Shloka 12
अस्माभिनििर्जिता यूय॑ं वने द्वादश वत्सरान् | वसध्वं कृष्णया सार्धमजिनै: प्रतिवासिता:,“यदि हम जीत गये तो आपलोग द्रौपदीके साथ बारह वर्षोतक मृगचर्म धारण करते हुए वनमें रहें
asmābhir nirjitā yūyaṁ vane dvādaśa vatsarān | vasadhvaṁ kṛṣṇayā sārdham ajinaiḥ prativāsitāḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: “You have been defeated by us; therefore, for twelve years you must dwell in the forest, together with Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī), living in exile and clad in deerskins.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how defeat—especially through a morally fraught contest like the dice-game—can be used to impose punitive conditions that attack dignity and status. It raises ethical tension between formal rules (a wager’s terms) and dharma (fairness, compassion, and rightful conduct), foreshadowing the larger moral reckoning of the epic.
In the aftermath of the dice-game outcome, the victors declare the penalty: the defeated party must go to the forest for twelve years, accompanied by Draupadī, living as exiles and wearing deerskins—an enforced, humiliating form of ascetic hardship.