Hidimba pleads with the Pandavas to accept her union with Bhima
After Bhima kills her brother, the rakshasi Hidimba appears. Bhima wants to kill her too, but Yudhishthira stops him. Hidimba then makes her case: she is in love with Bhima, and their union is a matter of dharma and survival.
Bhimasena looked at the rakshasi who had appeared after her brother’s death. “Rakshasas remember their enmity and use delusions,” he said. “O Hidimba! Therefore, you also follow the path that your brother has taken.”
Yudhishthira stopped him. “O tiger among men! O Bhima! Do not kill a woman even in anger. O Pandava! Following the righteous path is more important than preservation of the physical body. You have killed the immensely powerful rakshasa who came here with the intention of killing us. What can his sister do to us, even if she is angry?”
Hidimba turned. She respectfully saluted Kunti and Yudhishthira with joined hands and spoke to Kunti. “O honoured lady! You are familiar with the pangs women suffer through Ananga (the god of love). O fortunate lady! I am now suffering those pangs for Bhimasena. I have suffered that great misery, waiting for the right time. But now that time has come and I expect my happiness.”
She laid out her situation plainly. She had left her friends, relatives, and her designated path. She had chosen their son, this tiger among men, as her husband. “O illustrious lady! Will the choice of a woman be rejected because of the way I speak? O greatly fortunate lady! Whether you think me stupid or whether you think that I am devoted to you, please unite me with your son, my husband.”
Then she made an offer. “O fortunate lady! Let me go as I wish, taking this god-like one. Trust me that I shall bring him back here. Whenever you think of me, I shall immediately come to you and swiftly carry these bulls among men on my shoulders, over pastures and difficult terrain, wherever you wish to go.”
Her final argument was one of dharma (righteousness). “Please take pity on me and let Bhimasena make love to me. It is in accordance with what is right that one should preserve oneself from disaster and act accordingly, by whatever means. One who follows this righteous path in calamities is supreme among those who know what is right. Calamities are the greatest danger to what is right and to righteous ones. What preserves life is holy and, therefore, what grants life is what is holy. The means through which this righteousness is ensured can never deserve condemnation.”
Yudhishthira heard her out. “O Hidimba! There is no doubt that what you have said is true. O lady with the slender waist! Act in accordance with the righteous path, as you have described it to be.” He set a condition. “O fortunate lady! When he has bathed, performed his ablutions and finished all rites, he will make love to you until the sun sets. O you who are swift as the mind! Have your pleasure with him, as you wish, during the day. But you must bring Bhimasena back every night.”
Having taken an oath to do this, the rakshasi Hidimba took Bhimasena up and rose into the sky.