Shloka 2836

अध्याय ९ — कर्णस्य प्रहारः, योधयुग्मनियोजनम्, शैनेय-कैकेययोर्युद्धविन्यासः

Devanagari script

द्यूतत: कृच्छुमापन्नो लूनपक्ष इव द्विज: । संजय! मेरे मन्त्री और पुत्र मारे गये। मैं तो पंख कटे हुए पक्षीके समान जूएके कारण भारी संकटमें पड़ गया हूँ

Transliteration

dyūtataḥ kṛcchram āpanno lūnapakṣa iva dvijaḥ | sañjaya! me mantriṇaḥ putrāś ca mārītāḥ | ahaṃ tu paṅkha-kaṭita-pakṣī-sadṛśo dyūta-kāraṇād bhāri saṅkaṭe patito 'smi ||

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Because of the gambling, I have fallen into grievous distress—like a bird whose wings have been cut. Sañjaya, my ministers and my sons have been slain. It is the dice that has brought me to this crushing calamity, leaving me powerless and broken.”

Word by Word

द्यूतात्from gambling; due to gambling

कृच्छुम्distress; hardship

आपन्नःhaving fallen into; having reached

लूनपक्षःwith cut wings

इवlike; as if

द्विजःa bird (lit. twice-born)

संजयO Sañjaya

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Sañjaya

ministers (mantriṇaḥ)

sons (putrāḥ)

dice/gambling (dyūta)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames gambling (dyūta) as a moral and political failing whose consequences cascade into irreversible loss. Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s simile of a wing-clipped bird highlights how indulgence and negligence can strip a ruler of agency, leading to ruin for family and state.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛtarāṣṭra, hearing the war’s devastation through Sañjaya, laments that his ministers and sons have been killed. He traces the catastrophe back to the dice-game, confessing his helplessness and despair as the Kuru house collapses.