Shloka 21

Kāmyake Arjuna-viyogaḥ — The Pandavas’ despondency in Kāmyaka during Arjuna’s absence

Devanagari script

ततो$क्षह्ददयं प्रादात्‌ पाण्डवाय महात्मने । दत्त्वा चाश्वशिरो5गच्छदुपस्प्रष्ठं महातपा:

Transliteration

tato ’kṣahṛdayaṃ prādāt pāṇḍavāya mahātmane | dattvā cāśvaśiro ’gacchad upaspraṣṭuṃ mahātapāḥ ||

Translation

Then the great ascetic presented the “heart of the dice” to the noble Pāṇḍava. Having given it, that mighty man of austerity departed to perform his ritual ablutions—signaling a deliberate transfer of a potent object and a return to disciplined, purificatory conduct.

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

अक्षहृदयम्the (science/secret) of dice; the dice-manual

प्रादात्gave

पाण्डवायto the Pāṇḍava

महात्मनेto the great-souled (one)

दत्त्वाhaving given

चand

अश्वशिरःAśvaśiras (name of a being/horse-headed one)

अगच्छत्went

उपस्प्रष्टुम्to touch; to perform ablution (by touching water)

महातपाःthe great ascetic

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Pāṇḍava (Yudhiṣṭhira, by context)

Aśvaśiras

akṣahṛdaya (special dice/‘heart of the dice’)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse juxtaposes the dangerous potency of gambling (akṣahṛdaya) with the ascetic’s return to purification (upaspraṣṭum), implicitly warning that powerful instruments affecting conduct and fate should be handled with restraint and moral clarity; discipline and purification remain the ethical counterweight to temptation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana narrates that the ascetic Aśvaśiras bestows the special object called akṣahṛdaya upon the Pāṇḍava (contextually Yudhiṣṭhira). After giving it, he departs to perform ritual ablutions, marking the completion of the gift and his withdrawal into ascetic practice.