Drowning. Pixabay.
The Seven Deadly Sins
GREED
Once upon a time, there lived five brothers that were known as the Pandava brothers. Of the five brothers - Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva- Bhima was the strongest. He was their leader and protector. In many troubles that they faced, Bhima had been there to lend a helping hand and secure their victory. The brothers had won many wars fighting alongside each other. However, their strength and reputation led to many enemies that wanted them killed.
One day after a close escape from another enemy, the brothers found themselves lost in a strange forest. It was dark and densely packed with vegetation- so packed they could barely make a path to walk through. The brothers heard strange noises and the calls of wild animals. Though they were brave warriors, the Pandava brothers were still cautious. They had heard legends and rumors about this forest before, for there were deadly creatures living here that could surely kill them.
After wandering around in the forest for a while, the brothers became tired and sleepy. Their feet hurt from walking and their minds were exhausted from staying alert. Bhima, the strongest of the brothers, took it upon himself to carry the rest of his brothers to a place of shelter for the night. Taking the initiative, he supported his fatigued brothers and barreled through the dense forest. Under a banyan tree, Bhima let his brothers rest while he kept watch. Little did they know, the brothers would soon face an evil that would test their virtuous characteristics, and lead them astray towards destruction.
While the brothers rested, the first evil sensed a disturbance in the forest. He was known as Greed. Anyone that faced him would surely be scared by his appearance alone. Greed was completely blood red, from his eyes, to his hair, to his disheveled beard. Greed had caught a scent of the brothers when they entered the forest, and as the night grew, so did Greed's hunger. He thought of tasting the brothers' flesh and consuming their souls. A wicked smile crossed Greed's face and his sharp fangs gleamed in the moonlight.
Greed followed the scent of the brothers' blood. At first he could only smell Bhima, who had the strongest scent. Greed licked his lips hungrily, and knew that such a strong scent could only come from a large person. He anticipated a great feast tonight. As Greed traveled further, he picked up more scents, all weaker than the first, but still delectable to his senses. Although Bhima would surely have satisfied Greed's hunger, Greed desired more.
When Greed came to the brothers' resting spot, he became enraged. He knew that it would be impossible to overpower five strong warriors, especially with someone the size and stature of Bhima. Greed's anger quickly turned to evil plotting. He decided to use a trap to trick the brothers into separating so that he could devour each when they were alone and helpless. Greed called to the first brother, Yudhishthira, who had woken up because he was thirsty. Yudhishthira, still dazed from his sleep, thought it was Bhima who had called out for him, and he went to follow the voice. The deceitful Greed led Yudhishthira to a small stream where he could cup the water in his hands and drink. Greed called to him again and again, leading him deeper into the forest each time. Each time Yudhishthira stopped, he noticed that the stream became larger and larger until he arrived at a large river. It had crystal clear waters and was cold as ice.
Greed whispered in Yudhishthira's ear, "Drink all the water you desire, for when your brothers discover this river, they will surely relax in the cool waters and spoil the clarity." Yudhishthira began to ponder this. He thought to himself, 'I have discovered this river because it was I alone who was brave enough to venture out on my own. I deserve to keep this to myself, and savor this luxury all on my own.' Even though Yudhishthira was no longer thirsty, the thought of sharing the water with his brothers somehow angered him. He kneeled at the edge of the river, and submerged his head into the water, gulping the cold water until he could hardly breathe.
While Yudhishthira drank to his heart's content, Greed appeared behind him. Greed saw that the brother's head was completely underneath the water. 'Too easy,' he smirked to himself. Greed placed a gnarled, clawed hand on the back of Yudhishthira's head and forced him to stay underwater. Yudhishtira was caught by surprise, and was already on the verge of running out of air. As he struggled, he became weaker and lost more oxygen. Right before Yudhishthira could drown, Bhima appeared.
He had noticed Yudhishthira missing in the middle of the night, and went to find him. Bhima saw the demon Greed and realized that the monster was trying to kill his brother. In a swift swing, Bhima knocked the demon off Yudhisthira and onto the ground. Fearing that he would be overpowered, Greed cowered away and ran off into the night to escape Bhima's seething anger.
Sputtering water, Yudhishthira shamefully admitted to Bhima that Greed had tricked him. Bhima forgave his brother, but warned him that they must be aware of other evils that they may face in the near future.
Author's Note:
In this story, I focused mainly on the chapter 'Bhima and Hidimba' to create a setting for my story. While this chapter is far along in the Mahabharata, the background and events leading up to this chapter are not very relevant to the story I wanted to write. Some background information is used to somewhat establish the brothers and their relationship, but my story does not go into great detail about their past relationships with other characters. I wanted to have my story start with the fact that the brothers were very close with each other which varies from the original Mahabharata. The plot of the story also very loosely follows its origin. Only the most basic elements of character description was kept. Hidimba is "evil" so he represents Greed, Bhima retains his strength and heroic manner from the Mahabharata (although Yudhishthira is the eldest and is consistently the brothers' leader in the original), and of course the brothers are labeled Pandava with the same names. The direction of the story is novel and deviates greatly from the Mahabharata. The original note when reading this chapter can be viewed below.
This chapter could be used to set the framework of the seven deadly sins. Each danger that the brothers face could relate to a seven deadly sin. Use of future/past chapters can also feature one of the sins and appear either as a flashback or 'vision'.
I plan to make this story a first in a series of seven (or maybe less) that each feature a sin. Greed is first (represented by the rakshasa). The story starts the same as the Mahabharata, with the brothers in a forest and an evil approaches; however, this is where the similarities between the stories stop. I plan to use characters and anecdotes of the Mahabharata as components of my future stories, so the plot is completely different and will probably be different in future stories as well.
Bibliography:
When writing this story, I used Chapter 22: Bhima and Hidimba from the Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata which can be found here. The original story from where this was taken is from the book 'Indian Myth and Legend' by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).