Shloka 1

Devanagari script

/ भीकम (2 अमान एकषेष्टितमो< ध्याय: जूएमें शकुनिके छलसे प्रत्येक दाँवपर युधिष्ठिरकी हार युधिछिर उवाच मत्त: कैतवकेनैव यज्जितो<5स्मि दुरोदरे । शकुने हन्त दीव्यामो ग्लहमाना: परस्परम्‌,युधिष्ठिरने कहा--शकुने! तुमने छलसे इस दाँवमें मुझे हरा दिया, इसीपर तुम गर्वित हो उठे हो; आओ, हमलोग पुन: परस्पर पासे फेंककर जूआ खेलें

Transliteration

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | mattaḥ kaitavakenaiva yaj jito 'smi durōdare | śakune hanta dīvyāmo glahamānāḥ parasparam ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira said: “It is by sheer cheating that you have defeated me in this perilous game of dice. O Śakuni, come—let us play again, staking against one another.”

Word by Word

{'yudhiṣṭhira uvāca''Yudhiṣṭhira said', 'mattaḥ': 'from me

against me', 'kaitavakena''by cheating, by fraud, by deceit (instrumental)', 'eva': 'indeed, precisely, only', 'yat': 'that

inasmuch as', "jitaḥ asmi (jito 'smi)"'I have been defeated', 'durōdare': 'in the dangerous/ruinous dice-game

in the ill-fated gambling', 'śakune''O Śakuni (vocative)', 'hanta': 'come!, well then!, indeed (an interjection urging action)', 'dīvyāmaḥ (dīvyāmo)': 'let us play (dice)

let us gamble (1st person dual, optative/imperative sense)', 'glahamānāḥ''staking, wagering, making a bet (present participle, plural used idiomatically)', 'parasparam': 'with each other

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

Śakuni

dice (dīvyā / dyūta)

wager/stake (glaha)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical danger of gambling and the corrosive power of deceit: even when one recognizes fraud, pride, wounded honor, and attachment to the game can drive a person to re-enter a harmful contest, deepening moral and practical ruin.

What is happening in the narrative?

After being defeated through Śakuni’s trickery in the dice match, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Śakuni directly and calls for another round of play, proposing that they wager against each other again—an action that intensifies the unfolding catastrophe in the dice-hall.