Ghatotkacha
- This article is about a character from Mahabharata. For the Gupta ruler, please see Ghatotkacha (Gupta Ruler)
Ghatotkacha (Sanskrit घटोत्कच), as per the Mahabharata epic, was the son of Bhima and Hidimba. His maternal parentage made him half-Rakshasa, and gave him many magical powers that made him an important fighter in the Kurukshetra war, the climax of the epic. He got his name from his head, which was shaped like a pot (in Sanskrit, Ghatam means pot and "Utkach" means head "[1].
Ghatotkacha, when he was young, lived with his mother Hidimba, when one day he had a fight with Abhimanyu, his cousin, without knowing that Abhimanyu was Arjuna's son [2]. The telugu movie Mayabazar is based upon this fight and Ghatotkacha's subsequent help to Abhimanyu in winning the hand of Balarama's daughter, Sasirekha.
Ghatotkacha is considered to be a loyal and humble figure. He made himself and his followers available to his father Bhima at any time; all Bhima had to do was to think of him and he would appear. Like his father, Ghatotkacha primarily fought with the mace.
His wife was Ahilawati and his son was Barbarika.
In the Mahabharata, Ghatotkacha was summoned by Bhima to fight on the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra battle. Invoking his magical powers, he wrought great havoc in the Kaurava army. In particular after the death of Jayadratha, when the battle continued on past sunset, his powers were at their most effective (at night).
At this point in the battle, the Kaurava leader Duryodhana appealed to his best fighter, Karna, to kill Ghatotkacha as the whole Kaurava army was coming close to annihilation due to his ceaseless strikes from the air. Karna possessed a divine weapon, or shakti, granted by the god Indra. It could be used only once, and Karna had been saving it to use on his arch-enemy, the best Pandava fighter, Arjuna.
Loyal Karna, unable to refuse the request of Duryodhana whose cause he had pledged himself to serve, hurled the missile at Ghatotkacha, killing him[3]. This is considered to be the turning point of the war. After his death, the Pandava counselor Krishna smiled, as he considered the war to have been won for the Pandavas now that Karna no longer had a divine weapon to use in fighting Arjuna.
The historical Ghatotkacha
Modern historians say Ghatotkacha was an able chieftain of the Kachari tribe of Assam, then known as Kamrup[4][citation needed]. (This tribe is referred to as Kirata in the Mahabharata.) At the time of the epic, Kacharis or kiratas were a leading force in the province, with their capital in present day Dimapur.[citation needed] The word Dimapur is derived from the Dimasa Kacharis. [citation needed]
Ghatotkacha's birth and his presence in the Mahabharata may show that inter-caste marriages were prevalent between Aryans (the people of his father Bhima) and Tribals (the people of his mother Hidimbi, referred to as a rakshasa in the epic.)[citation needed]
Age-old magical sciences are still practiced in Mayang in Assam. Ghatotkacha's magical powers may refer to these or similar practices. [citation needed]
There is temple built in Manali(Himachal Pradesh) for Ghatotkacha near by Hidimba Devi Temple
