The Grandson at the Pond

Years went by. The Pandavas lost their kingdom at dice and went wandering the earth as pilgrims, with Draupadi beside them. Worn out by the road, they came to the shrine of the goddess Chandika near Guptakshetra, by the sea.

Barbarika was living there still, worshipping the goddesses. He saw the strangers arrive, but he did not know them, and they did not know him.

The Pandavas made their offerings to the goddess and went looking for water. Bhima was half dead with thirst, and he went straight down into the goddess's pond.

"Wash your feet outside first!" Yudhishthira called after him. "Not in the water. That is a sin."

Bhima did not listen. He washed his face, his hands and his feet in the pond, and bent to drink.

"Stop," said a voice above him. "This water is for bathing the goddess. Who are you, to dirty it?"

Bhima looked up at the young man on the bank. "Water belongs to every living thing," he said. "The tanks at holy places are there for everyone to use."

"You may step into running water," said Barbarika. "Still water you enter only with clean feet. Brahma himself says that fouling holy water is as bad as killing a Brahmin."

"I am hungry and I am thirsty," said Bhima, "and you are a nuisance."

"Then it is my duty as a kshatriya to stop you."

Barbarika picked up a brick and threw it. Bhima ducked and leapt out of the pond, and the two of them went at each other, first with insults, then with fists, knees and heels.

Bhima was the strongest man of his age. But he was tired from the road, and the young man only seemed to grow stronger. Again and again Bhima tried to get up. At last Barbarika lifted him off the ground and carried him toward the sea, to throw him into the deep water. The goddess kept the other Pandavas from seeing it. In the sky the gods and goddesses watched, astonished.

Then Rudra's voice came down from above.

"Let him go! He is your grandfather, Bhima, a pilgrim come to bathe at this holy place. A grandfather is to be honoured, whatever he has done."

Barbarika let go of him and fell at his feet, beating his own head and weeping. Bhima pulled him up and held him and kissed him.

"We did not know each other," said Bhima. "Your father and Krishna told us you were here, and in all our troubles we forgot. The fault is not yours. You punished a wrong, as a kshatriya should, even when it was mine. My ancestors are blessed in you."

But Barbarika would not be comforted. "I raised my hand against my own grandfather," he said. "There is a way to wash out every sin but that one." He ran to the place where the river meets the sea and threw himself in.

The sea trembled and did not know what to do with him. Then the Siddha Mother and the fourteen goddesses came and caught him up and held him, and Rudra came with them.

"A wrong done without knowing is no sin," they told him. "Look, your grandfather is running after you, calling for you. If you die, he will die too, and that would be a sin indeed. And your death is already set. You will die at the hands of Krishna, the son of Devaki, and there is no better death. Wait for it."

Barbarika came back out of the water, still unhappy, and grumbled at them. They had done nothing, he said, when the Pandavas lost their kingdom, and yet here they were saving Bhima. The goddess answered that she would always protect her devotee, and gave him a new name. Because he had fought so great a fight in Chandika's own shrine, he would be honoured as Chandila.

Bhima brought his grandson back to his brothers and told them everything, and they marvelled at him and honoured him. And at the place where Rudra's voice had set him free, Bhima set up a shining linga, which is still called Bhimeshvara.