pieces of gold; next a piece of gold so pure that it was as soft
as wax; next a
chariot set with jewels and hung all round with
golden bells; next a thousand war elephants with golden howdahs
set with diamonds; next a lakh of slaves all dressed in good
garments; next a lakh of beautiful slave girls, adorned from head
to foot with golden ornaments; next all the
remainder of his
goods; next all his cattle; and then the whole of his Raj,
excepting only the lands which had been granted to the
Brahmans.[17]
[17]`A lakh is a hundred thousand, and a crore is a hundred
lakhs, or ten millions. The Hindoo term might
therefore have
been converted into English numerals, only that it does not seem
certain that the bards meant
precisely a hundred thousand slaves,
but only a very large number. The
exceptionalclause in favour
of the Brahmans is very
significant. When the little settlement
at Indra-prastha had been swelled by the
imagination of the later
bards into an
extensive Raj, the thought may have entered the
minds of the Brahmanical compilers that in losing the Raj, the
Brahmans might have lost those free lands, known as inams or
jagheers, which are frequently granted by pious Rajas for the
subsistence of Brahmans. Hence the insertion of the
clause.'
`Now when Yudhishthira had lost his Raj, the Chieftains present
in the
pavilion were of opinion that he should cease to play, but
he would not listen to their words, but persisted in the game.
And he staked all the jewels belonging to his brothers, and he
lost them; and he staked his two younger brothers, one after the
other, and he lost them; and he then staked Arjuna, and Bhima,
and finally himself; and he lost every game. Then Sakuni said to
him:--"You have done a bad act, Yudhishthira, in gaming away
yourself and becoming a slave. But now, stake your wife,
Draupadi, and if you win the game you will again be free." And
Yudhishthira answered and said:--"I will stake Draupadi!"
And all assembled were greatly troubled and thought evil of
Yudhishthira; and his uncle Vidura put his hand to his head and
fainted away,
whilst Bhishma and Drona turned
deadly pale, and
many of the company were very
sorrowful; but Duryodhana and his
brother Duhsasana, and some others of the Kauravas, were glad in
their hearts, and
plainly manifested their joy. Then Sakuni
threw the dice, and won Draupadi for Duryodhana.
`Then all in that
assembly were in great
consternation, and the
Chieftains gazed upon one another without
speaking a word. And
Duryodhana said to his uncle Vidura:--"Go now and bring Draupadi
hither, and bid her sweep the rooms." But Vidura cried out
against him with a loud voice, and said:--"What wickedness is
this? Will you order a woman who is of noble birth, and the wife
of your own kinsman, to become a household slave? How can you
vex your brethren thus? But Draupadi has not become your slave;
for Yudhishthira lost himself before he staked his wife, and
having first become a slave, he could no longer have power to
stake Draupadi." Vidura then turned to the
assembly and said:--
"Take no heed to the words of Duryodhana, for he has lost
his senses this day." Duryodhana then said:--"A curse be upon
this Vidura, who will do nothing that I desire him."
`After this Duryodhana called one of his servants, and desired
him to go to the lodgings of the Pandavas, and bring Draupadi
into the
pavilion. And the man
departed out, and went to the
lodgings of the Pandavas, and entered the presence of Draupadi,
and said to her:--"Raja Yudhishthira has played you away, and
you have become the slave of Raja Duryodhana: So come now and do
your duty like his other slave girls." And Draupadi was
astonished at these words, and
exceedingly wroth, and she
replied:--"Whose slave was I that I could be
gambled away? And
who is such a
senseless fool as to
gamble away his own wife?"
The servant said:--"Raja Yudhishthira has lost himself, and his
four brothers, and you also, to Raja Duryodhana, and you cannot
make any
objection: Arise,
therefore, and go to the house of the
Raja!"
`Then Draupadi cried out:--"Go you now and inquire whether Raja
Yudhishthira lost me first or himself first; for if he played
away himself first, he could not stake me." So the man returned
to the
assembly, and put the question to Yudhishthira; but
Yudhishthira hung down his head with shame, and answered not a
word.
`Then Duryodhana was filled with wrath, and he cried out to his
servant:--"What waste of words is this? Go you and bring
Draupadi
hither, that if she has aught to say, she may say it in
the presence of us all." And the man essayed to go, but he
beheld the wrathful
countenance of Bhima and he was sore afraid,
and he refused to go, and remained where he was. Then Duryodhana
sent his brother Duhsasana; and Duhsasana went his way to the
lodgings of Draupadi and said:--"Raja Yudhishthira has lost you
in play to Raja Duryodhana, and he has sent for you: So arise
now, and wait upon him according to his commands; and if you have
anything to say, you can say it in the presence of the
assembly." Draupadi replied:--"The death of the Kauravas is
not far distant, since they can do such deeds as these." And
she rose up in great trepidation and set out, but when she came
near to the palace of the Maharaja, she turned aside from the
pavilion where the Chieftains were assembled, and ran away with
all speed towards the apartments of the women. And Duhsasana
hastened after her, and seized her by her hair, which was
very dark and long, and dragged her by main force into the
pavilion before all the Chieftains.
`And she cried out:--"Take your hands from off me!" But
Duhsasana heeded not her words, and said:--"You are now a slave
girl, and slave girls cannot
complain of being touched by the
hands of men."
`When the Chieftains thus
beheld Draupadi, they hung down their
heads from shame; and Draupadi called upon the elders amongst
them, such as Bhishma and Drona, to
acquaint her whether or no
Raja Yudhishthira had gamed away himself before he had staked
her; but they
likewise held down their heads and answered not a
word.
`Then she cast her eye upon the Pandavas, and her glance was like
the stabbing of a thousand daggers, but they moved not hand or
foot to help her; for when Bhima would have stepped forward to
deliver her from the hands of Duhsasana, Yudhishthira commanded
him to
forbear, and both he and the younger Pandavas were obliged
to obey the command of their elder brother.
`And when Duhsasana saw that Draupadi looked towards the
Pandavas, he took her by the hand, and drew her another way,
saying:--"Why, O slave, are you turning your eyes about you?"
And when Karna and Sakuni heard Duhsasana
calling her a slave,
they cried out:--"Well said! well said!"
`Then Draupadi wept very
bitterly, and appealed to all the
assembly,
saying:--"All of you have wives and children of your
own, and will you permit me to be treated thus? I ask you one
question, and I pray you to answer it.' Duhsasana then broke in
and spoke foul language to her, and used her
rudely, so that her
veil came off in his hands. And Bhima could
restrain his wrath
no longer, and spoke vehemently to Yudhishthira; and Arjuna
reproved him for his anger against his elder brother, but Bhima
answered:--"I will
thrust my hands into the fire before these
wretches shall treat my wife in this manner before my eyes."
`Then Duryodhana said to Draupadi:--"Come now, I pray you, and
sit upon my thigh!" And Bhima gnashed his teeth, and cried out
with a loud voice:--"Hear my vow this day! If for this deed I
do not break the thigh of Duryodhana, and drink the blood of
Duhsasana, I am not the son of Kunti!"
`Meanwhile the Chieftain Vidura had left the
assembly, and
told the blind Maharaja Dhritarashtra all that had taken place
that day; and the Maharaja ordered his servants to lead him into
the
pavilion where all the Chieftains were gathered together.
And all present were silent when they saw the Maharaja, and the
Maharaja said to Draupadi:--"O daughter, my sons have done evil
to you this day: But go now, you and your husbands, to your own
Raj, and remember not what has occurred, and let the memory of
this day be blotted out for ever." So the Pandavas made haste
with their wife Draupadi, and
departed out of the city of
Hastinapur.
`Then Duryodhana was
exceedingly wroth, and he said to his
father, "O Maharaja, is it not a
saying that when your enemy
hath fallen down, he should be annihilated without a war? And
now that we had thrown the Pandavas to the earth, and had taken
possession of all their
wealth, you have restored them all their
strength, and permitted them to depart with anger in their
hearts; and now they will prepare to make war that they may
revenge themselves upon us for all that has been done, and they
will return within a short while and slay us all: Give us
leave then, I pray you, to play another game with these Pandavas,
and let the side which loses go into exile for twelve years; for
thus and thus only can a war be prevented between ourselves and
the Pandavas." And the Maharaja granted the request of his son,
and messengers were sent to bring back the brethren; and the
Pandavas obeyed the commands of their uncle, and returned to his
presence; and it was agreed upon that Yudhishthira should play
one game more with Sakuni, and that if Yudhishthira won the
Kauravas were to go into exile, and that if Sakuni won, the
Pandavas were to go into exile; and the exile was to be for
twelve years, and one year more; and during that thirteenth year
those who were in exile were to dwell in any city they pleased,
but to keep themselves so concealed that the others should never
discover them; and if the others did discover them before the
thirteenth year was over, then those who were in exile were to
continue so for another thirteen years. So they sat down again
to play, and Sakuni had a set of cheating dice as before, and
with them he won the game.
`When Duhsasana saw that Sakuni had won the game, he danced
about for joy; and he cried out:--"Now is established the Raj of
Duryodhana." But Bhima said, "Be not elated with joy, but
remember my words: The day will come when I will drink your
blood, or I am not the son of Kunti." And the Pandavas, seeing
that they had lost, threw off their garments and put on deer-
skins, and prepared to depart into the forest with their wife and
mother, and their
priest Dhaumya; but Vidura said to
Yudhishthira:--"Your mother is old and unfitted to travel, so
leave her under my care;" and the Pandavas did so. And the
brethren went out from the
assemblyhanging down their heads with
shame, and covering their faces with their garments; but Bhima
threw out his long arms and looked at the Kauravas
furiously, and
Draupadi spread her long black hair over her face and wept
bitterly. And Draupadi vowed a vow,
saying:--
` "My hair shall remain dishevelled from this day, until Bhima
shall have slain Duhsasana and drank his blood; and then he shall
tie up my hair again
whilst his hands are dripping with the blood
of Duhsasana." '
Such was the great gambling match at Hastinapur in the
heroic age
of India. It appears there can be little doubt of the truth
of the
incident, although the verisimilitude would have been more
complete without the
perpetualwinning of the cheat Sakuni--which
would be calculated to
arouse the
suspicion of Yudhishthira, and
which could scarcely be indulged in by a
professional cheat,
mindful of the
suspicion it would excite.
Throughout the
narrative, however, there is a truthfulness to
human nature, and a truthfulness to that particular phase of
human nature which is pre-eminently manifested by a high-minded
race in its
primitive stage of civilization.
To our modern minds the main interest of the story begins from
the moment that Draupadi was lost; but it must be remembered that
among that ancient people, where women were
chiefly prized on
sensual grounds, such stakes were
evidently recognized.