Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 13 Verse 8

vipad-ganād vishāgnyāder

mocitā yat samātrikāh

SYNONYMS

yudhishthirah uvāca — Mahārāja Yudhishthira said; api — whether; smaratha — you remember; nah — us; yushmat — from you; paksha — partiality towards us like the wings of a bird; chāyā — protection; samedhitān — we who were brought up by you; vipat-ganāt — from various types of calamities; visha — by administration of poison; agni-ādeh — by setting on fire; mocitāh — released from; yat — what you have done; sa — along with; mātrikāh — our mother.

TRANSLATION

Mahārāja Yudhishthira said: My uncle, do you remember how you always protected us, along with our mother, from all sorts of calamities? Your partiality, like the wings of a bird, saved us from poisoning and arson.

PURPORT

Due to Pāndu's death at an early age, his minor children and widow were the object of special care by all the elderly members of the family, especially Bhīshmadeva and Mahātmā Vidura. Vidura was more or less partial to the Pāndavas due to their political position. Although Dhritarāshtra was equally careful for the minor children of Mahārāja Pāndu, he was one of the intriguing parties who wanted to wash away the descendants of Pāndu and replace them by raising his own sons to become the rulers of the kingdom. Mahātmā Vidura could follow this intrigue of Dhritarāshtra and company, and therefore, even though he was a faithful servitor of his eldest brother, Dhritarāshtra, he did not like his political ambition for the sake of his own sons. He was therefore very careful about the protection of the Pāndavas and their widow mother. Thus he was, so to speak, partial to the Pāndavas, preferring them to the sons of Dhritarāshtra, although both of them were equally affectionate in his ordinary eyes. He was equally affectionate to both the camps of nephews in the sense that he always chastised Duryodhana for his intriguing policy against his cousins. He always criticized his elder brother for his policy of encouragement to his sons, and at the same time he was always alert in giving special protection to the Pāndavas. All these different activities of Vidura within the palace politics made him well-known as partial to the Pāndavas. Mahārāja Yudhishthira has referred to the past history of Vidura before his going away from home for a prolonged pilgrim's journey. Mahārāja Yudhishthira reminded him that he was equally kind and partial to his grown-up nephews, even after the Battle of Kurukshetra, a great family disaster.

Before the Battle of Kurukshetra, Dhritarāshtra's policy was peaceful annihilation of his nephews, and therefore he ordered Purocana to build a house at Vāranāvata, and when the building was finished Dhritarāshtra desired that his brother's family live there for some time. When the Pāndavas were going there in the presence of all the members of the royal family, Vidura tactfully gave instructions to the Pāndavas about the future plan of Dhritarāshtra. This is specifically described in the Mahābhārata (Ādi-parva 114). He indirectly hinted, "A weapon not made of steel or any other material element can be more than sharp to kill an enemy, and he who knows this is never killed." That is to say, he hinted that the party of the Pāndavas was being sent to Vāranāvata to be killed, and thus he warned Yudhishthira to be very careful in their new residential palace. He also gave indications of fire and said that fire cannot extinguish the soul but can annihilate the material body. But one who protects the soul can live. Kuntī could not follow such indirect conversations between Mahārāja Yudhishthira and Vidura, and thus when she inquired from her son about the purport of the conversation, Yudhishthira replied that from the talks of Vidura it was understood that there was a hint of fire in the house where they were proceeding. Later on, Vidura came in disguise to the Pāndavas and informed them that the housekeeper was going to set fire to the house on the fourteenth night of the waning moon. It was an intrigue of Dhritarāshtra that the Pāndavas might die all together with their mother. And by his warning the Pāndavas escaped through a tunnel underneath the earth so that their escape was also unknown to Dhritarāshtra, so much so that after setting the fire, the Kauravas were so certain of the death of the Pāndavas that Dhritarāshtra performed the last rites of death with great cheerfulness. And during the mourning period all the members of the palace became overwhelmed with lamentation, but Vidura did not become so, because of his knowledge that the Pāndavas were alive somewhere. There are many such instances of calamities, and in each of them Vidura gave protection to the Pāndavas on one hand, and on the other he tried to restrain his brother Dhritarāshtra from such intriguing policies. Therefore, he was always partial to the Pāndavas, just as a bird protects its eggs by its wing.

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