Killing of Bahasura, the Giant

While the Pandavas settled and were living in the village of Ekachakra, there lived a huge Giant called Bahasura who was having the town under his grip and was killing all the men and women, children and cattle and everything which was alive and moving. This in discriminated  killing was so intense and the King was powerless to deal and kill him. So the People of the town went to Bahasura  and requested him to have some kind of discipline in his eating habits. They promised to send him carts of food, cattle, cows, goats etc in a cart daily which will be driven by a man who could also be eaten by the Giant. Each family of the town had to send one member for this cart per day as per the routine they followed.

Bahasura agreed for this arrangement and from that day the town people sent many cart loads of food and other items  in many carts and the Bahasura ate cart man and all the other cattle and food.

Pandavas were staying in the house of a Brahmin and earned their food by begging and collecting them and Kunti cooking and feeding them and herself. The food was not sufficient for all and Beem being a very big man and the son of Vayu, the god of wind, was always hungry as the food was not sufficient for him. So Kunti gave him most of the food and shared the other with herself and her other four sons. Even this was not sufficient for Beem.

One day Kunti found the family members of the Brahmin family with which they stayed, were crying. It was found that that day that family had to send one of their family members to cart the food for the Bahasura who would eat the food and the cart man  who would never come back.The father of the family said he would go as cart man as he was old and infirm. The son said he would go as he was young and would be a fit food for Bahasura. The mother cried and said she would go instead of the other two as they would be required to look after the family tree. So it went on and on.

Hearing all this Kunti cam forward and said she would offer her son Beem to go instead of them as he  was extremely powerful and capable to kill the giant and would go willingly for this assignment. He would be happy to go instead of that family members and since they were staying there it was their duty to protect them.

The head of the family refused this offer saying that it was not proper to send a guest to do such a thing as it was against the principle of Dharma ( justice) as guests  were to be respected and protected. But Kunti persuaded him saying that her son could kill the Bahasura and come out powerful and victorious.

The head of the family reluctantly agreed and allowed Beem to take the cart loads of food, cattle etc to the Bahasura. So Beem accompanied by all the town people went to the place where the Bahasura lived and before certain distance of Bahasura's residence  the other people returned back  fearing killing by the giant. They said  saying good bye to him crying about his life and his sacrifice for the town.

Beem went to the place and started eating all the food and cattle, cows, and pots of curd, milk etc. He wanted to finish the food to gain strength as he was not eaten well till that day after their  departure from the house of wax. Also he did not want the food to be wasted in his fight with Bahasura . He also could not take food after killing the giant without a bath and Pooja.The Bagasura saw this from a distance, became furious  and came and hit Beem at his back. But Beem continued to eat and finished all the food and then hit back Bahasura and both started fighting and the fight went on for some time. Finally Beem killed Bahasura and tore him into two parts and left his carcass at the entrance to the town gate.

The people who waited for the Beem to die and were ready to send someone the next day were overjoyed and praised Beem and took him on their shoulder and celebrated this even with good food and revelry.

The Pandavas stayed there for some more time.