Escape from lakshagriha !

In the last part we saw that King of Panchal, Drupad was conquered by Dronacharya’s disicples who then presented the defeated king as Gurudakshina.

Kauravas and Pandavas returned to Hastinapur. They were received with great honour. The Pandavas were superior to the Kauravas in every respect, both in strength and intelligence. They were greatly appreciated for their innate noble qualities. Bhishma advised Dhritarashtra to declare Yudhishthira as the crown prince of Hastinapur since he was the eldest and was endowed with all the qualities necessary in a king.

Duryodhana’s jealousy of the Pandavas increased after learning that Yudhishthira would be declared the crown prince. Out of anger, Duryodhana hatched a plan to kill the Pandavas so that he could ascend the Hastinapur throne. One day Duryodhana approached his father, Dhritarashtra, and requested him to send the Pandavas to the annual Pashupati fair in Varnavat, a place far away from Hastinapur. Ignorant of any foul play, Dhritarashtra asked the Pandavas to attend the fair.

Duryodhana, on the other hand, secretly ordered his trusted aide and architect Purochana, to make a special palace, with highly inflammable materials, specially for the Pandavas (Lakshagriha – house of lacquer). His wicked plan was to burn the Pandavas alive while sleeping. According to the plan, Purochana would guard the palace and would ignite it on the following dark night.

However, Vidur (Dhritarashtra and Pandu’s half-brother) came to know of Duryodhana’s heinous plan and alerted Yudhishthir. Yudhishthir did not want to make a big deal out of this matter, since the Pandavas were not yet ready to fight back. So he decided to handle this in a secretive manner. In order to allow the Pandavas to gain time, Vidur sent a miner to Varnavat to secretly dig an escape tunnel from the palace. The tunnel would lead into a nearby dense forest, an area easy enough for the Pandavas to hide.

On the night when the heinous deed was about to be performed, Bheem bolted Purochana’s room from outside and set the house on fire. Then the Pandavas and Kunti escaped through the tunnel into the forest. At the site of the destructive fire, the people of Varnavat came rushing to extinguish the fire. However, the highly flammable palace burnt to ashes quickly. Everyone thought that the Pandavas were burnt in the fire. Soon, the news reached Hastinapur. Dhritarashtra and Bhishma were shocked to hear the news. Duryodhana was elated to hear it, but outwardly acted as if he was sad. Only Vidur knew what had actually happened!

After many miles of trekking through the forest, the Pandava brothers and Kunti laid down under a banyan tree, hungry and thirsty. Bheem went to get water but when he came back, he saw everyone in deep sleep. Bheem stayed awake to guard them. (Children, Bheem was also tired; but as a duty he took upon himself the responsibility to guard his family. This is abiding by Dharma – righteousness.)

The forest was a hunting reserve of a fearful demon called Hidimb. He lived with his sister Hidimba on a huge tree, near the place where the Pandavas were resting. As soon as Hidimb smelled the presence of humans, he asked his sister Hidimba to kill them for their dinner. Hidimba reached the place and saw Bheem guarding the Pandavas. After seeing the strong and muscular Bheem, she instantly fell in love with him. So she transformed herself into a beautiful maiden and approached Bheem. Bheem also fell in love with Hidimba at the first sight. On Hidimba’s inquiry Bheem explained the reason for his family being in the forest. Hidimba sympathised and promised to help them. In the meantime, Hidimb got impatient and came down from the tree in search of his sister. When he saw his sister in human form he was enraged and attacked Bheem. Bheem dragged Hidimb away (because the rest of the Pandavas were sleeping) and after a fierce fight finally slayed the demon.

When the family of Pandavas got up, Kunti noticed a beautiful maiden standing near Bheem. She inquired and Hidimba explained what had just happened. She further requested Kunti to permit Bheem to marry her. Hidimba promised to return Bheem to the Pandavas after the birth of a child. Kunti and her four sons were impressed by Hidimba and agreed to accept her as Bheem’s wife.

Following a short ceremony, Hidimba and Bheem took leave of Kunti and the Pandavas. In course of time, a child was born to the two of them, he was named Ghatotkacha. Ghatotkacha grew up in quickly and, like his father, became a great warrior. Bheem returned to his family with his son and wife. As promised, Hidimba left with her son after a short visit and Ghatotkacha promised to return to the Pandavas whenever they needed him.

Dear children, humans have 6 foes; they are – desire, anger, greed, attachment, jealousy, and pride. Duryodhana was consumed by all these foes, and hence he tried to get rid of his own cousins just to get the throne of Hastinapur. He was always unhappy with the success and happiness of Pandavas. For a happy life, we should try to get rid of the six foes (in the form of our personality defects). Will you try this today itself ?

Click here to read part six !