Shloka 10
द्वारं सुघोरं नरकस्य जिह्ां न बुध्यते धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्र: । तमन्वेतारो बहव: कुरूणां द्यूतोदये सह दुःशासनेन
dvāraṃ sughoraṃ narakasya jihvāṃ na budhyate dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putraḥ | tam anvetāro bahavaḥ kurūṇāṃ dyūtodaye saha duḥśāsanena ||
Vidura warns that Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s son does not recognize the most dreadful gateway to hell—its very tongue, as it were. At the rise of the gambling match, many among the Kurus follow him into that ruin, together with Duḥśāsana, drawn along by the same reckless impulse.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura frames the dice-game as a moral precipice: indulgence in adharma appears attractive but functions like the ‘tongue of hell’ that devours one’s discernment, reputation, and future. The warning is against blindness to consequences and against leading others into collective wrongdoing.
In the Sabha Parva context of the dyūta (gambling) episode, Vidura admonishes the Kuru court: Duryodhana fails to see that initiating the dice-game is a dreadful path to ruin, and many Kurus, along with Duḥśāsana, align themselves with him as the match begins.