Shloka 10

Saṃjaya’s Warning to Dhṛtarāṣṭra: Accountability, Alliance-Shift, and the Pāṇḍava Strategic Edge

Devanagari script

कुमारवच्च स्मयसे द्यूते विनिकृतेषु यत्‌ । पाण्डवेषु वने राजन प्रव्रजत्सु पुन: पुनः:

Transliteration

kumāravac ca smayase dyūte vinikṛteṣu yat | pāṇḍaveṣu vane rājan pravrajatsu punaḥ punaḥ ||

Translation

அரசே! சூதாட்டத்தில் வஞ்சகமாக நடந்ததைக் கண்டு நீங்கள் குழந்தை போலச் சிரிக்கிறீர்; பாண்டவர்கள் வனத்திற்குப் புறப்பட்டுச் செல்லும் போதும் நீங்கள் மீண்டும் மீண்டும் சிரிக்கிறீர்.

Word by Word

कुमारवत्like a boy

चand

स्मयसेyou smile / you are pleased

द्यूतेin the game of dice

विनिकृतेषुwhen (they) were cheated / in the cheated (ones)

यत्since / that

पाण्डवेषुwhen the Pāṇḍavas (were...) / among the Pāṇḍavas

वनेin the forest

राजन्O king

प्रव्रजत्सुwhile (they) were going into exile / departing

पुनःagain

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Pāṇḍavas

dyūta (dice-game)

vana (forest/exile)

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Taking delight in wrongdoing—especially fraud and the suffering it causes—reveals moral immaturity and a failure of kingship. The verse censures the king’s complacent pleasure in an unjust dice-game and its cruel consequence: the repeated exile of the righteous.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya rebukes Dhṛtarāṣṭra, pointing out that he smiles childishly at the deceit in the dice match and continues to do so as the Pāṇḍavas are repeatedly sent away to the forest—highlighting the king’s complicity and lack of remorse.