Shloka 11
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Counsel on Restraint and the Pāṇḍavas’ Authorized Return (धृतराष्ट्र-उपदेशः)
वैशम्पायनजी कहते हैं-जनमेजय! यह सुनकर छल-कपटका आश्रय लेनेवाले शकुनिने युधिष्ठिरसे निश्चयपूर्वक कहा--“लो, यह भी मैंने जीता”
vaiśampāyana uvāca—janamejaya! etac chrutvā chala-kapaṭam āśritya śakunir yudhiṣṭhiraṃ niścayapūrvakaṃ provāca—“lo, idam api mayā jitam.”
قال فَيْشَمْبَايَنَة: «يا جَنَمِيجَايَا! لما سمع ذلك، تكلّم شَكُوني—وقد احتمى بالمكر والخديعة—إلى يُدْهِشْتِهيرا بتيقّنٍ متعمَّد: “انظر، هذا أيضًا قد فزتُ به.”»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how adharma operates through calculated deceit: Śakuni’s confidence in ‘winning’ underscores the ethical danger of gambling and the corrosive power of trickery when a righteous person is drawn into an unrighteous game.
In the dice-match setting, after a preceding stake is lost, Śakuni—resorting to fraud—declares to Yudhiṣṭhira that he has won yet another stake, intensifying Yudhiṣṭhira’s downfall within the rigged contest.