Shloka 14
पर्यानयेत् सभामध्ये विना दुर्द्यूतदेविनम् । स्त्रीधर्मिणी वरारोहा शोणितेन परिप्लुता,पांचालराजकुमारी द्रौपदी तपस्विनी है। उसका जन्म किसी मानवी स्त्रीके गर्भसे नहीं हुआ है, वह अग्निके कुलमें उत्पन्न हुई और अनुपम सुन्दरी है। वह सब धर्मोको जाननेवाली तथा यशस्विनी है। उसे भरी सभामें खींचकर लानेवाले दुष्टोंने भयंकर तथा रोंगटे खड़े कर देनेवाले घमासान युद्धकी सम्भावना उत्पन्न कर दी है। अधर्मपूर्वक जूआ खेलनेवाले दुर्योधनके सिवा कौन है, जो द्रौपदीको सभामें बुला सके। सुन्दर शरीरवाली पांचालराजकुमारी स्त्रीधर्मसे युक्त (रजस्वला) थी। उसका वस्त्र रक्तसे सना हुआ था। वह एक ही साड़ी पहने हुए थी। उसने सभामें आकर पाण्डवोंको देखा। उन पाण्डवोंके धन, राज्य, वस्त्र और लक्ष्मी सबका अपहरण हो चुका था। वे सम्पूर्ण मनोवांछित भोगोंसे वंचित हो दासभावको प्राप्त हो गये थे। धर्मके बन्धनमें बँधे रहनेके कारण वे पराक्रम दिखानेमें भी असमर्थ-से हो रहे थे
sañjaya uvāca | paryānayet sabhāmadhye vinā durdyūtadevinam | strīdharmiṇī varārohā śoṇitena pariplutā | pāñcālarājakumārī draupadī tapasvinī ||
Sañjaya said: “Who, except that wicked Duryodhana—addicted to unrighteous gambling—could order Draupadī, the princess of Pāñcāla, to be brought into the assembly? She is a woman of virtue, of noble form, and at that time she was in the condition proper to womanhood (in her courses), her garment stained with blood. Yet the cruel men dragged her into the royal hall, thereby sowing the seed of a dreadful, hair-raising war. Entering the assembly, she saw the Pāṇḍavas—robbed of wealth, kingdom, clothing, and splendor—reduced to servitude, and, bound by their own sense of dharma, seemingly unable to display their valor.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames the summoning of Draupadī as a grave breach of dharma: power gained through adharma (unrighteous gambling and coercion) leads to moral collapse and becomes the seed of catastrophic violence. It highlights that violating the dignity and protections owed to a woman in a royal court is not a private wrong but a social and cosmic disorder that invites retribution.
After the Pāṇḍavas have been defeated in the dice game and stripped of their status, Draupadī is forcibly brought into the assembly despite being in a vulnerable condition. Sañjaya underscores the cruelty and impropriety of this act and points to it as a decisive provocation that makes a terrible war all but inevitable.