My favorite woman in Indian mythology is Hidimbi (her name is sometimes interchanged with her brother's name Hidimba), also known as Bhutan Devi in Nepal, the Rakshasi who married Bhima during his forest sojourn. Unlike the coy and obedient damsels who mostly opted for time-honored swayamvaras in these mythical tales, Hidimbi pursued Bhima to marry her in both her Rakshasa and guiled human form. She may be the precursor of the later period free-spirited women to be forthcoming and unbashful of their amatory fancies. Hey, I like you, marry me. Though Bhima agrees to be married to her only till a child is born out of that cavalier, or purposeful, wedlock, she nevertheless accepts the arrangement. Then Bhima leaves her after Ghatotkacha was born. She was a single mother though not hapless and triumphed in bringing up a warrior child on her own. Though she was only marginally involved in the Great War, her selfhood impressed me when I read about her the first time in a comic from the 'Amar Chitra Katha' series. Neither she was actively defiant in legitimatizing her stance nor she bothered to explain herself away to anyone. She stylized her life to her whim. There have been variants and retellings of her wanderings and dwellings after Bhima parts with her. I don't want to put forward any specific narrative as authoritative, as, I would like to imagine her cheerful and formidable in sustaining a fate not imposed on her but willingly chosen by her. I want to marry this man, bring up a kid, lead my life. I see parallels between Hidimbi and her western counterpart Circe who, similarly, built her life solitary and has a child with Odysseus while abandoned by her father the sun god Helios on the island Aeaea. Both were sorcerers. Both were NOT duped into sleeping with men but chose to willfully make love to the men while upholding their esteem. They never rode on the coattails of their more illustrious partners as Mrs Bhima and Mrs Odysseus but held their own. I highly recommend the bestseller Circe by Madeline Miller. Lyrical, elegant and a competent narrative on Circe! I loved the book. I wish to see such retellings in Indian mythology. I know that Kavita Kane has sparked such retellings of forgotten women in Indian Mythology with her mythological fiction volumes: The Karna's Wife: The Outcast's Queen Sita's Sister Menaka's Choice Lanka's Princess The FisherQueen’s Dynasty I would like to see Hidimbi in that list one day!
With respect to your post, I would like to put forth a few observations, which may be deviating from the original post, of mine. What Hidimba did was nothing out of the box, as that kind of marriage (actually, I would call it free sex) was inherent to her culture. She didn't belong to the mainstream Aryan society, but she hailed from the parallel native tribal culture. It will be erroneous to go by the description of the racist Sanskrit poets to believe that Rakshasas (or for that matter the vanaras of Ramayan) were some kind of monstrous, non-human entities. They had to be the tribal people whose culture was different. In Ramayana, you must have also noticed that Surpanakha showed no qualms in proposing to married Aryan brothers Rama first, and then Lakshmana. The Aryans considered marriage to be a sacred institution, and that was why they reacted so furiously. Actually, what Bhim did was astonishing! Like Rama and Laksmana, being an Aryan, he should have rejected the proposal forthwith.
I don't know how Surpanakha tried to charm Rama or later how she novated it with Lakshman. I don't know how Aryan and how Tribal the characters from Indian literature are. I have no scholarly education in Indian mythology. My entire knowledge of Indian mythology is sourced from languid reading of 'Amar Chitra Katha' comics whilst biting into the bronzed 'jaggeried chikki' (hate the pale-colored sugar chikki) during summers of my childhood when I was not chasing dragon flies or frogs. Thus, I would defer your incisive observation and deft analysis to the mythological experts in the forum who are more well-versed in Indian epics. I don't know if Hidimbi approached Bhima tenderly with the proposition: It's okay in my culture, or defiantly with: I have no understanding of your culture and mine. I like you. Can we work out something between us? (though secretly and imaginatively I prefer the latter) My intercession in this thread was merely to point out the subtlety in a character that I had known briefly during my childhood who exerted her free-will and was willing to bear the consequences of her enchantment. For all I know she need not have slept with Bhima and borne his kid to assert her affection, or she did indulge in free-sex or pleinair sex in the woods to claim him, or she could have flirted with him, she could have befriended him, and they could have forged an unusual camaraderie between them, thus, in each of that brazen act in imprudently approaching the man misled or emboldened by her tribal mores, still, she put her heart on the line, so, I accredit the woman, despite rooted in the lenient convictions of her clan, to have led a spirited life that appeared (to me) as her own unapologetic whim than the intervention of the uncomplimentary practices of her ancestry. I personally like the characterization of such heady women even if I were to disfranchise them from their tolerant fraternity.
You are so good in your observation. I had never thought that way. It’s an interesting perspective. I had to read more about her online. Here too they had talked the same. Thanks for sharing your perspective. The Mahabharata’s Bhima May Have Married The Most Modern Woman Ever
Tell me about it. I searched frantically for a plump wedding picture of them both. But there were none! The bride and groom seemed to have lost weight from the jitters of the wedding, or, a month before the wedding, Bhima had won two fitbits for them both in a gada/mace contest. I too was disappointed at their famished physiques. Bhima, I don't care much, but Hidimbi, my favourite, should not have pored over too many misleading Elle and Cosmopolitan magazines with their 10-day-slender-arms and 15-day-wasp-waist articles for her svelte wedding trousseau.
Yes. One true lord is without woman because he is incorporial and not come in birth death cycle . He is truth.
@BhumiBabe Thank you for making this post ! Indian mythology has so many women with multilayered personalities that leaves the door open to a lot of discussion and interpretations. I was pleasantly surprised to read about Hidimba here. I am hoping to read about Radha, Rukmini and Meera here. All three have fascinating stories and are rebellious strong personalities in their own right.
Why Krishna never married Radha? This link and in Wikipedia and other online source has many articles related to Radha.
