This article contains Indic text. The Brahmic family is a family of syllabaries (writing systems used in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of Central Asia and East Asia, Without rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Indic characters; or irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts. Mojibake is the happenstance of incorrect unreadable characters (garbage characters shown when Computer software fails to render a text correctly according to its associated

This article is about the character from the Mahabharata. For the river, see Bhima River. The Bhima River originates in Bhimashankar hills near Karjat on the western side of Western Ghats, known as Sahyadri in Maharashtra state in

In the Mahābhārata, Bhima (Sanskrit: भीम, IAST: Bhīma) was the second of the Pandava brothers. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration ( IAST) is a popular Transliteration scheme that allows a lossless Romanization of Indic In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava (or Pandawa brothers ( Sanskrit: पाण्‍डव pāṇḍavaḥ are the five acknowledged sons of He was son of Kunti by Vayu, but like the other brothers, he was acknowledged son by Pandu . Kunti ( Sanskrit: कुंती is the mother of the eldest three of the Pandava brothers from the Indian epic Mahābhārata. In Hinduism Vayu ( Sanskrit: वायु, IAST: Vāyu Malay: Bayu Thai: Phra Pai is a primary deity the father of In the Mahābhārata epic Pandu ( Sanskrit: पाण्‍डु is the son of Vichitravirya and his second wife Ambalika from Vyasa He was distinguished from his brothers by his great stature and strength.

His legendary prowess has been mentioned in glowing terms throughout the epic. Eg: "Of all the wielders of the mace, there is none equal to Bhima; and there is none also who is so skillful a rider of elephants. In fight, they say, he yields not to even Arjuna; and as to might of arms, he is equal to ten thousand elephants. Well-trained and active, he who hath again been rendered bitterly hostile, would in anger consume the Dhartarashtras in no time. Always wrathful, and strong of arms, he is not capable of being subdued in battle by even Indra himself. " Udyoga Parva Chapt XXII.

He lived for a time in hiding with his brothers during their first exile. In this period, he came across Hidimba and Hidimbi, a rakshasha brother and sister. In the Mahābhārata, Hidimba (हिडिम्‍बा (sometimes called Hidimbasura and Hdimba) was a Rakshasa, the brother of Hidimbi Hidimbi, in the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, is a Rakshasi. She met Bhima while he was travelling in the forest with his Pandava A rakshasa ( Sanskrit: राक्षसः rākṣasaḥ; alternately rakshas, Malay: raksasa, Bengali: rakshosh Because of the enmity of the rakshasha to the people of the Kuru kingdom, Hidimba asked Hidimbi to lure Bhima to a trap. However, Bhima and Hidimbi were attracted to each other. Bhima fought and killed Hidimba, and lived for a year in the forest with Hidimbi, by whom he had a son, Ghatotkacha. Ghatotkacha ( Sanskrit घटोत्कच as per the Mahābhārata epic was the son of Bhima and Hidimbi (Hidimbaa classically

With his brothers, he was married to Draupadi. In the Ancient Indian epic Mahābhārata, Krsnā Draupadī (Devanagari कृष्णा द्रौपदी; approx After the first return of the Pandavas to the Kuru lands, he challenged the king of Magadha, Jarasandha, to a wrestling bout and killed him, thus making it possible for his brothers to take part in the Rajsuya Yajna. Magadha (मगध formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas ( Sanskrit, "great countries" or regions in ancient India. Jarasandha ( Sanskrit: जरासंध the king of Magadha, is a character of the epic Mahābhārata.

He was furious when the game of dice between his brother, King Yudhisthira, and Duryodhana reached its final stages. In the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira ( Sanskrit: युधिष्ठिर yudhiṣṭhira) the eldest son of King In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana (दुर्योधन is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari But when Dushasana attempted to strip Draupadi in the court, he swore that he would kill him one day and drink his blood. Dushasana (दुश्यासन Duśśāsana in IAST transliteration and sometimes written Duhshasana and Dushyasana) was the second son of the blind

During the second exile of the Pandavas, he visited Alakapuri and was blessed by Kubera. In Hinduism Alaka, which is also sometimes called Alakapuri, is a mythical city in the Himalayas It is the home of Kubera the king Kubera ( Sanskrit: कुबेर (also Kuvera or Kuber) is the king of the Yakshas and the lord of wealth in Hindu mythology At the end of their exile at the court of Virata, he disguised himself and acted as a palace cook. Virata ( Sanskrit: विराट in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, was a king in whose court the Pandavas spent a year in concealment

Although there are several instances of Arjuna and others doubting or questioning the will of Krishna, the portrayal of Bhima's devotion to krishna is umblemished in the original Mahābhārata.

Bhima as seen in the Javanese shadow puppet show (wayang)

He was a pivotal figure in the great battle of Kurukshetra, killing six out of the eleven akshaukiNis of the other side(Kauravas). Wayang is an Indonesian and Malay word for Theatre. When the term is used to refer to kinds of puppet theater sometimes the puppet itself is referred Kurukshetra ( Hindi: कुरुक्षेत्र is the name of a City in Kurukshetra District of the Indian state of Haryana हरियाणा Six akshauNis adds up to the astronomical figure of around 1,705,860 men and 787,320 beasts which is testimony to the portrayal as the character of supreme physical prowess. In the battle, his charioteer was Krishna's son himself. During a majority of the 18 days during which the battle was fought, the kauravas were frightened to face his might and sent elephants to fight him. An entire sub-chapter is devoted to describing the "light chat" or banter that he used to maintain with Krishna's son whilst fighting the enemies - yet another glimpse into the power that VedaVyasa invests in Bhima's persona. Bhima's weapon of choice was the mace - which means he was skilled in close combat. Amongst the most important personalities that he quelled were Baka (head of a cannibalistic race), Kirmira ( Baka's brother), MaNiman ( leader of the anger-demons in Kubera's garden), Jarasandha, Dushasana etc. He also defeated mighty Dronacharya by breaking his chariot eight times while Arjuna was trying to find and kill Jayadratha, defeated and forced the powerful Karna to withdraw from battle in four pitched battles while Karna was trying to save the remaining brothers of Duryodhan. During the battle, he killed the elephant called Ashvatthama, which enabled the Pandavas to spread the falsehood that Ashvatthama son of Drona, had been killed. In the Indian epic Mahābhārata, Ashwatthama ( Sanskrit: अश्वत्थामा Aśvatthāmā) or Ashwatthaman ( Sanskrit In the epic Mahābhārata, Drona ( Sanskrit: द्रोण droNa) or Dronacharya (द्रोणाचार्य droNāchārya At the end of the battle, he also fatally wounded Duryodhana in a duel, after striking him a foul blow below the waist. In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana (दुर्योधन is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari At this time, Balarama criticised Bhima for the foul blow, but was calmed down by Krishna. Balarama (बलराम Balarāma) also named Baladeva, Baldau, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine Krishna (कृष्ण in Devanagari kṛṣṇa in IAST, ˈkr̩ʂɳə in classical Sanskrit is a deity worshiped across many traditions of Hinduism Bhima refrained from killing any respectable elders in the Kaurava's side out of respect for their virtue. The only elderly person he killed was the king of Bahlika (Bhishma's maternal uncle) - and he does this because the king of Bahlika asks Bhima to kill him to release him from the sin of fighting for the kauravas (Bahlika had to fight with the kauravas on account of Bhishma, his nephew).

He finished his days with his brothers and Draupadi, on their great and final journey toward Vaikunta. Vaikunta (Sanskrit वैकुण्ठम् or Paramapadham is the abode of Lord Vishnu. He was the last to die on the journey, leaving Yudhisthira alone to complete the journey by himself. ^[1][2]

Trivia

Two characters in Hindu "Mythology" are great cooks. One is Bhima and the other is Nala. Bhima is said to have "cooked" up the famous dish "Aviyal". Bhima had a great mind. He is supposed to have terrific mind control and superhuman strength. Five people were destined to fight each other and only one among them was fated to live singly till the last. They are Duryodhana, Bhima, Jarasandha, Keechaka and Bakasura. Bhima finished the rest off. "May we contemplate on the great warrior like Bhima who was a brother of Maruthi and live worthy lives"!

References

1. ^ Vettam Mani; Puranic Encyclopaedia
2. ^ Indian Myth and Legend Index

• Mahabharata