While the Pandavas were waiting to behold Arjuna, a wind from the north-east suddenly brought a celestial lotus of a thousand petals, effulgent as the sun. Draupadi found it and was exceedingly delighted. She said that this flower would be presented to Yudhishthira the just, and asked Bhima to procure many more of its kind, so that she might carry them to their hermitage in the Kamyaka. Knowing her desire, Bhima set out to gratify her, facing the wind, in the direction from which the flower had come. He ranged the slopes of the Gandhamadana, and after sporting in a lake he came up, blew his conch with all his might and struck his arms with his hands, until the caves of the mountain seemed to roar.1
Hearing those sounds, and knowing Bhima to be his brother, Lord Hanuman, the chief of the monkeys, wished to do him good. That path led to heaven, and he did not want Bhima to pass that way, lest he come by curse or defeat. So he lay down across the narrow path among the plantain trees, obstructing it with his huge body, and lashed his long tail until the mountain echoed.2
Following those sounds, Bhima found the monkey-chief lying on a rocky base amid the golden plantain trees, radiant like a blazing fire, and approached him with a loud shout like thunder. Hanuman opened his eyes partially and, smiling, said that, ill as he was, he had been sleeping sweetly; why had Bhima awakened him? He asked who Bhima was and whither he would go, for the hills beyond were inaccessible: that was the path of the celestials, impassable by mortals. Out of kindness he dissuaded him, and bade him rest there, partaking of fruits and roots sweet as ambrosia.3
Bhima answered that he was a Kshatriya of the Kuru race, a son of Pandu borne by Kunti, and the offspring of the wind-god; and he asked who the monkey was, and why he had assumed that shape. Hanuman smiled and said that he was a monkey and would not allow Bhima the passage he desired; he should go back. Bhima bade him rise. Hanuman replied that, being ill, he had no strength to rise: if Bhima must go, let him leap over him. But Bhima would not, for the Supreme Soul pervades the body, and he could not disregard Him; had it not been so, he said, he would have leapt over the monkey and the mountain too, even as Hanuman had bounded over the ocean. When the monkey asked who that Hanuman was, Bhima answered that he was his own brother, the illustrious chief of monkeys renowned in the Ramayana, who for the queen of Lord Rama had crossed the ocean of a hundred yojanas in one leap. Sure of his own strength, Bhima then bade him either give passage or witness his prowess.4
Then Hanuman said that because of his age he had no strength to get up; out of pity, let Bhima move his tail aside and go. Bhima took hold of the tail with his left hand, but could not move it. Then he pulled it with both arms, and still he could not raise it. When he had striven and failed, Bhima came to the monkey's side and stood with a bashful countenance. Bowing down with joined hands, he asked to be forgiven for his harsh words, and asked who it was that had assumed the shape of a monkey, saying that he asked as a disciple and sought his refuge.5
Hanuman told him all at length. He had been begotten by the wind-god Vayu, the life of the world, upon the wife of Kesari, and his name was Hanuman. A friendship bound him to Sugriva, and when Sugriva was driven out by his brother, he dwelt with Hanuman for a long time. Then Rama, who is Vishnu's self in human form, took his birth in this world, and Ravana carried away his queen. Rama made friendship with Sugriva and installed him in the kingdom, and Sugriva sent the monkeys in search of Sita. To secure success for Rama, Hanuman bounded over the ocean of a hundred yojanas, saw Sita in Ravana's abode, burnt Lanka and returned. Then Rama built a bridge across the deep, slew Ravana, and returned with Sita to Ayodhya. Hanuman had asked a boon of Rama, that he might live as long as the history of Rama's deeds remained on earth, and Rama had granted it. Ever since, Apsaras and Gandharvas delight Hanuman there, singing the deeds of that hero.6
Then Bhima, with a cheerful heart, bowed affectionately to his brother and said in mild words that none was more fortunate than he: now he had seen his elder brother. He asked to behold the incomparable form in which Hanuman had bounded over the main. Hanuman smiled and said that no one could behold that form: in that age the state of things had been different. The ground, rivers, plants and rocks, and even siddhas, gods and celestial sages conform to Time in every age, and he too was conforming to the tendency of the age; Time is irresistible.7
When Bhima asked about the different yugas, Hanuman told him. The Krita was the age when the one eternal religion was extant and every one had religious perfection. In the Treta, sacrifices are introduced and virtue decreases by a quarter; in the Dwapara, religion decreases by one half and the Veda is divided into four parts; and in the Kali Yuga a quarter only of virtue abides. Narayana, too, wears a different hue in each age: white in the Krita, red in the Treta, yellow in the Dwapara and black in the Kali. Then Hanuman wished him well and bade him return.8
But Bhima said that he would never go away without beholding his former shape. Then, wishing to gratify his brother, Hanuman smiled and assumed the gigantic body in which he had bounded over the main; covering the plantain grove, he rose to the height of the Vindhya. Bhima wondered, and the hairs of his body repeatedly stood on end; and beholding him like the sun in splendour and like a golden mountain, he closed his eyes. With joined hands he asked Hanuman to decrease his body, and marvelled that, with Hanuman by his side, Rama should have encountered Ravana himself. Hanuman answered that it was even as Bhima said; but had he slain Ravana, the glory of Raghu's son would have been obscured. By slaying Ravana and bringing back Sita to his own city, Rama had established his fame among men.9
Then Hanuman told Bhima that this way would lead him to the Saugandhika wood, where he would behold the gardens of Kuvera, guarded by Yakshas and Rakshasas. He counselled him not to pluck the flowers there by his own force, for the gods deserve regard from mortals, and not to act with rashness. He spoke to him at length of the duties of each order and of kings, and reminded him that his own vocation, as a Kshatriya, was to protect.10
Then, contracting his huge body, Hanuman embraced Bhima again, and at that embrace Bhima's fatigue went off and his strength was restored. With tears in his eyes, Hanuman spoke in choked utterance: touching Bhima had put him in mind of Rama. From fraternal feeling he asked Bhima to ask a boon of him, offering even to destroy the sons of Dhritarashtra or to bind Duryodhana and bring him before Bhima. Bhima, with a cheerful heart, answered that he took all this as already done, and asked only that Hanuman be well pleased with him: with Hanuman as their protector, the Pandavas had found help. Then Hanuman promised that when Bhima gave his leonine roars, he would add force to them with his own, shouting from the flagstaff of Arjuna's car to damp the energy of their foes. Having said this, and having pointed out the way, Hanuman vanished at that spot; and Bhima went on along that path, thinking of Hanuman's splendour and of the greatness of Rama.11