Shloka 43
Nala’s Embassy to Damayantī and the Gods’ Proposal (नलस्य दूतत्वं देवप्रस्तावश्च)
अक्षद्यूते च भगवन् धन राज्यं च मे हृतम् | आहूय निकृतिप्रज्जै: कितवैरक्षकोविदै:,“भगवन्! पासे फेंककर खेले जानेवाले जूएके लिये मुझे बुलाकर छल-कपटमें कुशल तथा पासा डालनेकी कलामें निपुण धूर्त जुआरियोंने मेरे सारे धन तथा राज्यका अपहरण कर लिया है
akṣadyūte ca bhagavan dhanaṁ rājyaṁ ca me hṛtam | āhūya nikṛtiprajñaiḥ kitavair akṣakovidaiḥ |
“O kagalang-galang, sa sugal na may dice ay naagaw sa akin ang aking yaman at kaharian. Tinawag nila ako, at ang mga sugarol na mapanlinlang—dalubhasa sa pandaraya at bihasa sa paghagis ng dice—ay ninakawan ako ng lahat.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical danger of gambling and the adharma of deceit: when a contest is engineered through fraud and unequal skill, it becomes a vehicle for dispossession and moral collapse, undermining rightful kingship and social order.
The speaker reports that the protagonist was summoned to a dice-game and, facing crafty gamblers skilled with dice, was cheated and thereby deprived of both wealth and kingdom—setting the stage for exile and the ensuing consequences.