Pauwels, H. 2025. The Benefits of Marrying a Demoness: The Mahābhārata’s Hiḍimbā Episode. In: Dimitrova, D. (eds) Mythologizing in South Asian Traditions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. 81-101. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76830-9_4
This chapter studies what is at stake in “marrying the demoness” in the classical Mahābhārata as compared to multiple contemporary Hiḍimbā-episode retellings from diverse perspectives. The analysis focuses on how story tellers mobilize emotions in subtle ways to validate or discredit the marital union.