युधिष्ठिर उवाच
अयं धर्मान् सहदेवो ऽनुशास्ति; लोके ह्य् अस्मिन् पण्डिताख्यां गतश् च ॥
अनर्हता राजपुत्रेण तेन; त्वया दीव्याम्य् अप्रियवत् प्रियेण ॥
वैशंपायन उवाच
एतच् छ्रुत्वा व्यवसितो निकृतिं समुपाश्रितः ॥
जितम् इत्य् एव शकुनिर् युधिष्ठिरम् अभाषत ॥
शकुनिर् उवाच
माद्रीपुत्रौ प्रियौ राजंस् तवेमौ विजितौ मया ॥
गरीयांसौ तु ते मन्ये भीमसेनधनंजयौ ॥
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca
ayaṃ dharmān sahadevo 'nuśāsti; loke hy asmin paṇḍitākhyāṃ gataś ca ||
anarhatā rājaputreṇa tena; tvayā dīvyāmy apriyavat priyeṇa ||
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
etac chrutvā vyavasito nikṛtiṃ samupāśritaḥ ||
jitam ity eva śakunir yudhiṣṭhiram abhāṣata ||
śakunir uvāca
mādrīputrau priyau rājaṃs tavemau vijitau mayā ||
garīyāṃsau tu te manye bhīmasenadhanaṃjayau ||
[Yudhishthira:] "This Sahadeva instructs in dharma and is known in this world as 'wise'; though he does not deserve it, I play with this prince, dear to me, as though he were unloved." -- "Won!" [Shakuni:] "The two sons of Madri, dear to you, O king, have been won by me; but Bhimasena and Dhananjaya, I think, you value even more."
95a747b6b6a3 · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:03:37 PM UTC
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Yudhishthira's words are sorrowful: "I play with the dear one as with one unloved." It is telling, this inner split -- he loves, and yet stakes; he honors, and yet pledges: passion forces him to treat the beloved as though indifferent. The verse teaches that gambling perverts the very feelings: it commands one to treat the dear as a thing, doing violence to the heart. And Shakuni, having won two, immediately aims at the most beloved -- Bhima and Arjuna: the predator, having taken the lesser, reaches for the greater, kindling in the victim his very love as a new lure. Thus evil turns a person's own attachments against him: the dearer someone is to you, the more desirable it becomes to take him -- and the deeper the wound.