Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/199

Rh (such as the extermination of the Kuru race), he then called together his councillors consisting of Vrisha (Karna), Dushshasana and others, and with the knowledge of Dhrita-rashtra caused a house of lac to be constructed. And king Dhritarashtra—the son of Amvica,—from affection for his children; and tempted by the desire of sovereignty, sent the Pandavas to exile. And the Pandavas then went away with their mother from the city called after the name of the elephant. And when they went away, Vidura (born of a Vaisya woman by a Kshetria) became the adviser of those illustrious ones. Rescued by him from the house of lac, they fled in the deep mid-night to the woods.

"The sons of Kunti having reached the town of Varanavata, lived there with their mother. And according to the command of Dhrita-rashtra, those illustrious slayers of all enemies lived in the palace of lac while in that town. And they lived in that palace for one year, protecting themselves from Purochana very wakefully. And causing a subterranean passage to be constructed, acting according to the directions of Vidura, they set fire to that house of lac and burnt Purochana (their enemy and spy of Duryodhana) to death. Those slayers of all enemies anxious with fear then fled with their mother. In the woods beside a fountain they saw a Rakshasa of the name of Hidimva. And they slew that king of Rakshasas. But alarmed at the risk they ran of exposure by such an act, the sons of Pritha (Kunti) fied in the darkness, afflicted with the fear of the sons of Dhrita-rashtra. It was here that Bhima acquired Hidimva (the sister of the Rakshasa he slew) for a wife; and it was of her that Gatotkacha was born. Then the Pandavas, of rigid vows and conversant with the Vedas, wended to a town of name Ekachakra and dwelt there in the guise of Brahmacharis. And those bulls among men dwelt in that town in the house of a Brahmana for some time, in temperance and abstinence. And it was here that Bhima of the wolfe's stomach and of mighty arms came upon a hungry and mighty and man-eating Rakshasa of the name of Vaka. And Bhima the son of Pandu, that tiger among men, slew him speedily with the strength of his arms and made the citizens