One of my favorite stories to tell about Ghatotkacha is when he helped a young princess marry her true love. This was also when I first met Ghatotkacha and we became great friends!
The story begins after the Pandavas lost a dice game to the Kauravas. As a result, they were forced to go into twelve years of exile and give up all of their wealth and status. My brother, Balarama, traveled to Hastinapura (the kingdom of the Kauravas) to teach the Kauravas a lesson, but instead, he fell for Shakuni and Duryodhana's false charms. They convinced Balarama to offer his daughter, Sasirekha, to Duryodhana's son Lakshmana Kumara in marriage, arguing that since they gained the wealth of the Pandavas, they could give Sasirekha a much more luxurious life than any other kingdom.
My brother's wife, Revati, originally promised to support the marriage of Sasirekha and Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna and my sister Subhadra, but because the Pandavas had lost all of their wealth, she broke her promise and supported the marriage with Lakshmana Kumara. Poor Sasirekha and Abhimanyu were devastated; they loved each other since childhood, and now they weren't allowed to marry each other!
Only I knew Duryodhana and Shakuni's true intentions: they wanted to force Balarama to ally with the Kauravas during the war that was likely to come after the Pandavas returned from exile! In secret, I sent Abhimanyu and Subhadra on a chariot to Ghatotkacha, who was ruling over the rakshasas in the forest. Ghatotkacha had never met Abhimanyu and Subhadra before and, perceiving them to be intruders, attacked them.
When Abhimanyu received a blow from Ghatotkacha and fell down, Subhadra lifted up Abhimanyu's bow in anger and declared, "I, the sister of Krishna and Balarama and wife of Arjuna, will avenge my son and kill the rakshasa!"
At these words, Ghatotkacha realized his mistake and explained who he was to Subhadra and Abhimanyu. "Aunt, I apologize for my attack. I am Ghatotkacha, son of Bhima - your nephew! And Abhimanyu, I am your cousin!" The three of them rejoiced after realizing they were family.
Subhadra then explained to Ghatotkacha how poor Sasirekha was being forced to marry Duryodhana's son. Ghatotkacha decided to travel to Dwaraka (where the wedding was to take place) to save Sasirekha. With a sweep of his hand, he put everyone in the palace to sleep, except for one old man.
When Ghatotkacha tried to lift the old man, he found that the man was too heavy for even the strongest man. Then, Ghatotkacha realized who the old man was. "Uncle Krishna!"
I smiled and returned to my original form. I was testing Ghatotkacha to see if he would recognize that I was the old man, and he passed my test with flying colors!
I then pointed Ghatotkacha to Sasirekha's chamber. With one hand, he lifted Sasirekha's bed and carried her all the way back to his forest where Subhadra and Abhimanyu were staying under the care of Hidimbi. He then returned to Dwaraka to assume Sasirekha's identity.
Let me show you some of his hilarious antics!
Ghatotkacha impersonating Sasirekha
While staying at Dwaraka, Ghatotkacha managed to fool everyone with his impersonation of Sasirekha. In secret, however, he was ruining all of the marriage preparations and terrifying the groom, Lakshmana Kumara, with his powers. One time, he went to the kitchen when the cooks were not there and ate all of the food that was prepared for the marriage feast! Oh, how much fun he had messing with the Kauravas!
Now, it is time I introduce Mayabazaar, Ghatotkacha's most impressive illusion! With his incredible illusory powers, Ghatotkacha designed an entire town complete with a marketplace and a beautiful palace. Obviously, nothing in the town was real, but he fooled all of the Kauravas into thinking that it was! The Kauravas were enticed by the beautiful city and decided that they would hold the marriage in Mayabazaar.
On the day of the wedding, Ghatotkacha planned for the real Sasirekha to marry Abhimanyu in the forest at the same time that the wedding was to take place in Mayabazaar. Using my divine powers, I was able to be in both places at the same time. Although the Kauravas had all fallen for Mayabazaar, I knew it was all Ghatotkacha's illusion; all of the food and marriage items were not real, so the wedding in Mayabazaar was illegitimate.
Right before the wedding, Ghatotkacha terrified Lakshmana Kumara with his strength. He squeezed Lakshmana Kumara's hand so hard that Lakshmana Kumara vowed he would never marry Sasirekha!
Angered by Lakshmana Kumara's refusal to marry and having figured out that Mayabazaar was not real, Shakuni determined that it was all my doing. He pointed his finger at me, saying, "YOU!! You did this! How DARE you play this trick when your own brother agreed to the marriage of Sasirekha to Duryodhana's son?! I'm going to tell EVERYONE what you did!"
"Be my guest," I replied. I led Shakuni to stand on a special box to speak. In reality, this box was a magical box that would force the person standing on it to tell nothing but the truth! Shakuni revealed to my brother his and Duryodhana's true intentions and how they were going to force Balarama to side with them in the war. Balarama was furious and rescinded his agreement to the marriage.
I then asked Ghatotkacha to reveal his identity. Ghatotkacha removed the illusion of Mayabazaar, thus indicating that the wedding never even existed. Seeing who their bride actually was, the Kauravas were humiliated! They retreated to Hastinapura, accepting their defeat.
Balarama and Revati rejoiced to know that their real daughter ended up marrying Abhimanyu. They thanked Ghatotkacha for his help. Rather than accepting the praise, however, he turned to me and gave me all of the credit. "It is all because of Krishna!" Oh, what a kind and humble man Ghatotkacha was!
This concludes Ghatotkacha's Mayabazaar. Although Ghatotkacha was a very mighty and powerful warrior, he ultimately met his demise in the Kurukshetra war. His death brought immense grief to the Pandavas, who were motivated to fight harder than before in order to avenge him. Let us now conclude Ghatotkacha's story with the most heartbreaking story of all: the Death of Ghatotkacha.
Author's note:
For this page of my Storybook project, I retell a popular Telugu folktale from south India involving a romance between Sasirekha, Balarama's daughter, and Abhimanyu. Sasirekha is never mentioned in the original Mahabharata, nor is the romance between Sasirekha and Abhimanyu, who is the son of Arjuna and Subhadra (Balarama and Krishna's sister), ever described in the scriptures. Nonetheless, this story is very famous in India for the hilarious and exciting plot that revolves around Ghatotkacha, the hero of the story who impersonates Sasirekha so she can marry the man she loves. I took much inspiration for Ghatotkacha's various antics from the 1957 Indian Telugu movie, Mayabazar. In fact, the Youtube clip I included in the story is a scene from the original movie ("Aha Naa Pelliyanta" is a very famous song in India, which translates to "It's my marriage!"). I encourage those who are interested to watch this movie! It is a beloved classic in Indian cinema.
The biggest reason I used Krishna as the narrator for my project is because of this story. Krishna is the mastermind behind the entire Mayabazaar plot, sending Abhimanyu and Subhadra to meet Ghatotkacha and prompting Ghatotkacha to hilariously impersonate Sasirekha in Dwaraka so the real Sasirekha can marry Abhimanyu. Only Krishna and Ghatotkacha know everything that is going on beneath all of the illusions of Mayabazaar (maya means "illusion", and bazaar means "marketplace"). The fact that Krishna, the omniscient incarnation of Lord Vishnu, places his full faith in Ghatotkacha speaks volumes about the moral righteousness of Ghatotkacha. There is no reason to doubt that Ghatotkacha is the right man for this job. Despite being a demon, he does not let his looks define him, and he goes out of his way to ensure that Sasirekha and Abhimanyu's marriage is fulfilled.
Image credits:
Banner image: Ghatotkacha Abducting Vatsala?, Scene from the Story of the Marriage of Abhimanyu and Vatsala, Folio from a Mahabharata ([War of the] Great Bharatas). Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
Video credits:
Ghatotkacha impersonating Sasirekha: "Maya Bazar | Aha Naa Pelliyanta Video Song | NTR, SV. Ranga Rao, Savithri, ANR." Youtube video by Shalimar Film Express, Link.