Shloka 26
Gandhārī’s Lament for Bhūriśravas and Śakuni
Book 11, Chapter 24
मायया निकृतिप्रज्ञो जितवान् यो युधिष्ठिरम् । सभायां विपुलं राज्यं स पु]नर्जीवितं जित:,जो छलविद्याका पण्डित था, जिसने द्यूतसभामें मायाद्वारा युधिष्ठिर तथा उनके विशाल राज्यको जीत लिया था, वही फिर अपना जीवन भी हार गया
māyayā nikṛtiprajño jitavān yo yudhiṣṭhiram | sabhāyāṃ vipulaṃ rājyaṃ sa punar jīvitam api jitaḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: The man who, skilled in deceit and illusion, defeated Yudhiṣṭhira and won his vast kingdom in the royal assembly—he, in turn, was later defeated and even lost his own life. Thus does adharma recoil: victory gained by fraud does not endure, and the deceiver meets ruin.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Victory obtained through māyā (deceit) is unstable and morally self-defeating; adharma rebounds upon the doer, leading ultimately to downfall—even to the loss of life.
The narrator recalls the gambler who used deception to win Yudhiṣṭhira’s vast kingdom in the assembly; later, that same person is himself overcome and loses his life, highlighting retributive consequence in the epic’s moral frame.