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

দুর্যোধন বলল—আমি পাশাখেলায় নিপুণ; এই পৃথিবীতে আমার সমান কেউ নেই। তিন লোকেও দ্যূতবিদ্যায় আমার মতো জ্ঞানী আর কেউ নেই। অতএব, কুরু-নন্দন, দ্যূতক্রীড়ার জন্য যুধিষ্ঠিরকে এখানে আহ্বান করো।

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.