Week 7 Storytelling: Brawl in the Night

This story is from a public domain edition of Mahabharata, which contains the story of Bhima and Hidimbi

Bhima wiped the sweat from his brow but found a few drops of blood mixed with the salty water. He was breathing heavily despite his physique; he hadn’t fought like this since the last tournament with the Kaurava brothers. Then again, at the tournament he had been fighting more for pride than for his life. This was different.

             Hidimba stared down at him from 10 feet away. The rakshasa was grimacing, or so it appeared; his mouth was a shapeless hole lined on every side with needle-like teeth. He stood close in height to three men, and if Bhima were to look straight ahead, he would see the demon’s waist. Even out of arm’s reach, Bhima could smell the creature’s fetid breath, which stank of rotting meat and sulfur.  Despite his own fatigue from the fight, Bhima saw no signs of tiring from the demon.

            Bhima took 3 more breaths and, seeing the demon’s impatience building, charged forward once more. Hidimba’s huge arm shot out but Bhima was quicker. He curled his arm around his head, blocking the punch, and ducked under the demon’s arm. With a great leap, he placed his foot on Hidimba’s fleshy knee and kicked off hard, thrusting his curled fist into the rakshasa’s jaw. The uppercut would easily have killed a man, but the demon’s bone barely shook.

            Hidimba flinched, but only for a fraction of a second. Before Bhima had landed on the ground again, Hidimba’s leg smashed into his torso, and his body wrapped around the demon’s calf. Bhima sored through the air and slammed into a great tree, wider around than 3 men’s reach. It splintered at the impact and came falling down towards Hidimba, who casually turned his body to dodge it. The bark nearly scraped his dagger like nose.

            “What’s wrong, dinner? Tiring out so soon?” Hidimba chuckled to himself while walking towards Bhima. “I was really hungering for a steak, but I suppose ground human will do for the night.” The demon’s tongue slathered out of his mouth and licked his lips; they dribbled drool down his face.

            As Bhima raised himself from the ground, Hidimba charged forward at blazing speed. Bhima’s left hand grabbed the demon’s right fist, but Hidimba’s other hand caught him square on the cheekbone. Bhima felt the bone fracture, and his cheek stung like fire. He was sent flying once more, but where he landed he stood up again. He charged at the demon, ducking under the gigantic arm as it attempted to stop him, and plunged his left fist deep into the demon’s stomach. He heard Hidimba gasp for breath, but a boulder sized knee still caught Bhima in the face. He felt another stream of blood begin to trickle down his forehead.

            “Will you not die already? If I have to keep beating you, I’ll need to find another dinner just to fill my belly.” The demon raised his arm and slammed it down onto his prey. Bhima caught it with his left hand but could only match the demon’s strength for a few seconds. As Bhima collapsed on the ground, Hidimba opened his mouth wider than an elephant and lunged at Bhima. However, the gaping maw closed around nothing, and the demon was sent reeling as a fist impacted his right eye. The demon retreated a few feet, howling in pain.

            “You know, you’re a lot tougher than you look,” Bhima said in between breaths. He wiped the blood out of his eyes before continuing. “I really thought you would be a mild workout. I’ve fought demons your size, but none of them gave me much trouble.” He squared up once more as Hidimba ceased his shrieking. “I seem to have underestimated you.”

            Hidimba began his stride, coming again at his prey. “You will pay for that with your life. You may be quick, but your luck will soon run out. There’s barely any life left in you.” Despite his haughty nature, his eye was had begun swelling, and his cocky grimace had been replaced by a raging scowl. He looked serious for the first time in the fight.

            “I have something to confess though,” Bhima stated, with his hands in front of his head. Even as the blood ran down both sides of his face, he stared straight into Hidimba’s eyes and smirked. “I really thought I could beat you with just my left hand.” With that, Bhima charged forward once more. The demon’s leg flew up to meet him, but with both arms, Bhima grabbed the hideous foot and flung the demon to the ground. Hidimba’s fist snapped towards his enemy’s face, fast enough to stir the air for a thousand feet, but Bhima blocked the shot with his good hand. In a flash, Bhima launched himself at the demon’s face, and his right hand connected with the demon’s jaw. The bone shattered, and the demon once again howled in pain.

            Hidimba scrambled, trying to climb off the ground. He took two steps away, but Bhima appeared as if from nowhere and landed another blow with his right hand. This time, the demon’s eye fell from its socket and plopped on the ground. Hidimba crawled blindly, aimlessly, trying to escape in any manner possible, but he soon felt the human hands grabbing him.

            Bhima lifted the demon above his head, one hand where Hidimba’s back met his waste, and his other hand tangled in Hidimba’s matted red hair. He held the rakshasa high above his head, with Bhima’s arms fully extended. Then, with all his might, Bhima threw the demon down, and Hidimba’s spine met Bhima’s knee. A sickening crack rang through the forest, waking every sleeping creature for ten miles. The Pandava brother laid the demon’s body down on the forest floor, and returned to find his brothers awake, all wondering what the great snapping sound had been.

           

Author's note: In general, I try to avoid describing fights, but today I was in the mood. In the original story of Bhima and Hidimba, Hidimba sends his sister to catch the Pandava brothers. However, when she sees Bhima, she falls in love. Thus, Hidimba gets impatient and comes to kill them himself. Bhima drags him off into the forest to try to avoid waking his brothers and fights the demon. He eventually breaks the demon's back over his knee. I added a full description of the fight, and remonved some of the sillier parts of the story (such as the brothers waking up even though Bhima dragged the demon off). Additionally, Bhima is often portrayed as both arrogant and aggressive, so although there was no mention of him fighting with one hand, I thought it was rather in character.

Image Info
Hidimba - Deviant Art

Reading Notes: The Mahabharata part C

These reading notes come from a public domain edition of Mahabharata, which contains the story of Riddles at the Lake

In Riddles of the lake, the pandava brothers go looking for water during their exile. Upon seeing a pond far off, the brothers send Nakula, then Sahadeva, then Arjuna, and then Bhima to go scout it out. When they arrive, they hear a voice as if from nowhere which says they must answer questions before they drink the water. However, none of the three heed the warning, and each of them dies after drinking from the pond. Finally, Yudhishthira comes looking for the three and finds the three bodies around the pond. He breaks down in sadness, but also hears the voice, which again tells him he must answer riddles before drinking the water. Yudhishthira responds to the voice, asking who it is. The voice identifies itself as a yaksha. Then, as the voice asks questions, he answers the riddles one by one. Finally, finishing the riddles, the Yaksha reveals itself as Dharma, the god of wisdom. He embraces Yudhishthira, who is his son, and they revel together. Then Yudhishthira asks that his friends be restored to life.

This story reminds me a lot of stories about sphinxes, which are often interpreted as asking unfortunate souls difficult riddles. It could be neat to incorporate this creature into the tale.

Image Information:

Sphinx - Wikipedia

Reading Notes: The Mahabharata part B

These reading notes come from a public domain edition of Mahabharata, which contains the story of Bhima and Hidimbi

I tend to avoid describing battles too often. When I was younger, I thought they made for the most interesting writing, but having aged a bit I find that it can be distasteful if the only content to a story is fighting. That being said, I want to write about Bhima's fight with Hidimba.

In the story, Hidimba is a rakshasa who lives in a forrest and likes to eat people. When the Pandavas brothers come to the forrest, he smells them, and wants to eat them. He sends his sister, Hidimbi, to find them, but when she does, she see's Bhima and falls immediately in love. Instead of bringing the humans back to her brother, she declares her love for Bhima. After growing impatient, Hidimba comes to kill the humans himself. Bhima drags him off into the heart of the forrest to fight him, intending to take the fight away from his sleeping brothers so they wouldn't wake. But they do, so that was unfortunate... Arjuna mentions that the demon will get stronger in the sunlight. This sends Bhima into a rage, and he becomes very strong. He grabs the demon by the hair and the waist and breaks the demon's back over his knee.


One of the reasons I liked the (short) description of this fight was that Bhima was using his bare hands to fight a supernatural creature which should be able to beat him. This reminded me very much of Beowulf, one of my favorite epics of all time. In Beowulf, the protagonist hears about a monster named Grendel who has been eating warriors in a kingdom. Beowulf decides to fight the creature unarmed (and in the story, naked) and tears the monster's arm off with his bare strength. I thought this might bring me some inspiration in my descriptions.

Image Info:

Beowulf and Grendel - Deviant Art