Shloka 3
Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Duryodhana Saṃvāda on Restraint and Rājānīti
Chapter 50
विस्तरेणैतदिच्छामि कथ्यमान त्वया द्विज | मूलं होतद् विनाशस्य पृथिव्या द्विजसत्तम
vistareṇaitad icchāmi kathyamānaṃ tvayā dvija | mūlaṃ hy etad vināśasya pṛthivyā dvijasattama ||
阇那美阇耶说道：“我愿从你口中详尽听闻此事，噢，二次生者。噢，婆罗门中之最胜者！这赌博确是大地毁败之根本；因此请清楚而详长地为我叙述。”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames gambling (dyūta) as a destructive vice with far-reaching social and political consequences, implying that a ruler’s and society’s downfall can begin from moral weakness and addiction rather than from external enemies.
King Janamejaya urges the Brahmin narrator to recount the episode in full detail, emphasizing that the gambling affair is the fundamental cause behind the catastrophic unraveling of events affecting the whole world.