Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

by Devdutt Pattanaik

A folktale from Tamil Nadu informs us that the entire Kuru household assumed that Bhima had drowned and that his body had been washed away. So they mourned his death and even organized a funeral feast a fortnight later to mark the end of the period of mourning. On that day, after all the vegetables had been cut and spices prepared, Bhima emerged from the river to the great relief of his mother and his brothers. Not wanting the vegetables and spices to be wasted, Bhima offered to cook a special meal, something different to indicate his new life. He mixed all the vegetables and spices, added coconut milk, and prepared the famed Tamil dish known as ‘aviyal’ or the mixture. This was quite different from a typical Vedic dish where mixing of vegetables was prohibited.