But after the Pandavas went to the forest Balarama's mind began to change little by little. The Pandavas had no place to live in. They lived in the forest, here today and somewhere else tomorrow. They had to spend twelve years in the forest and another year incognito. If recognized, they had to repeat the cycle. Should his daughter enter such a home?

On the other hand, Duryodhana was Balarama's disciple; Balarama liked him very much. Duryodhana's son was Lakshanakumara. Duryodhana who was already a king, had also taken away the kingdom of the Pandavas.

Duryodhana asked Balarama to give Shashirekha in marriage to Lakshanakumara. Balarama agreed.

Subhadra was miserable. Just because her husband was in trouble, her own brother looked down on him; so she wept in sorrow. She confided her sorrow to Krishna. Krishna advised Balarama that a sister should not be painted liked this; he told him that the Pandavas, though in difficulty, then, would again be emperors. Balarama did not pay heed to these words. Subhadra was in great distress.

Abhimanyu came to know of his mother’s grief. He was very angry at the insult to his mother, father and to himself. Mother and son decided not to stay in a place where they were not honored; they thought that it was only proper for them to go to the place where the Pandavas lived.

In the course of their journey, they reached a place called Hidimbavana. Ghatotkacha, the king of Hidimbavana was very strong. His mother was Hidimbe. She was Bheema's wife and Ghatotkacha was Bheema's son. Subhadra and Abhimanyu did not know this. They set foot in Hidimbavana. Ghatotkacha was angry because they had come there without his permission. He stopped them.

But Abhimanyu was Arjuna's son. There could be only one outcome. H e became furious and shot a hundred arrows at Ghatotkacha, At first Ghatotkacha did not take Abhimanyu seriously; he thought that he was after all a young boy. He himself was huge as a mountain, and he had tremendous strength. It was not easy to fight with him. Subhadra shivered with fear on seeing him.

Abhimanyu, of course, did not care and was not afraid. Ghatotkacha fell on him like a mountain. But Abhimanyu calmly shot his arrows. Ghatotkacha stopped the arrows, threw them away, and again pounced on Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu again rained arrows on his opponent, all of which entered Ghatotkacha body. Unable to bear the pain, Ghatotkacha cried aloud and fell down.