3

In this YouTube video (1988 TV series Mahabharat, Episode 31 - Escape from Lakshagraha) it is shown that a niṣāda woman and her five children are urged by Purocana, the builder of the infamous lākṣāgṛha (house of lac) in Vāraṇāvata, to spend the night inside the newly constructed house. Not sure why he invites them inside the house? Maybe he wanted to blame them for setting the house on fire?!

But from here (Ganguli's translation) it appears that those people just came there looking for food and entered the mansion on their own.

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.

Questions:

  1. How does the latest BORI critical edition of the Mahābhārata narrate this event?
  2. If indeed Ganguli's above translated version is the correct narrative, are Pāṇḍavas justified in killing the innocent niṣāda family to save their own?

Also, if anyone happens to know how the recent TV series – Suryaputra Karn, 2015 (Sony) and Mahabharat, 2013 (STAR Plus) depict this scene, please leave a comment under the question or in your answer.

zaxebo1
  • 4,798
  • 15
  • 42
Say No To Censorship
  • 30,811
  • 17
  • 131
  • 257
  • 1
    I removed one of your points because it was off-topic. If you want to know what a TV serial depicts, ask it on Movies & TV.SE. – Keshav Srinivasan Jun 01 '17 at 21:52
  • @KeshavSrinivasan Agree, moved that one to the end. I prefer to keep it here as a side question rather than posting a new one on the other SE site. – Say No To Censorship Jun 01 '17 at 22:04
  • OK, that's better. – Keshav Srinivasan Jun 01 '17 at 22:05
  • 1
    where exactly in that translation does it say that either Pandavas or Bhima knew about the family of 6 sleeping there ? it says he set fire to various parts of the house, it is possible he did not notice the intoxicated folks. – ram Jun 01 '17 at 22:40
  • 2
    the latest Mahabharat series has lot of additions & interpolations as admitted by the producers themselves. probably better named 'MegaBharat' for its similarity to saas-bahu soap drama tv serials – ram Jun 01 '17 at 22:50
  • @ram "where exactly in that translation does it say that either Pandavas or Bhima knew about the family of 6 sleeping there?" - From the accepted answer below: "Let us escape, unobserved by anyone, after setting fire to the armoury, burning Purochana to death and leaving six bodies here". – Say No To Censorship Jun 02 '17 at 15:40
  • @sv. The sacred texts site has this to say: "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!'" It doesn't seem to make any mention of "leaving six bodies here." | http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01151.htm – Ikshvaku Jan 11 '19 at 22:33
  • @Ikshvaku Not sure if you read this post but the Mahabharata translation posted at http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/index.htm is the K M Ganguli tr. from 1880. In the above comment, I was referring to the same story from the latest tr. by Bibek Debroy based on the BORI critical edition of the MBH. See the answers posted below. – Say No To Censorship Jan 12 '19 at 00:00
  • @sv. I think the BORI translation is wrong because if the Pandavas knew about it, they would say leave 7 bodies and not 6, because the 5 children plus the mom, plus Purochana makes 7. – Ikshvaku Jan 12 '19 at 02:34
  • @Ikshvaku That's a good point. But BORI did not translate, they simply compared over 1000 manuscripts and created a critical edition of MBH in Sanskrit. Bibek Debroy simply translated it to English. "leaving six bodies here" - you are assuming Purochana is sleeping next to Pandavas or the Nishada lady? "Here" probably means where the Pandavas slept every night (the tunnel) or supposed to sleep (the bedroom) to create the impression they died in sleep? You can try to find the Sanskrit verse here. – Say No To Censorship Jan 12 '19 at 03:36
  • 1
    According to mbtn nishada women did penance to lord Shiva to become Parvati devi herself for which siva gives the boon stating if herself and her 5 sons doesn't die together all at once Then she will acquire Parvati devi status so Shiva boon is actually curse that all will die together and also she is sister of puruchana and helped I in posing of food consumed by kunti and pandavas – Prasanna R Jan 30 '22 at 03:21
  • 1
    Bima was aware of poison in food so he will taste it first before sharing with his brother when poison mixed bhima will consume fully as even kaalakotta poison have no impact on vayu avataraaa – Prasanna R Jan 30 '22 at 03:24

3 Answers3

4

It's me again.

  1. I have not seen Suryaputra Karn. Starbharat has 6 bodies magically appear.

  2. SOURCE: BORI Critical Mahabharat translated into English by Bibek Debroy (Book 1: Section 8 - Jatugriha-Daha Parva [Burning down the house of lac] Alright, first of all: PLOT HOLE / DEUS EX MACHINA ALERT!!

    Let me put this story into context. The Pandavas, accompanied by Kunti, travel to Varnavat. They visited the town and finally settled in a house. They remained there for ten days. After that, Purochana (Duryodhan's lackey) had a great idea: he proposed that the Pandavas stay at another house where they will be quite comfortable indeed. So the Pandavas went there. Yudhisthir immediately caught scent of the ghee and told Bhim that surely Purochana planned to set it on fire. Now, to those of you who watched Starbharat, you must be saying to yourselves: but Vidur went to Varnavat and then warned them! No. Vidur warned Yudhisthir before the Pandavas set course for Varnavat (he told them to be weary of poison and fire).

    Naturally, Bhim tells Yudhisthir: hey let's get out of here! Yudhisthir refused. He claims that if they leave then Duryodhan will sent assassins after them (uhh, wouldn't they be able to handle them? you know...with Arjun and Bhim. I'll stop myself from further editorializing..).

    And here's your deus ex machina: the very next moment, a tunnel digger (sent by Vidur) arrives. The digger informs the Pandavas that Purochana will set the lac house on fire within two weeks (don't worry, plot hole coming soon!). We have no clue as to how Vidur came upon this information. Another deus ex machina (welcome to BORI MB!). At any rate, Vidur's man dug a tunnel in the middle of the lac house and covered it up with wooden planks. The Pandavas lived in the hole (beginning of the tunnel) during nighttime so as not to be burned in case Purochana started the fire.

    Yeah so about Purochana setting the lac house on fire within a fortnight...now the BORI MB states that the Pandavas lived like that for a year!

    And now I can address the heart of your question

    Yudhisthir said: “The cruel-hearted and evil Purochana thinks us to be trusting and has been deceived well. I think the time has come for our escape. Let us escape, unobserved by anyone, after setting fire to the armoury, burning Purochana to death and leaving six bodies here.”

    Driven by destiny and in search of food, a hunter woman also happened to come to the feast, accompanied by her five sons. All of them drank wine, until, with her sons, she was completely drunk. O ruler of men! She and her sons lost their senses and slept in that house, as if dead. When everyone was asleep and a violent storm started in the night, Bhima started a fire at the spot where Purochana was sleeping.

  3. Depends on what YOU think. Many people like to view MB through a relativist lens. They present the perspective of "morally gray" characters. Now, I'm going to assume that you're asking for my opinion. It is quite clear that Yudhisthir planned the cold blooded murder of seven people: Purochana, a woman, and five adult-sized men. The Nishada woman and her children were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I clipped a bit of the quotation as it wasn't relevant to your question but...before they set the house on fire, Kunti hosts a group of Brahmanas and invited women from the Varnavat town to an evening of food and drink (of the alcoholic variety). This is where Kunti gets roped into the murder plot. Kunti was actively seeking out a woman to intoxicate so they could leave a burned female body at the scene of the fire.

    I'd love to have a debate on this one. I think that Yudhisthir, Kunti and Bhim are guilty of murder. It's quite clear to me. Now, you may argue on the Kunti point. But...may I remind you as to how Kunti met her demise? Ah! Poetic justice at its finest!

Regards, Your local Mahabharata passerby.

PS I would have cited the text more frequently but I felt like I would simply be posting the entire chapter. I feel that may be in breach of copyright laws, and unfair use since the author does expect people to pay for the works. I can only hope that my summary provided you with a rich context. I added a fun sort of spin on it since MB! Until next time...

Say No To Censorship
  • 30,811
  • 17
  • 131
  • 257
passerby99
  • 72
  • 1
  • 2
    What do you mean by "It's me again"? – Pandya Nov 23 '18 at 01:59
  • @Pandya Why does this answer have a citation banner? It addresses the central part of the question with the right source. – Say No To Censorship Jan 11 '19 at 23:37
  • 1
    @sv. Someone said moderators are adding banners adding explanations and asked me where is the problem. Do you understand why I raised the meta question now? No comments are being added either by a user who flagged or mod who is adding comments. Can you say why this answer has a citation banner? How shall I improve the answer more? The answer I got do not mention that. – Sarvabhouma Jan 12 '19 at 04:20
  • 1
    @Pandya This user has created unregistered accounts in the past and posted answers as a guest. – Sarvabhouma Jan 12 '19 at 04:21
  • @Sarvabhouma Someone said banner is mainly for OP but not for others but where is OP in this case? Most new users don't come back and fix their answers if it had a citation banner or a comment asking for sources. Many answers were deleted for this reason. I do agree mods need to leave comments before posting citation banners. In most cases it's obvious but this is an exception hence my comment asking why this answer needs a banner. – Say No To Censorship Jan 12 '19 at 19:23
  • @sv. I don't know who it is. I said it is for the OP and also for the users who read the answers. If the comment was there, someone like you or me would add those missing part of puzzle. Are you sure this user doesn't return again and revise the answer? If there was a comment which part needs more references, there wouldn't be the need of comment. There have been many instances like these which I was puzzled why there is a banner and no comment. That is why I wrote a meta post. The meta post is not written by 1 or 2 examples. – Sarvabhouma Jan 13 '19 at 02:13
2

BORI Critical Edition Of Mahabharata Quoted this clearly that Kunti Along with Pandava burnt Innocent Nishada

Yudhishthira, Kunti’s virtuous son, spoke to Bhimasena, Arjuna and the twins. “The cruel hearted and evil Purochana thinks us to be trusting and has been deceived well. I think the time has come for our escape. Let us escape, unobserved by anyone, after setting fire to the armoury, burning Purochana to death and leaving six bodies here.” ‘O king! On the occasion of giving alms, Kunti fed a large number of Brahmanas in the night. A number of women also came. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! They enjoyed themselves and ate and drank as much as they wished. When it was night, with Madhavi’s permission, they returned home. Driven by destiny and in search of food, a hunter woman also happened to come to the feast, accompanied by her five sons. All of them drank wine, until, with her sons, she was completely drunk. O ruler of men! She and her sons lost their senses and slept in that house, as if dead. When everyone was asleep and a violent storm started in the night, Bhima started a fire at the spot where Purochana was sleeping. The intense heat and great roar of the fire soon became manifest and awoke a large number of the citizens. The citizens said, “Under Duryodhana’s instructions, the evil-minded one built this house for his own destruction. Curse on Dhritarashtra, whose intelligence isn’t impartial. He has burnt to death Pandu’s pure sons(Are they??) as if they are his enemies.

This lines from most authentic Mahabharata clearly shows that. Yudhishthira planned a murder. Kunti had invited Brahmana's and womens that day, so it can be concluded that Kunti is looking for targets.

One More thing, Burning own house can be a propoganda and may be for gaining the lot of sympathy(as now a days political leaders doing the same) from peoples and may be Pandava's planning to small coup against a King. BORI clearly say that when the house was burnt people are accusing Duryodhana and also saying that this act of evil cannot be done without consent of King Dhritrastra. It was a rather political game to spread hoax about evil nature of Duryodhana and even against Dhritarashtra (Thats My Opinion, You can have another views)

The citizens said, “Under Duryodhana’s instructions, the evil-minded one built this house for his own destruction. Curse on Dhritarashtra, whose intelligence isn’t impartial. He has burnt to death Pandu’s pure sons, as if they are his enemies. As fate would have it, that evil-hearted and evil-minded one has burnt those innocent and unsuspecting ones, supreme among men, and has himself been burnt.” Thus did the citizens of Varanavata mourn, as they stood around the house throughout that entire night

Devdatt Dhakane
  • 21
  • 3
1

it is clearly mentioned in same episode , purochana built Laksagrha with help of those 5 men ( kids of that woman ) . He wanted to leave no evidence behind , so he wanted to kill woman and her 5 kids who helped him to create Laksagraha . so he invited them to Laksagraha https://youtu.be/r8uOSpEYAgc?t=1257

and Pandavas already knew purochana was going to set fire and kill them . So they set fire and escaped

https://youtu.be/r8uOSpEYAgc?t=1674

Anand-18
  • 11
  • 2