Shloka 12
Ghaṭotkaca’s Conveyance to Badarī and Entry into the Nara-Nārāyaṇa Āśrama (घटोत्कच-वाहनम्; नरनारायणाश्रम-प्रवेशः)
किमिदं द्यूतकामेन मया कृतमबुद्धिना । आदाय कृष्णां चरता वने मृगगणायुते,मुझ मूर्खने द्यूतक्रीड़ाकी कामनामें फँसकर यह क्या कर डाला? अहो! सहसोरों मृगसमूहोंसे भरे हुए इस भयानक वनमें द्रौपदीको साथ लेकर हमें विचरना पड़ा है
kim idaṁ dyūtakāmena mayā kṛtam abuddhinā | ādāya kṛṣṇāṁ caratā vane mṛga-gaṇāyute ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “What is this that I, in my folly, have done—driven by the craving for dice? Taking Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī) with us, we have been forced to wander in the forest, crowded with herds of deer.” In this lament he judges his own lapse in self-mastery: a moment of addiction and imprudence has turned royal duty into exile, and has made Draupadī share the hardship that should never have been hers.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Unchecked desire (kāma), especially in the form of gambling, clouds judgment (abuddhi) and leads to actions whose consequences harm not only oneself but also the innocent—here, Draupadī. The verse foregrounds moral accountability: Yudhiṣṭhira does not shift blame but recognizes his lapse in self-mastery and its ethical cost.
In the aftermath of the dice-game disaster, Yudhiṣṭhira laments that his gambling-craving led him to ruin and exile. He reflects bitterly that the Pāṇḍavas must now roam the forest, and that Draupadī (Kṛṣṇā) has been compelled to share this harsh wandering among wild herds.