Shloka 39
सहदेव उवाच अक्षान् यान् मन्यसे मूढ गान्धाराणां यशोहर । नैते5क्षा निशिता बाणास्त्वयैते समरे वृता:,सहदेवने कहा--ओ गान्धारनिवासी क्षत्रियकुलके कलंक मूर्ख शकुने! जिन्हें तू पासे समझ रहा है, वे पासे नहीं हैं, उनके रूपमें तूने युद्धमें तीखे बाणोंका वरण किया है
sahadeva uvāca | akṣān yān manyase mūḍha gāndhārāṇāṁ yaśohara | naite 'kṣā niśitā bāṇās tvayāite samare vṛtāḥ ||
Sahadeva sprach: „Narr — Schänder des Ruhmes der Gandhāras! Die Würfel, die du zu werfen meinst, sind keine Würfel. Es sind scharfe Pfeile; indem du dieses Spiel wählst, hast du sie in Wahrheit für die Schlacht erwählt.“
सहदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Unrighteous means (deceitful gambling) are not harmless play; they are morally equivalent to violence because they inflict ruin and inevitably summon retaliation. Sahadeva frames the dice as ‘arrows’ to stress accountability and the karmic/ethical consequences of adharma.
In the wake of the dice-game outrage, Sahadeva addresses Śakuni with contempt, declaring that the ‘dice’ Śakuni relies on are effectively weapons. The statement foreshadows that the injustice of the game will culminate in war, with Śakuni’s choices becoming a cause of armed conflict.