युधिष्ठिर उवाच
अपि स्मरथ नो युष्मत्पक्षच्छायासमेधितान् ।
विपद्गणाद्विषाग्न्यादेर्मोचिता यत्समातृकाः ॥८॥

yudhiṣṭhira uvÄca
api smaratha no yuá¹£mat-
paká¹£a-cchÄyÄ-samedhitÄn
vipad-gaṇÄd viá¹£ÄgnyÄder
mocitÄ yat samÄtá¹›kÄḥ

 yudhiṣṭhiraḥ uvÄca - MahÄrÄja Yudhiṣṭhira said; api - whether; smaratha - you remember; naḥ - us; yuá¹£mat - from you; paká¹£a - partiality towards us like the wings of a bird; chÄyÄ - protection; samedhitÄn - we who were brought up by you; vipat-gaṇÄt - from various types of calamities; viá¹£a - by administration of poison; agni-Ädeḥ - by setting on fire; mocitÄḥ - released from; yat - what you have done; sa - along with; mÄtá¹›kÄḥ - our mother.


Text

MahÄrÄja Yudhiṣṭhira 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 PÄṇá¸u’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 BhÄ«á¹£madeva and MahÄtmÄ Vidura. Vidura was more or less partial to the PÄṇá¸avas due to their political position. Although Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra was equally careful for the minor children of MahÄrÄja PÄṇá¸u, he was one of the intriguing parties who wanted to wash away the descendants of PÄṇá¸u and replace them by raising his own sons to become the rulers of the kingdom. MahÄtmÄ Vidura could follow this intrigue of Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra and company, and therefore, even though he was a faithful servitor of his eldest brother, Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra, he did not like his political ambition for the sake of his own sons. He was therefore very careful about the protection of the PÄṇá¸avas and their widow mother. Thus he was, so to speak, partial to the PÄṇá¸avas, preferring them to the sons of Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra, 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 PÄṇá¸avas. All these different activities of Vidura within the palace politics made him well known as partial to the PÄṇá¸avas. MahÄrÄja Yudhiṣṭhira has referred to the past history of Vidura before his going away from home for a prolonged pilgrim’s journey. MahÄrÄja Yudhiṣṭhira reminded him that he was equally kind and partial to his grown-up nephews, even after the Battle of Kuruká¹£etra, a great family disaster.

Before the Battle of Kuruká¹£etra, Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra’s policy was peaceful annihilation of his nephews, and therefore he ordered Purocana to build a house of lac at VÄraṇÄvata, and when the building was finished Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra desired that his brother’s family live there for some time. When the PÄṇá¸avas were going there in the presence of all the members of the royal family, Vidura tactfully gave instructions to the PÄṇá¸avas about the future plan of Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra. This is specifically described in the MahÄbhÄrata (Ä€di-parva 144). He indirectly hinted, “Even a weapon not made of steel or any other material element can be more than sharp enough to kill an enemy, and he who knows this is never killed.†That is to say, he hinted that the party of the PÄṇá¸avas was being sent to VÄraṇÄvata to be killed, and thus he warned Yudhiṣṭhira 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. KuntÄ« could not follow such indirect conversations between MahÄrÄja Yudhiṣṭhira and Vidura, and thus when she inquired from her son about the purport of the conversation, Yudhiṣṭhira 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 PÄṇá¸avas 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 Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra that the PÄṇá¸avas might die all together with their mother. And by his warning the PÄṇá¸avas escaped through a tunnel underneath the earth so that their escape was also unknown to Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra, so much so that after setting the fire, the Kauravas were so certain of the death of the PÄṇá¸avas that Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra 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 PÄṇá¸avas were alive somewhere. There are many such instances of calamities, and in each of them Vidura gave protection to the PÄṇá¸avas on one hand, and on the other he tried to restrain his brother Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra from such intriguing policies. Therefore, he was always partial to the PÄṇá¸avas, just as a bird protects its eggs by its wing.