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. Then when the sons of Pandu were satisfied
that the house had caught fire in several parts those chastisers of foes
with their mother, entered the subterranean passage without losing any
time. Then the heat and the roar of the fire became intense and awakened
the townspeople. Beholding the house in flames, the citizens with
sorrowful faces began to say, 'The wretch (Purochana) of wicked soul had
under the instruction of Duryodhana built his house for the destruction of
his employer's relatives. He indeed hath set fire to it. O, fie on
Dhritarashtra's heart which is so partial. He hath burnt to death, as if
he were their foe, the sinless heirs of Pandu! O, the sinful and wicked-
souled (Purochana) who hath burnt those best of men, the innocent and
unsuspicious princes, hath himself been burnt to death as fate would have
it.'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'The citizens of Varanavata thus bewailed (the
fate of the Pandavas), and waited there for the whole night surrounding
that house.
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