Draupadi - The Game of Dice

The Game of Dice

This key incident is often considered to mark a definitive moment in the story of Mahābhārata. It is one of the driving reasons that ultimately led to the Mahābhārata war, though it cannot be considered the central or the most important one.

Yudhishthira and his four brothers were the rulers of Indraprastha under the sovereignty of King Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra’s son Duryodhana who resided in the capital of the empire Hastinapura was always jealous of his cousins and the wealth they had acquired by building Indraprastha. To take revenge on the Pandavas, his uncle Shakuni came up with a plan and together with his brothers, his friend Karna and maternal uncle Shakuni, he conspired to call the Pandavas at Hastinapura and win their kingdoms in a game of gambling. Shakuni was skilled at winning by unfair means. The idea was that Shakuni would play against Yudhishthira and win at the gambling table what was impossible to win at the battlefield.

As the game proceeded, Yudhishthira lost all his wealth and kingdom one by one. Having lost all material wealth, he went on to put his brothers at stake one by one and lost them too. Ultimately he put himself at stake, and lost again. All the Pandavas were now the servants of Kauravas. But for the Shakuni, the humiliation of Pandavas was not complete. He prods Yudhishthira that he has not lost everything yet; Yudhishthira still has Draupadi with him and if he wishes he can win everything back by putting Draupadi at stake. Yudhishthira walks into the trap and to the horror of everybody present, puts Draupadi as a bet for the next round. But Bhishma and Drona oppose this move recalling that a woman cannot be put at stake even if it is their own wife. However, Yudhishthira ignores their call and puts her at stake much to the ire of Bhishma, who in his frustration breaks his chair. Playing the next round, Shakuni wins. Duryodhana commands his younger brother Dushasana to bring her into the forum, if not forcefully. Dushasana barges into the living quarters of Draupadi, who was "clad in one piece of attire" as referring to the sari. Dushasana grabs her by the hair and brings her into the court dragging her by the hair.

Now in an emotional appeal to the elders present in the forum, Draupadi repeatedly questions the legality of the right of Yudhishthira to place her at stake when he himself had lost his freedom and as a consequence did not possess any property in the first place. Everybody remains dumbfounded. Bhishma, the patriarch of the Kaurava family and a formidable warrior, has only this explanation to offer to Draupadi - “The course of morality is subtle and even the illustrious wise in this world fail to always understand it.” Duryodhana now commands the Pandavas to strip themselves in the manner of dasa. They obey by stripping off their upper garments. Then to the horror of everybody present, Duryodhana orders Dushasana to disrobe Draupadi and he tries to disrobe Draupadi of her sari. Seeing her husbands unable to help her, Draupadi prays to Lord Krishna to protect her. A miracle occurs henceforward, which is popularly attributed to Krishna but in Vyasa's Mahabharata, Draupadi's saviour is named as Dharma (who could be just morality, the god Dharma, Krishna as the Lord of Dharma, or even Vidura or Yudhishthira, or even a logical paradox of Draupadi's question - did Yudhishthira have the right to stake her when he had already lost himself). As Dushasana unwraps layers and layers of her sari, her sari keeps getting extended. Bhima is furious at Dushasana and says, "I Bhim, Pandu's son vows until I will tear open Dushasana's chest and drink his blood I will not show my face to my ancestors." Finally, a tired Dushasana backs off without being able to strip Draupadi. Duryodhana repeatedly challenges Yudhishthira’s four brothers to disassociate themselves from Yudhishthira’s authority and take their wife back. No one dares to denounce their loyalty to their eldest brother. In order to provoke the Pandavas further, Duryodhana bares and pats his thigh looking into Draupadi’s eyes, implying that she should sit on his thigh. In rage Bhima vows in front of the entire assembly that "one day he will break that very thigh of Duryodhan in battle". When Dushasana finally stops in his attempt Draupadi vows not to tie her hair until she has decorated it with the blood of Dushasana. Acoordingly when Bheema kills Dushasana he brings a handful of Dushasana's blood and colours Draupadi's hair with it.

The only Kaurav who objects to the disrobing of Draupadi in the court is Vikarna. Vikarna also appeals the assembly to answer the questions raised by Daruapadi but in vain.

Finally, the blind monarch Dhritarashtra's conscience is stirred when his wife Gandhari who upon hearing about Drupadi's disrobing comes to the court and counsels him. He intervenes and grants Draupadi three boons. Draupadi in her first boon asks her husbands the Pandavas to be freed from bondage. In her second boon she asks for all the wealth Pandavas lost in the game of dice to be restored to them. when Dhritarashtra asks her to wish for the third boon she refuses by saying that three boons must be bequethed only on brahmanas and that ksyatriyas are fit to receive only two boons. Free from the bondage Bhima immediately proposes to his brothers to slay all Kauravas present then and there itself. Yudhishthira, however, restraints him from taking any action.

Shakuni and Duryodhana later convince Dhritarashtra to invite Pandavas for a new game of dice, with modified rules, that the loser would go for 12 years exile and another one year anonymity. Yudhisthira asks Dhritrashtra what his order would be, as Dhritrashtra being the king and elder to their own father, where Dhrithrashtra could not reply anything. Thus, Yudhisthira understanding his intention decides to play another game. It was following the defeat in this new game that Pandavas were sent into exile for 13 years.