Bhima Fights and Defeats Yakshas and Rakshasas

All the beings on the mountain saw Bhima — wielding his arrows, sword, and bow — like a king of beasts, or a maddened elephant. He was devoid of fear or delusion. To increase Draupadi's happiness, he grasped a club and penetrated the king of the mountains. The son of the wind-god was not bothered by fatigue, fear, lassitude, or envy. He came to a terrible-looking, uneven passage that only one person could pass through at a time. Through this, the immensely strong one ascended the peak — as tall as many palm trees. He agitated kinnaras, great serpents, hermits, gandharvas, and rakshasas as he climbed. Then he saw Vaishravana's abode. It was ornamented with golden and crystalline buildings. An extremely pleasant breeze blew there, arising from Gandhamadana and carrying all kinds of fragrances. There were many beautiful trees of diverse kinds, extraordinary and colourful and beyond all thought. The abode of the lord of the rakshasas was covered on all sides by a network of gems. It was pure and adorned with beautiful flowers. The mighty-armed Bhimasena stood there, immobile as a mountain. Prepared to give up his life, he held a club, a sword, a bow, and arrows in his hand. He blew on his conch shell — and the sound made the body hair of his enemies stand up. He twanged his bow. He slapped his arms. He terrified all beings. Their body hair standing up, yakshas, rakshasas, and gandharvas rushed toward the sound. Clubs, maces, swords, spears, lances, and battleaxes — taken up in their arms — began to blaze. A war started between them and him. With terrible force and speed, Bhima used his arrows to slice off the spears, lances, and battleaxes hurled at him by those gigantic ones. He pierced the bodies of the rakshasas with his arrows. They roared, roaming around in the sky and on the ground. A great shower of blood rained down on the immensely strong one, flowing from the bodies of the rakshasas in every direction. Many heads and bodies of the yakshas and rakshasas were sliced off by what Bhima's mighty arms released. All the beings saw the handsome Pandava enveloped by the rakshasas — like the sun with masses of clouds. But just as the sun penetrates everything with its rays, the mighty-armed one penetrated all of them with his arrows. They uttered loud roars and victorious cries. But they could not see any delusion in Bhimasena. All their limbs were wounded by his arrows. Oppressed by their fear of him, they threw away their great weapons, roared in scared and terrible voices, and fled in a southern direction — discarding clubs, spears, swords, lances, and battleaxes — scared of the one whose bow was firm. But one remained. A mighty-armed, broad-chested rakshasa named Maniman stood his ground. He held a spear and a club in his hands. He was Vaishravana's friend. The mighty-armed one exhibited his authority and his manliness. Seeing the others flee, he smiled and said, "On reaching Vaishravana's abode, what will you tell the lord of riches, since several of you have been defeated in battle by a single man?" Having spoken these words, he restrained them and dashed toward Pandava — with a lance, a spear, and a club in his hands. Bhima saw him approach forcefully, like a maddened elephant. He pierced Maniman's side with three calf-toothed arrows. Angered, Maniman grasped a gigantic club and hurled it with great force at Bhimasena. The club flashed like lightning in the sky, extremely terrible. Bhima shot many arrows sharpened on stone — but all of them were blunted on the club. Despite their great force, they could not restrain its swift force. But Bhima knew the art of fighting with a club. The courageous one warded off the blow. Then Maniman grasped an extremely terrible javelin with a golden shaft. It was blazing in flames and uttered a loud roar. He struck Bhima with it. The javelin pierced Bhima's right arm and swiftly fell down on the ground. Having been severely pierced, Bhima — skilled in fighting with clubs, a mighty archer, infinite in valour — grasped his club. It was made entirely of iron. Brandishing it, he rushed with great speed toward the immensely powerful Maniman. Maniman also grasped a giant, blazing spear. Uttering a great roar, he flung it at Bhimasena with force. But Bhima, skilled in fighting with clubs, splintered the spear with the end of his club and rushed to destroy him — like Garuda against a serpent. With the club in his hand, the mighty-armed one suddenly jumped up into the sky. He roared in battle and flung it. With the speed of the wind, like the vajra hurled by Indra, it struck the rakshasa. Having killed him, it fell down on the ground, like a she-demon. All the beings saw how the rakshasa — terrible in strength — was felled by Bhimasena, like a bull by a lion. On seeing him dead on the ground, the remaining roamers of the night uttered terrible cries of distress and fled in an eastern direction.