The game of Dice

The invitation
 DURYODHANA and Sakuni went to Dhritarashtra. Sakuni opened the conversation. He said: "O
king, Duryodhana is wan with grief and anxiety. You are paying no attention to his unbearable
sorrow. Why this unconcern?" Dhritarashtra who doted on his son embraced Duryodhana and
said: "I do not see why you should be disconsolate. What is here that you already do not
enjoy?
  The whole world is at your feet. When you are surrounded by all kinds of pleasures like the
very gods, why should you pine in sorrow? You have learnt the Vedas, archery, and other
sciences from the best of masters. As my first born, you have inherited the throne. What is left
you to wish for? Tell me." Duryodhana replied: "Father, like anybody else, rich or poor, I eat
and cover my nakedness, but I find life unbearable. What is the use of leading such a life?"
  And then he revealed in detail the envy and hatred that were eating into his vitals and
depriving life of its savour. He referred to the prosperity he had seen in the capital of the
Pandavas that to him was bitterer than loss of his all would have been. He burst out:
"Contentment with one's lot is not characteristic of a kshatriya. Fear and pity lower the dignity
of kings.
  My wealth and pleasures do not give me any satisfaction since I have witnessed the
greater prosperity of Yudhishthira. O king, the Pandavas have grown, while we have
shrunk." Dhritarashtra said: "Beloved child, you are the eldest son of my royal spouse
and me and heir to the glory and greatness of our renowned race. Do not cherish any
hatred towards the Pandavas. Sorrow and death will be the sole result of hatred of kith
and kin, especially when they are blameless. Tell me, why do you hate the guileless
Yudhishthira? Is not his prosperity ours too?
  Our friends are his friends. He has not the least jealousy or hatred towards us. You are
equal to him in heroism and ancestry. Why should you be jealous of your brother? No.
You should not be jealous." Thus said the old king who, though overfond of his son, did
not occasionally hesitate to say what he felt to be just. Duryodhana did not at all like the
advice of his father, and his reply was not very respectful.
  He replied: "The man without common sense, but immersed in learning, is like a
wooden ladle immersed in savoury food which it neither tastes nor benefits from. You
have much learning of statecraft but have no state wisdom at all, as your advice to me
clearly shows. The way of the world is one thing and the administration of a state is
quite another. 
  Sakuni intervened and set forth in detail his infallible plan of inviting Yudhishthira to play
the game of dice, defeating him utterly and divesting him of his all without recourse to
arms. The wicked Sakuni wound up with saying: "It is enough if you merely send for the
son of Kunti to play the game of dice. Leave the rest to me." Duryodhana added: "Sakuni
will win for me the riches of the Pandavas without a fight, if you would only agree to invite
Yudhishthira."

  Dhritarashtra said: "Your suggestion does not seem proper. Let us ask Vidura about it. He
will advise us rightly." But Duryodhana would not hear of consulting Vidura. He said to his
father: "Vidura will only give us the platitudes oordinary morality, which will not help us to
our object.  Moreover, Vidura does not like me and is partial to the Pandavas. You know
this as well as I do

 " Dhritarashtra said: "The Pandavas are strong. I do not think it wise to antagonize them.
The game of dice will only lead to enmity. The passions resulting from the game will know
no bounds. We should not do it." But Duryodhana was importunate: "Wise statesmanship
lies in casting off all fear and protecting oneself by one's own efforts. A lost opportunity
may never come again, and it is not as though we invented the game of dice to injure the
Pandavas.
 It is an ancient pastime which kshatriyas have always indulged in, and if it will now serve
us to win our cause without bloodshed, where is the harm?" Dhritarashtra replied: "Dear
son, I have grown old. Do as you like. But the line that you are taking does not appeal to
me. I am sure you will repent later. Dhritarashtra assented,  and ordered the servants to
prepare a hall of games. Yet he could not forbear consulting Vidura in secret about the
matter.
  Vidura said: "O king, this will undoubtedly bring about the ruin of our race by raising up
unquenchable hate." Dhritarashtra, who could not oppose the demand of his son, said:
"If fortune favors  us I have no fear regarding this game. If on the contrary, fortune goes
against us, how could we help it? For, destiny is all powerful. Go and invite Yudhishthira
on  my behalf to come and play dice." Thus commanded, Vidura went to Yudhishthira
with an invitation. The weak-witted Dhritarashtra, overpersuaded, yielded to the desire of
his son through his attachment to him in spite of the fact that he knew this was the way
that destiny was working itself out
THE GAME IS SET:
 A new and beautiful hall of games was constructed for this game of dice.
 Despite this warning, Yudhishthira went to Hastinapura with his brothers and retinue.
 Yudhishthira and his brothers reached hastinapura and the next morning they went to the hall of
games, after the exchange of customary greetings, Sakuni announced to Yudhishthira that the
cloth for playing the game had been spread and invited him to it.
 Yudhishthira at first said: "O king, gambling is bad. It is not through heroism or merit that one
succeeds in a game of chance.
 The keen-witted Sakuni spotted this weakness at once and said: "What is wrong with the game?
What, in fact, is a battle?
 And Sakuni added “but if you are afraid, you need not play. But do not come out with this worn
excuse of right and wrong."
 Yudhishthira replied: "Well, who is to play with me?"
 Duryodhana said: "Mine is the responsibility for finding the stakes in the form of wealth and gems to
play the game. My uncle Sakuni will actually cast the dice in my stead."
 The hall was fully crowded. Drona, Kripa, Bhishma, Vidura, and Dhritarashtra were seated there.
 The assembled princes watched the game with great interest and enthusiasm. At first they wagered
jewels and later gold, silver and then chariots and horses. Yudhishthira lost continually
 Cows, sheep, cities, villages and citizens and all other possessions were lost by Yudhishthira. Still,
drugged with misfortune, he would not stop.
 Sakuni asked: "Is there anything else that you can offer as wager?
 Yudhishthira said: "Here is the beautiful sky-complexioned Nakula. He is one of my riches. I place him
as a wager”.   And lost him.  Then 
 Yudhishthira said: "Here is my brother Sahadeva. He is famous for his infinite knowledge in all the
arts. It is wrong to bet him, still I do so. Let us play.“    And lost him too
 Yudhishthira  continued: "I offer as wager the evervictorious Arjuna who successfully voyages across
oceans of battle. Let us play." 
 Sakuni answered: "I cast the dice" and he played. Yudhishthira lost Arjuna also. 
 The stubborn madness of unbroken misfortune carried Yudhishthira further and deeper. With tears in
his eyes, he said: "O king, Bhima, my brother, is our leader in battle. He strikes terror into the heart of
demons and is equal to indra. I offer him as a bet“
 And he played again and lost Bhima too. 
 The dice thrown by Sakuni seemed at every time to obey his will. 
 The Kauravas roared with joy. “The Pandavas are our slaves now! They have to take instructions from
us. Take off your upper garments!”
 This was a symbolism of slavery – a slave was not allowed to wear an upper garment. The Pandava
brothers took off their upper garments and stood in shame. Just fifteen minutes ago, they had been
kings. Now they stood there partially disrobed, as slaves, not knowing what to do next.
The humiliation of Draupadi
 •Even though Draupadi was not present in the court, Karna suggested to Yudhishthira that he can
risk his wife Draupadi and if he wins the game he could gain back everything that’s lost including
the kingdom and his brothers and Yudhishthira risked his wife, and lost her. 
 •Immediately, Duryodhana roared in delight and he said, “Draupadi is our slave. Bring her here.”
They sent a messenger. A male messenger was generally not allowed into the queen’s chamber.
When the messenger was turned back, Duryodhana told his brother Dushasana, “Who is she to say
whether she can come or not? Go get her.” 
 •Dushasana went directly into the queen’s chamber, broke down and opened the doors and said,
“Come!” When Draupadi replied, “How dare you walk into my chambers!” he took her by the hair
and dragged her away. Her clothes were stained with blood. 
 •Then Dhushashana said to Draupadi that it does not matter anymore how they treat you because
all of the Pandavas as well as Draupadi has been made their slave after they lost the dice game and
he just pulled her by the hair through the corridors of the palace and brought her into the court. A
few people stood up and said, “This is not dharma. Never before in the court of a king has a
woman been treated like this.” But Duryodhana said, “This is the law. She is a slave. I can treat
her whichever way I want.”
 •Draupadi sat up and pleaded with Bhishma to interfere, but he put his head down. Then she asked,
“Did Yudhishthira risk me first or himself first?” They said, “Yudhishthira wagered himself first.”
 •Then Draupadi said, If he had already lost himself and he was already a slave, he had no right to
put me at stake. So the people asked Bhishma, the ultimate judge about questions of dharma and
asked Bhishma whether it’s possible for Yudhishthira to risk his wife after he host himself. The
expert in law that Bhishma was, he gravely said, “According to the dharma, even a slave has the
right over his wife. So even as a slave, he had the right to wager her.”
 • The law that was meant to be for the wellbeing of human beings became technical to a point
where in establishing accordance with the law, humanity was lost. What happened there was the
cruelest scene. And as if that was not enough, they started taunting Draupadi. According to ancient
law, if a king or a Kshatriya had no children, with his permission, his wife could bear children from
up to three other men. But if she went to a fifth man, she was considered a whore. 
 •Karna tried to shame Draupadi by saying, “She is living with five men. She is not a wife – she is a
whore. We can do whatever we want with her.” And he told Draupadi, “Why only five – now you
have a hundred!”
 Krishna’s protection
 Then Duryodhana said, “Come, Panchali, sit on my lap.”
 Enraged, Bhima said, “Today, you pointed at your thigh and asked Panchali to sit there. One day, I
will smash your thigh and kill you!” Their opponents said, “We will talk about killing later. Right
now,disrobe the woman.”
 Seeing this, Duhsasana went to Draupadi and made ready to seize her clothes by force. All earthly
aid had failed, and in the anguish of utter helplessness, she implored divine mercy and succour:
 "O Lord of the World," she wailed, "God whom I adore and trust, abandon me not in this dire
plight. You are my sole refuge. Protect me." And she fainted away.
 In vain Duhsasana toiled to strip off her garments, for as he pulled off each, ever fresh garments
were seen to clothe her body, and soon a great heap of resplendent clothes was piled up before the
assembly till Duhsasana desisted and sat down in sheer fatigue.
 fear seized Dhritarashtra’s heart. For the first time during this whole event, Dhritarashtra rose to
speak, and he said,
 “The game is over. Everyone gets back what they had before the game. Yudhishthira is still the king
of Indraprastha. Let them go back in honor.”
 Duryodhana, Karna, Dushasana, and their whole clan got very angry. Duryodhana left the sabha.
 The Pandavas got back their kingdom, their freedom, their wealth, and everything else, but the burden
of shame remained. With hanging heads, they started to walk towards Indraprastha.
 Shakuni, Karna, and Duryodhana quickly took Dhritarashtra aside and said, “This is not right. Because
of your intervention, what was a fair game resulted in an unfair outcome. We have to invite them for
just one more game. The conditions will be these:
 If they win, we will go to the forest. They can have the whole empire. If they lose, they must go to the
forest for twelve years and live incognito for one more year. After thirteen years, anyway, they can
have their kingdom back. But there must be some kind of price for the game we played.”
 Once again, Dhritarashtra got swayed by his son, and he sent out messengers to call the Pandavas
back.
 The other four brothers initially refused to go back, but Yudhishthira said, “This is the dharma. They
are calling us back. We have to go,” and he went back.
 Obviously, he lost the game, and they gave up their royal clothes, wore simple garments, and left for
the forest.
Shakuni’s Dies
 The mastermind behind the infamous game of dice in the Mahabharata was Shakuni, the maternal
uncle of the Kauravas. He had a pair of magical dice which led to the Pandavas losing their kingdom
and all their wealth.
There is a story about how Shakuni came to possess his pair of magical dice;
 Shakuni was the youngest son of the king of Gandhar. Once, Bhishma laid siege to the kingdom of
Gandhar and imprisoned the king and the princes. As per some oral traditions of India and
Indonesia, he also forced the princess Gandhari to marry Dhritarashtra, the blind Kuru prince.
 In prison, the Gandhar king and his sons were fed only one morsel of food every day. Realising that
they would all die soon, the king came up with a plan. He told the others to give their food to
Shakuni, the youngest prince, so he could outlive them and take revenge on the Kuru family.
 Eventually, when the king died, Shakuni used his bones to make a pair of dice. The dice were
magical and obeyed Shakuni’s command. They only showed the numbers that he wanted
 Eventually, Shakuni was able to use these dice to exact his revenge on the Kuru family, setting in
motion the events that led to the greatest battle in history, the Mahabharata!