But let’s go back to the Pandavas.
The escape of the five brothers was so frantic that Kunti could not keep up. Bhima then took his mother on his shoulders so that they could continue running with greater speed. That night they traveled a long way through that dense forest populated only by jungle animals and Rakshasas.
A few hours later, when they thought they were already far from Varanavata, they stopped to rest.
“We are safe now,” said Bhima, “it is useless to keep running in the night. Besides, our mother is tired and needs to sleep. You have to catch your breath too. I will make some beds so that you can sleep comfortably. Since I’m not tired, I’ll keep watch.”
Since that adventure had begun, the latter had always been strangely calm and had not commented much on the developments of their situation. Even in those last days he had spoken little and the brothers had often caught him in thought. But at that moment, at the sight of his mother getting ready to sleep outdoors in a wild forest, sheltered only by a tree, he could no longer contain his anger.
“How can you be so calm? How can you tolerate such a situation? Can’t you see how we are reduced? Our mother, who deserves all honors, is forced to run into the forest at night to escape from an enemy, as if she had no one to protect her. We ourselves have to sleep on the ground on a bed of grass like beggars. But why are we fleeing as if faced with an enemy we cannot defeat? Little would be enough to solve once and for all the problem caused by the wicked son of Dhritarastra. Let’s take our weapons and run to Hastinapura; let’s face Duryodhana and his worthy companions face to face and get it over with. In fact, if you don’t want to, I’ll do it all by myself. With the strength of my arms alone I will destroy our evil cousins and all their allies.”
“Don’t say these things, Bhima,” Yudhisthira replied. “We cannot respond to the wicked with wickedness. We must try to do everything to avoid an armed confrontation. Think about what a war would mean. Our relatives, our friends, our acquaintances, everyone would be involved and we cannot fight against them. We cannot kill our fathers, uncles, cousins, grandparents, teachers, friends. Be patient. War must be the ultimate solution. When we truly realize that there is no other way out, then we will fight them. Only when we see that we have nothing else to do, then we will go to war because in that situation we would not be transgressing the divine laws.”
Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva found themselves in agreement with their elder brother. Bhima still persisted, using numerous other arguments, all supported by scriptural evidence, but he could not convince them. His brothers would do anything to avoid a bloody war.
They fell asleep.
Only Bhima remained awake, sitting on a boulder. As he watched his mother and siblings asleep on the ground, an uncontrollable fury burned his heart, so violent that he kept biting his lips to the point of making them bleed. He would have given who knows what to grab his mace and run to Hastinapura to slaughter his enemies, but he could not disobey Yudhisthira, who was the older brother and whom he respected and loved above all else. However, what he had imposed on his body had failed to do on his heart, always convinced that he wanted only one thing: the destruction of Dhritarastra’s sons. In his mind, there could be nothing but thoughts of revenge.
This is a section of the book “Maha-bharata, Vol. 1”.
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