Week 7 Story: Bhima in a crossover
Bhima was one of my favorite characters in the Mahabharata due to his incredible strength. Born to a boon from Lord Vayu, he was a skillful in "malla yuddha"( mace fighting). The Kauravs tried to kill him several times, but it ended up making him stronger. The eldest among them Duryodhan tries to murder him by poisoning and drowning him in a lake. However, the mighty warrior Bhima drowns to the underworld and is encountered by the snakes (Nagas) that inhibit it. The King of the Nagas- Vasuki, impressed by the might of Bhima, bestows him with the power of a thousand Nagas.
Before the war in Kurukshetra, Bhima was idling around and sometime too confident of himself. He happened to encounter a monkey on his way to a mace tournament. The tail of the monkey was blocking Bhima's path, so he asked the monkey to move it. The monkey replied that it was old and unable to do so. It asked Bhima to do it himself. Annoyed by this behavior and egoistically, he uses his left hand to give it a slight push . It doesn't move an inch . Surprised by this, Bhima uses some might and still fails. After several attempts with all his might, Bhima folds his hand and apologizes to the monkey. The monkey reveals itself as his half brother (through Vayu) Hanuman and blesses Bhim with more strength. Hanuman advises Bhim to not be prideful and be cautious about the future.
The progression of Bhima's powers thoughout the Mahabharata gave him an edge over Duryodhan in the end. Bhima cheats the rule of mace combat and kills Duryodhan with a strike to the thigh. The reason Bhima did this was to avenge his wife Draupadi's insult.
Author's Note
I read stories about Bhima in children's books growing up in India. It is interesting to see a contrast in comic book characters to certian characters like Bhima in the Mahabharata. He is seen as prideful and someone who eats a lot. Something that led to his death early on his way to Kailasa ( heaven) at the end of Mahabharata. This reminds me of Hulk from Marvel comics. Including being incredibly strong , Hulk is constantly potrayed as brute.
I picked this story because it touches my favorite aspects in comic books. Crossovers! And what's better way than two half brothers across different epics having an encounter. This is one of the stories where we see Hanuman as an immortal strolling through time. It makes us question if he's happy staying alive forever
Above is a link to a comic style storybook that depicts stories like these from the Mahabharata. These stories are better said this way. It lets you to visualize these characters
posted by Siddharth Hegde @ October 03, 2020
5 Comments
5 Comments:
Hi Siddarth! I enjoyed reading your story very much. It was a very easy read and actually clarified this part of the story for me from the Mahabharata. One thing you might want to think about adding to your story is some dialogue. You portrayed each character very well in your story but adding dialogue could really bring them to life which will ultimately add to the readers experience as well. One last thing I would pay attention to is your spacing. Your spacing between parentheses is especially what I am referring to as it was not uniform throughout your story. Overall, great job! This was a very enjoyable read.
Hey, Siddarth!
I really enjoyed reading this story, as my project covers Hanuman extensively. From the perspective of Hanuman, it's nice to see him be able to sort of check Bhima and keep him humble, which everyone needs from time to time. From Bhima's perspective, I can only imagine the surprise on Bhima's face as he touts his strength about but is unable to lift Hanuman's tail. I think that that would be a priceless expression to see.
Cheers,
Chris
Hey, Siddharth (again lol)!
I've already commented on your intro and on the Hanuman story, so I figured that I could leave more feedback here.
From a narrator's perspective, the rapid change in POV at the start is a little disorienting. I think that 3rd person point of view would be the best option overall here, but choosing that would involve the omission(or revision) of the first line. This first line "Bhima is one of my favorite characters..." could easily be reworded to "Bhima is one of the most revered characters..." or something along those lines. Obviously, you could substitute any other adjective for revered there... storied, fabled, admired, etc. The possibilities are endless.
Cheers,
Chris
Hey Siddharth, I love that you wrote about Bhima as he is the focus of my storybook project this semester! I was also introduced to Bhima at a young age through comics and stories and am glad we are reading about him this semester and am really excited I get to write his stories! I wish you the best this semester with your stories!
Hi Siddarth!
This was an interesting story to read! When I was a little kid I always disliked crossovers in TV shows because I felt like the characters in each show occupied their own little world, and I hated to see them mixed together because it felt wrong! However, I like how your story shows the connections between the characters of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana and incorporates important elements of both (e.g., Hanuman living forever and Bhima's great strength and aggressive personality).
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