Shloka 1

सभा-पर्व, अध्याय ६१ — द्रौपदी-प्रश्नः, सभाधर्मः, सत्यवचन-नियमः

Devanagari script

/ भीकम (2 अमान एकषेष्टितमो< ध्याय: जूएमें शकुनिके छलसे प्रत्येक दाँवपर युधिष्ठिरकी हार युधिछिर उवाच मत्त: कैतवकेनैव यज्जितो<5स्मि दुरोदरे । शकुने हन्त दीव्यामो ग्लहमाना: परस्परम्‌

Transliteration

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | mattaḥ kaitavakenaiva yaj jito 'smi durōdare | śakune hanta dīvyāmo glahamānāḥ parasparam ||

Translation

یُدھشٹھِر نے کہا—اے شکنی! اس ہولناک جُوئے میں تُو نے محض فریب سے مجھے ہرایا ہے؛ اسی پر تُو اتراتا ہے۔ آ، ہم پھر ایک دوسرے کے مقابل داؤ لگا کر پاسے کھیلیں۔

Word by Word

• {'yudhiṣṭhira uvāca': 'Yudhiṣṭhira said', 'mattaḥ': 'from me

• against me', 'kaitavakena': 'by cheating, by fraud, by deceit (instrumental)', 'eva': 'indeed, precisely, only', 'yat': 'that

• inasmuch as', "jitaḥ asmi (jito 'smi)": 'I have been defeated', 'durōdare': 'in the dangerous/ruinous dice-game

• in the ill-fated gambling', 'śakune': 'O Śakuni (vocative)', 'hanta': 'come!, well then!, indeed (an interjection urging action)', 'dīvyāmaḥ (dīvyāmo)': 'let us play (dice)

• let us gamble (1st person dual, optative/imperative sense)', 'glahamānāḥ': 'staking, wagering, making a bet (present participle, plural used idiomatically)', 'parasparam': 'with each other

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Śakuni
• dice (dīvyā / dyūta)
• wager/stake (glaha)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical danger of gambling and the corrosive power of deceit: even when one recognizes fraud, pride, wounded honor, and attachment to the game can drive a person to re-enter a harmful contest, deepening moral and practical ruin.

What is happening in the narrative?

After being defeated through Śakuni’s trickery in the dice match, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Śakuni directly and calls for another round of play, proposing that they wager against each other again—an action that intensifies the unfolding catastrophe in the dice-hall.