As the Pandavas grew stronger, more beloved, and more praised throughout the kingdom, Duryodhana's heart filled with shadows.
Every word of praise for Arjuna struck like a blade. Every cheer for Bhima felt like thunder shaking his fragile throne.
He watched the people and thought, They do not want me. They want them.
And so, guided by his uncle Shakuni, he conceived a plan—not to kill with sword, but with silence, smiles… and fire.
"Let us send them away," he said to Dhritarashtra. "To Varanavata. Let them represent the royal house at the festival there. It will bring peace. And they deserve their own residence—built for them with honor."
Dhritarashtra, blinded not just in sight but in judgment, agreed.
The Pandavas were sent away with Kunti, their mother. The people wept, thinking it exile. But Duryodhana wept in joy, thinking it execution.
For the house built in Varanavata was made of lac—oil, wax, ghee, and dry wood. A house meant not to shelter… but to burn.
Before they departed, Vidura approached Yudhishthira. He said little—but his words were strange, in the language of riddles:
"He who understands the language of mutes and the signs of the forest animals,
he who sees danger in gift-wrapped smiles,
will escape the fire meant for his home."
Yudhishthira understood. Vidura had uncovered the plan.
When the Pandavas reached Varanavata, they smiled for the crowds. But each night, they inspected the walls, tested the floor, noted the fumes.
And as a secret tunnel was dug beneath the house—an escape route carved in silence—they waited.
When the moment came, they set fire to the palace themselves and vanished into the night.
The house blazed like a demon. Screams rang out. Duryodhana's spies found five charred bodies, believed to be the Pandavas and Kunti.
Word returned to Hastinapura: The Pandavas are dead.
The kingdom mourned.
Duryodhana rejoiced.
And deep in the forest, unseen by all, five brothers and their mother walked into shadows.
Not dead.
Only silent.
The fire had not consumed them.
It had transformed them.