The Pandavas and Kunti depart for Varanavata amidst the cheers of the citizens. Duryodhana smiles, for he has commissioned an architect named Purochana to build a palace called Lakshagriha. It is a masterpiece of engineering, constructed entirely of highly flammable materials: hemp, resin, and lacquer. One spark, and the entire structure would become a funeral pyre from which no one could escape.
However, the Pandavas are not entirely without allies. Vidura, the wise half-brother of the King, speaks to Yudhisthira in a coded language of "moles and winter fires," warning him that a man who knows the forest survives the predator's trap. Upon arriving, Yudhisthira immediately smells the ghee and lacquer hidden beneath the plaster. They are trapped in a gilded cage, watched day and night by Purochana.
For one year, the Pandavas live in the palace, pretending to be oblivious while secretly digging a tunnel beneath the floorboards. On a moonless night, they invite Purochana and a local woman with five sons to a feast. As the palace residents fall into a deep sleep, Bhima sets the building ablaze. The lacquer ignites instantly, turning the night sky orange as the palace collapses into a heap of ash.
In Hastinapur, the news arrives: "The Pandavas are dead." Duryodhana celebrates, believing his path to the throne is finally clear. Meanwhile, deep underground, the Pandavas emerge from their tunnel into the cool air of a distant forest, their identities burned away, now nothing more than wandering mendicants.
But the forest is not a place of safety; it is the domain of the Rakshasas, and the scent of royal blood has already reached the nostrils of a titan who has not eaten in days.