Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/465

a plaster for lining the walls. And scatter thou all around that house hemp and oil and clarified butter and lac and wood in such a way that the Pandavas, or any others, may not, even with scrutiny, behold them there or conclude the house to be an inflammable one. And having erected such a mansion, cause thou the Pandavas, after worshipping them with great reverence, to inhabit it, with Kunti, and all their friends. And place thou there seats and conveyances and beds, all of the best workmanship, for the Pandavas, so that Dhrita-rashtra may have no reason to complain. And thou must also so manage it all that none of Varanavata may know anything till the end we have in view is accomplished. And assuring thyself that the Pandavas are sleeping within in confidence and without fear, thou must then set fire to that mansion beginning at the outer door. The Pandavas thereupon must be burnt to death, but the people will say that they have been burnt in (an accidental) conflagration of their house.'

"Saying 'So be it' unto the Kuru prince, Purochana repaired to Varanavata on a car drawn by fleet mules. And going thither, O king, without loss of time, obedient to the instructions of Duryodhana he did everything that that prince bade him do."

Thus ends the hundred and forty-sixth Section in the Jatu-griha of the Adi Parva.

Vaisampayana said, "Meanwhile the Pandavas ascended their chariots yoking thereto some fine horses endued with the speed of the wind. And while they were on the point of riding on their cars, they touched, in great distress, the feet of Bhisma, of king Dhrita-rashtra, of the illustrious Drona, of Kripa, of Vidura, and of the other elders of the Kuru race. Thus saluting reverentially all the older men, and embracing their equals, and receiving the farewell of even the children, and taking leave of all the venerable ladies of