Worship of Bhīma in Nepal
Bhīmasena, the second of the five Pāṇḍava brothers in the Mahābhārata, is worshipped in Nepal as a form of Bhairava. Referred to as ‘Bhīmsen’, he is especially popular among the Newar business/trading community, which worships his images on small altars in shops as the God of commerce and prosperity. Inscriptional evidence shows that Bhīmasena has been worshipped in Nepal at least since 1540, but the cult is likely to be older. Bhīmasena’s shrines and temples are common in today’s Nepal (there are about 13 shrines to Bhimsen in Nepal), and various iconographic forms of the divinity are represented independently in paintings, line drawings, woodcarvings and brass sculptures.
The earliest reference to Bhīmasena is gleaned from a copper plate inscription of Kathmandu of Mahendramalla’s reign, which shows land grants by Narendramalla on Akṣaya tritīya day to meet the expense of daily worship of the deity. The same inscription states that in Magha of 684 Mahendramalla himself attended a ceremony performed in honour of Bhīmasena. From a stone inscription of 775 Asadha Sukla it appears that Pratāpamalla set up an image of Draupadi in the temple of Bhīmasena.
Bhīmasena is most often invoked as Mahābhairava, called Bhīmabhairava in a large number of ritual and devotional texts from Nepal preserved in manuscript. Among the textual sources identifying Bhīmasena with Śiva (but not explicitly with Bhairava) is the Śivarūpabhīmastotra, a hymn in fourteen verses attributed to King Pratāpamalla of Kathmandu (r. 1641–1674). The hymn of praise, preserved in manuscript form and in a stone inscription dating from 1655 near Kathmandu’s Bhīmasena temple, celebrates Bhīmasena as a manifestation of Śiva. The Mahā-bhīmasena-dhāraṇī invokes Bhīmasena with different names, epithets and titles, including Bhairava, the slayer of Duḥśāsana and directional guardian (dikpāla). The Bhīmasenasahasranāmastotra invokes the deity as Bhīmabhairava and Bhairava.
Bhimsen Jatra in Lalitpur
The Bhimsen Rath Jatra in Lalitpur and Patan, Nepal is mainly associated with traders and businessmen of the Newari community. It is observed on the 9th day of the waning phase of moon in Bhadra month as per the Nepali Calendar. Devotees carry a chariot with Bhimsen’s idol, accompanied by traditional Newari devotional music while carrying incense and singing devotional songs, following the chariot on a journey around the streets.
Iconography:
The Mahā-bhīmasena-dhāraṇī describes the simple iconographic form commonly seen in roadside shrines in Nepal, on tympana of temples or on or to the side of doors, when Bhīmasena serves as guardian or doorkeeper of Śiva temples. While in his simple or pacifist form, Bhīma holds a club (gadā) in his right hand, while displaying the gesture of protection (abhayamudrā) with his left. Bhīmasena usually wears a short-sleeved shirt of mail covering his upper body, a long skirt (jāmā) and a decorated mukuṭa on his head. He has a prominent moustache and occasionally holds a sword and shield.
While slaying Duḥśāsana, in his wrathful form, Bhīma assumes a militant stance (pratyālīḍha) and, towering over a slain enemy, rips open his entrails — in reference to Bhīma fulfilling a vow to kill Duḥśāsana, who — supported by Duryodhana — had tried to disrobe Draupadī in public. He is occasionallly accompanied by two small emaciated figures — bhūtās — associated with charnel grounds, the habitat of Bhairava, Śiva’s ugra or wrathful form. In temples and private sanctuaries Bhimasena is often represented along with Draupadi and sometimes the five brothers also might find their place beside Bhīma. The deified Bhīmasena is also worshipped in aniconic form, such as in the sanctum of an important temple in Dolakhā.
The 19th century chronicle Bhāṣāvaṃśāvalī reports that the múrti of Bhīmasena in the well-known Bhīmasena temple on Patan’s Darbar Square (expanded into a three-storied structure in 1681 by King Śrīnivāsamalla) that on the 11th day of the bright half of the month of Māgha of ~ 1701 CE, Śrīnivāsamalla’s son Yoganarendramalla of Patan established a mūrti of Bhīmasena, in his angry aspect, killing Duḥśāsana, and accompanied by a Bhūta and Bhūtinī.
King Yoga Narendramalla in 1701 also began the chariot festival of Bhimsen — Bhimsen Rath Yatra — which continues till date. The festival begins once the a wooden mūrti of Bhimsen is placed in the 500-kg chariot.
A verse from a Newari song from the 19th century paints a vivid image of the wrathful Bhīma. The translation to the hymn is quoted here:
“Bhīmasena comes gladly, having destroyed his enemy’s body.
(People) came and stayed; he stopped being busy in order to accept (their)
worship. The whole ground is perfumed with the incense of gogula and
smoke.
When various musical instruments sounded, it was terrible to listen to this
(sound). Gnashing his teeth, Bhīmasena leaps into battle.
Opening his red eyes, kicking (him) angrily with his (bent) knee and
extracting his bowels: (Bhīmasena) slays Duḥśāsana.
There is no one stronger than he. He drinks sufficient blood, (and) on the site of his battle he makes a fire as (big as a fire) can be.
(Easily) catching tigers and elephants between his legs, clasping lions under
his arms, and making horses fall flat to the ground, he moved there.
Who is not afraid?
Let me, (Lord), dwell beneath your two feet, and make me attain liberationin
this (very) body and pay my homage as well as I can.”
(Translated by Siegfried Lienhard, from Nevārīgītimanjarī: Religious and Secular Poetry of the Nevars of the Kathmandu Valley)
Bhīmasena’s iconography as a formidable warrior in Nepal, where he is worshipped as a divinity in his own right, is regarded to have developed from South Indian prototypes, although in South India, Bhīma is merely the epic hero and serves as a guardian. This change of status and his identification with Bhairava added specific features to his more complex iconographic forms. Representations of the epic hero Bhīma holding his characteristic weapon, a club, in his right hand appear early on in Indian art. Numerous scenes from the Mahābhārata featuring Bhīma holding a club are found at the 12th/13th-century Hoysala temples in Karnataka. In the mid-twelfth-century Airāvateśvara Temple at Darasuram we see Bhīma in militant stance, with flame-like hair, holding a club as part of depictions of the Bhīma-puruṣamṛga episodes, also seen in Vijayanagara reliefs.
Java, Indonesia also had seen the prevalence of the cult of Bhimasena during the late Majapahit period. As in Nepal he was worshipped in the likeness of Śiva and Bhairava, associated with the Javanese legend that Bhima was born in a lake which remained impervious for seven years and he had to be extricated with difficulty by Gaṇeśa through Śiva’s blessing.
References:
- D. R. Regmi — Medieval Nepal Part 2 — History of Three Kingdoms 1520 to 1768 (1966)
- Bhīmasena as Bhairava in Nepal, Gudrun Bühnemann
- Shrines and Temples of Nepal, D. L. Snellgrove
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