According to Hindu mythology the Kuru Kingdom was once ruled by the great king Pandu. Because of the curse by a sage named Kindama, the king was unable to father children. So even though the king was beloved by all, he was unable to father any sons to carry out his legacy. His wife queen Kunti had a boon given to her by a sage named Durvasa. The boon had the power to call upon any god to grant her a son. So the queen decided to use this boon to have three children from 3 different gods, and allowed Madri the second wife of Pandu, to use the boon to have two. Together these five children are identified as the five Pandavas. The second son granted by the wind god Vayu to Kunti, was named Bhima. Bhima was the strongest of the five Pandavas and was often portrayed as the protector of his brothers. The name Bhima in Sanskrit means fearful, terrific, awful, formidable, and tremendous. Along with other Pundavar brothers, Bhima was trained in religion, science, administration, and military arts. Most prominently, he mastered the use of the mace. So often, he would be portrayed as carrying one with him. He is also said to have an enormous apatite. Legends have it that he ate half of the total food consumed by the Pandavas.
Being the son of Vayu, many scholars tend to identify Hanuman, the divine god and companion of God Rama, as his celestial brother. This is because both Bhima and hanuman are sons of Vayu. The texts even mention that Bhima idolized his celestial brother Hanuman. Bhima is often known to played jokes on his 100 cousins, who are the sons of Dhritarashtra, the blind brother of king Pandu. With the early death of king Pandu, which is also because of the curse he was on, Dhritarashtra became the ruler of the kingdom, since none of the Pandavas were old enough to rule. As they grew older Duryodhana, the oldest son of Dhritarashtra, desired the throne. So he wanted the Pandavas dead. Many of Duryodhana’s schemes to get rid of the brothers failed, because of the strength of Bhima. Also, the legends have it that, Bhima, Duryodhana, and 3 other princes were born in the same cosmic phase. It was foretold that the first of these strong people to kill another, would eventually murder the other three as well. So Bhima became the primary target of Duryodhana because he was the protector of the Pandavas and was born in the same cosmic phase as his.
Once he tried to murder Bhima by poisoning his food. But Bhima was so strong that the poison didn’t kill him but only made him unconscious. So Duryodhana threw him to river Ganga, hoping the river currents would kill him. But instead of drowning, Bhima gets washed to the kingdom of serpents, which is the Naga kingdom. Vasuki the secondary king of the Naga kingdom, recognized that Bhima as the divine son of Pandu and Kunti. On realizing he was poisoned, Vasuki sucked out all the poison in Bhima’s body and gave a drink which made him immune to all venom. Vasuki then granted him the immense strength of ten thousand elephants.
Again after some time, Duryodhana plotted with his counselor Purochana, to burn the Pandavas and Kunti in a wax palace. Purochana made the wax palace, while Duryodhana convinced Dhritarashtra to send the princes and their mother to the palace. But the Pandavas get warned of their plan by Vidura, who is the prime minister of the kuru kingdom. By the time Purochana arrives at the wax palace to burn it down, the Pandavas were ready to escape. On seeing Purochana, Bhima sets the palace on fire, trapping Purochana inside, and escaped with his mother and brothers.
At Kunti’s request, the Pandavas and Kunti hid in a village, to avoid further problems from the sons of Dhritarashtra. During their stay, Bhima came to know about the demon who harassed the villages by killing the people. With his strength, Bhima defeated the demon earning the respect of the villages. With this act, it was confirmed, that Bhima would be the one to survive from those who were born in his cosmic phase.
Another demon who was killed by Bhima was Hidimba. Hidimba ate human flesh and became eager to devour the divine Pandavas. While travelling, the Pandavas stopped to rest in the Kamyaka Forest where Hidimba lived with his sister Hidimbi. On seen them, Hidimba sent his sister to kill them and bring their flesh to him. On his instruction Hidimbi reached the Pandavas, but on seeing Bhima, hidimbi transformed herself into a beautiful woman and warned him of her brother. Angered by her actions, Hidimba raced at Hidimbi to kill her. Bhima intersected with the demon before he reached Hidimbi, and challenged the demon to a fight. Even though his four brothers offered to help, Bhima insisted them to watch as he fights the demon.
But he took his brothers' instructions to kill the beast before daybreak, since demons become more powerful at that hour. Bhima ended up crushing and tearing Hidimba into two pieces. He then took Hidimbi as his wife, and fathered Ghatotkacha, who later became a mighty warrior. After killing the demon, Bhima became the king of Kamyaka for 5 years. In Mahabharata it is mentioned, that the demon army of Kamyaka, fought alongside the Pandavas at their wars.
When Yudhishthira the oldest of the Pandavas became old enough to rule, they returned to the kingdom of Kuru. When the Pandavas returned to Hastinapura, which is the capital of the kingdom of kuru, there was a conflict between Yudhishthira and Duryodhana regarding the crown prince of Hastinapura. Because the Pandavas were assumed to be dead, Duryodhana was made the new crown prince. Under Bhima's influence, Dhritarashtra gave half of the kingdom for the Pandavas to rule, while Duryodhana becames the ruler of the other half. Yudhishthira, together with his brothers, founded the prosperous kingdom Indraprastha. Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana got jealous of their prosperity.
With Shakuni a prince of the kingdom of Gandhara, Duryodhana devised a plan to snatch the wealth and prosperity of the Pandavas and dethrone Yudhishthira. Shakuni knew that Yudhishthira was fond of gambling, even though he is not good at it. But Shakuni on the other hand was extremely talented in rolling the dice. They invited Yudhishthira for a game of gambling and Shakuni took part as a representative of Duryodhana. The stakes increased after every round. Because Yudhishthira was not a skilled player, he ended up losing his kingdom in the game. So the Pandavas and their wives were forced into exile for 13 years. During this period of time, Bhima again played a crucial role as the protector of his brothers and their wives. He also protected people from dangerous demons when he comes across them. One of the most prominent encounters is the meeting of his celestial brother hanuman.
During his search for a rare flower in the Badarikasrama forest, Bhima saw an old monkey lying in the path, whose long tail was outstretching across his path. Bhima arrogantly asked the monkey to move its tail out of the path. But the monkey replied that he is so old and had no strength to do so, and commanded Bhima to move it himself if he wants. Offended by it, Bhima grabbed the monkey’s tail with the intention of swirling him via it and sending him in the air. But to his surprise, Bhima was not able to even lift the tail. He then used all his might to lift the tail but still, he was unable to. So at last the old monkey revealed his true self and Bhima immediately recognized him as his celestial brother hanuman. Bhima apologized for his arrogance, so Hanuman blessed him and increased his strength.
One of the most legendary battles of Bhima is the Kurukshetra War. He played a crucial role in the battle by killing most of their enemies. By the 14th day of the war, Bhima had already killed 31 brothers of Duryodhana. Bhima was defeated only by Karna, who is a secret son of Kunti, but Karna spared him because of Kunti’s oath. But Bhima’s son Ghatotkacha gets killed by Karna in the battle, and Bhima refers to his son’s death as his greatest failure. On the 18th day of the war, Duryodhana challenged Bhima in a fight. Even though Bhima was far stronger than Duryodhana, Duryodhana began to dominate the fight. But because of Duryodhana’s evil doing, the gods sided with Bhima. God Krishna instructed Bhima on how he could defeat Duryodhana. On following his instructions, Bhima managed to slay his cousin.
The five brothers returned to Hastinapura, to claim their kingdom after the defeat of Duryodhana and his brothers. The blind king Dhritarashtra was enraged by Bhima's slaying of all his sons. God Krishna sensing his anger, placed an iron statue of Bhima in front of Dhritarashtra. Thinking it’s Bhima, Dhritarashtra embraced the statue and crushed it to pieces. Later he realized his action and asked for forgiveness from Bhima, and embraced him whole heartedly. After claiming his throne, Yudhishthira appointed Bhima as the commander in chief of Hastinapura.
Hindu mythology also talks about the existence of the cycle of time which is known as the yuga cycle. According to this cycle, people slowly evolve, then slowly devolve, only to slowly evolve again. The cycle mainly consists of four cycles, and of the four, the kali cycle is the period the people are at their worst, both spiritually and intellectually. During the reign of the Pandavas began the kali cycle. Knowing this, the five brothers retired leaving behind all their wealth, and journeyed to heaven which could be reached at the top of the mount Himalaya. But it was told that only the worth would be able to reach the top where they could find the passage to the heaven and others would die on the way. Bhima along with three other brothers dies on their way.
Yudhishthira, the eldest brother and the only one of the Pandavas to complete the journey alive, explained that Bhima died because of his gluttony. He would eat too much without thinking about the hunger of others. Also, Bhima was arrogant about his strength which is why he was unable to complete the journey to the heaven. Nevertheless, Bhima is respected as one the bravest warriors in Hindu mythology. He often could be used as a symbol of greatness and strength. But the story of Bhima highlights even the greatest warriors are bound to fall when they commit mortal sins and not even their greatest strength could save them.
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