Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.4268

c9.4268

It was due to the wisdom of Vidura that the Pāṇḍavas escaped from the disaster in the lac-house. As soon as Duryodhana had completed the lac-house, Vidura understood the deception lying hidden under it. and he informed the Pāṇḍavas of everything about it. Moreover he sent a man named Khanaka and made an underground passage from the lac-house. When the lac-house was burnt down, the Pāṇḍavas escaped by the under-ground passage and reached the banks of the Ganges. Vidura had sent a ferryman secretly to take them to the other side of the Ganges. When Bhīṣma got the news that the Pāṇḍavas had been burnt to death in the lac-house he became very sad. It is mentioned in Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 149, that Vidura informed Bhīṣma secretly that the Pāṇḍavas were not dead.