A few moments ago,

When Rudra was introducing himself to Pandavas, Bhima felt a familiar aura from Rudra. The aura of pure strength and tyranny of an elephant king. This aura was wild and unrestrained and only Bhima was able to feel it. 

Bhima was sure of it because during his earlier childhood he fell for a foul ploy from Duryodhana in their rivalry. Duryodhana poisoned his food and threw him in Ganga River. But thankfully he was saved by serpent king ‘Vasuki’ who then blessed him with a serving of a potion made from a very rare fruit. This potion granted Bhima immense might of ten thousand elephants.

Bhima was able to feel similar energy from Rudra’s body and he was sure that Rudra consumed a similar potion or fruit. So, he challenged Rudra,

“I feel that you have high physical strength, I would like to test your strength.” 

Everyone including Bhishma was stunned by Bhima’s challenge. Yudhishthira scolded Bhima,

“Bhima! What are you trying to prove by challenging Rudra? Rudra is so much younger compared to you and you are challenging him for a wrestling duel. You are blessed with divine strength, don’t bully Rudra.”

“But Big brother! I feel that Rudra is very strong. So…so, I felt like testing him to see his strength.”

Bhima weakly muttered as he was reprimanded by Yudhishthira. Bhishma watched their interaction from side-lines without interfering. Truth be told, he was also curious about Rudra’s true strength. Although he heard from his Guru about the affair of Rudra eating the same fruit as Bhima to obtain Divine Strength, he wasn’t sure of the extent of Rudra’s true strength.

Rudra was flabbergasted by the challenge of Bhima. He had never wrestled and wasn’t aware of the basics of wrestling. But Rudra wanted to test his own strength too. He hesitated for a while before he replied,

“I am not aware of any rules of wrestling as I have never wrestled before. If you could teach me then I would happy to oblige.”

Bhima nodded his head vigorously as he spent the entirety of next half hour drilling rules of wrestling in Rudra’s head. Rudra was able to grasp hold of a few basic rules but nevertheless, he was ready to clash and learn more about wrestling. 

Their discussion had piqued the curiosity of other princes as a huge crowd gathered to watch the duel. Although all of them were aware of Bhima’s strength since once in a while they had been abused by Bhima. But nonetheless, they still anticipated for a miracle to occur.

Sahadeva picked up a dried branch from one of the nearby trees. He began to draw a large circle to create a temporary wrestling ring. The rules of wrestling were pretty simple.

First of all, no strikes or kicks were allowed in the wrestling duel.

Secondly, if any challengers were successful in pinning his opponent to the ground for a period of one breath’s time then he would be declared the winner of the duel.

Thirdly, if any of the challengers were successful in pushing or throwing his opponent out of the ring then he would be considered as the winner.

Fourthly, the challenger can grapple their opponent and choke them, if the opponent recedes and admits defeat then the victor is announced. 

Yudhishthira stood in the middle of the ring. Rudra and Bhima stood on each of his sides facing each other. There was a stark contrast between Rudra and Bhima. Bhima was very tall and mighty. His thighs were wide as pillars and his hands and muscles packed explosive strength. He released a fierce aura capable of instilling fear in the hearts of onlookers. Many of the nearby Kauravas princes stepped back a step in fear. Duryodhana snorted at this display of strength.

Compared to Bhima, Rudra was as tall as legs of the Bhima. There were no fat or excessive muscles on his body. He appeared very weak and frail as compared to Bhima. But there was sharpness and fierceness in his eyes. Rudra took a step forward as a silhouette of a fierce warrior wielding sabre in one hand and a scimitar in another appeared above Rudra for a split second as it vanished immediately. The silhouette released such pressure and tyranny that most of the Kauravas were pushed back even further and even Duryodhana stepped back. He looked at Rudra in trepidation. No one was able to notice the silhouette except Bhishma who was amazed by the sight as he paid respect in his heart.

Bhima was startled by the unrestrained aura released by Rudra. But he soon got his bearings as he said to Rudra,

“Rudra! To not hurt you and test your strength I will use only one-third of my strength. Come at me with your entire strength.”

Rudra nodded to Bhima as he too was eager to test his own upper limit. He focused his strength and channelled it to his hands as he clashed with Bhima. Both Rudra and Bhima clashed with each other as their hands collided with each other. Bhima was immediately pushed to the edge of the Ring as he struggled to keep his balance.

Yudhishthira was stunned, Duryodhana was stunned and almost all of Kauravas were stunned as they saw Bhima was pushed back. Bhishma was able to speculate that Rudra possesses raw strength similar to Bhima, but Bhima had superior control and grasp over his strength. Bhima was finally able to retain his balance inside the ring as he looked at Rudra with a stunned expression. Till date, no one was able to compete with him in a contest of physical strength but it seems like he had met his match today. Bhima was excited to wrestle Rudra as his battle intent rose.

Rudra was also shocked to see his own strength as well as the strength of Bhima. He looked at his own hands and then he looked at Bhima. He was suddenly motivated to fight Bhima. He felt like if he continued sparring with Bhima his control over his strength would grow. He placed his hands on hips as he taunted Bhima to use his full strength,

“Big Brother Bhima, you need to use more strength if you want to defeat me. Come and use your full strength.”

Bhima fell for the taunt as he aggressively said,

“You little twerp! It was me who taught me how to wrestle and now you are challenging me in strength. Remember this, your big brother Bhima is unparallel when it comes to pure physical strength.”

Saying so, Bhima got near Rudra and applied his entire strength. Both of their hands clasped into each other as they applied the entirety of their strength. The ground beneath them began to crack as both of them created small sand dunes inside the ring. Bhima was getting an advantage over Rudra as he slowly pushed Rudra near the edge of the ring.

“It is still a hundred years too early for you to compete with me in strength.”

Bhima returned the favour by taunting Rudra back as he pushed Rudra out of the Ring and won the wrestling duel. Rudra had a sad expression since he lost the duel. Bhishma approached Rudra and patted his back as he said,

“You have done well Rudra. I am proud of you.”

“But…but I lost the duel. I am still too weak Pitamah.”

Rudra shook his head as tears were about to erupt from his eyes.

Pitamah Bhishma consoled Rudra as he said,

“It is not the fact that you are weak compared to Bhima, it is just that Bhima is older than you and had trained his strength more than you. You got your strength recently, but it has been almost a decade since Bhima received his strength. So, the difference is obvious. I am pretty sure in a few years you will be able to match Bhima in strength and possibly defeat him too.”

Bhisma cheered Rudra as he tapped Rudra’s chest,

“It is not the strength in your arms that makes you a great warrior, it is the unshakable will and determination inside your heart that open the path of an unmatched warrior for you. if your resolve is firm, then no matter what difficulties you face you will be able to triumph over them eventually. Never give up and always strive harder to improve.”

Rudra fiercely nodded his head as he learnt another important life lesson today. Their little duel was over as all of the Princes began to disperse when they came to know about Rudra’s identity. They were eager to make friends with Rudra but were scared of Bhima who buzzed around Rudra like a fly buzzing around honey. 

Rudra was surrounded by Pandavas as Bhima pestered him to fight again in the future. Rudra acceded to Bhima’s relentless request as he began to get annoyed by Bhima. Yudhishthira laughed looking at the expression of Rudra as he scolded Bhima to stop and spoke,

“Bhima is always like this. He always wants to fight others, when he is not fighting anybody, he is busy gorging down food and if he is not gorging down food then he is busy sleeping in a corner of the Palace.”

Arjuna interrupted their conversation as he chimed in and revealed one of Bhima’s embarrassing secret,

“Once all of us were playing hide and seek. It was big brother Yudhishthira’s turn to find us. Big brother Bhima had just eaten lunch as he was full. So, when it was his turn to hide he just went near Ganga River’s bank and he slept on some palm leaves. It was almost night time and big brother Yudhishthira wasn’t able to find big brother Bhima. It was later revealed that big brother Bhima was swept hundreds of kilometres away from Hastinapur by the flow of Ganga River. Pitamah got a headache while searching for Bhima. And you know what………”

“Stop it Arjuna! Or I will complain to the mother about this matter.”

Bhima chased after Arjuna as Arjuna continued,

“Big Brother back to Hastinapur on his own because he felt too hungry and wanted to eat dinner. Haha…”

Arjuna laughed as he nimbly dodged the grasp of Bhima.

“Arjuna once I catch you, I will clobber you till turn black and blue.”