Shloka 26
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Counsel on Restraint and the Pāṇḍavas’ Authorized Return (धृतराष्ट्र-उपदेशः)
वैशम्पायन उवाच 6 सकल निकृतिं समुपाश्रित: । शकुनिर्युधिष्ठटिरमभाषत,वैशम्पायनजी कहते हैं--जनमेजय! यह सुनकर शठताका आश्रय लेकर शकुनिने उसी निश्चयके साथ युधिष्ठिरसे कहा, “यह दाँव भी मैंने ही जीता”
Vaiśampāyana uvāca — sakalāṁ nikṛtiṁ samupāśritaḥ śakuniḥ yudhiṣṭhiram abhāṣata.
वैशंपायन म्हणाले—जनमेजया! हे ऐकून संपूर्ण कपटाचा आश्रय घेऊन शकुनीने त्याच निश्चयाने युधिष्ठिरास म्हटले—“हा दावही मीच जिंकलो.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how adharma operates through deliberate deceit (nikṛti). Śakuni’s reliance on trickery contrasts with Yudhiṣṭhira’s dharmic disposition, showing that moral weakness can be exploited when one enters ethically compromised situations like the dice-game.
In the dice-game episode of the Sabha Parva, the narrator Vaiśampāyana reports that Śakuni, fully committed to deception, speaks to Yudhiṣṭhira—asserting control over the outcome and pressing the game forward through manipulative speech.