Mahabharata 3.78.6 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 78, Shloka 6
Akṣa-hṛdaya-dāna and Phalāśruti of the Nalopākhyāna (अक्षहृदयदानम् / नलोपाख्यान-फलश्रुतिः)
पुन: प्रवर्ततां द्यूतमिति मे निश्चिता मति: । एकपाणेन भद्रं ते प्राणयोश्व॒ पणावहे
punaḥ pravartatāṃ dyūtam iti me niścitā matiḥ | ekapāṇena bhadraṃ te prāṇayoś ca paṇāvahe ||
బృహదశ్వుడు అన్నాడు—“మళ్లీ ద్యూతం ప్రారంభమగుగాక—ఇది నా స్థిర నిర్ణయం. ఒక్క పణంతో, నీకు మంగళం కలుగుగాక; రా, మన ప్రాణాలనైనా పణంగా పెట్టుదాం.”
बृहदश्चव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the peril of gambling: once the mind is fixed on play, the stakes escalate from wealth to life itself. Ethically, it warns how obsession and rivalry can override prudence and dharma, turning a game into self-destruction.
In Bṛhadaśva’s narration of the Nala episode, the speaker voices a firm resolve to restart the dice game and proposes a single decisive stake—so extreme that it includes wagering their very lives—showing the intensifying compulsion and confrontation around dyūta.
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