The Dice Game and the Humiliation of Draupadi

Duryodhana follows the advice of his uncle, the cunning Shakuni, an infamous dice player, and invites
Yudhishthira to a game, knowing full well that gambling is his cousin's one weakness. Yudhishthira
accepts.

Duryodhana is not an original thinker, always relying on other’s ideas. His uncle gave him the idea for
the arson and the dice game. (Later during the war Duryodhana suggests capturing Yudhishthira and
playing another game, which Drona calls stupid.)

Duryodhana always threatens to commit suicide when things don’t go his way (almost comical):
“Excessive self-centeredness leads to unrealistic demands and unreasonable expectations from life”
(Chaitanya 67).

Kunti: “Duryodhana is a blind man’s son, living blindly.” (play)

Both Dhritarashtra and Yudhishthira ignore Vidura’s warning to avoid the game, leaving the results to
“supreme and unavoidable” fate. Krishna warns Bhishma not to interfere with the dice game: “If your
race must be destroyed to save dharma, would you allow it?” (play) Told by his father that a warrior’s
dharma is to fight honorably, not to win at all costs, Duryodhana says, “The way of the warrior is fixed
on victory, whether there’s dharma or adharma on his way.”

Carried away by the intoxication of the game, Yudhishthira wagers and loses all that he possesses: his
lands, his kingdom, his brothers, even himself, and eventually Draupadi, who is dragged before the
company by her hair, a special insult since a married woman’s hair was sacred.

She challenges the Kauravas with a question: how can someone who has lost himself wager someone
else in a game, but no one can answer her. Even Bhishma is confounded: “The ways of dharma are
subtle.” When even the wise Bhishma cannot resolve the question, she says, “I think time is out of joint.
The ancient eternal dharma is lost among the Kauravas.” Instead, they insult her, displaying her during
the time of her period. Karna, still stinging from his rejection at the swayamvara, calls her a harlot who
services five men. Duryodhana seeks to entice her by uncovering his thigh (obscene in that culture).
Enraged at this treatment of his wife, Bhima vows that he will one day drink Duhsasana’s blood and
break Duryodhana’s thigh.

Draupadi is about to be stripped naked when she invokes Krishna, who comes to her rescue and creates
an endless supply of cloth around her. She swears that one day she will be avenged. There will be a
great war, a war without mercy. At her curse a jackal howls. Frightened, Dhritarashtra apologizes to her
and gives her husbands' back everything they lost, but Draupadi asks nothing for herself, saying, “Greed
devours all beings and is dharma's [righteousness] ruin. I refuse greed.” (CN 55)

Seeing his advantage given away, Duryodhana insists on one more throw of the dice. Yudhishthira
agrees to a final game, but once again, he loses. The Pandavas and Draupadi are condemned to spend
twelve years in exile in the forest, and a thirteenth year in an unknown place, disguised so that no one
may recognize them. If anyone does, then they must spend another twelve years in exile.

PART TWO: EXILE

Books 3-5 tell of the twelve years of living in the forest, preceding the great war. The Pandavas are not
alone in the wilderness but are followed by many loyal brahmins and servants. The gods give them an
inexhaustible plate of food to feed all of them.

Throughout the epic, the importance of brahmins, the priestly caste, is emphasized. Yudhishthira wants
to regain his kingdom so that he can provide for 10,000 brahmins. One must never refuse a brahmin
anything (see the incident between Karna and Indra below).

The Importance of Dharma

Draupadi and Bhima reproach Yudhishthira for his inaction and resigned passivity. Since it is obvious that
Shakuni cheated at dice, wouldn't it be better to stand up and fight? Yudhishthira flatly refuses. He will
keep his word: he resolves to follow his dharma. Dharma (variously translated as social duty,
righteousness, or universal order) is the moral obligation which each human being should recognize and
follow. Failure to do so could endanger the course of the cosmos as a whole.
Draupadi cannot understand why they are suffering so, if they are the righteous ones. If everything
happens by the will of god, then why do the good suffer? It seems only the powerful escape harm, not
the righteous. Yudhishthira corrects her: "None should ever perform virtue with a desire to gain its
fruits. Such a sinful trader of virtue will never reap the results. ... Do not doubt virtue because you do
not see its results. Without doubt, the fruits of virtue will be manifest in time, as will the fruits of sin.
The fruits of true virtue are eternal and indestructible" (KD 245-6).

ANALYSIS

Temptation of Karna is a “The Book of effort”. The chapter deals with Krishna and Kunti trying to
persuade the mighty warrior, Karna, to join the sides of Pandavas in the upcoming and inevitable war,
somewhere they think he truly belongs. But Karna has a different perspective on the whole issue.

First Krishna tries to convince Karna about his true place in the war by telling him that he is not the son
of Adhiratha and Radha, in fact Kunti is his real mother and therefore the son of Pandu by dharma. He
gives references of dharma and says that those who are well versed in the sacred texts say that a son
conceived by a woman before marriage is as much hers as a son conceived by the woman after
marriage. Therefore he is a Kauntey, i.e. son of Kunti and will be recognized as such if he so chooses to
come with him to the camp of Pandavas. Krishna tempts Karna with all kinds of riches and wealth and
respect and honour. He even offers him company of Draupadi, if he so choose to side with Pandavas.
But Karna respectfully declines his proposal and remains true to his foster parents and benefactor,
Duryodhana. Having failed in his attempts to turn Karna , Krishna tells Kunti about his failed attempt of
reconciliation with the Kauravas, and then she decides to pay a visit to Karna herself. Her reason is no
different than that of Krishna, she too wants Karna to come to the side of their sons and battle against
Duryodhana, and tells him that she is his real mother and that he is the son of sun god, but Karna ,
unmoved, chides her for the way she cast him aside while he was just an infant and thus deprived him of
his rites, fame and renown. He once again declines the offer to come to Pandavas side irrespective of
comfort and luxury and wealth and victory it may bring to him, though he agrees to spare the life of four
sons of Kunti, and promises her that he will only fight to kill Arjuna, and if Arjuna falls in the battlefield
he will join the Pandavas thus retaining the number of Kunti’s sons.

The complicated aspect of this episode is not Krishna’s or Kunti’s attempt to turn Karna in their favour,
though their motives definitely require further analysis, as the idea that they simply wanted Karna to
join the side of Pandavas for his sake would not do. What complicates the matter here in this episode of
temptation of Karna is the choice that he makes when given the option to change side twice. A simple
explanation would say that his choice is because of his loyalty to his benefactor and friend Duryodhana,
which of course is true but what requires further analysis is the repercussions of his choice other than
the obvious, i.e. his death.
Karna who is well versed in the knowledge of dharma knows that the dharma lies in the battle with the
Pandavas. He also knows that victory always sides with dharma and yet he chooses to decline the offer
of being the eldest Pandava, and rejects not only power and fame but also dharma. The development of
Karna’s character happens not because he changes, but because he clings to his past identity. But then
one can argue that such a development is no development at all. It is important to understand that
Mahabharata is not a novel, but an epic poem. The nuance through which we judge and analyse a novel
does not apply to an epic like Mahabharata.

Karna’s choice is a careful and a deliberate one. It is not that he fails to understand the world that is
before him and makes his choice in naively but he very well understands the world before him and
makes his choice deliberately and consciously, And this is what makes his choice so poignant and tragic
but at the same time also interesting. If the primary goal of man’s life is to follow his dharma, and if
Karna knew that dharma lies with Pandavas then his choice to remain loyal to Duryodhana was against
dharma, which makes Karna’s choice simply and plainly wrong. Also Krishna tells him that when the
destruction is imminent at which is wrong but disguised in right is not removed from the heart. This also
clearly suggests that Karna’s decision was wrong but disguised as right. If such was the case then a
simple assertion that Karna’s choice was wrong would do, but interestingly such is not case, for dharma
is not singular, it manifests itself in multiple ways. Atma tusti or approval of one’s conscience is one of
the ways to follow dharma, and Karna decides to follow this very way. In fact not only in his choice of
being with Duryodhana, but also in his choice of considering his foster mother as his real mother. When
Kunti pays him a visit, he offers her respect but not the affection that should be there between
estranged mother and son. He conspires Radha, one who nurtured him, as his real mother. This
recognition once again comes from the conscience of Karna. How can he dessert those who helped him,
rendered him love and affection and nurtured him in the time of need.

Even though Karna knows that dharma goes with the strength, he does not want to make his choice
based on the victory in the battle. He knows that his camp is not going to win the war, he also knows
that his death is certain, but still Karna cannot go against his conscience. He decides to choose those
who chose him. One can argue that Karna chooses Duryodhana because he fails to see the evil side of
him and that he is so emotionally attached to social status given to him by Duryodhana, that he behaves
with certain naivety. But such is not the case, or Karna would never have asked Krishna to keep the
contents of the conversation between them a secret. For he knows that if Yudhishthira were to know
that Karna is the eldest Kaunteya, then he will give him the kingdom, and loyal to Duryodhana, he will
have to give the kingdom to Duryodhana, an outcome that Karna wants to avoid. Karna is aware that
Yudhishthira is a king with dharma on his side, and that he has all the qualities that a king should have.
This proves that Karna is not blind to the evil in Duryodhana and good in Pandavas, but still he chooses
to satisfy his conscience and not what tradition dictates him to do.
Another point that can be made against Karna’s choice is that he could have prevented the war by
changing sides. The destruction of human life in war certainly outweighs any concern he might have had
regarding his conscience. So when given a choice he might have acted to avoid the sacrifice of human
life in the great war. But the problem with this argument is Karna knows that the war is inevitable and
that nothing can prevent it. Krishna also confirms that war is imminent. And if it is so, then changing side
would not have helped much. In a situation like this he exhibits courage enough to live up to one’s
personal convictions, while discarding everything that might bring him comfort, luxury, wealth, and
kingdom, and other objects of desire. And moreover, Karna thinks that changing side will bring both him
and Arjuna ill fame. People will refuse to accept him as kshatriya and will think that he changed side out
of fear of death. Above anything else Karna is also a proud warrior, and cannot possibly imagine to do
anything that might blemish his image as a warrior. For Karna it was not a choice between dharma and
adharma, but friendship and betrayal; affection( his foster parents) and dejection(Kunti); and
acceptance(Duryodhana) and humiliation(Karna was humiliated by Pandavas and Draupadi).

Now coming back to the motivational forces working behind Krishna’s and Kunti’s offer to Karna, it
seems that both Krishna and Kunti had different motives in offering Karna a place in as the eldest of
Kaunteya, which he in fact was. One View is that Krishna was in fact testing Karna’s resolve to see how
easily he can yield to temptation, and that Karna passed the test. But this interpretation is too simple to
be applicable to a complicated character like Krishna. Krishna knew that Karna is a warrior equal to
Arjuna or perhaps even superior to him. He also knew that Karna possesses the ability to kill Arjuna in
the battle field. But he also knew about the true lineage of Karna and it is possible to imagine that he
might have had some sympathy with the warrior. Given all these information, it seems that Krishna
wanted Karna to change his side to minimize destruction of human life, and possibly save the life of
other Pandavas, other than Arjuna, and also save the life of Karna himself, for if Karna knew about his
death in the war, then it is safe to assume that Krishna also did.

Kunti‘s visit however was mostly motivated by her self interest. She couldn’t care much about Karna ,
and it is can be seen from the way her meeting with Karna is treated in the epic. The meeting is small,
and without much affection. Kunti offers him kingdom and he rejects it but promises to spare her four
sons, except Arjuna, and she leaves reminding him of her promise. Kunti earlier had said to Krishna that
she is afraid of Bhishma and Karna. Why? For whom? Obviously not for Arjuna, for he has Krishna with
him on his chariot. She is afraid because she knows that Karna is capable of killing all his sons, including
Arjuna, but she considers Arjuna safe because of Krishna, She then decides to visit Karna to reveal to
him that she is his real mother and that he should side with Pandavas. The question that should be
asked here is if she were somehow not afraid for the lives of her sons, would she have gone to Karna to
reveal to him who he really is? Why did she not go to him earlier, long before any possibility of war?
Karna sees through her facade and chides her. He tells her that she is acting out of self interest, and had
she been concerned about his interests she should have come to him with this information earlier. He
tells her that her treatments towards him had been most cruel. But Kunti does not even try justify her
actions, she simply leaves as soon as her sons’ safety is assured. She does not offer any justification of
actions because perhaps, she does not have any, or because she is not interested in giving him any
justification as long as her motives are satisfied.

The next part of this chapter deals with Krishna’s narration of the speeches uttered by Bhishma,, Drona,
Vidura, Gandhari, and Dhritarashtra after Krishna had made his intentions of reconciliation clear. The
speeches of the above mentioned characters are important as they reveal important information about
not only the characters but also about the law of succession and dharma and give a glimpse of the past
lineage of Kurus. Duryodhana is confronted by the above elders one by one each presenting a story that
holds strong moral conclusions. And yet the thick headed prince is unable to grasp the concept of
dharma, for he is filled with arrogance and is completely ignorant of his own evil actions.