Rakshasas & Nishadas
Ghatotkacha: The Son Spent to Save Arjuna
Bhima and Hidimbi’s son. Krishna spends Karna’s unfailing Shakti on him at night, to save Arjuna.
Who Ghatotkacha is
Ghatotkacha is born the day Bhima marries Hidimbi, a rakshasa son who will come when his father thinks of him. He fights in the night, when his kind are strongest.
Krishna knows Karna holds Indra’s unfailing dart for Arjuna. On the night after Jayadratha, he pushes Ghatotkacha forward until Karna has to spend the Shakti. The boy dies. Arjuna wakes. That is the arithmetic.
Names and spellings
Canonical name in this graph: Ghatotkacha. Common Mahabharat spellings and titles stay in the aliases rather than being repeated in every heading.
Spouses
Children
In the recitation
- Karna — the Shakti is spent on him, not Arjuna
Narrative role
Adi Parva — Hidimba-vadha Hidimbi takes a fair form and will not kill the sleepers. Bhima kills her brother. Kunti does not refuse the marriage. A son is born that day. Then the Pandavas move on, and she does not.
The night of the war He grows huge over the Kaurava army. Karna uses the dart that was meant for Arjuna. Ghatotkacha falls as a mountain falls. Krishna is glad, and says so.
How Ghatotkacha is related
How is Ghatotkacha related to Bhima? Father. The son comes when thought of, and is spent when the war needs Arjuna more than it needs him. Bhima
How is Ghatotkacha related to Karna? The Shakti is spent on Ghatotkacha, not Arjuna. Karna’s seventeenth day is already poorer for it. Karna
How is Ghatotkacha related to Hidimbi? Mother. The marriage is a forest marriage; the boy belongs to both houses and is fully at home in neither camp. Hidimbi
Source notes
Mahabharata text (Adi Hidimva-vadha; Drona Parva night battle), Ganguli. Last reviewed 12 September 2026.
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