Piled up high underneath the canopy of an old deodar tree, weapons of war pay obeisance to the memory of the mighty warrior Ghatotkacha, steps away from the Pagoda-style temple of his mother Hidimba at Dhungri in Manali. These weapons largely include the Indian version of the trident, known as the “Trishul”, but with the mace surprisingly absent.
The epic Mahabharata recalls the deity, whose name comes from his unusually large bald head that resembled a pot, as a demon chieftain of monstrous power and steadfast loyalty to his father’s people, the Pandavas, inspite of being abandoned in childhood and never bestowed the same honour as his cousins of pure Vedic blood.
Greetings Cards by Farbound.Net for Goodwishes, ft. the tree temple of Ghatotkacha.
Actual Dimension: 1200 x 1203 pixels.
Yet, unlike his mother, who plays a minor role in the epic, Ghatotkacha is described in a noble and heroic light. The high point of his role is his one-on-one battle with his paternal uncle, Karna, that brings about his demise in the Kurukshetra war – a war historians believe is an allusion to an actual clash of the Vedic clans of some magnitude, though not as colossal as Ved Vyasa, exaggerated it to be.
Historically, Ghatotkacha may have belonged to one of the many non-Vedic tribes that lived alongside the early Vedic Aryans of the age, and perhaps the same people who also worshipped Hidimba. His mixed parentage, perhaps, a subtle hint that the period witnessed an intermingling of the tribes, and his secondary role, an indication that the unions, while being tolerated to some degree, were largely unacceptable in Vedic society.
His mother, Hidimba, after all, was abandoned and not inducted into Vedic society during the period the epic was compiled.
Digital Greetings Card by Farbound.Net for Goodwishes, ft the metal sculpture of Ghatotkacha.
Actual Dimensions: 1200 x 1203 pixels
The men of his tribe were, possibly, skilled warriors, night raiders and experts at guerrilla tactics. Their description as human devouring “Rakshas”, demons and monsters, possibly an allusion to their cannibalistic tendencies or practice of offering human sacrifices. Their participation in the Kurukshetra war, a sign of their alliance with Vedic clans, or perhaps they were Vassals who owed tribute or were simply hired as mercenaries to bolster the main army in times of need.
Undermining the importance of such people and portraying them as inferior to the Vedic clans would have been a natural thing for the author of the epic, Ved Vyasa, to do, and who was himself a Vedic sage.
Especially if one considers the fact that his masterpiece, the “Mahabharata”, was primarily authored to glorify the Kuru race, importantly the personae of Janamejaya and his son Parikshit. Two historical kings, Vyasa, wanted to portray and elevate in status as descendants of the virtuous heroes of the epic, the Pandavas, and not some non-Vedic tribal with practices and rituals that outright opposed Vyasa’s notion of “Duty”, “Religion”, and “Code of Conduct”.
Besides his tree temple at Dhungri in Manali, Ghatotkacha has a more traditional-style temple in the region of Bhuntar, where he is represented by a metal sculpture. In Himachal Pradesh and Indonesia, Ghatotkacha is depicted in human form – a stark contrast to his demon image accepted by the rest of the Hindu world.
The last time I visited the Tree Temple of Ghatotkacha was in 2016. I found the giant Deador that shelters the temple with its branches and leaves to be “locked in time”. Just as I had found it to be in the 1980s, when I took up residence in Kullu valley. I was in school then and not as tall as I am now. A time when I also did not study the great epics in the same manner as I do now.
Also see the Farbound.Net story: Hidimba, an enigmatic goddess of non-Vedic origins.
I F I This is an independent story exploring the origin of Ghatotkacha as belonging to a non-Vedic tribe. It is primarily created out of facts curated from literary sources, but also includes a bit of information found in a local publication. I
