~*~Quest for Fragrant Flowers~*~

Draupadi's POV:

This exile had caused many unfortunate events in my life; however, the most unfortunate event was when I had to depart from my dear sons and my dearest daughter. But I never imagined that, in these wildernesses, I will get to meet another son of mine. Though, I had not given birth to him and met him at the Gandhamadana hills for the first time, but when he called me 'mata,' I felt the same bliss I felt when Prativindhya [1] called me mata for the first time. 

Very soon, the formal addressing of 'mata' changed into informal affectionate addressing 'chhoti maa. Every morning, he would get flowers and fresh clean water for my worship. Whenever I went outside the hermitage, he would appear infront of me out of nowhere and keep pleading to take him with me until I agreed. At night too, after feeding all the sages, brahmans and his father and uncles, he would have dinner with me. Sister Hidimbi had given him a good upbringing.

One day I had told him jokingly, "Son, I am annoyed with you." In a single moment his face went completely pale. He stammered, "Why chhoti maa? Have I done any mistake? Please do tell me how can I correct it?" Looking at his fear-stricken face, nobody could tell that he was the Great Demon King Ghatotkacha. Controlling my laugh with utmost difficulty, I said in a fake serious tone, "I am annoyed with you because I know that all the love you show for me is just fake."

He immediately replied, "Never, chhoti maa. For me both you and my mata Hidimbi are same. For you I feel the same affection and respect as I have for mata Hidimbi." Interrupting him in the middle, I said, "If that's the case, why have you never come to Indraprastha to meet your chhoti maa." He suddenly went silent. It felt as if he wanted to tell so many things yet he didn't know how to tell. 

I tried to encourage him, "What happened son? You know you can tell anything me." Ghatotkacha said in a timid voice, "Mother, I was embarrassed to come to Indraprastha." I kept looking at him with a questioning gaze and he continued, "Chhoti maa, unlike you, my mother Hidimbi is a demoness. Her marriage with my father was an accident. I never met anyone from my father's family except grandmother and my uncles. At times, I really wanted to come to Hastinapur and Indraprastha to meet everyone. I had also heard a lot about you, so I was quite curious about you too, but I felt embarrassed with the fact that whether a half demon like me, would be accepted in a family of Kshatriyas." Saying this he immediately dropped his eye lids.

His explanation has brought tears into my eyes. I was sitting on a rock while he was sitting on his knees infront of me. I caressed his face with my right hand and raised his head so that I can look into his eyes. Then I told him in an affectionately, "Son, no kind of barrier can ever come between mother and son. For a mother, all her sons are equal. Have you ever thought how your father and uncles would feel if they ever come to know about this. So, promise me once our exile is over and we get back our kingdom, you will come to meet your chhoti maa whenever you feel like and never you will feel embarrassed about it. Please also bring Sister Hidimbi with you. I want to meet my sister from another mother and want my sons to meet their eldest brother." Ghatotkacha agreed to it happily.

Like these, days kept on passing merrily at Badrika Ashrama, while we waited for Aryaputra Arjun to return. One morning, I was sitting outside the hermitage and enjoying the scenic beauty. The cold gentle winds blowing from the north eastern regions under the basking morning sun, felt very soothing. At times, the winds carried along with it the fragrances of various flowers and herbs from the Gandhamadana hills. The chorused melody of multiple birds chirping felt like a soft music to the ears. All these combined together had the power to uplift anyone's sorrowful mood. For few moments, I even forgot about my humiliation. 

Suddenly, a beautiful white flower with a slight golden hue caught my attention. I rose from my seat and went near the spot to pick that flower from the ground. I brought it near my nose and what I smelt was something that cannot be described in words. If I had to describe its fragrance in a single word, I would say, it smelt heavenly. Didn't know, why but the moment, I saw the flower, I felt like I should get more of these flowers and present them to Aryaputra Yudhishthira.

The moment, this thought struck my mind, I felt heat rising to my cheeks. I was suddenly reminded of that night at the Gandhamadana Hills when I fell ill.

That day, I remember, at one moment I was climbing the slopes of the Himalayas and in the next moment I was nestled in the arms of Aryaputra Nakul. I could hear the muffled voices of frantic calls of all my husbands. I could feel Aryaputra Yudhishthira soft palms patting my cheeks. I really wanted to open my eyes and come out of the dark abyss, but for some reason I could not. My consciousness kept on fading in and out throughout the day. During those periods I had heard, Aryaputra Yudhishthira's lamentations, while giving me cold compressions. I had felt Aryaputra Nakul and Sahadev treating me with herbs. I had felt the love filled words of Aryaputra Bheem while he sat at my bedside.

In the evening when I regained consciousness, I saw Aryaputra Nakul, Sahadev and Bheem infront of me but there was no sign of Aryaputra Yudhishthira. He came at night with my dinner. In a single plate made of leaves, he was holding some rice cooked with lentils and vegetables. That sweet gesture of him reminded me about those old days.

When I was going to have Prativindhya, my mood swings were at the highest peak. My cravings got the best of me at the most unusual hours, say at midnight, and I would start throwing tantrums at him to get things like pickles, raw mangoes, payasam, laddoos made of sesame and jaggery, spicy meat preparations, etc. And my dutiful husband would get all those items for me. 

At times when I didn't feel like sleeping alone, I used to ask him to read his scrolls while sitting on the bed. I used to sleep, resting my head on his lap while he kept reading his scroll, holding it in one hand and while with the other hand he kept stroking my hair. I had started missing those beautiful moments.

That day was the perfect opportunity to relive those old days. When he came and sat infront of me, I said, "Where have you been all day? You know I was waiting for since a long time?"

He looked at me slightly taken aback, then after some moments, he staggered, "Kalyani, I had to go look after our guests. I have got dinner for you."

I immediately said, "But there is only one plate, where is your?"

He said with a slight hesitation in his voice, "I will have mine after you."

I interrupted, "Nope, today we will have dinner from the same plate. I know there is nothing left for you and you are as hungry as I am."

He replied, "But Kalyani, you are ill. You need to eat a lot for medicines to work effectively."

I nodded negatively, "Nope!! I won't eat a single grain of rice until to agree to take an equal share of the food you brought for me." 

At last, he had to give up, and we ate together. He fed me while I fed him. After the feeding session was over, he prepared my bed and was about to leave when I stopped him, "Where are you going now?"

He replied, "Kalyani, dear you should have rest." I said spontaneously, "How can I take rest without my pillow?" He kept looking at me in a puzzled manner. I told him, "Come, sit here, beside me." He sat down. I slept, resting my head on his lap and kept his right hand on my hair gesturing him to stroke them. It seemed as if that night passed in a blink of an eye. Next morning, neither of us said anything.

The dice incident had distant me away from my husbands, especially Aryaputra Yudhishthira. I hadn't yet forgiven for what he did to his brothers or me. But all these years I had seen his repentance and lamentations. That had dissipated my anger to some extent. Hence, I decided to give our relation one more chance to revive itself. After all it just takes a single moment to break a relation, which might had taken years to form.

Thinking about all these things, I went near Aryaputra Bheem, for I knew only Aryaputra Bheem could track the source of these flowers. I showed him the flower and said, "See Aryaputra, this heavenly smelling flower. I got this flower near the hermitage, perhaps got carried away by the wind. I have never seen such beautiful flowers in our periphery areas." Aryaputra seemed to have recognized the flowers at a single glance. He said, "Priye, these are Saugandhika flowers. You are right, these flowers do not grow in these areas." I immediately said, "But I want more such flowers, I like them very much. Can you please get some of these flowers for me."

Aryaputra Bheem looked at me with an affectionate smile, "Priye, only this much. If you want, I can get every single type of flower available on this Earth for you. By today evening, I will get these flowers for you." Saying this he started sniffing the air around to trace it's smell and then went away towards eastern regions.

End of Draupadi's POV

Bheem's POV:

The excitement with which she shown me the saugandhika flower was a sight to behold. She had always been fond of flowers. The way she requested to get more of those flowers for her, I could not refuse her. Infact, I had never been able refuse her requests and onetime that has landed me as well as my brothers into a difficult situation.

My father, Pawan Dev (God of Wind) had gifted me with the ability to trace and track anything by its smell. Hence, by sniffing the air around us, I identified that the flower got carried by the wind from the north eastern mountains. Without wasting any more moment, carrying my bows and arrows, I started walking towards the source of the flowers.

My father's second gift, i.e., ability to move with the speed of wind, helped me to reach at Shail Mountain peak in one prahar only. I sniffed again, and this time apart from sweet fragrance of saugandhika flowers, I could smell the sweet smell of ripen bananas. Next moment, I could hear the borborygmi from my stomach, which signified how hungry I was. Hence, banana garden became my next destination.

Because of my increasing hunger, I started walking with a greater speed. The ground seemed to vibrate with my walking. Very soon I was standing infront of the banana garden. Beside the garden there was a beautiful pond filled with crystal clean water. Due to walking so far, my body was completely exhausted. Hence to get rid of such exhaustion, bathing seemed like an alluring idea. So, without thinking much, I quickly immersed myself into the crystal clean water of the pond. After spending sometime there, I came out of it and then had a heartful lunch with the sweet ripen bananas. Those bananas tasted much sweeter than any fruit I had tasted so far in my life.

After having a delicious lunch, I was so delighted that I immediately took out my conch shell and gave a hard blow to it. The heavy sound of the conch shell reverberated in all the directions and the ground seemed to bit shaken by the loud noise. I felt a bit proud of myself and mentally, appreciated my supreme strength.

I was about move ahead on the quest for saugandhika flowers for Panchali, when I heard a huge crashing sound as if a thunder was falling on the ground and the ground shook with much more intensity. I became alert. Rishi Lomasha had informed us earlier about the Yaksha's and various elusive creatures inhabiting this place. I cautiously started looking in all the direction but could not find anything or anyone. To invite the other creature for a fair fight, I uprooted few trees and thrown them at multiple directions. I sort of tried to challenge his muscle power, but no one budged from anywhere.

Thinking that perhaps the other creature had fled after looking at my valour, I started moving towards my destination, the source of saugandhika flowers. I had walked just a few steps when I saw an old wrinkled monkey laid across the path. Its wrinkled head was kept on the crook of his brown arm, while his other arm rested on the land. Though the appeared quite small and weak, it's tail was long and was laid across the whole path. Literally, no space was left through which I could move ahead without waking it up.

At first, I started thumping my feet, expecting that the monkey might wake up due to the vibration, but the monkey remained fast asleep. Then, I started clapping and making sounds to wake him up, but nothing seemed to affect him. Then finding no other way out, I uprooted a tree and landed it near him. This time the old monkey opened its eyes and started looking at me with questioning gaze. Then to my utter delight it said, "Who are you and why are you making so much noise and disturbing an old ailing monkey like me?"

I replied proudly, "I am Kuntinandan Bheemsen. I am the son of the late Chakravarthi Samrat Pandu."

The monkey said in mocking manner, "Really? Since you are saying so, I am believing you. But tell me one thing, aren't you a human? I had heard human beings are more righteous than us. But looking at you, I feel you are even worse than us."

"Listen, I am being soft on you considering your age. Now move your tail aside. You are blocking my path." I said arrogantly.

The monkey looked at its tail once and then smilingly said to me, "Why are you giving unnecessary pain to an old monkey like me. Better, you return the way through which you came."

My anger started rising. Still controlling my aggression, I warned that monkey, "Hey old wrinkled monkey, don't you dare to test my patience. Move your tail aside at once. Or else.."

"Dear, I am an old sick creature. Why are you wasting your youthful energy on me? Take the name of Ram and return to the place from where you have come." The monkey said in a pleading tone.

By now, I had completely lost my patience. Sometimes I wonder, how could Jyeshth hold his patience for so long. Abandoning every bit of decency, I growled at it, "You stubborn monkey!! Listen, I am done with you, I am telling you for the last time, move aside or I will have to leap over you, just like the way Hanuman leapt over the sea and went to Lanka."

The monkey looked at me with questioning gaze and asked in an amused tone, "Hanuman!!Who is this, Hanuman?"

I answered in an equally amused tone, "Aren't you a monkey? Yet you don't know about Hanuman." Then I said in a proud manner, "Let me enlighten you about Hanuman. Hanuman is the strongest, wisest and most righteous monkey ever lived on this Earth. He is immortal. He is a great devotee of Lord Rama and when Ravana had abducted Mata Sita, Hanuman fought alongside Lord Rama and his brother Lakshmana."

The monkey looked at me and smilingly said, "From the way you are talking about Hanuman, it seems you are very proud of this person Hanuman."

I replied immediately, "Of course, I am. Just like me he is also the son of Pawan Dev, and in that sense, he is my elder brother." Perhaps talking about Hanuman has improved my mood, so I requested in a pleading tone, "Please, I am requesting you to move aside your tail. You are much older to me I cannot leap over you."

The monkey said in an understanding manner, "You said, you are son of Pawan Dev, so just like your brother you must be strong enough. So, why don't you move aside my tail and move towards your destination."

The proposal seemed quite acceptable to me. So, I went near his tail and casually bent down to pick it up with my left land. But to my utter surprise the tail did not even budge. I tried once again, but the result was same. Then I put both of my hands to the task. But the tail did not move even a half an inch. I crouched beside his tail and attempted to lift its tail using all my muscle power but my efforts went all in vain.

Amidst this I could hear the mockery of the monkey, "By your appearance you look so strong, yet you cannot move even the tail of an old ailing monkey like me."

I looked at him and kept trying using all my effort. 

The monkey continued with his teasing, "Come on, move aside my tail. It was my wish for a long time that someone should move aside my tail. I am sure you can make my wish come true." 

Soon, I started panting. My arms were aching. I felt as if every ounce of energy had left my body. Yet the tail of that old ailing monkey did not budge even by a hair's breadth. I felt slightly dizzy. At last, ashamed of my unsuccessful attempt, I left its tail and sat on the ground to catch my breath. Soon a realization dawned upon me. Whatever I was seeing through my naked eyes was not everything. This ordinary looking monkey is not as ordinary as it looks. Despite being a monkey, it could talk just like me and possess such inhuman strength. It had to be some kind of God in disguise.

I went near him and bowed down at him and said in remorseful manner, "Please forgive me. I failed to recognise you. Please tell me who are you?"

The monkey said smilingly, "Kuntinandan Bheem, I am an old ailing monkey whose tail you could not even move." I said in a guilty tone, "I am sorry for my arrogant behaviour. I am begging at you, please show me your true form." In a blink of an eye, the old ailing monkey got replaced by a physically well-built monkey clad in red silken drape with golden embroidery and he said in a benevolent tone, "I am your elder brother Hanuman."

He lifted me up by my shoulders and took me in a tight embrace. This was a heavenly moment for me. Never, I had dreamt that someday, I would be able to meet the Great Hanuman. In the moment of this utter delight, I felt extremely ashamed for my previous behaviour. My elder brother, having sensed my thought, said in a kind tone, "Anuj, don't dishearten yourself. I have come here to meet you and give an important lesson to you. You saw an old ailing monkey challenging you muscle strength and you at once, without thinking anything, accepted that challenge. In future many opportunities may come where you may feel strong urge to prove your strength, but you should sometimes restrain yourself and wait for the right moment." 

After that he asked me everything about our life so far. I told him everything from Jyeshth's first coronation ceremony to the foul game of dice and our exile. Brother Hanuman assured me saying, "Anuj, never abandon the path of Dharma. I am giving you all my blessings. You and your brothers will attain your goal." I requested him to come to our hermitage and bless my brothers and Panchali, but he refused. Then he went on to tell me more about Lord Rama and Dharma.

I asked him, "Brother at the end of this exile, we will be facing a huge war. You had fought with Lord Rama against the Ravana. Won't you fight along with us." Brother Hanuman replied, "Anuj, my era is over. This is the era for you to fight. But I promise you, I will be there to support you. I shall place myself on the flag of the chariot of your brother Arjun."

Then I wanted to ask him something, but felt hesitated to ask him. Realizing my hesitation, he said, "Anuj, is there something you want to ask me?" I said in a timid voice, "Bhratashree, I don't know if this heavenly moment, when I am meeting you in person is ever going to come back again or not. I want to see your giant form that you took while leaping across the sea to reach Lanka."

In a moment, I saw my brother Hanuman taking a giant form. At that moment he seemed even larger than a mountain peak. I prostrated infront of him out of devotion. He blessed me and then got vanished into the thin air.

I lingered at that spot for few more moments reminiscing the past few moments and then continued my journey to get those fragrant flowers for my beloved wife. After walking few yojanas on the path, that was obstructed by my mighty brother around a prahar back, I could smell the strong smell of those fragrant flowers. At once, I realized that I was very close to the source of saugandhika flowers.

I was standing almost at the heart of the deep forest. That part of the forest was different from the forests we had travelled through so far. It was so beautiful that I felt as if I was standing at the heaven. Determining the direction with the help of my sense of smell, I started moving forward. After walking for few moments, I reached near a pond. In that pond I saw large floating garden, where lakhs of those fragrant flowers were blossoming. My joys knew no bound for being able to locate the source of the saugandhika flowers, which had charmed Empress Draupadi.

I started getting into the pond to get few flowers. I was about to pluck a flower, when I heard a roaring noise, "STOP AT ONCE! TELL ME, WHO ARE YOU?" I turned back to only to see a huge demon, looking at me with red eyes. This time without showing any arrogance I replied, "I am younger brother of Chakravarthi Samrat Yudhishthira, Bheem. I, along with my brothers and our dear wife Panchali are staying at the hermitage of Badri. Panchali got extremely charmed by one of such saugandhika flowers and had sent me to get more such flowers for her."

That giant tried to forbade me. "This pond belongs to Yaksharaj Kuber. I don't care for who you are, but without obtaining permission from our master, you cannot pluck even a leaf from this pond. If you want to pluck these flowers for our wife, you must come with us and beg permission from our master. He is very generous."

I tried to debate with the demon, "This pond is gift of mother nature and every living being has equal right on her resources. Your master, Yaksharaj Kuber, cannot claim his ownership over such gifts of nature. I have come here to get these flowers for my wife and I shall return only after taking them. And I am not going to beg infront of your master."

The demon got enraged with my argument and said in a challenging tone, "Listen Human! If you want the safety of your life, then go back quietly. Otherwise fight with us."

I accepted his challenge. Within few moments, numerous demons emerged from everywhere and lunged at me. I gave out a battle cry and fought with them vigorously. For next few moments, only cries of pain and smashing sound of those demons could be heard. All of them charged at me at a time but with my sheer strength, I was able to overpower them.

After the battle was over, I saw majority of the attacking demons' bodies were slain on the soil and the pond water, which was clean even a few moments back, had turned red. Remaining demons, had fled the battle arena. Seeing the path clear, I got down in the pond and started plucking flowers. Very soon I had collected more than enough flowers for Draupadi. I was about to come out of that pond, when I heard a very known voice. I turned back only to see my Jyeshth standing with dejected eyes.

End of Bheem's POV

[2] The sun was about set, still there was no sign of Bheem. I was strolling anxiously outside the hermitage. I had asked everyone, starting from Rishi Lomasha to the snataka brahmans, Nakul, Sahadev, as well as Ghatotkacha, but nobody had any idea about where Bheem was. 

Suddenly, the wind started blowing tremendously. The sky burst with crackling noise of thunder. Soon the dark grey clouds completely covered the sun and darkness spread everywhere. At some point, I also felt slight trembling of the ground. Those signs of ill-omen were increasing my worry for Bheem. 

At last, I turned to Kalyani, who was sitting on the ground was chopping vegetables and roots, and asked her, "Kalyani, did Bheem tell you where he was going? He must have returned by now."

Kalyani looked at me and said in soft tone, "Aryaputra, I do not know where your brother went. But today, I got charmed by this highly fragrant flower. I wanted more of such flower, so I requested Aryaputra Bheem to get more such flowers for me. He went away promising me to return with such flowers by evening." Saying this she took out a beautiful flower from behind her ear.

I took the flower and sniffed at it and suddenly the grave realization dawned upon me. The flower that I was holding was none other than the saugandhika flower, that grew only in the pond that belonged to Yaksharaj Kuber. I had heard that nobody had ever returned alive from that pond. Though, I was much confident about my brother's strength, still an unknown fear gripped me from inside.

Without waiting another moment, I went to Ghatotkacha and asked him to carry me to that magnificent pond of Yaksharaj Kuber.

Within few moments, I was standing at the bank of that pond. Infront of me, there were dead bodies of various demons, slain ruthlessly by someone while my brother was standing in the waist deep red water of pond. In his hand he was holding a bunch of those fragrant flowers. I could not accept the fact that my brother, had slain these innocent demons just for getting some flowers for Panchali. I called him in a dejected tone, "Bheem...." He turned towards me.

I said,"Brother, what have you done? Though, there is no doubt that you have shown your bravery, but in no manner, I can justify your action to be righteous." Bheem must have realized for; he lowered his eyes out of guilt and came out of the pond.

When he was standing infront of me, I said, "Killing innocent beings, irrespective of the class to which they belong is unrighteous. In future, I want you to refrain from such activities." Bheem nodded at me affirmatively. I ruffled his hair in a forgiving manner and was about to turn back, when I heard an unfamiliar voice called me.

I turned back to see a divine person standing beside the pond. We bowed down infront of him. He said, "Kuntinandan Yudhishthira, I am Yakshraj Kuber,owner of this pond. You must not reprimand your brother Bheem for doingsomething which was already decided by destiny. The demons, who died at thehands of your brother were cursed by Rishi Agastya to take birth as demons anddie at the hands of a mortal like Bheem. Infact, in one way your brother hasgiven them salvation from their cursed life."

Then he turned towards Bheem and said, "Kuntinandan Bheem, I am extremely fascinated by your strength and your courage, you have exhibited today. As a reward, I am giving you the permission to obtain as many flowers you want from my garden anytime."Saying this Lord Kuber got vanished and both of us returned to our hermitage before sunset with the help of Ghatotkacha.

Author's notes:

[1] – Draupadi's eldest son from Yudhishthira.

[2] – The story continues in usual narrative i.e., Yudhishthira's POV