शकुनिर् उवाच
यां त्वम् एतां श्रियं दृष्ट्वा पाण्डुपुत्रे युधिष्ठिरे ॥
तप्यसे तां हरिष्यामि द्यूतेनाहूयतां परः ॥
अगत्वा संशयम् अहम् अयुद्ध्वा च चमूमुखे ॥
अक्षान् क्षिपन्न् अक्षतः सन् विद्वान् अविदुषो जये ॥
ग्लहान् धनूंषि मे विद्धि शरान् अक्षांश् च भारत ॥
अक्षाणां हृदयं मे ज्यां रथं विद्धि ममास्तरम् ॥
śakunir uvāca
yāṃ tvam etāṃ śriyaṃ dṛṣṭvā pāṇḍuputre yudhiṣṭhire ||
tapyase tāṃ hariṣyāmi dyūtenāhūyatāṃ paraḥ ||
agatvā saṃśayam aham ayuddhvā ca camūmukhe ||
akṣān kṣipann akṣataḥ san vidvān aviduṣo jaye ||
glahān dhanūṃṣi me viddhi śarān akṣāṃś ca bhārata ||
akṣāṇāṃ hṛdayaṃ me jyāṃ rathaṃ viddhi mamāstaram ||
"That fortune which you see in Yudhishthira, son of Pandu, and which torments you — I will take it away; let the opponent be summoned to a game of dice. Without entering into the danger of the outcome and without fighting at the head of an army, merely casting the dice and remaining unharmed, I, the knowing one, shall prevail over the unknowing. Know that the stakes are my bow, my arrows and dice, O Bharata; skill in the dice is my bowstring, and know the gaming board as my chariot."
f92c7ba08854 · publicado 16 jul 2026, 16:03:36 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Shakuni boasts that he will win "without fighting," "remaining unharmed": the coward exalts the safety of deceit above the honor of battle. It is telling that he replaces the warrior's weapons with dice: bow, arrows, bowstring, chariot — all turned into instruments of trickery. The verse lays bare the essence of a dishonest victory: it seeks not valor but stratagem, not risk but certain deception. The true warrior meets his enemy face to face and risks himself; the cheat triumphs while risking nothing at all. And the very comparison of the game to battle is a mockery of kshatriya-dharma: where the honest man stakes his life, the cunning one stakes only dice — and calls it valor.