Mahabharat - An Epic, Retold

6. No bullying of my brothers, Bhim warns Duryodhan

The next day however brought in cloud and storm. As the five brothers were about to move out, Kunti asked Yudhisthir to take particular care of Sahadev. Yudhisthir, being sensible and mature, understood the mother’s concern well. In fact he was carefully monitoring relations between the cousins. But that day, despite his vigil and best efforts, a quarrel broke out between Bhim and many of the Kaurava brothers. It started with the teasing of Sahadev by his numerous Kaurava cousins prompting Bhim to come to his youngest brother’s rescue.  Soon he was surrounded by scores of Kaurava brothers. An enraged Bhim launched a fierce assault. His cousins did not expect such aggression, quickly fled and reported the tiff to Duryodhan who was some distance away. Duryodhan was greatly angered to hear the matter and arrived at the scene of the quarrel and shouted at Bhim:

‘How dare you lay hands on my brothers? You must remember you would be loitering in the forest but for us – we have given you shelter. You should behave that way, or else…’

The words were not finished when Bhim’s heavy hands fell on his shoulder pushing him hard. A scuffle ensued which almost turned bloody. Some of the scared princes went running to Bhisma and brought him to the scene.

The grandfather scolded both for the unbecoming conducts and said he would not like to see a repeat of it.

The matter was settled for the time being but the fire of revenge was lit in Duryodhan.

As days passed the quarrels became more frequent. Often these led to physical fights in which Bhim always won over the Kaurava brothers. Sometimes, he would catch two of his rival cousins by hair and hit one head against the other. While swimming in a lake, he would drown few of them forcibly and not allow them to resurface till they were fully exhausted. On a number of occasions the cousins were badly thrashed. Duryodhan would intervene at times but even he was beaten up.  These were not breaking out in open for fear of Bhisma but news regularly reached Gandhari, Dhritarashtra and Kunti. Dhritarashtra had earlier feared that the arrival of his nephews might have adverse impact on the bringing up of his sons. Now these reports were confirming his fears. At the same time, he could hardly do anything - these were children issues and the elders could not take sides. But anger kept building in his heart – particularly against Bhim. Both Gandhari and Kunti were more considerate and felt these would disappear on their own as the children grew up.