Shloka 1
पाण्डवानां वनप्रस्थानवर्णनम् / The Pāṇḍavas’ Departure for the Forest
Vidura’s Report and Portents
/ है ० बक। है २ एकसप्ततितमो<्ध्याय: कर्ण और दुर्योधनके वचन
karṇa uvāca | trayaḥ kileme 'dhanā bhavanti dāsaḥ putraś ca svatantrā ca nārī | dāsasya patnī tv adhanasya bhadre hīneśvarā dāsadhanaṃ ca sarvam ||
কৰ্ণ ক’লে—“ভদ্ৰে দ্ৰৌপদী! দাস, পুত্ৰ আৰু সদায় পৰাধীন হৈ থকা নাৰী—এই তিনিও স্বতন্ত্ৰ ধনাধিকাৰী নহয় বুলি কোৱা হয়। ভদ্ৰে! যাৰ প্ৰভু ঐশ্বৰ্যচ্যুত হৈ হীন অৱস্থালৈ পতিত, সেই দৰিদ্ৰ দাসৰ পত্নী আৰু দাসৰ সকলো ধন—এই সকলোত সেই দাসৰ মালিকৰেই অধিকাৰ থাকে।”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates how appeals to social/legal categories can be used to rationalize injustice. In the dice-hall context, Karṇa’s claim denies Draupadī autonomy by treating dependent persons as lacking property-rights, showing a collapse of dharma when power and rhetoric override compassion and moral restraint.
During the Kaurava-led dice-hall humiliation, Karṇa speaks against Draupadī, arguing that a slave, a son, and a dependent woman have no independent claim to wealth or self-determination. This supports the attempt to treat Draupadī as a transferable object after Yudhiṣṭhira’s loss, escalating the assembly’s wrongdoing.