Shloka 13

Bhīmasena’s Admonition to Yudhiṣṭhira on Rājya and the Ordering of Dharma–Artha–Kāma

Book 3, Chapter 34

Devanagari script

तत्र द्यूतमभवजन्नो जघन्यं तस्मिज्जिता: प्रव्रजिताश्च सर्वे । इत्थं तु देशाननुसंचरामो वनानि कृच्छाणि च कृच्छुरूपा:,फिर वहाँ हमलोगोंका अन्तिम बार निन्दनीय जूआ हुआ। उसमें हम सब लोग हार गये और घर छोड़कर वनमें निकल आये। इस प्रकार हम कष्टप्रद वेष धारण करके कष्टदायक वनों और विभिन्न प्रदेशोंमें घूम रहे हैं

Transliteration

tatra dyūtam abhavaj janno jaghanyaṃ tasmiñ jitāḥ pravrajitāś ca sarve | itthaṃ tu deśān anusañcarāmo vanāni kṛcchrāṇi ca kṛcchurūpāḥ ||

Translation

Dort fand für uns, zum letzten Mal, das schändlichste Würfelspiel statt. In jener Partie wurden wir alle besiegt, und so verließen wir unser Heim und zogen in den Wald. So wandern wir nun durch viele Länder, in der Gestalt der Entbehrung, mitten durch Wälder, die selbst hart und voller Leid sind—und tragen die Folgen jenes Sturzes mit Selbstbeherrschung.

Word by Word

• {'tatra': 'there

• in that place/occasion', 'dyūtam': 'game of dice

• gambling', 'abhavat': 'occurred

• came to pass', 'jaghanyam': 'most base, vile, contemptible', 'tasmin': 'in that (game/occasion)', 'jitāḥ': 'defeated

• conquered', 'pravrajitāḥ': 'gone forth

• departed from home', 'sarve': 'all (of us)', 'ittham': 'thus

• in this manner', 'deśān': 'regions

• places', 'anusañcarāmaḥ': 'we roam about

• we travel following (various routes)', 'vanāni': 'forests', 'kṛcchrāṇi': 'hard, painful, full of distress', 'kṛcchurūpāḥ': 'having the form/guise of hardship

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Pāṇḍavas (implied by 'sarve')
• dyūta (dice game)
• vana (forest)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the ethical downfall and social ruin caused by gambling (dyūta), and highlights acceptance of consequences: having been defeated, the speakers endure exile and hardship with restraint, implying a dharmic lesson about avoiding vice and bearing the results of one’s actions.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira recounts that a final, shameful dice match occurred; they lost, were forced to leave home, and now wander through difficult forests and various regions in an austere, distressed condition during their exile.