Lakshagriha

[2] It is the setting of an assassination plot in the epic, devised by the prince Duryodhana to murder his cousins, the Pandavas, by planning to immolate them while they slept within the palace.

Threatened by his cousins' fame and stoked by envy, Dhritarashtra's eldest son, Duryodhana, persuaded his father to allow him to plot against them to retain control over the kingdom.

[3] Gaining the king's consent, Duryodhana instructed the architect Purochana to build a palace using flammable lacquer, and set it aflame on a designated day to assassinate the sleeping Pandavas and Kunti.

He observed that the house of lacquer contained the substances of hemp, resin, straw, as well as bamboos, all of which were soaked in ghee, making it extremely flammable.

While the Pandavas hunted, the miner excavated a wide tunnel, originating at the middle of the Lakshagriha and ending along the banks of the river Ganga.