Jatugṛha Parva

The Jatugṛha Parva (the episode of the house of lac) tells how Duryodhana plotted to destroy the Pāṇḍavas at Vāraṇāvata. He had a house built entirely of lac and other things that burn easily. Because of Vidura’s secret warning and a tunnel dug to safety, the Pāṇḍavas escaped the fire. The fire killed Purocana, who had built the house, and a nishāda woman with her five sons.

This episode marks the open beginning of Duryodhana’s enmity against the Pāṇḍavas. It was also their first passage through mortal danger.

Duryodhana’s plan

The Pāṇḍavas had returned to Hastināpura after learning their weapons from Droṇācārya. Duryodhana’s envy then grew into active malice. Among the plans he made with his counsellors, the most carefully worked out was this. The Pāṇḍavas would be sent to Vāraṇāvata on the excuse of attending a festival. There they would be housed in a building that would be set on fire at a chosen time.

Duryodhana sent Purocana, an agent he trusted, ahead to Vāraṇāvata. Purocana was to build a dwelling from lac, oil, ghee, resin and every other thing that burns, so that one flame would turn it to ash before its people could get out. The house looked like an ordinary royal guest-house. The materials that would destroy it were hidden in the walls, in the ceiling and in the furniture.

Vidura’s warning

Vidura loved the Pāṇḍavas as his own sons and saw what Duryodhana intended. He could not speak openly in the court. As the Pāṇḍavas were leaving for Vāraṇāvata, Vidura went to Yudhishṭhira and spoke to him in coded words. Their meaning was clear to a wise listener but hidden from the people around them.

Vidura said that the man who knows what burns a forest, who keeps his weapons sharp and his senses alert, and who sees the paths out of a fire, is the one who comes safely through danger. He said that weapons of iron are not the only weapons in the world, and that the one who understands his enemies’ plans lives while the careless perish. He told Yudhishṭhira to beware of something that blazes at night and smells of fire.

Yudhishṭhira understood. He said nothing aloud, but he answered in veiled words of his own: he had heard, he was grateful, and he would carry the warning in his heart.

Vidura had also arranged for a skilled miner, a man he trusted, to meet the Pāṇḍavas at Vāraṇāvata. The miner was to dig a tunnel under the house, running toward the river, as a way of escape.

At Vāraṇāvata

The people of Vāraṇāvata welcomed the Pāṇḍavas warmly. Purocana received them with every honour and settled them in the lākshāgṛha, the house of lac. Yudhishṭhira knew what the house was, but he showed no sign of suspicion. He let Purocana believe that the Pāṇḍavas were guests who suspected nothing.

For a year the Pāṇḍavas lived there. They moved about freely, studied the land and waited. In that time the miner dug the secret tunnel and held up its roof with timber. He finished it in silence and secrecy. The tunnel opened toward the Gaṅgā.

The fire and the escape

When the time Purocana had fixed came, he set fire to the house at night. He began at the quarters where he himself slept, the part nearest the door, so that the flames would quickly cut off the way out.

The Pāṇḍavas were ready. It was a night of strong wind, which they had been waiting for. They put a nishāda woman and her five sons to sleep with food and wine, and then entered the tunnel. Kuntī was helped through, and the five brothers followed. Bhīma held the far end of the tunnel open until everyone had passed.

As the fire swallowed the house, Purocana died in the blaze he had prepared himself. The nishāda woman and her five sons also died in the fire. Their deaths would later make the world believe that the Pāṇḍavas themselves had died at Vāraṇāvata.

The Pāṇḍavas crossed the Gaṅgā in the night and made their way into the thick forest. As far as Hastināpura knew, they were dead men.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapters 141–153
• Chapter 141: Duryodhana’s plan and Purocana’s house
• Chapter 146: Vidura’s warning
• Chapter 148: the stay at Vāraṇāvata and the tunnel
• Chapters 150–153: the fire and the escape