Week 6 Storytelling: Hidimbi Finds Love

Hidimbi was a rakshasa woman. She was able to transform herself and so she lived as a quite beautiful woman but something was missing from her life. She had been alone, trapped in a life that had no meaning. She stayed with her brother and although he was a horrible and evil rakshasa, she had no where else to go. Her brother was all that she had in the world.

Once day while sitting in the forest where they lived, her brother Hidimba smelled humans. She didn't like feasting on humans like her brother did but she knew that she had to go get them for her brother's dinner.

Walking into the forest, she saw a man. He was like nothing that she had ever seen before. He was beautiful and she knew immediately that she loved him. She wanted to approach him but was unable to move for a moment. She had never been in love before and she was confused by these feelings. She wanted to run to him and embrace him but she was too nervous to move.

Sensing that danger was not far behind, she knew that she had to make sure her new love wasn't going to be eaten by her brother. She could try to tell her brother how much she loved this man but it wouldn't make a difference. She knew that he would eat him nonetheless. He never really cared about her feelings anyways.

"Hello", she managed to say to the man. "My name is Hidimbi. I have to warn you of the danger that you are about to encounter. My brother is very hungry and he knows that you and your family are in this forest. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I am Bhima and I will have you know that I fear no one. Let your brother try to find me and he will pay. I am not going to wake up my family just because of some rakshasa. They are tired and they are going to rest." the stranger replied.

Once she heard this mysterious man talk, she fell even more in love with him. He was so strong and so brave and she knew right then that he would be able to take her away from her horrible life. She wanted so badly to tell him right then that she was in love with him but she knew that it had to wait until he fought her brother. She had to make sure that he survived first and then she would confess to him.

She held back her emotions as she watched her new love fade into the distance as he went to search for her brother. She hoped he would come back. She needed him to come back. He just entered her life and she definitely wasn't ready for him to leave it just yet.

Hidimbi approaches Bhima in human form. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Author's note: I based this story off of Bhima and Hidimba. In the original story, Bhima and the rest of the Pandavas are in the forest. Hidimba, the rakshasa, smells them and sends his sister Hidimbi to go get them for him. He wants to eat them. When she does, she sees Bhima and falls in love with him. She tells him that she will be his servant and save him if he wakes his family. He refuses, saying that he won't wake his family up and that he is strong and not scared of her brother. He then fights Hidimba and defeats him. In my story, I kept the storyline the same. The only changes that I made were to focus more on how Hidimbi was feeling. I wanted to show her emotions.The rest of the story was told with Hidimbi as the main focus. I also wanted to give her a little bit more of a backstory of why she would be so willing to run off with the Pandavas and to marry Bhima. I made her feel like she was missing something in her life and that she had no one but her brother and that is why she stayed with him. She knew that he was evil but she had nowhere else to go.
Bibliography: Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).