Shloka 1
पाण्डवानां वनप्रस्थानवर्णनम् / The Pāṇḍavas’ Departure for the Forest
Vidura’s Report and Portents
/ है ० बक। है २ एकसप्ततितमो<्ध्याय: कर्ण और दुर्योधनके वचन
karṇa uvāca | trayaḥ kileme 'dhanā bhavanti dāsaḥ putraś ca svatantrā ca nārī | dāsasya patnī tv adhanasya bhadre hīneśvarā dāsadhanaṃ ca sarvam ||
Karna said: “O noble Draupadī, three are said to have no independent right to property: a slave, a son, and a woman who remains under another’s control. And, O lady, the wife of a slave whose master’s fortune has fallen—together with the slave’s entire wealth—lies under the authority of that slave’s owner.”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates how appeals to social/legal categories can be used to rationalize injustice. In the dice-hall context, Karṇa’s claim denies Draupadī autonomy by treating dependent persons as lacking property-rights, showing a collapse of dharma when power and rhetoric override compassion and moral restraint.
During the Kaurava-led dice-hall humiliation, Karṇa speaks against Draupadī, arguing that a slave, a son, and a dependent woman have no independent claim to wealth or self-determination. This supports the attempt to treat Draupadī as a transferable object after Yudhiṣṭhira’s loss, escalating the assembly’s wrongdoing.