विदुर उवाच
दुर्विभाव्यं भवति त्वादृशेन; न मन्द संबुध्यसि पाशबद्धः ॥
प्रपाते त्वं लम्बमानो न वेत्सि; व्याघ्रान् मृगः कोपयसे ऽतिबाल्यात् ॥
आशीविषाः शिरसि ते पूर्णकोशा महाविषाः ॥
मा कोपिष्ठाः सुमन्दात्मन् मा गमस् त्वं यमक्षयम् ॥
न हि दासीत्वम् आपन्ना कृष्णा भवति भारत ॥
अनीशेन हि राज्ञैषा पणे न्यस्तेति मे मतिः ॥
vidura uvāca
durvibhāvyaṃ bhavati tvādṛśena; na manda saṃbudhyasi pāśabaddhaḥ ||
prapāte tvaṃ lambamāno na vetsi; vyāghrān mṛgaḥ kopayase 'tibālyāt ||
āśīviṣāḥ śirasi te pūrṇakośā mahāviṣāḥ ||
mā kopiṣṭhāḥ sumandātman mā gamas tvaṃ yamakṣayam ||
na hi dāsītvam āpannā kṛṣṇā bhavati bhārata ||
anīśena hi rājñaiṣā paṇe nyasteti me matiḥ ||
[Vidura:] "A thing beyond comprehension is being done by one such as you; you do not understand, fool, bound as you are by the nooses [of fate]. Hanging over an abyss, you do not know [it]; like a deer, out of utter childishness, you provoke tigers. Venomous serpents, full of poison, are upon your head; do not anger them, most dull-witted one, do not go to the abode of Yama. For Krishna does not become a slave, O Bharata: she has been staked at the gambling table by a king who was [already] no longer master of himself -- such is my opinion."
0a45519c19e9 · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:03:37 PM UTC
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Vidura lays down the foundation of dharma: Krishna was not truly won, for Yudhishthira, having already lost himself, had no authority [over himself] to stake her. Telling is the fact that even at the very bottom the law reveals itself: one who has lost himself forfeits the right to dispose of others, still more of a wife. The verse teaches that what is wrongly acquired does not become one's own: a seizure contrary to dharma creates no right. And the image of the deer provoking tigers is exact: Duryodhana, imagining himself the victor, in fact hangs over an abyss. Thus, amid the triumph of falsehood, the voice of law still sounds -- not everything seized is lawfully held; and a disgrace committed against dharma has no force before its judgment.