Shloka 15
अद्यासौ सौबल: कृष्ण ग्लहाञ्जानातु वै शरान् | दुरोदरं च गाण्डीवं मण्डलं च रथं प्रति,“श्रीकृष्ण! आज सुबलपुत्र जुआरी शकुनिको यह मालूम हो जाय कि मेरे बाण ही दाँव हैं, गाण्डीवधनुष ही पासा है और मेरा रथ ही मण्डल (चौपड़के खाने) है
adyāsau saubalaḥ kṛṣṇa glahāñ jānātu vai śarān | durodaṁ ca gāṇḍīvaṁ maṇḍalaṁ ca rathaṁ prati ||
Sañjaya said: “O Kṛṣṇa, let that Saubala—Śakuni the gambler—today truly come to know that my arrows are the stakes, the Gāṇḍīva is the dice, and my chariot is the gaming-board’s squares.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse reframes the infamous dice-game—an emblem of deceit and adharma—into a battlefield metaphor, implying that wrongful cunning must be met not by further deceit but by steadfast, disciplined action aligned with kṣatriya duty and the pursuit of justice.
Sañjaya reports a warrior’s taunt addressed to Kṛṣṇa: Śakuni, known for gambling, will ‘learn’ on this day that the real stakes are arrows, the ‘dice’ is the Gāṇḍīva bow, and the ‘board’ is the chariot—signaling imminent combat and a vow to answer past humiliation through war.