Somehow, Krishna insulting Hidimbaa - even if in jest - is a bit tough to swallow 😕
Bhima replies " You need not worry Keshava. Let me first reply to your comments about me. You said that said persons with big stomachs, like me, are gluttons and all gluttons are fools. It is quite correct, but these are characteristics I find in you too. The whole universe, all the devas and danavs, the eight directions, the ten adityas and the eleven rudras are all acommodated in your mouth . A person with a bigger stomach was never on earth nor will be. Do you, then not feel ashamed to call me a big stomached fellow ?
You said I have a demoness for a wife. But who else other than Madhava will have the daughter of a bear for a wife (especially when he already has a queen like Rukmini? Who is more henpecked than you, who uprooted the Parijata tree from Indra's garden and brought it to Dwaraka to please your wife? You always repose in the milky ocean, the house of your father-in-law, is that a commendable virtue?
Anyway, I have decided to do whatever it takes to make the Aswamedha Yagna as success. Why don't you speak encouragingly, instead of pointing out my defects?"
Krishna, enjoying Bhima's repartee, raises another question." Why does the king intend to do the Aswamedha yagna after getting the Kurus killed? If he feels that he has sinned by killing Bhishma, Drona and Karna let him offer it to me. I will destroy all his so called sins. Let him be completely free from sins."
Bhima answers " O krishna, it is common understanding that anything offered to you gets multiplied infinitely. The king will certainly not like to offer his share of sins. However he will certainly lay all the merits accrued out of this yagna at your feet."Good thing that Jaimineya wasn't posting his work on I-F, or the mods would have cracked down on him 😈😆Fantastic comment - equating Hidimbaa w/ Jambavati! So was Bhima implying that Vishnu (he couldn't have been talking about Krishna) lived in the abode of Varuna? I thought that Varuna implied sagar, whereas Vishnu lived on ksheersagar, which is in Vaikuntha, not Bhulok.Bhima, tired of this pointless discussion, gets up and announces that he will go and obtain the horse, helped by Vrishaketu and Meghavarna.
The next day the first stage of the sacrifice gets under way with Bhima being ceremoniously sent off by Kunti and others.
On the third day, they reach Bhadravati, the city ruled by King Yauvanashava. The city was beautiful and rivalled Amravati. The city was full of sacrificial smoke. No sound apart from the chanting of Vedas, or twanging of bows was audible.
The trio reach a grove, where, they knew (through spies sent earlier) that the horse would be brought around midday. They plan their strategy.
[to be cont'd - fighting starts ]Where exactly is Bhadravati today? Incidentally, the name Amaravati couldn't have existed then - it was at that time Kundinpur, which was Bheeshmaka's capital, until Rukmi abandoned it for Bhojakot
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