Shloka 4
अध्याय ६६: पुनर्द्यूत-प्रस्तावः
Proposal for a Renewed Dice Game
न हि दासीत्वमापन्ना कृष्णा भवितुमहति । अनीशेन हि राज्जैषा पणे न्यस्तेति मे मति:
na hi dāsītvam āpannā kṛṣṇā bhavitum arhati | anīśena hi rājñaiṣā paṇe nyasteti me matiḥ ||
Vidura declares that Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī) cannot rightly be reduced to the status of a slave. In his judgment, she was staked in the gambling match by a king who no longer had authority over her—having already lost his own freedom—so the wager itself is ethically and legally invalid.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Authority and moral agency matter in ethical and legal acts: a person who has lost his own freedom cannot legitimately stake another person. Vidura upholds dharma by rejecting the reduction of Draupadī to slavery and by challenging the validity of an unjust wager.
In the aftermath of the dice-game stakes, Vidura speaks in the royal assembly, arguing that Draupadī cannot be treated as a slave because she was wagered by a king who had already become powerless (having lost himself). He frames the stake as invalid and calls attention to the assembly’s duty to uphold justice.