Shloka 12
Dyūta-kathā-praśnaḥ — Inquiry into the Dice-Game Calamity
त्वामेक॑ कारणं कृत्वा कालेन भरतर्षभ | समेत पार्थिव क्षत्रं क्षयं यास्यति भारत । दुर्योधनापराधेन भीमार्जुनबलेन च
tvām ekaṁ kāraṇaṁ kṛtvā kālena bharatarṣabha | sametaṁ pārthiva-kṣatraṁ kṣayaṁ yāsyati bhārata | duryodhanāparādhena bhīmārjuna-balena ca ||
Vaiśampāyana berkata: “Wahai banteng di antara kaum Bharata, dengan menjadikan engkau seorang sahaja sebagai sebab perantara, pada waktunya kelak himpunan raja-raja dan para pahlawan yang berkumpul itu akan menuju kebinasaan. Wahai keturunan Bharata, kehancuran kaum Kṣatriya ini akan terjadi kerana kesalahan Duryodhana, dan juga kerana kedahsyatan kekuatan Bhima dan Arjuna.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames large-scale catastrophe as arising from a convergence of Kāla (destined time) and human agency: one person may become the immediate ‘instrumental cause,’ but ethical blame is assigned to wrongdoing (Duryodhana’s aparādha), while the outcome is executed through the power of key actors (Bhima and Arjuna).
Vaiśampāyana foretells that, at the appointed time, the gathered kings and the warrior class will be destroyed in mutual conflict. He specifies the proximate moral trigger as Duryodhana’s transgression and identifies Bhima and Arjuna as principal forces through whom the destruction will be accomplished.