Shloka 76
Kirmīra-rākṣasa-saṃgamaḥ (Encounter and Slaying of Kirmīra) | किर्मीरेण सह भीमसेनसमागमः
अधर्मेण द्वतं राज्यं सर्वे दासा: कृतास्तथा । सभायां परिकृष्टाहमेकवस्त्रा रजस्वला,अधर्मसे सारा राज्य हरण कर लिया गया, सब पाण्डव दास बना दिये गये और मैं एकवस्त्रधारिणी रजस्वला होनेपर भी सभामें घसीटकर लायी गयी
adharmeṇa dyūtaṃ rājyaṃ sarve dāsāḥ kṛtās tathā | sabhāyāṃ parikṛṣṭāham ekavastrā rajasvalā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: By unrighteous means the gambling match was carried out and the kingdom was seized; thus all the Pāṇḍavas were made into slaves. And I—though wearing only a single garment and being in my menstrual period—was dragged into the royal assembly. The passage underscores how adharma, once admitted into public judgment, turns power into humiliation and law into violence against the vulnerable.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse condemns adharma in governance and public judgment: when power is pursued through unjust means (adharma), it legitimizes cruelty—turning free persons into slaves and violating the dignity of a woman even in a vulnerable condition—thereby corrupting the very idea of royal justice.
In the aftermath of the dice-game, the Pāṇḍavas are declared enslaved and their kingdom is taken. The speaker (contextually Draupadī’s plight as narrated by Vaiśampāyana) describes being forcibly dragged into the assembly while wearing only one garment and while menstruating, highlighting the extremity of the outrage.