Hidimbi (Hiḍimbī / Haḍimbā)

In the Mahābhārata Hidimbī and her brother Hiḍimba dwell in the forest in a towering śāla (Sala) tree and prey on travellers; Hiḍimbī assumes a beautiful maiden form to approach Bhīma while he keeps watch during the Pāṇḍavas' exile. Her brother Hiḍimba intends to kill the Pāṇḍavas and is slain by Bhīma in combat. Hiḍimbī subsequently marries Bhīma and gives birth to Ghaṭotkaca, who becomes a mighty rākṣasa warrior. Scholarly work notes that the Himalayan cult of Haḍimbā (centered at the Hidimba Devi Temple, Manali) likely predates or developed independently of the epic identification: reasons cited include the historical absence of Bhīma in early ritual records, the late appearance of Ghaṭotkaca in local cult, and arguments that a local or tantric goddess was later Sanskritized by linking her to the Mahābhārata narrative.

In the Mahābhārata Hidimbī is a forest-dwelling rākṣasī who inhabits a lofty tree and originally has a terrifying, monstrous aspect; the epic explicitly reports she can transform into a beautiful maiden to approach Bhīma. The provided sources do not give detailed iconography from the Hidimba Devi Temple, only noting that she is worshipped there as a goddess (Haḍimbā); specific temple images or iconographic descriptions are not supplied in the cited materials.

Textual sources attribute shape-changing to Hidimbī (ability to assume a beautiful woman’s form), and present her and her brother as predators of human travellers (the siblings 'make their home in a towering Sala tree and prey on travelers'); the sources ascribe cannibalistic predation explicitly to the sibling pair in the narrative but emphasize the brother Hiḍimba's hostile intent and death at Bhīma's hands. Hidimbī demonstrates moral choice and loyalty in the epic—she warns Bhīma of her brother’s plan, pledges fidelity, and enters marriage with him. She also performs a reproductive role as mother of Ghaṭotkaca, whose martial prowess affects human political conflicts. In regional religion Haḍimbā functions as a local guardian goddess who is propitiated at a temple rather than portrayed chiefly as a predator.