Peter's India Blog

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 t...

I like wisdom and smart strategy of Prince Vidura. To avoid evil Prince Duryodhana, he came up with a clever solution of digging the floor of the lac palace and making an underground passage for escaping to the forest. Prince Vidura also hired a competent staff to facilitate his clever escape: "Prince Vidura sent to Varanavata a skillful miner. He eluded the guards outside and made his way safely into the lac palace." And the operation of this clever escape was also well-operated without getting caught: "By night he worked, and by day he hid his work by covering the mouth of the passage with wooden planks, so that Purochana, the wicked captain, should not guess that the Pandavas were planning flight." This kind of clever escape strategy and operation reminded me of an action movie escape scene. Prince Vidura obviously was a clever person. Not only their clever strategy worked, they were also lucky to fool the villains: evil Prince Duryodhana and King...