Shloka 43
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 28: Dharmādharmalakṣaṇa in Āpad
Crisis-Discernment of Right and Wrong
न ते गतिर्विद्यते याज्ञसेनि प्रपद्य दासी धार्तराष्ट्रस्य वेश्म | पराजितास्ते पतयो न सन्ति पतिं चान्यं भाविनि त्वं वृणीष्व,संजय! द्यूतसभामें जो अन्याय हुआ था, उसे भुलाकर तुम पाण्डुनन्दन युधिष्ठिरको धर्मका उपदेश देना चाहते हो। द्रौपदीने उस दिन सभामें जाकर अत्यन्त दुष्कर और पवित्र कार्य किया कि उसने पाण्डवों तथा अपनेको महान् संकटसे बचा लिया; ठीक उसी तरह, जैसे नौका समुद्रकी अगाध जलराशिमें डूबनेसे बचा लेती है। उस सभामें कृष्णा श्वशुरजनोंके समीप खड़ी थी, तो भी सूतपुत्र कर्णने उसे अपमानित करते हुए कहा --'याज्ञसेनि! अब तेरे लिये दूसरी गति नहीं है, तू दासी बनकर दुर्योधनके महलमें चली जा। पाण्डव जूएमें अपनेको हार चुके हैं, अतः अब वे तेरे पति नहीं रहे। भाविनि! अब तू किसी दूसरेको अपना पति वरण कर ले'
na te gatir vidyate yājñaseni prapadya dāsī dhārtarāṣṭrasya veśma | parājitās te patayo na santi patiṃ cānyaṃ bhāvini tvaṃ vṛṇīṣva, saṃjaya ||
Vāyudeva said: “O Yājñasenī, there is no other course left for you. Go and submit as a maidservant in the house of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s son. Your husbands have been defeated; they are no longer your husbands. O destined one, choose another man as your husband, O Sañjaya.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how adharma operates through rhetorical coercion: an unjustly obtained ‘defeat’ is treated as legally and morally decisive to strip a woman of dignity and agency. It implicitly condemns the misuse of power and technicalities to justify humiliation.
A speaker reports the sabhā-insult: Draupadī is told she has no refuge, must become a servant in Duryodhana’s household, and should choose another husband because the Pāṇḍavas were ‘defeated’ in the dice-game—an assertion used to intensify her public dishonor.