PDA

View Full Version : Pandavas in the lac palace - a question



Viraja
26 December 2012, 12:38 PM
When pandavas were in Varanavrata, the palace they lived in that was built of lac was set to fire by Bheema. Upon this he carried his brothers and mother and escaped through a tunnel. 6 other people died - some homeless woman and her 5 children died in the fire. I have one simple question on this - did the pandavas or atleast Bheema had knowledge of these other people when he set the palace to fire? Or was he unaware of their presence and hence had no knowledge they would be burnt?

Thank you.

Anirudh
26 December 2012, 03:10 PM
Namaste Aspirant,

Hope this link (http://prramamurthy1931.blogspot.in/2012/11/mahabharata-adiparva-padavas-escape-lac.html) helps you!

philosoraptor
26 December 2012, 03:48 PM
When pandavas were in Varanavrata, the palace they lived in that was built of lac was set to fire by Bheema. Upon this he carried his brothers and mother and escaped through a tunnel. 6 other people died - some homeless woman and her 5 children died in the fire. I have one simple question on this - did the pandavas or atleast Bheema had knowledge of these other people when he set the palace to fire? Or was he unaware of their presence and hence had no knowledge they would be burnt?

Thank you.

I tend to think it was the latter case, given the size of the palace as described in the Mahabharata.

The Nishada woman and her 5 sons became drunk and passed out in some other part of the palace, and the Pandavas were unaware of it when they set fire to the palace. That was my sense of the story.

Viraja
26 December 2012, 05:06 PM
Anirudh's link does not speak about the Nishada woman at all.

I hope what Philosoraptor says is true. My curiosity started after listening to a lady professor well-versed in Mahabharata recently narrate this part of the story - she said the Pandavas lived in that lac house for sometime, always fearing that they were trapped in some deceit and perceiving a danger continuing to live there. This is when Bheema decides to be proactive and sets a date and time to have the palace burnt, but themselves escaping. Then my curiosity arose why then the homeless woman and her children were left behind when Bheema saved his own mom and brothers.

I hope the Nishada woman's presence was not known to Bheema due to some reason not narrated in stories. It had been very uncomfortable to me to not know what exactly was the case. Anyways.. :)

Anirudh
26 December 2012, 05:41 PM
This is when Bheema decides to be proactive and sets a date and time to have the palace burnt, but themselves escaping.


Anirudh's link does not speak about the Nishada woman at all.

Apologies! I failed to add the correct link (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01151.htm)

You can take a cue from the highlighted portion ... I see that as their fate. Trying to get a hang on the hindi translation, if I come across any thing worthy that would add to my view will post it


"Vaisampayana said, 'Seeing the Pandavas living there cheerfully and without suspicion for a full year, Purochana became exceedingly glad. And beholding Purochana so very glad, Yudhishthira, the virtuous son of Kunti, addressing Bhima and Arjuna and the twins (Nakula and Sahadeva) said, 'The cruel-hearted wretch hath been well-deceived. I think the time is come for our escape. Setting fire to the arsenal and burning Purochana to death and letting his body lie here, let us, six persons, fly hence unobserved by all!'

"Vaisampayana continued, 'Then on the occasion of an almsgiving, O king, Kunti fed on a certain night a large number of Brahmanas.

There came also a number of ladies who while eating and drinking, enjoyed there as they pleased, and with Kunti's leave returned to their respective homes.

Desirous of obtaining food, there came, as though impelled by fate, to that feast, in course of her wanderings, a Nishada woman, the mother of five children, accompanied by all her sons.

O king, she, and her children, intoxicated with the wine they drank, became incapable. Deprived of consciousness and more dead than alive, she with all her sons lay down in that mansion to sleep.

Then when all the inmates of the house lay down to sleep, there began to blow a violent wind in the night. Bhima then set fire to the house just where Purochana was sleeping. Then the son of Pandu set fire to the door of that house of lac. Then he set fire to the mansion in several parts all around.

Then when the sons of Pandu were satisfied that the house had caught fire in several parts those chastisers of foes with their mother, entered the subterranean passage without losing any time.

Then the heat and the roar of the fire became intense and awakened the townspeople. Beholding the house in flames, the citizens with sorrowful faces began to say, 'The wretch (Purochana) of wicked soul had under the instruction of Duryodhana built his house for the destruction of his employer's relatives. He indeed hath set fire to it. O, fie on Dhritarashtra's heart which is so partial. He hath burnt to death, as if he were their foe, the sinless heirs of Pandu! O, the sinful and wicked-souled (Purochana) who hath burnt those best of men, the innocent and unsuspicious princes, hath himself been burnt to death as fate would have it.'

Viraja
26 December 2012, 07:28 PM
Thank you, Anirudh! So this woman with her children decided to stay in the palace unknown to pandavas. Knowing the facts now, I feel relieved.

Thank you, Philosoraptor.