Shloka 1
Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Duryodhana Saṃvāda on Restraint and Rājānīti
Chapter 50
(दाक्षिणात्य अधिक पाठके ७ श्लोक मिलाकर कुल ६७ श्लोक हैं) ऑपन--माज बक। अि्--छऋायज पजञ्चाशत्तमो<्ध्याय: दुर्योधनका धृतराष्ट्रको अपने दुःख और चिन्ताका कारण बताना जनमेजय उवाच कथं समभवद् द्ूतं भ्रातृणां तन्महात्ययम् | यत्र तद् व्यसन प्राप्तं पाण्डवैर्मे पितामहै:,जनमेजयने पूछा--मुने! भाइयोंमें वह महाविनाशकारी द्यूत किस प्रकार आरम्भ हुआ; जिसमें मेरे पितामह पाण्डवोंको उस महान् संकटका सामना करना पड़ा?
Janamejaya uvāca
kathaṁ samabhavad dyūtaṁ bhrātṝṇāṁ tan-mahātyayam |
yatra tad vyasanaṁ prāptaṁ pāṇḍavair me pitāmahaiḥ ||
Janamejaya said: “How did that game of dice arise among the brothers—the great calamity? In that affair, my grandfathers, the Pāṇḍavas, were driven into grievous misfortune. Tell me how it began.”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the dice-game as a “mahātyaya” (great catastrophe) and “vyasana” (ruin/vice), inviting reflection on how unethical choices and courtly complicity can trigger large-scale suffering—especially when a destructive practice like gambling is normalized among rulers.
Janamejaya, listening to the Mahābhārata account, asks the sage to explain how the brothers’ dice-game began—the event that led the Pāṇḍavas (his grandfathers) into severe calamity.