Shloka 17
एकचक्रानिवासप्रस्तावः | Ekacakrā Sojourn—Vyāsa’s Consolation and Directive
दहामाने स्वके गेहे दग्धा इति ततो जना: । न गर्हयेयुरस्मान् वै पाण्डवार्थाय कहिचित्,“उस समय लोग यही समझेंगे कि अपने ही घरमें आग लगी थी, उसीमें पाण्डव जल गये। अतः वे पाण्डवोंकी मृत्युके लिये कभी हमारी निन्दा नहीं करेंगे!
dahāmāne svake gehe dagdhā iti tato janāḥ | na garhayeyur asmān vai pāṇḍavārthāya kvacit ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “When our own house is seen burning, people will conclude, ‘They were burned in their own home.’ Thus, for the sake of the Pāṇḍavas’ death, no one anywhere will blame us.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how wrongdoing often relies on manipulating appearances and public opinion: by staging a death as an accident, perpetrators hope to evade moral and social accountability—an example of adharma driven by fear of blame rather than commitment to righteousness.
In the context of the lac-house conspiracy, the plotters expect that when the house burns, people will assume the Pāṇḍavas died in an accidental fire at their own residence, so no suspicion or condemnation will fall on those who engineered the event.