The Mythology Book

(Chris Devlin) #1

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.

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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

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