Shloka 14
अक्षदेवन-प्रवर्तनम् | Commencement of the Dice Game
सत्यपराक्रमी सात्यकिने युधिष्ठिरके लिये छत्र धारण किया तथा अर्जुन और भीमसेनने व्यजन डुलाये ।। चामरे चापि शुद्धे द्वे यमौ जगृहतुस्तथा । उपागृह्नाद् यमिन्द्राय पुराकल्पे प्रजापति:
cāmare cāpi śuddhe dve yamau jagṛhatuḥ tathā | upāgṛhṇād yam indrāya purākalpe prajāpatiḥ ||
सत्यपराक्रमी सात्यकिर्युधिष्ठिराय छत्रमधारयत्; अर्जुनो भीमसेनश्च व्यजने व्यधुनुताम्। चामरे चापि शुद्धे द्वे यमौ जगृहतुस्तथा; यथा पुराकल्पे प्रजापतिरिन्द्राय व्यजनमुपागृह्णात्।
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how symbols of royal service (like the cāmara) communicate legitimacy and supreme honor; ethically, it warns that external reverence and ritual propriety can coexist with concealed envy and political hostility.
Duryodhana describes the ceremonial attendance at Yudhiṣṭhira’s court: the twin brothers hold the two pure cāmaras, and the scene is elevated by a mythic comparison—Prajāpati once performed the same service for Indra—intensifying the grandeur that provokes Duryodhana’s inner agitation.