Once upon a time in ancient India, there was an evil, greedy Prince named Duryodhana. He was among several princes of the kingdom, but he was the most greedy and power-hungry of all. Among his brothers, there was wise, clever, and popular Prince named Vidura.
Prince Duryodhana always hated Prince Vidura because he was popular with people. Prince Vidura, although he was ambitious like Prince Duryodhana, he wasn't a cruel-minded person like Duryodhana who could kill people easily to accomplish his purposes.
Duryodhana, through his cunning strategies and deceits, became the official heir of the kingdom.
Now that Prince Duryodhana became the official heir, he felt a great need to get rid of Prince Vidura because he feared Vidura might become more powerful than him. Duryodhana feared that Vidura might summon his forces who were known as the Pandavas and revolt against his authority.
So Duryodhana, using his newly acquired power, imprisoned Vidura, his mother the Queen, and the Pandavas into a castle and decided to burn all of them alive secretly while they were asleep.
Prince Vidura, although he was clueless about Duryodhana's cruel and crooked murder plan, was determined to escape from castle.
Vidura pondered, 'What should I do? We're all locked up.'
Vidura, who grew up as a prince of the kingdom, was not a person who would ask others for help or solicit ideas when he was in trouble. Vidura was always known to be independent and clever, so he was set on using his introspective nature to solve this problem.
The doors of the castle were heavily locked and guarded by scary-looking guard and sentinels who were armed with guns and canons. Not only were they instructed to shoot Vidura and his followers down with guns, but Prince Duryodhana ordered them to capture the ones who attempt escape and blow their heads and bodies with canons in the public square to scare Vidura and establish authority for Duryodhana.
While wandering around the castle, he found that floors were primarily made up of wood, not concrete, mud, or other hard materials. Vidura also saw several crackings in the wood floor. Vidura and his followers took out the cracking part of the floor and started digging. Vidura was one of the architects of the castle, so he knew the way out to the nearby forest.
They had dig the floor nineteen hours a day, seven days a week, for three weeks. The path to the forest was now cleared due to their hard work. So starting with the Queen and the ladies first, they had all successfully escaped to the nearby forest and could have saved their lives owing to Prince Vidura's clever wisdom and intelligence.
The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid (1921).
Author's Note: I re-created this story of Prince Vidura and his followers' escape in PDE Mahabharata in my own version of the story. Original content may be different from my re-created story, so you are advised to visit the website in my bibliography for the original content of the story.
Prince Duryodhana always hated Prince Vidura because he was popular with people. Prince Vidura, although he was ambitious like Prince Duryodhana, he wasn't a cruel-minded person like Duryodhana who could kill people easily to accomplish his purposes.
Duryodhana, through his cunning strategies and deceits, became the official heir of the kingdom.
Now that Prince Duryodhana became the official heir, he felt a great need to get rid of Prince Vidura because he feared Vidura might become more powerful than him. Duryodhana feared that Vidura might summon his forces who were known as the Pandavas and revolt against his authority.
So Duryodhana, using his newly acquired power, imprisoned Vidura, his mother the Queen, and the Pandavas into a castle and decided to burn all of them alive secretly while they were asleep.
Prince Vidura, although he was clueless about Duryodhana's cruel and crooked murder plan, was determined to escape from castle.
Vidura pondered, 'What should I do? We're all locked up.'
Vidura, who grew up as a prince of the kingdom, was not a person who would ask others for help or solicit ideas when he was in trouble. Vidura was always known to be independent and clever, so he was set on using his introspective nature to solve this problem.
The doors of the castle were heavily locked and guarded by scary-looking guard and sentinels who were armed with guns and canons. Not only were they instructed to shoot Vidura and his followers down with guns, but Prince Duryodhana ordered them to capture the ones who attempt escape and blow their heads and bodies with canons in the public square to scare Vidura and establish authority for Duryodhana.
While wandering around the castle, he found that floors were primarily made up of wood, not concrete, mud, or other hard materials. Vidura also saw several crackings in the wood floor. Vidura and his followers took out the cracking part of the floor and started digging. Vidura was one of the architects of the castle, so he knew the way out to the nearby forest.
They had dig the floor nineteen hours a day, seven days a week, for three weeks. The path to the forest was now cleared due to their hard work. So starting with the Queen and the ladies first, they had all successfully escaped to the nearby forest and could have saved their lives owing to Prince Vidura's clever wisdom and intelligence.
Pandavas escape from Fire. Source: Escape of Pandavas from Fire accident
Bibliography:
Author's Note: I re-created this story of Prince Vidura and his followers' escape in PDE Mahabharata in my own version of the story. Original content may be different from my re-created story, so you are advised to visit the website in my bibliography for the original content of the story.
Hey Peter,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story. Your story flowed very nicely and had me wondering here and there. I like that you used a cruel-minded brother and a smart, intelligent one as well. Stories like these are what keep people on their feet. Throughout your story, I kept wondering what would happen to Prince Vidura and the Queen. It was quite hilarious knowing the kingdom's floors weren't made of concrete, but at least they made a successful escape!
Hey Peter.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story and it was a great read. It flew together really well which kept me very interested and intrigued about what was going to happen next. I loved how you used a cruel minded brother and also used one who was smart and intelligent. Then it ended well with them escaping
Hi Peter! Great job with this story. I really enjoyed it. You have a very clear writing style that is clear and easy to understand. I read the Public Domain version of the Mahabharata, so it was a little hard to follow at some points. I'm glad that you rewrote this story so that it was more clear. Great job and good luck with the rest of this semester!
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