Shloka 50
पुनर्द्यूत-समाह्वानम्
Renewed Summons to the Dice-Game and Exile Wager
द्रौपहुवाच आहूय राजा कुशलैरनार्य॑- दुष्टात्मभिनैकृतिकेः सभायाम् । द्यूतप्रियैनातिकृतप्रयत्न: कस्मादयं नाम निसृष्टकाम:
drauapady uvāca—āhūya rājānaṁ kuśalair anāryair duṣṭātmabhir naikṛtikaiḥ sabhāyām | dyūtapriyaiḥ nātikṛtaprayatnaḥ kasmād ayaṁ nāma nisṛṣṭakāmaḥ ||
Draupadī dit : «Dans l’assemblée, le roi fut mandé par des hommes habiles (dans la ruse), ignobles, à l’âme mauvaise et perfide — des intrigants épris de jeu — et la partie de dés fut lancée. Il n’est pas de ceux qui se sont longtemps exercés au jeu ; pourquoi donc ce désir de jouer a-t-il été déchaîné en lui ?»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights ethical scrutiny of vice and manipulation: even a generally righteous person can be drawn into wrongdoing when surrounded by deceitful influences, and society must question the causes—personal weakness, external coercion, and the moral culpability of those who engineer the fall.
Draupadī challenges the circumstances of the dice match: Yudhiṣṭhira, not habitually trained in gambling, was summoned into the assembly by cunning, ignoble men who love dice, and she asks why the urge to gamble was stirred in him—implying entrapment and moral wrongdoing by the instigators.