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Mahābhārata The History of the Great India
<< 43 Bhima Fights The Man-Eater >>
 |  | Having escaped one calamity, the Pandavas and their mother now face the dangers of the jungle. The sage Vaisampayana is telling the history of the Pandavas to their great-grandson, King Janamejaya. As the Mahabharata continues, the Pandavas and their mother have escaped the burning house of lac, and Bhima is leading—and sometimes carrying—his mother and brothers through the jungle.
| | | Bhima quickly moved through the jungle, O king, his powerful thighs sending the trees and thickets whirling about, stirring up winds that blew like the summer blasts in the months of Suci and Sukra. Mighty Bhima made his own road by shattering branches, flattening creepers and lordly trees, tearing out bushes that entered his path, and demolishing the forest giants that grew from the earth and gave their fruits in the sky. Immeasurable was Bhima's prowess, and as he went crashing through the forest, his speed and force left the Pandavas dizzy and dazed.
| | | More than once the Pandavas swam across wide rivers. On land they assumed disguises, fearing Duryodhana, the son of Dhrtarastra. When the going was rough—on treacherous land and up the banks and mountain slopes—Bhima carried his glorious mother, whose body was most delicate.
| | | As evening settled in, those bulls of the Bharata race came to a corner of the vast forest where the fare of roots, fruits, and even water was scarce and where the birds and beasts were cruel and ghastly. Grim was that twilight. Horrible birds and beasts roamed all about, all directions fell blind with darkness, and unseasonable winds howled.
| | | Afflicted with fatigue, thirst, and irresistible sleep, the Kauravyas could go no farther. Then, carrying the others, Bhima, best of the Bharatas, entered a vast and frightening forest where no man lived. He moved quickly to the shelter of a wide and charming banyan tree, where he placed down all the family.
| | | Bhima said, "I shall search for water here. My lord Yudhisthira, all of you should now rest. Water-going cranes are crying out their sweet songs, so I think there must be a large reservoir of water in this area."
| | | "Go ahead!" said the eldest brother.
| | | Bhima went to the place where the water birds were crying out. There, O king, he drank good, clean water and bathed. Then with his upper cloth he gathered up drinking water for his family. He quickly returned the distance of several miles, eager to bring water to his mother. Seeing his mother and brothers sleeping on the bare ground, Vrkodara [Bhima] was filled with unhappiness, and he grieved for them:
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