A great jolt and surprise awaited the Kauravas on the fourteenth day of the war. It came from an unexpected source.
Bhima had once married a demoness named Hidimba. Their son, Ghatotkach, who lived with his mother in the wilderness, had the instinctive power to know when his father remembered him.
Remembered by Bhima, he at once reached Kurukshetra and began fighting for the Pandavas.
Huge in stature, his head was of the size of an elephant's, his eyes were red, and his moustache was brown. His teeth were like shovels. His chariot, drawn by a hundred stout horses, was covered with bear-skin and a fearful vulture sat atop it.
Panic ran through the Kauravas at the very sight of Ghatotkach. But they were yet to know that Ghatotkach's power was much more than they could imagine from his appearance. The young creature combined in him the ruthless nature of the demon-race with the strength and intelligence of humans. What is more, he had learnt from the elder demons the best of magic and supernatural crafts known to them.
He dashed into the Kaurava's army with a roar that was louder than a hundred thunder-claps. Thereafter, he created the illusion of dozens of lions, tigers, serpents, eagles, and vampires who seemed to rush or swoop down upon the Kauravas.
Needless to say, this led to an unprecedented situation. The soldiers were accustomed to fighting human beings, not such strange creatures! They raised a hullabaloo and ran for their lives.
But Ghatotkach had not just created illusions, they were forms of his power. They created havoc among the rank and file of the Kaurava's army, devouring or tearing as under the fleeing .soliders. Captains and commanders of the numerous Kaurava regiments fell by the dozen.
