Chapter 14 – The Birth of Ghatotkacha

As the Pandavas went inside the woods deeply, they reached river Ganga. They crossed the river and reached a forest names Hidimbavanam , named after a demon named Hidimba who lived in the forest with his sister Hidimbi. They always feasted on humans when they passed by. One day, when the Pandavas were roaming in the forest, Hidimba smelt the scent of humans in there. He asked his sister to check out. Hidimbi, when she went to execute her brother’s orders, saw Bhima and fell in love with him. Meanwhile Hidimba lost patience and went to find out the reason for the delay from Hidimbi.

Hidimba saw the brothers and wanted to kill them. He went near the tree they were resting under. But he before he could touch the brothers and their mother, Bhima stopped him and said, “You should cross me before touching them”. Then started a fight between two strong men, Bhima and Hidimba. The fight was a very furious one. First they fought with bare hands and then started uprooting trees and throwing stones and all sorts of heavy things around. The fight then finally ended with Hidimba dead and Bhima turned the winner.

Bhima and Hidimba fighting

After this incident, Hidimbi went to Bhima and expressed her wish of marrying him. Bhima refused as she was a demon and hence cannot marry her. But Kunti agreed because she wanted her son to marry and have a son. Bhima had no other choice but to marry her. So he married Hidimbi on one condition that he would live with her only until a child was born. They then got married in the presence of Kunti and his brothers.

A Year later, Hidimbi became pregnant and gave birth to a boy in few days. As he was part-demon and part-human, he grew very big, the next moment he was born. He looked like a Bald Pot, his ears replacing the handles and hence his parents named him Ghatotkacha (‘Ghatam’ means ‘pot’). Ghatotkacha mastered all arts of warfare very quickly from his father, Bhima. He also learnt magic and the art of creating illusions from his mother, Hidimbi.

Ghatotkacha

And that is how the great and powerful Ghatotkacha who excelled his parents in all art and war forms came into being.

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