Shloka 23
शकुनिवधः — Sahadeva’s Slaying of Śakuni
with Ulūka’s fall
सभायामहरद् यूते पुनस्तान्याहराम्यहम् । “दुराचारी सुबलपुत्र शकुनिने द्यूतसभामें छल करके जिन रत्नोंको हर लिया था, उन सबको मैं वापस ले लूँगा ।। अद्य ता अपि रोत्स्यन्ति सर्वा नागपुरे स्त्रिय:
sañjaya uvāca | sabhāyām aharad yūte punas tāny āharāmy aham | adya tā api rotsyanti sarvā nāgapure striyaḥ |
Sañjaya said: “In the dice-assembly he carried them off by gambling; now I shall bring those very treasures back again. Today, even all the women in the city of the Nāgas will weep.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Wrongful gain obtained through deceit (as in the dice-hall) invites cycles of retaliation; even when framed as ‘recovering what was stolen,’ vengeance tends to spill beyond the guilty and causes widespread suffering, especially among innocents.
The speaker (Sanjaya) reports a vow-like declaration: what was taken in the gambling assembly will be taken back. The line also predicts that the fallout of the conflict will reach far, bringing lamentation even to the women of Nāgapura.