Shloka 10
Adhyāya 59: Vidura’s Admonition to Duryodhana after the Summons of Draupadī (सभा पर्व)
इदं वै देवनं पापं निकृत्या कितवै: सह । धर्मेण तु जयो युद्धे तत्परं न तु देवनम्
idaṁ vai devanaṁ pāpaṁ nikṛtyā kitavaiḥ saha | dharmeṇa tu jayo yuddhe tat-paraṁ na tu devanam ||
Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Dieses Würfelspiel ist wahrlich sündhaft, wenn es mit Betrug im Kreis der Spieler betrieben wird. Ein Sieg, der dem Dharma entspricht, wird im Kampf errungen; darum ist für die Kṣatriyas der rechte Weg die Hingabe an den Krieg, nicht an das Spiel.“
युधिषछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Gambling—especially when mixed with deceit and the company of habitual gamblers—is condemned as sinful; for a kṣatriya, righteous victory aligned with dharma is properly sought in open battle, not through dice.
In the dice-hall context of the Sabha Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira voices a moral judgment on dice-play, contrasting it with the kṣatriya ideal of winning honorably through warfare rather than through fraudulent gambling.