In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bheemasena being targeted by Duryodhana to be killed. Duryodhana executes his treacherous plan to poison Bheemasena in multiple ways together in the form of food, snake bites, etc. and finally drowning him into the river. Of course, nothing really worked on Bheemasena’s body! The poison that he consumed through the food was neutralized by the poison that was injected into him by the snake bites! Thus, Bheemasena was totally unharmed and with this, the snakes took him underground to meet their leader, Vaasuki. Upon seeing Bheemasena, Snake Vaasuki was very happy to meet him and he blessed Bheemasena with all powers and strength to overcome any obstacle in life. Meanwhile, we’ve also witnessed that Vidura was the only person who came to the rescue of Kunthi Devi and the Paandava brothers, who were frantically searching for Bheemasena. Vidura assured that he would get into the matter to check for the whereabouts of Bheemasena. Eventually, Vidura knew in hindsight that it was Duryodhana who has plotted something against Bheemasena, but did not want to disclose that in the public domain, as it might create rifts between the two families. Vidura smartly played it down in front of Kunthi Devi but swung into action to check what Duryodhana had done to Bheemasena!
However, there was an ancestor in the Kunthi Devi family who was very dear to her, by name “Aaryaka”. When Bheemasena was conversing with Snake Vaasuki, Aaryaka made his way there and introduced himself to Bheemasena. Aryaka explained to Snake Vaasuki thus, “Oh Vaasuki! You do not need to give all the “Ratnas” and other gift items to Bheemasena, as he is already part of the royal king family. Instead, we’ve to give him something that would enrich his strength immensely. Yes, you’ve already blessed him with strength, but this is not enough. Please bring the “Rasam” (A special type of liquid) that we have, which would give him the strength of a thousand elephants. Let Bheemasena drink it how much ever he wants to. By doing so, Bheemasena would obtain a strength with which nobody in this world would be able to take him down!”
Upon hearing this from Aaryaka, Snake Vaasuki was very happy with the idea and ordered his assistants to bring all the pots wherein the special “Rasam” was stored and give them to Bheemasena. Bheemasena sat nearby and started consuming pot after pot! Each pot of the “Rasam” would give the strength of a thousand elephants put together. In this way, Bheemasena drank eight such pots, one after the other! With this, Bheemasena became tired, and he slept there itself for the next eight days without getting up even for a single minute! Meanwhile, the entire Hastinapura was worried about Bheemasena’s whereabouts, but here is Bheemasena who did not worry about anything that was happening outside the river! Thus, Bheemasena used this ploy of Duryodhana as an opportunity to increase his strength multi-fold! Hence, in fact, Duryodhana’s ploy of killing Bheemasena backfired very badly on him, and eventually in the future, Duryodhana is going to realize the same!
After eight days, Bheemasena woke up from his long slumber and with this, the “Rasam” had digested completely and his body had taken over its effect! Now, Bheemasena had been transformed into a person with the strength of eight thousand elephants put together! This is real immense power! With this, Bheemasena thanked Snake Vaasuki and Aaryaka and left the Naaga Lokha. As Bheemasena returned back from the river banks, safe and secure, he straightaway ran to the Hastinapura palace and Kunthi Devi was ready to receive him. She, along with the Paandava brothers heaved a huge sigh of relief as Bheemasena was back with them, safe and secure! But little did they know what had happened to Bheemasena when he visited the Naaga Lokha. Bheemasena fell on Kunthi Devi’s feet seeking her blessings, and thus, Bheemasena became an invincible force!
So for today, let us understand until this point and we shall see how Duryodhana is going to react upon seeing Bheemasena again! An interesting accord awaits us tomorrow! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 