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STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Vana

Saugandhika lotuses and the yakshas of Kubera

In the text — not yet checked

The mountain of Draupadi's lotuses is the same one Hanuman raided for healing herbs in the Ramayana.

The story starts with a flower. Earlier that day the wind has carried Saugandhika lotuses to the Pandavas' camp, and Draupadi has asked Bhima to bring her more. Bhima, as always, goes straight off to do what she asks.

The Pandavas are staying on Mount Gandhamadana in the Himalayas, in the part of their exile where they wait for Arjuna to come back from heaven. On the way, Bhima has already met Hanuman, who blocked a narrow path as an old monkey with a tail Bhima could not lift. Hanuman started telling him the story of Rama, which is the ancient link between the two epics. Now Bhima goes on, thinking of Hanuman and of Rama, through lakes and rivers and flowering woods, past elephants and deer, into land where buffalo, bears and leopards live. A little after noon he reaches a river full of golden lotuses, with swans on it, and there, glowing like the rising sun, is a great bank of Saugandhika lotuses. He thinks his task is done, and he thinks of Draupadi, worn out by exile.

He sees the lake from near the Kailasa cliff, with woods around it and water falling in cascades from the mountain near the home of Kubera, the lord of wealth. It is full of lotuses, and the water is clear, cool and tastes like ambrosia. This is Kubera's pleasure ground. Gods, sages, Gandharvas and Apsaras come to it with the permission of the Yaksha king, and he protects it. Hundreds of thousands of fierce guards called Krodhavasas keep watch over it, in uniform and with weapons.

Bhima walks toward the lake in deerskins and golden armlets, with a sword at his side. The guards ask who he is. He looks like an ascetic but carries arms. Bhima says he is Pandu's son, next in age after Yudhishthira, and that he has come for the lotuses Draupadi wanted. The guards reply that this is Kubera's lake, no mortal may play there, and that he must first get Kubera's permission. Bhima answers that he does not see Kubera here, and that if he did he would not beg, because warriors do not beg. And he adds that the lake comes from mountain cascades, not from Kubera's mansion, so it belongs to all creatures.

He walks in. The guards surround him and threaten to tie him up, kill him, and cook him. He lifts his golden mace. They attack with spears and axes, and he breaks their arms and kills more than a hundred of them, starting with those at the front. The rest run off through the sky to the Kailasa cliff.

Bhima drinks the lake water, which restores his strength, and gathers lotuses. The defeated guards go and tell Kubera. In this telling, Kubera smiles. He says Bhima may take as many lotuses as he likes for Draupadi, and that he already knew. The guards put aside their anger and return, and find Bhima alone in the lake, enjoying himself.

Meanwhile, omens have appeared at the camp: a violent wind, meteors, darkness and tremors. Yudhishthira thinks a time of battle is near. He notices Bhima is missing and Draupadi tells him he went northeast to get the lotuses. Yudhishthira orders everyone to follow. Ghatotkacha carries Draupadi, and Rakshasas carry the weary Brahmanas, with Lomasa leading. They reach the lake and find slain Yakshas, their limbs smashed, and Bhima standing on the shore, angry, with his mace raised. Yudhishthira embraces him and warns him not to be so rash or offend the gods.

Then the huge garden guardians arrive, carrying rocks, and bow to Yudhishthira and the others. Yudhishthira calms them. The party takes the flowers, bathes in the lake and stays on the slopes of Gandhamadana awaiting Arjuna.

The text calls the guards Rakshasas, Krodhavasas and, in the aftermath, Yakshas. Tradition also places the hermitage of Nara and Narayana at Badarikashrama on Gandhamadana and links the mountain with the herbs Hanuman carried in the Ramayana; those points are not in the sections I read.

Who: Bhima, Draupadi, Kubera, Hanuman

Bound to

Hanuman blocks Bhima's path to the lotuses causes

Arjuna and Krishna as Nara and Narayana located-at

Places: Gandhamadana, Badrinath, Alaknanda

Where this comes from

See it on the tree · All stories

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