Shloka 8
Bhīmasena’s Admonition to Yudhiṣṭhira on Rājya and the Ordering of Dharma–Artha–Kāma
Book 3, Chapter 34
त्वं चापि तद् वेत्थ धनंजयश्न पुनर्यूतायागतानां सभां नः । यन्मा<ब्रवीद् धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्र एकग्लहार्थ भरतानां समक्षम्,तुम और अर्जुन दोनों इस बातको जानते हो कि जब हम पुनः द्यूतके लिये बुलाये जानेपर उस सभामें आये तो उस समय समस्त भरतवंशियोंके समक्ष धृतराष्ट्रपुत्र दुर्योधनने मुझसे एक ही दाँव लगानेके लिये इस प्रकार कहा--
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
Tvaṃ cāpi tad vettha dhanañjayaś ca punar yūtāyāgatānāṃ sabhāṃ naḥ |
Yan mām abravīd dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putra ekaglāhārthaṃ bharatānāṃ samakṣam ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “You too, and Dhanañjaya (Arjuna) as well, know this—when we came to the assembly again, having been summoned for another game of dice, then in the presence of all the Bharatas the son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra addressed me, proposing a single decisive stake.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical peril of gambling and public coercion: a ruler’s dignity and dharma can be undermined when decisions are forced in a royal assembly under social pressure, turning a ‘single wager’ into a mechanism of injustice.
Yudhiṣṭhira reminds Arjuna that they both witnessed the moment when, after being called again for dice, they entered the court and Duryodhana publicly proposed a single decisive stake before the gathered Kuru/Bharata elders.