Shloka 43
Nala’s Embassy to Damayantī and the Gods’ Proposal (नलस्य दूतत्वं देवप्रस्तावश्च)
अक्षद्यूते च भगवन् धन राज्यं च मे हृतम् | आहूय निकृतिप्रज्जै: कितवैरक्षकोविदै:,“भगवन्! पासे फेंककर खेले जानेवाले जूएके लिये मुझे बुलाकर छल-कपटमें कुशल तथा पासा डालनेकी कलामें निपुण धूर्त जुआरियोंने मेरे सारे धन तथा राज्यका अपहरण कर लिया है
akṣadyūte ca bhagavan dhanaṁ rājyaṁ ca me hṛtam | āhūya nikṛtiprajñaiḥ kitavair akṣakovidaiḥ |
“भगवन्! अक्षद्यूतात मला बोलावून, कपटात कुशल व पासा टाकण्यात निपुण अशा धूर्त जुगाऱ्यांनी माझे धन आणि राज्य हिरावून घेतले आहे.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical danger of gambling and the adharma of deceit: when a contest is engineered through fraud and unequal skill, it becomes a vehicle for dispossession and moral collapse, undermining rightful kingship and social order.
The speaker reports that the protagonist was summoned to a dice-game and, facing crafty gamblers skilled with dice, was cheated and thereby deprived of both wealth and kingdom—setting the stage for exile and the ensuing consequences.