Shloka 3
यदा सभायां राजानमनक्षज्ञं युधिष्ठिरम् । अजैषीच्छकुनिर्ज्ञानात् क्व ते धर्मस्तदा गत:
yadā sabhāyāṁ rājānam anakṣajñaṁ yudhiṣṭhiram | ajaiṣīc chakunir jñānāt kva te dharmas tadā gataḥ ||
Sañjaya berkata: “Ketika di balairung diraja, Śakuni—sedar sepenuhnya akan tipu dayanya—menewaskan Raja Yudhiṣṭhira yang tidak mengetahui permainan dadu, pada saat itu ke manakah perginya dharma-mu?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse indicts selective morality: one cannot claim dharma in war or judgment while ignoring blatant adharma committed earlier—especially deliberate deceit against an unskilled opponent in a public royal setting.
Sañjaya challenges the Kaurava side (implicitly Dhṛtarāṣṭra and his party) by recalling the dice-hall episode: Śakuni knowingly cheated and defeated Yudhiṣṭhira, and Sañjaya asks where their sense of dharma was at that moment.