द्रौपद्य् उवाच
लोभो धर्मस्य नाशाय भगवन् नाहम् उत्सहे ॥
अनर्हा वरम् आदातुं तृतीयं राजसत्तम ॥
एकम् आहुर् वैश्यवरं द्वौ तु क्षत्रस्त्रिया वरौ ॥
त्रयस् तु राज्ञो राजेन्द्र ब्राह्मणस्य शतं वराः ॥
पापीयांस इमे भूत्वा संतीर्णाः पतयो मम ॥
वेत्स्यन्ति चैव भद्राणि राजन् पुण्येन कर्मणा ॥
draupady uvāca
lobho dharmasya nāśāya bhagavan nāham utsahe ||
anarhā varam ādātuṃ tṛtīyaṃ rājasattama ||
ekam āhur vaiśyavaraṃ dvau tu kṣatrastriyā varau ||
trayas tu rājño rājendra brāhmaṇasya śataṃ varāḥ ||
pāpīyāṃsa ime bhūtvā saṃtīrṇāḥ patayo mama ||
vetsyanti caiva bhadrāṇi rājan puṇyena karmaṇā ||
[Dhritarashtra:] "Choose a third boon from me; you are not honored by two alone, for you are of all my daughters-in-law the best, walking the path of dharma." [Draupadi:] "Greed leads to the ruin of dharma, O lord; I do not dare; I am unworthy to take a third boon, O best of kings. It is said: one boon befits a vaishya, two the wife of a kshatriya, three a king, O Indra among kings, and a hundred boons a brahmin. These husbands of mine, having been as good as fallen, are now delivered; and they shall attain blessings, O king, by their own righteous deeds."
41442a2a493a · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:12:36 PM UTC
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Draupadi refuses the third boon — and in this refusal shines the summit of her nobility: given the chance to take, she restrains herself, for "greed leads to the ruin of dharma." Here she displays a measure her persecutors do not know: knowing a limit even in what is permitted. She also observes the subtle law of proportion in gifts by rank, allowing herself only the two befitting a kshatriya's wife — a humility that remembers its place even in the hour of triumph. And her final word is one of trust: her rescued husbands will win blessings for themselves "by righteous deeds," not by charity, but by valor. The verse teaches that true strength lies in self-restraint; that one who takes less than is allowed stands higher than one who takes all; and that the trust of the righteous rests not on another's generosity, but on the fruit of their own dharma.