The Mythology Book

202

T

he Game of Dice is a

pivotal moment in India’s

epic, the Mahabharata.

Thought to be the longest poem

ever composed, the Mahabharata

is a collection of stories that reflect

the history and culture of Hindu

civilization and tell the stories of

families feuding for power.

The Game of Dice tells of the

legendary conflict between two

branches of an Indian ruling family,

Dushasana tries to unravel

Draupadi’s sari, but Krishna protects

her modesty. She is standing on the

cross-shaped board of the dice game,

chaupar, still played in India today.

the Pandavas and the Kauravas.

Gambling with dice was a sacred

ritual: kings could not refuse a

game of dice any more than they

could a battle. It was linked to the

concept of daiva (fate) and the

O KING, IT IS

WRONG TO

GAMBLE ONESELF!

THE GAME OF DICE

IN BRIEF

THEME

War between relatives

SOURCE

Mahabharata, Vyasa, ca. 4th

century bce–2nd century ce.

SETTING

The kingdom of Kuru

(modern-day Haryana, near

Delhi), India.

KEY FIGURES

The Kauravan brothers

Duryodhana and Dushasana.

The Pandavan brothers

Yudhishthira, Arjuna,

and Bhima.

Draupadi Wife of the

Pandavan brothers.

Krishna An incarnation of

Vishnu; god of love; one of the

most revered Indian deities.

US_202-203_The-Game-of-Dice.indd 202 05/12/17 4:16 pm

ASIA 203

See also: Ahura Mazda and Ahriman 198–99 ■ Brahma creates the cosmos 200 ■ The birth of Ganesha 201 ■

The Ramayana 204–09

balance between human and

divine action. The story of the

Game of Dice illustrates dharma

(the moral order of the universe)

and the chaos that ensues when

dharma breaks down.

Draupadi’s humiliation

Duryodhana, the Kauravan prince

and eldest son of a blind king,

was envious of the Pandavan

palace. Although he had inherited

the control of much of his father’s

kingdom at Hastinapura, he was

jealous of his Pandavan cousins.

During a tour of their palace,

Duryodhana embarrassed himself

on several occasions, culminating

in his slipping and falling into a

pond. Draupadi, the wife of the

Pandavan brothers, mocked him.

Duryodhana then invited his

cousins to a game of dice. One

of them, Yudhishthira, played

and recklessly gambled away his

kingdom, his brothers, and his

wife. His loss condemned some of

his family to servitude, and others

to 12 years’ exile. When a servant

was sent to take Draupadi to the

slave quarters, the menstruating

Draupadi was in the royal bath. She

refused to leave, but was dragged

by her hair into the court.

Draupadi wore only a single

layer of fabric—a sari with no

underlayers—and was streaked

with blood. No one came to her aid

to preserve her modesty. To justify

this outrage, the men claimed that

Draupadi deserved no respect,

as she had been married to five

brothers from a single family. Their

mother had decreed that what one

brother had won should be shared

by them all.

The Kauravan brothers ordered

the five Pandavas and their wife

to be disrobed. Draupadi prayed

to Krishna, and as Duryodhana’s

brother Dushasana pulled at the

fabric on her body, each yard

was divinely reproduced. Try as

he might, he could not unravel

Draupadi’s never-ending sari.

Finally, exhausted, Dushasana

admitted defeat, and Bhima, one

of the Pandava brothers, vowed to

kill him one day in revenge.

Exile and war

Sent into exile for 12 years, the

Pandavas used this time to prepare

for war. When Krishna discovered

their plot, however, they were

forbidden from returning to their

kingdom. Krishna attempted to

mediate, but war was inevitable,

and when it came, Bhima killed

Dushasana, and all the other

Kauravan brothers were killed in

the battle. With this, the Pandavas

were the rulers of Hastinapura. ■

The Bhagavad Gita

The Mahabharata details the

power struggle between the

Kauravan and Pandavan

families, as well as the role of

Krishna, the eighth incarnation

of Vishnu, in these events. The

Gita, often seen as a spiritual

treatise, is an episode in the

Mahabharata, and details a

conversation between Krishna

and Prince Arjuna—leader of the

Pandavas—on the eve of battle

during the Kurukshetra War.

Krishna appeared to

the prince as his friend and

charioteer. When Arjuna said

that he did not want to fight and

believed killing to be wrong,

Krishna questioned his logic,

and argued that he must fulfill

his duty as dharmic protector

of his kingdom.

In awe of such philosophical

knowledge, Arjuna asked his

friend who he really was. Krishna

revealed his universal form with

multiple heads and limbs, and

Arjuna saw the universe existing

in him. Arjuna then realized his

own infinitesimal place in the

cosmos, picked up his weapon,

and fought the battle.

Mounted on Arjuna’s horse,

Krishna encourages the prince to

fight in this 17th-century illustration

from the Mahabharata.

A huge mass of cloth

wound from Draupadi’s

body lay in a heap on one

side. But the original sari

was still on her.

Mahabharata

US_202-203_The-Game-of-Dice.indd 203 06/12/17 3:01 pm