forest — not as defeated men, but as warriors ascending expensive chariots. The citizens of Kurujangala gather around them, weeping, asking why their king would abandon them. Arjuna answers: the king will go to the forest to rob his enemies of their fame.

After listening to Draupadi's anguish, Bhima storms to Yudhishthira and delivers a blistering argument: dharma without power is useless, their kingdom was stolen through deceit, and as kshatriyas they must fight to reclaim it. He cites the gods' victory over the asuras as precedent and demands that Yudhishthira mount his chariot immediately and march on Gajasahrya.

Bhima has just finished lashing into Yudhishthira for his weakness at the dice game, for dragging them all into exile. Yudhishthira does not argue back. He explains what Bhima did not see: the dice were controlled by Shakuni's maya (illusion), and he gave his solemn word before the entire assembly of Kurus. Breaking that promise, he tells Bhima, would be worse than death — and dharma is worth more than any kingdom.

Yudhishthira has made an agreement with time itself — to wait out the thirteen-year exile before reclaiming his kingdom. But Bhimasena sees this as fatalism dressed as patience. Life shortens with every breath, he argues; death approaches each instant. For a kshatriya, there is no dharma other than fighting. He urges his brother to wage war now, before the waiting consumes them.

Bhimasena speaks rashly of attacking Duryodhana. Yudhishthira sighs, reflects, and then lays out the cold truth: Bhishma, Drona, Karna, and the rest cannot be defeated by courage alone. They are armed with divine weapons, loyal to Duryodhana, and backed by a full treasury and a vast army. Bhima, for once, has nothing to say.

Yudhishthira, carrying Vyasa's secret knowledge in his mind, leads his brothers and their brahmana followers out of Dvaitavana and into the forest of Kamyaka on the banks of the Sarasvati. There, the exiled princes establish a new rhythm of life — archery, Vedic study, hunting, and offerings to the ancestors.

While Yudhishthira and Bhimasena are locked in conversation, Vyasa appears — having perceived Yudhishthira's hidden fear about the Kuru warriors. He promises to show how Bhishma, Drona, and the others can be legitimately killed, then teaches Yudhishthira the secret knowledge called pratismriti and tells him that Arjuna must go to the gods for weapons.

King Dhritarashtra’s lamentations after sending the Pandavas into exile served no purpose — he had already agreed with his son Duryodhana. Janamejaya asks how the exiled princes survived in the forest: what they ate, how they sustained themselves. The answer reveals a kingdom in miniature, maintained by Yudhishthira’s generosity and Draupadi’s discipline.

The speaker declares that the twins, Bhimasena, Krishna, and all of them will go together — lean and extremely ascetic — to the sacred stream of Indra, where Dhata, Vidhata, and Varuna ascended. The group is committed to journeying to Mount Archika and the Yamuna, where many sacrifices have been performed and which banishes fear of sin.

As the Pandavas and their companions enter Mount Gandhamadana, a violent storm descends — dust, wind, and rain blind and scatter them. They grope through darkness, each finding separate shelter under trees and mountainsides, until the storm passes and they reassemble to continue their journey.

The Pandavas are approaching a range of icy, impassable mountains. Yudhishthira looks at Draupadi and asks Bhima how she will possibly cross them. Bhima first offers to carry everyone himself, then suggests a better idea — summoning his rakshasa son, Ghatotkacha, who can fly.

Exhausted by their long journey through the wilderness, Draupadi and the Pandavas can go no further. Bhimasena commands his rakshasa son Ghatotkacha to carry them through the sky. With the help of other rakshasas, the party lifts off the earth and travels swiftly toward the hermitage of Badari, passing over mountains, forests, and the legendary northern Kuru.

The Pandavas descend from the rakshasas' shoulders and see the hermitage of Nara and Narayana — a place untouched by sunlight yet free of darkness, where hunger, thirst, cold, and heat do not exist. Yudhishthira approaches the maharshis with restraint and purity, and is welcomed with water, flowers, roots, and fruit. The Pandavas enter and dwell there, making offerings to gods and ancestors, and take great pleasure in watching Draupadi sport in that sacred place.

Yudhishthira asks Kubera why the great sage Agastya's anger did not consume him entirely. Kubera explains: his friend Maniman, flying overhead, spat on the meditating Agastya from the sky. The sage's curse was precise — Maniman and his armies would die by a human hand, and Kubera would grieve until that same human freed him.

Kubera arrives on the mountain summit with his yaksha and gandharva retinue. The Pandavas, knowing they have committed a crime, bow in obeisance. But Kubera is pleased. He tells Yudhishthira not to be angry at Bhima's deed — the rakshasas were already marked for death by destiny. Then he turns to Bhima: "You have freed me from a terrible curse. No crime attaches to you."

Surviving rakshasas flee to Kubera's abode, wailing in distress — their arms lost, their garments besmeared with blood. A single man, they report, has killed all their warriors including Maniman. Kubera's eyes turn red with anger. He orders his chariot yoked with gandharva horses and departs with one crore yakshas to confront the intruder.

The Pandavas hear noises from the mountain caves and do not see Bhimasena. Concerned, they leave Draupadi in Arshtishena's care and ascend the mountain armed with weapons. They find Bhima surrounded by slain rakshasas, radiant as Indra after slaying danavas. Yudhishthira rebukes him for acting against the king's wishes and offending the gods — then falls into reflection.

Vaishravana (Kubera) addresses Yudhishthira directly, critiquing Bhimasena's violent and undisciplined nature. He delivers a discourse on perseverance, place, time, and valour, ordering Yudhishthira to dwell at Arshtishena's hermitage for a lunar fortnight. He promises protection from gandharvas, yakshas, and rakshasas, and reveals that Shantanu is pleased with Arjuna in heaven.

Bhima lays down his weapons and bows before Kubera in submission. The lord of riches blesses him, promises Arjuna's imminent return, and instructs the Pandavas to dwell in the beautiful residences provided. Then Kubera departs for his home on Kailasa with his retinue of rakshasas and yakshas, while the dead rakshasas are removed from the mountain as Agastya's curse had determined.

The Pandavas leave Vrishaparva's hermitage and enter a beautiful forest on the Himalaya mountains. Bhima, armed with bow and sword, roams freely through the wilderness, hunting deer and taking in the scenic wonders of the mountains — until his solitary wandering leads him to a cavern where something waits.

Bhima discovers a gigantic serpent in a mountain cavern — a creature whose coils pile as high as a mountain, whose mouth is as wide as a cave, and whose eyes blaze copper-red. The hungry serpent grasps Bhima, and because of a boon it received, the moment it touches him, Bhima loses his senses entirely.

As Duryodhana's aged, grief-stricken advisers beg Yudhishthira for help, Bhimasena speaks. He tells them that the gandharvas have done what the Pandavas should have done — that Duryodhana's suffering is the natural outcome of his evil counsel and deceitful gambling. Yudhishthira cuts him off.

King Duryodhana is captured by the gandharvas along with his brothers Duhshasana, Durvishaha, Durmukha, and Durjaya, and all the kings' wives. His wounded survivors and advisers flee in misery to the Pandavas, setting the stage for what comes next.

Jayadratha, having abducted Draupadi, sees five chariots approaching and his courage drains away. He asks Draupadi to identify her husbands — and she does, describing each Pandava in detail, warning him of the doom that is about to descend upon him.

Draupadi has finished speaking. The five Pandavas, equal to five Indras, ignore the terrified infantry and turn their fury on Jayadratha's chariot army, unleashing dark showers of arrows from all sides.

Jayadratha, having been defeated by the Pandava brothers, flees for his life. But Bhima chases him down on foot, seizes him by the hair, thrashes him unconscious, kicks him in the head, and shaves his head into five tufts. He binds him and presents him as a slave to Yudhishthira — who, moved by compassion, orders him freed.

A brahmana rushes to Yudhishthira in distress: a deer has carried off his kindling and churning rod, threatening his sacred agnihotra. Yudhishthira takes up his bow and leads his brothers in pursuit — but the deer vanishes, leaving the Pandavas exhausted, hungry, and lost under a banyan tree.

After Draupadi is abducted, the Pandavas leave Kamyaka forest and settle in Dvaitavana at Markandeya's hermitage, living frugally on fruit and rigid in their vows. There, while devoted to brahmanas and controlled in their conduct, they experience a great calamity that eventually ends in happiness — beginning with a brahmana's desperate plea for his lost kindling.

Yudhishthira finds his four brothers dead beside a forbidden lake, struck down by a mysterious yaksha who demands he answer questions or join them. With patience and humility, Yudhishthira faces a relentless interrogation on the nature of dharma, life, and wisdom — and his answers will determine whether his brothers live or die.

After Dhoumya's counsel, Bhimasena speaks to Yudhishthira. He reminds the king that Arjuna has not acted foolishly, that Nakula and Sahadeva are restrained only by his own command, and that all four brothers stand ready to carry out whatever task Yudhishthira assigns — and to vanquish any enemy who stands in their way.