वैशंपायन उवाच
एवम् उक्त्वा मताक्षस् तान् ग्लहे सर्वान् अवस्थितान् ॥
पराजयल् लोकवीरान् आक्षेपेण पृथक् पृथक् ॥
शकुनिर् उवाच
अस्ति वै ते प्रिया देवी ग्लह एको ऽपराजितः ॥
पणस्व कृष्णां पाञ्चालीं तयात्मानं पुनर् जय ॥
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
evam uktvā matākṣas tān glahe sarvān avasthitān ||
parājayal lokavīrān ākṣepeṇa pṛthak pṛthak ||
śakunir uvāca
asti vai te priyā devī glaha eko 'parājitaḥ ||
paṇasva kṛṣṇāṃ pāñcālīṃ tayātmānaṃ punar jaya ||
Thus winning, the master of the dice overcame, one by one, all those world-heroes who had been staked, with mockery alone. [Shakuni:] "You still have your beloved queen -- one stake yet unlost; stake Krishna the Panchali, and through her win yourself back again."
7ee4bad6ae41 · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:03:37 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Having reached the bottom, Shakuni proposes staking his wife -- Draupadi. It is telling that this is the last and most monstrous substitution: the queen, the faithful wife, becomes a "stake," a means to "win back." The verse teaches to what abyss deceit can bring a man: it lays hold of what is sacred and inviolable -- a woman's dignity, the very bond of marriage. And the cunning of the argument -- "win yourself back through her" -- plays on the despair of the one who has lost: the promise of recovery lures him toward the final sacrilege. But a woman cannot be won or lost like a thing: here deceit oversteps not merely the rule of the game but the very order of dharma; and this crime will cry out to heaven -- and will call down the protection of the Lord Himself.