Dhritarashtra Reacts with Sorrow to the Account
After hearing the full account of Kirmira's death, King Dhritarashtra grows thoughtful and sighs in sorrow. The narrative frame closes with the blind king's conflicted feelings about the Pandavas' exile and Bhima's terrifying prowess.
Vaishampayana, the sage who narrated the Mahabharata to King Janamejaya, paused in his telling. He had reached the end of Vidura's account — the story of how Bhima had killed the rakshasa Kirmira in the Kamyaka forest, how the Pandavas had emerged victorious from that midnight battle.
He looked at his audience, the king who had asked for the story.
"Having heard this account about the killing of that supreme rakshasa, Kirmira, in battle," Vaishampayana said, "the king seemed thoughtful and sighed, as if in sorrow."
Dhritarashtra sat in silence. The story was over, but its weight remained. Bhima had killed a rakshasa — a creature of nightmare — with his bare hands and a tree torn from the earth. The same Bhima who had been cheated of his kingdom, who now wandered the forests with his brothers and Draupadi, whose hair had been pulled by Duhshasana.
The blind king sighed. He knew what that strength meant. He knew what it would one day demand. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 309