Shloka 9
पुनर्द्यूत-समाह्वानम्
Renewed Summons to the Dice-Game and Exile Wager
वैशम्पायन उवाच सभां गत्वा स चोवाच द्रौपद्यास्तद् वचस्तदा । युधिष्ठिरं नरेन्द्राणां मध्ये स्थितमिदं वच:
vaiśampāyana uvāca | sabhāṃ gatvā sa covāca draupadyās tad vacas tadā | yudhiṣṭhiraṃ narendrāṇāṃ madhye sthitam idaṃ vacaḥ |
Vaiśampāyana dit : Il se rendit alors à l’assemblée royale et, se tenant devant Yudhiṣṭhira assis au milieu des rois, transmit les paroles de Draupadī : « Draupadī te demande : alors que tu étais maître de quels biens m’as-tu perdue ? T’es-tu perdu toi-même d’abord, ou m’as-tu perdue avant tout ? »
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a dharma-based inquiry into moral and legal authority: if a person has already lost his own autonomy, he cannot ethically claim the right to wager another person. Draupadī’s question forces the assembly to examine whether power, consent, and ownership can be asserted after self-enslavement.
A messenger enters the royal hall and reports Draupadī’s pointed question to Yudhiṣṭhira in front of the gathered kings. Her message challenges the validity of the wager that purportedly made her a stake in the dice game, setting up the public debate on dharma in the sabhā.