Week 12 Reading Diary A: The Game of Dice

I found this section of Buck’s Mahabharata to be somewhat depressing because Yudhishthira loses pretty much everything in his game of dice against Duryodhana and Shakuni. If I were losing that badly in a gambling game, I would quit while I still had possession of my belongings! I’m surprised Yudhishthira doesn’t stop before it gets that bad. Luckily, Krishna comes the rescue and saves Draupadi when she is getting harassed by Duryodhana and Duhshasana. Dhritarashtra also intervenes shortly after Krishna and proceeds to return Draupadi, the rest of the Pandava brothers, and their wealth and material possessions back to Yudhishthira per Draupadi’s request. Duryodhana, enraged that Dhritarashtra has returned everything back to the Pandavas, proposes one more roll of the dice. The loser in this last throw would be thrown into exile in the forest. Unfortunately, Yudhishthira loses ones again and he and Pandavas, along with Draupadi, head to the forest to fulfill their promise of living in exile.

I think it is ridiculous how after losing everything and luckily getting everything back, that Yudhishthira still agrees to roll the dice one more time to see who would go into exile. Obviously luck wasn’t on his side, and he should’ve had better judgment in deciding whether to play again and risk everything or not. I guess the Pandavas exile though, progresses the story of the Mahabharata and leads to Arjuna’s adventures in Indra’s heaven, Amaravati.

I really enjoyed this section of the Mahabharata and can’t wait to read the second half of the reading assignment for this week!

The game of dice; Wikipedia