A sitting
The Dice and the Sabha
Who plays, who is staked, and who actually says no? A game of dice is how a wife is staked. One brother speaks. The rest do not.
The game is in Dhritarashtra’s hall. Shakuni throws. Yudhishthira stakes the kingdom, the brothers, himself, and then Draupadi. Vidura has already said not to play. He is not followed.
Draupadi is dragged by the hair by Duhshasana. She asks whether a man who has already lost himself can still lose a wife. The hall has jurists in it. Most of them look at the floor. Vikarna, one of the hundred, says the stake is wrong. He is shouted down.
Dhritarashtra offers her boons. She takes the brothers’ freedom. A second game sends them to the forest for twelve years and a thirteenth in disguise. The war is that game continued by other means. Bhima’s vows — the blood, the thigh — are the sabha stored for a later morning.
Ordered cast
Source notes
Mahabharata, Sabha Parva, Ganguli. Last reviewed 12 September 2026.