Shloka 14

Devanagari script

असांनिध्यं तु कौरव्य ममानर्तेष्वभूत्‌ तदा | येनेदं व्यसन प्राप्ता भवन्तो द्यूतकारितम्‌,कुरुश्रेष्ठ! मैं उन दिनों आनर्तदेशमें ही नहीं था, इसीलिये आपलोगोंपर यह द्यूतजनित संकट आ गया

Transliteration

asānnidhyaṃ tu kauravya mamānarteṣv abhūt tadā | yenedaṃ vyasanaṃ prāptā bhavanto dyūtakāritam kuruśreṣṭha |

Translation

Wahai keturunan Kuru, saat itu aku tidak berada di negeri Ānarta. Karena ketidakhadiranku itulah, wahai yang terbaik di antara Kurus, kalian jatuh ke dalam malapetaka ini—bencana yang ditimbulkan oleh perjudian.

Word by Word

असांनिध्यम्absence, non-presence

तुbut, indeed

कौरव्यO descendant of Kuru

ममof me, my

अनर्तेषुin the Anarta country/region

अभूत्was, occurred

तदाthen, at that time

येनby which, because of which

इदम्this

व्यसनम्calamity, misfortune

प्राप्ताःhaving obtained, having come upon

भवन्तःyou (honorific, plural)

द्यूतकारितम्caused by gambling

कुरुश्रेष्ठO best of the Kurus

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vāyu (Vāyudeva)

Kuru lineage (Kauravya/Kuruśreṣṭha addressee)

Ānarta (region)

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 frames gambling as an ethically destructive cause of ruin (vyasana) and highlights how the absence of a protective or guiding presence can allow adharma-driven events to unfold. It implicitly warns that dyūta (gambling) invites calamity and social collapse.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu addresses a Kuru prince and explains that he was not present in Ānarta at the relevant time; due to that absence, the Kuru heroes suffered a crisis brought on by the dice-game—an allusion to the chain of events triggered by the infamous gambling match.