The brothers told Purochana, "Purochana, we must get rid of these Pandavas and we have devised a great plan. When we put the Pandavas into their new house of exile we will need you to set it ablaze. Is there any way you will be able to execute this without people knowing we are responsible?"
Purochana acknowledged their plan and assured them he would take care of it. "Trust me, I am the smartest man in the land when it comes to trickery. I will design the house so that when it is set to fire there will be no way to get outside if the Pandavas are inside."
The brothers were pleased as they returned to their father and informed him that everything was ready for the Pandavas. They then took the Pandavas to their new home. The brothers informed the Pandavas that this would be where the Pandavas would stay until they could come up with a more severe punishment for the Pandavas. The Pandavas were in good spirits. They did not seem fazed by the new home at all and instead they were excited. This reaction made the brothers question if something was going on they did not know about but instead they let it go as they knew their plan would be executed that night.
The Pandavas were not down in their spirits for a very particular reason. They knew the house was going to get burned and they would be stuck inside. They knew because Vidura had come and warned Yudhisthira, the head of the Pandavas, what was going to happen. Once the Pandavas were inside their new home, they immediately began digging tunnels from the inside to the outside that were not visible from the exterior of the house. They also gathered corpses to place in the rubble in order to trick Purochana when he came to make sure they were dead.
Purochana in the middle of the night set fire to the home of the Pandavas. The Pandavas immediately went to the tunnels and removed the dead corpses they had gathered to represent themselves. They then headed down the tunnel and out to the forest where they escaped into freedom.
The next morning Purochana took the two brothers to the site of the Pandava's house and showed him the remains. They dug through the remains together and found the deceased remains of the Pandavas. The two brothers could now report to their father, the blind king, that they had accomplished their mission.
Purochan and the Pandavas
Source: Wikipedia
Bibliography: Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.
Author's Note: This story comes from part B of the week 11 readings in Buck's Mahabharata. I chose this story because I thought it was a very interesting aspect and wanted to add some of my own dialogue and details to bring more of the story out. The Pandava's characters can obviously be portrayed as the "good guys" from the story. However, I also feel there is more of a "'bad guys" conflict with the brothers and their father, the king, that I wanted to present. Since he is the blind king, I wanted this to be as if they were misleading their father in order to carry out their own desires of getting rid of the Pandavas. In doing so, we got a sense of karma as the brothers now realize not only are the Pandavas alive but their father will not be able to trust them to carry out any of his wishes in the future. Also, I intended to leave it open with the Pandavas as to create a sense of them drifting off into the future as "victorious."
Hi Bill! I liked your retelling of this story. I also thought this part of Mahabharata was interesting. I thought you did a good job following the story through the inception of the idea through the Pandavas escape and everyone else thinking they are dead. The story was easy to read and flowed well. The spacing and paragraph length were perfect. The only little thing I wanted to point out was in the first sentence, the 'a' and 'n' of Pandavas is switched. Overall good job on your story!
ReplyDeleteHey, Bill! I like that you chose to retell this story. I found it very interesting and I like that you added more details into it. The flow and the pacing was very good and made it easier to read. I found this particular story in the Mahabharata interesting because the five Pandavas prove themselves to be very clever folks. Great job on this story!
ReplyDeleteBill,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this story! I also did one of my storytelling post's on the Pandava's escape, but I think I like yours better! I enjoyed the little twists that you added, like the sons going behind their father's back. I think that small twist added a lot of dimension to your story. Maybe the King was not so bad after all? The brother's could have very well had their own agenda.
You have a very clear and concise writing style which made your story even more enjoyable. You can tell that you took the time to proof read and organize your story. I agree with your decision that by leaving the Pandava's escape open ended it was assumed that they were victorious. Good job!
Hello again. I liked your story, but I would have liked a few more details in the beginning. For instance, one of the main questions I have is why does the blind king hate his brothers sons (his own nephews) and want them dead so badly? He has two of his own sons who could succeed him to the throne, so it's not as if he has to worry about them stealing his throne away like he would if he were childless.
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI chose to read this because I loved the Pandavas in the book. I think their story was very interesting both in the book and in your retelling. You did a good job of describing what happened to them. I think it was really clever of the Pandavas to dig out those tunnels under their house to have an escape route. Good job!