Shloka 20

Adhyāya 48 — Duryodhana’s Account of Tribute and the Provisioned Court (सभा पर्व, अध्याय ४८)

Devanagari script

देवने कुशलश्षाहं न मे5स्ति सदृशो भुवि । त्रिषु लोकेषु कौरव्य त॑ त्वं द्यूते समाह्दय

Transliteration

devane kuśalo 'haṁ na me 'sti sadṛśo bhuvi | triṣu lokeṣu kauravya tvaṁ dūte samāhvaya ||

Translation

قال دوريوذانا: «إني ماهرٌ في القمار؛ وليس على هذه الأرض من يساويني. بل حقًّا، حتى في العوالم الثلاثة لا أحد يعرف فنَّ لعب النرد كما أعرفه. فلهذا، يا سليل الكورو، ادعُ يودهيشثيرا إلى هنا للعب النرد.»

Word by Word

• {'devane (devana)': 'in gambling

• in dice-play', 'kuśalaḥ': 'skilled, proficient', 'aham': 'I', 'na me asti': 'there is not for me

• I do not have', 'sadṛśaḥ': 'equal, comparable', 'bhuvi': 'on earth', 'triṣu lokeṣu': 'in the three worlds', 'kauravya': 'O descendant/scion of the Kurus (vocative)', 'tvaṁ': 'you', 'dūte (dūta)': 'the messenger

• envoy (here: the one being instructed to summon)', 'samāhvaya (sam-ā-hvaya)': 'summon, call together, invite'}

Speaker

दुर्योधन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Duryodhana
• Kaurava (addressed person, likely a Kuru scion/messenger)
• Yudhiṣṭhira
• three worlds (trailokya)
• earth (bhū)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how pride and claimed expertise can become instruments of adharma: Duryodhana’s confidence in gambling is used to lure a righteous but vulnerable opponent into a trap, showing that skill divorced from ethics can serve injustice.

What is happening in the narrative?

Duryodhana declares himself unmatched in dice-play and instructs that Yudhiṣṭhira be summoned for a gambling match—setting in motion the infamous dice-game episode that will escalate conflict between the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas.