Shloka 3
यदा सभायां राजानमनक्षज्ञं युधिष्ठिरम् । अजैषीच्छकुनिर्ज्ञानात् क्व ते धर्मस्तदा गत:,“जब कौरवसभामें जूएके खेलका ज्ञान न रखनेवाले राजा युधिष्ठिरको शकुनिने जान- बूझकर छलपूर्वक हराया था, उस समय तुम्हारा धर्म कहाँ चला गया था?
yadā sabhāyāṁ rājānam anakṣajñaṁ yudhiṣṭhiram | ajaiṣīc chakunir jñānāt kva te dharmas tadā gataḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “When, in the royal assembly, Śakuni—fully aware of his deceit—defeated King Yudhiṣṭhira, who had no knowledge of the dice-game, where had your dharma gone at that time?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse indicts selective morality: one cannot claim dharma in war or judgment while ignoring blatant adharma committed earlier—especially deliberate deceit against an unskilled opponent in a public royal setting.
Sañjaya challenges the Kaurava side (implicitly Dhṛtarāṣṭra and his party) by recalling the dice-hall episode: Śakuni knowingly cheated and defeated Yudhiṣṭhira, and Sañjaya asks where their sense of dharma was at that moment.