Shloka 4
Kuntī’s Consolation to Draupadī and Lament for the Dispossessed Pandavas (सभा पर्व, अध्याय 70)
दुर्योधन बोला--द्रौपदी! तुम्हारा यह प्रश्न तुम्हारे ही पति महाबली भीम, अर्जुन, सहदेव और नकुलपर छोड़ दिया जाता है। ये ही तुम्हारी पूछी हुई बातका उत्तर दें ।।
duryodhana uvāca—draupadi! tava ayam praśnaḥ tavaiva patīṃ mahābalān bhīmam arjunam sahadevam nakulam ca prati nidhīyatām; ete eva tava pṛṣṭasya vacasas uttaraṃ bruvantu. anīśvaram vibruvantu āryam adya yudhiṣṭhiram tava pāñcāli hetoḥ; kurvantu sarve cānṛtaṃ dharmarājaṃ; pāñcāli tvaṃ mokṣyase dāsabhāvāt.
Duryodhana dit : « Draupadī ! Que ta question soit remise à tes propres époux — le puissant Bhīma, Arjuna, Sahadeva et Nakula. Qu’ils répondent eux-mêmes à ce que tu as demandé. Qu’ils déclarent ici, devant ces rois illustres, que Yudhiṣṭhira n’avait nul droit de te mettre en gage. Que tous les Pāṇḍava ensemble flétrissent Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira comme menteur ; alors, ô Pāñcālī, tu seras délivrée de l’état de servitude. »
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a dharma-question of authority and moral agency: whether a person who has lost his own freedom can legitimately stake another, and whether truth can be manipulated in an assembly to serve power. It highlights how ethical reasoning can be weaponized—Duryodhana frames ‘release’ as conditional upon the Pāṇḍavas publicly discrediting Yudhiṣṭhira, turning justice into coercion.
In the Kuru assembly after the dice game, Draupadī raises a pointed legal-ethical question about Yudhiṣṭhira’s right to wager her. Duryodhana responds by shifting the burden onto the other Pāṇḍavas, demanding they declare Yudhiṣṭhira unauthorized and even false; only then, he claims, would Draupadī be freed from servitude.