Shloka 5
Kuntī’s Consolation to Draupadī and Lament for the Dispossessed Pandavas (सभा पर्व, अध्याय 70)
धर्मे स्थितो धर्मसुतो महात्मा स्वयं चेद॑ कथयव्विन्द्रकल्प: । ईशो वा ते ह्नीशो5थ वैष वाक्यादस्य क्षिप्रमेके भजस्व
dharme sthito dharmasuto mahātmā svayaṃ ced atra kathayatu indrakalpaḥ | īśo vā te ’nīśo ’tha vaiṣa vākyād asya kṣipram ekaṃ bhajasva, he dharmaputra ||
难敌说道：“法之子坚战（尤提士提罗）大魂宏量，恒住于法，威光如因陀罗；当由他亲口在此宣明：他究竟有无权将你押作赌注？依他自己的陈述，你须速择其一——为奴之缚，或脱奴之身。”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a legal-ethical dilemma: whether a person who has already lost his own freedom can still exercise ownership/authority to stake another. It highlights how appeals to “dharma” can be weaponized in political settings to legitimize coercion and force a humiliating binary choice.
In the dice-hall dispute, Duryodhana presses the issue of Draupadī’s status by demanding that Yudhiṣṭhira publicly declare whether he had the right to wager her. He then insists that, based on Yudhiṣṭhira’s answer, she must immediately accept either slavery or freedom.