Shloka 19
दमयन्त्याः अरण्यविहारः — Damayantī’s Passage through the Wilderness
येषां कृते न सत्कारमकुर्वन् मयि नैषधा: । इमे ते शकुना भूत्वा वासो भीरु हरन्ति मे,राजन्! उन पासोंको नजदीकसे जाते देख और अपने-आपको नग्नावस्थामें पाकर पुण्यश्लोक नलने उस समय दमयन्तीसे कहा--'सती साध्वी रानी! जिनके क्रोधसे मेरा ऐश्वर्य छिन गया, मैं क्षुधापीड़ित एवं दु:खित होकर जीवन-निर्वाहके लिये अन्नतक नहीं पा रहा हूँ और जिनके कारण निषधदेशकी प्रजाने मेरा सत्कार नहीं किया, भीरु! वे ही ये पासे हैं, जो पक्षी होकर मेरा वस्त्र लिये जा रहे हैं
yeṣāṁ kṛte na satkāram akurvan mayi naiṣadhāḥ | ime te śakunā bhūtvā vāso bhīru haranti me, rājan |
Bṛhadaśva said: “O King! Those very dice, because of whom the people of Niṣadha no longer honored me, have now become birds and are carrying away my garment, O timid one.”
बृहृदश्च उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the cascading ethical and social consequences of adharma-driven gambling: loss of honor (satkāra), loss of status, and continuing suffering. It underscores how a single moral lapse can unravel kingship and dignity, and how one’s former instruments of vice can seem to pursue one even after the initial fall.
During Nala’s exile and distress, birds snatch away his clothing. Nala interprets this as the same dice that ruined him now taking a new form to torment him further, and he speaks to Damayantī (addressed as bhīru) about this continuing persecution and the loss of respect he suffered among the Naiṣadhas.