Turīya·Sūtrathe thread to the fourth

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STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Vana

Hanuman blocks Bhima's path to the lotuses

Classical

The strongest man in the epic could not move the tail of a sick monkey.

The Pandavas are waiting in the wilderness when a wind from the northeast carries a thousand-petalled celestial lotus, bright as the sun and richly fragrant, into Draupadi's hands. Delighted, she asks Bhima to find more so that she can take them back to the hermitage at Kamyaka, and she means to give one to Yudhishthira.

Bhima set off against the wind, with his bow and arrows, up Mount Gandhamadana, where the forests, springs and caves were full of animals and celestial beings. Animals scattered at his approach. He reached a lake, bathed and played in it, and then blew his conch and struck his arms so that the whole mountain echoed.

The noise woke Hanuman, who was sleeping across the narrow path, a huge golden-hued monkey on a rock among the plantains. He knew Bhima was his brother, and had blocked the way to protect him. He lashed his tail, and the sound echoed through the mountains. Half awake and annoyed, he asked why he had been disturbed, told Bhima to show compassion to living things, and asked who he was and where he was going. The path beyond, he warned, could not be crossed by mortals. Bhima should stay and live on roots and fruits.

Bhima, proud, gave his lineage, as a son of Pandu and the wind-god, and demanded passage. The monkey said he was too ill to stand, and told Bhima to jump over him. Bhima refused: the Supreme Soul is in every body, and he would not step over it. He added that the monkey-hero Hanuman had leapt across the ocean. The old monkey said, I am Hanuman, and Bhima said, Hanuman is my brother. Then he boasted of his strength and said he would send the monkey to Yama's house unless he moved. Hanuman, seeming feeble, asked him to just push his tail aside. Bhima gripped it with one hand and could not lift it. He tried with both arms and could not move it. Exhausted and ashamed, he bowed with joined hands, asked who the monkey really was, and took refuge in him.

Hanuman told him who he was: born of the wind-god and Kesari's wife, friend of Sugriva. He told the story of Rama, how Rama and his brother met Sugriva on a mountain and killed Vali, how Sugriva sent monkeys in hundreds and thousands to find Sita, how Hanuman himself went south and leapt the hundred yojanas of ocean, found Sita in Ravana's house, and burned Lanka. Rama built a bridge, crossed with the army and killed Ravana, then returned to Ayodhya with Sita and ruled for a very long time. Hanuman asked Rama that he might live as long as the story of Rama's deeds was told on earth, and Rama agreed. So he is still there, entertained by Apsaras and Gandharvas who sing of those deeds.

Hanuman then explained why he was in the path. He had blocked it so that no one could defeat or curse Bhima. The path was trodden only by immortals, one of the roads to heaven, and the lake Bhima wanted lay in another direction.

Bhima, delighted at meeting his elder brother, asked to see the huge form Hanuman had when he leapt the ocean. Hanuman declined: each age has its own character, and this is not the age for it. Bhima asked about the ages instead, and Hanuman described the four yugas. In the Krita age one eternal religion prevails and there is no disease or strife; in Treta, virtue falls by a quarter and sacrifices appear; in Dvapara, by half, the Veda splits in four, and disease and calamity grow; in Kali only a quarter of virtue remains. Bhima still insisted. Hanuman smiled and showed the form, growing until he covered the plantain grove and stood as tall as the Vindhya mountains, saying he could grow still larger. Bhima, his hair on end, shut his eyes against the glare and asked him to shrink. He praised Hanuman's feats in Lanka and said Ravana could not have matched him. Hanuman said he had spared Ravana because killing him would have dimmed Rama's glory. He pointed Bhima toward the Saugandhika wood and Kubera's gardens and told him not to take the flowers by force, because the gods deserve respect. He ended with a long discourse on dharma, the duties of each order, sacrifice, the Vedas and the responsibilities of kings.

Who: Hanuman, Bhima, Draupadi, Vayu

Bound to

The arrow-bridge wager and the tortoise same-story-other-version

Saugandhika lotuses and the yakshas of Kubera causes

Jambavan fights Krishna for the Syamantaka gem mirror

Parashurama meets Rama and trains Bhishma, Drona and Karna mirror

Tulsidas and the Hanuman Chalisa trivia-about

Places: Gandhamadana (Himalaya, near Badrinath)

Where this comes from

See it on the tree · All stories

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