Shloka 18

Devanagari script

सुखं त्वत्तो नाभिजानीम किंचिद्‌ यतस्त्वमक्षैदेवितुं सम्प्रवृत्त: । स्वयं कृत्वा व्यसन पाण्डव त्व- मस्मांस्तीव्रा: श्रावयस्यद्य वाच:,पाण्डुकुमार! तुझसे थोड़ा-सा भी सुख मिला हो--यह हम नहीं जानते हैं; क्योंकि तू जूआ खेलनेके व्यसनमें पड़ा हुआ है। स्वयं यह दुर्व्यससन करके अब तू हमें कठोर बातें सुना रहा है

Transliteration

sukhaṃ tvatto nābhijānīma kiñcid yatas tvam akṣaidevituṃ sampravṛttaḥ | svayaṃ kṛtvā vyasanaṃ pāṇḍava tvaṃ asmāṃs tīvrāḥ śrāvayasy adya vācaḥ ||

Translation

We know of no happiness that has ever come to us from you, for you have given yourself over to the vice of gambling with dice. Having yourself brought about this calamity, O son of Pāṇḍu, you now assail us today with harsh and cutting words.

Word by Word

• {'sukham': 'happiness, well-being', 'tvattaḥ': 'from you, on your account', 'nābhijānīma': 'we do not know/recognize (1st pl. pres.)', 'kiñcit': 'anything at all, even a little', 'yataḥ': 'because, since', 'tvam': 'you', 'akṣaiḥ': 'with dice (akṣa = die)', 'devitum': 'to play (a game), to gamble', 'sampravṛttaḥ': 'engaged in, set upon, devoted to', 'svayam': 'oneself, personally', 'kṛtvā': 'having done/made', 'vyasanam': 'calamity

• also a vice/addiction (here: gambling as ruinous vice)', 'pāṇḍava': 'O Pāṇḍava (descendant/son of Pāṇḍu)', 'asmān': 'us', 'tīvrāḥ': 'sharp, harsh, severe', 'śrāvayasi': 'you make (us) hear

• you address (causative sense)', 'adya': 'today, now', 'vācaḥ': 'words, speech'}

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna (speaker, per supplied attribution)
• Pāṇḍava / Pāṇḍukumāra (addressee: a son/descendant of Pāṇḍu)
• akṣa (dice)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse condemns gambling as a destructive vyasana (ruinous vice) and insists on moral accountability: one who causes a disaster through one’s own addiction cannot justly blame others or speak harshly as if wronged.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker rebukes a Pāṇḍava addressee for being devoted to dice-play and for having personally brought about a calamity; despite that, the addressee is now speaking severe, accusatory words to the speaker’s side.