Reading Notes: PDE of the Mahabharata Part B

     One of my favorite scenes from this section of the Mahabharata was the fight between Bhima and Hidimba.  I think this would be a fun scene to recreate in a story.  I liked how Hidimba was powerful enough to put up a good fight with Bhima for awhile.  If I remember correctly they were thundering through the forest as they wrestled each other.  It seemed like Bhima wasn't completely trying however, that is until he remembered that Hidimba would become more powerful at day-break.  At that point in the fight, Bhima decided he was done messing around and straight up broke Hidimba's back over his knee! That was a disgusting move to pull out--it reminded me of the Batman versus Bane fight from the Dark Knight Rises.  It seems like that knee to the back-break move would become Bhima's trademark move.  We see him use that on a couple of other powerful villains as the story progresses, including Baka the evil chieftain.  I noticed throughout this section of the story that there were many similarities and parallels between Arjuna and Rama.  Both of the heroes won over their wife with a challenge including stringing an impossible bow.  Both of the heroes were sent into exile.  I noticed there were some pretty big differences as well however.  Rama remained true to Sita and Sita alone, while Arjuna obtained a good many wives in his escapades and had many children along the way.  After learning more about the culture of the people that these ancient stories were written about, it seems like it was very common for a man to have multiple wives.  Perhaps then it was more obscure for Rama to only have one! That makes his love story with Sita much more endearing.  I also noticed that Arjuna was spoken of in prophecy and was destined to help people just as Rama did throughout his story.  This can be seen as he saved the alligators and fulfilled his duty of helping them return to nymphs. 

Bhima sits with his famed mace.  

Source: Commons

Bibliography: The Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata, used from sources including Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger and Tagore