युधिष्ठिर उवाच
मत्तः कैतवकेनैव यज् जितो ऽस्मि दुरोदरम् ॥
शकुने हन्त दीव्यामो ग्लहमानाः सहस्रशः ॥
इमे निष्कसहस्रस्य कुण्डिनो भरिताः शतम् ॥
कोशो हिरण्यम् अक्षय्यं जातरूपम् अनेकशः ॥
एतद् राजन् धनं मह्यं तेन दीव्याम्य् अहं त्वया ॥
वैशंपायन उवाच
इत्य् उक्तः शकुनिः प्राह जितम् इत्य् एव तं नृपम् ॥
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca
mattaḥ kaitavakenaiva yaj jito 'smi durodaram ||
śakune hanta dīvyāmo glahamānāḥ sahasraśaḥ ||
ime niṣkasahasrasya kuṇḍino bharitāḥ śatam ||
kośo hiraṇyam akṣayyaṃ jātarūpam anekaśaḥ ||
etad rājan dhanaṃ mahyaṃ tena dīvyāmy ahaṃ tvayā ||
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
ity uktaḥ śakuniḥ prāha jitam ity eva taṃ nṛpam ||
[Yudhishthira:] "Since I have been beaten by a gambler at this game, — well then, Shakuni, let us play, staking riches by the thousand. Here are a hundred pots, each filled with a thousand nishkas, an inexhaustible treasury of gold, minted gold beyond counting." To him thus addressed, Shakuni said only: "Won!"
18a06831bbca · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:03:36 PM UTC
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No sooner has he lost than Yudhishthira does not withdraw but doubles the stake: "let us play by the thousand." It is telling that even the righteous man, once drawn into a wrongful act, is carried by its own momentum: the loser seeks to win back his loss, and so the trap draws tighter. The verse teaches the cunning of sin once begun: the first step begets a second, and the one who has entered finds it ever harder to leave. And the brief "Won!" answering the abundance of words about the stake reveals an inequality: the victim speaks at length, deceit answers with a single word — for the outcome is already decided. Thus an abyss opens: after a pot of gold will follow the whole kingdom; the beginning of ruin is small, but its slope is steep.