The Game of Dice
The pivotal movement in Mahabharata is the game of dice. Several questions arise: why should a
game be a part of a ceremony as solemn as Rajsuya Yagya? Even if there has to be a game why
should it be a game of dice rather than a game of skill and valor? Further, why should the whole
action turn on the outcome of this game of dice?. One reason could be that the game of dice
represents the unforeseen challenges that a king must endure during his reign. India.
Significance of a Game or a Sport
A sport or a game can be seen on at least two levels. Creation in Hinduism is regarded as
God’s ‘lila’. This ‘lila’ takes place both on the level of God and the level of man. Hence, we have
Ramlila, Krishnalila and the like that are enactments or ‘lilas’ performed by human being of the lives or
the earthly ‘lilas’ of Rama or Krishna1. ‘Lila’ in English is translated as ‘sport’ but this is a very
inadequate word. In any case, there is no element of frivolity associated with ‘lila’ that may be
associated with sport though the ‘lila’ itself may be sportive. ‘Lila’ can be a game or a theatrical
performance. The world is a sports field or a play. God creates out of sheer joy not because he wants
to acquire or own what he creates. He also neither creates out of necessity nor because he has any
duty to create. However, since the world is his creative field or ‘lila’, an unknown tale that unfolds, it
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enables man to accept or transcend personal as well as public tragedy by seeing it as God’s mysterious
play. Also, if this is God’s ‘lila’ it is a make believe and unreal work in which man can only his role as it
comes to him as the events group and regroup kaleidoscopically. Every time the equilibrium is
disturbed, the universe regroups or readjusts unfolding unpredictable situations. Although the work is
a ‘lila’, a sport or a play, and hence unreal it has a tremendous impact because man is both an actor
and a witness in this cosmic play. Man parallels God’s ‘lila’ by himself performing ‘lila’ through which
several issues pertaining to human life can be explored and resolved for the moment.2
At another level, a sport or a game too can be seen as a make-believe arena or even a theater
of war in which winning or losing becomes a life and death matter3. In Mahabharata, the game of dice
is an attempt to settle an issue through play that can otherwise only get resolved through a decisive
war. As Sakuni says,
The fortune over which you have been grieving after you saw it at Pandu’s son Yudhishthira’s,
I shall take it from him, let the enemy be challenged ! I shall take no risk, nor fight a battle in front of
armies; I shall throw the dice and, whole of body and wise, defeat the fools! Be sure, the dice are my
bows and arrows, the heart of dice my string, the dicing rug, my chariot! 4 The Dicing (51.1)
Why a Game of Dice
Dicing is a part of the religious and cultural history of India. Gambling has two significance
in religion. It is usually discouraged or prohibited. In Hinduism gamblers are associated with thieves,
assassins and other depraved characters. They are dangerous characters utterly devoid of
truth. Dhritrashtra himself knows the perils of dicing. He tells Duryodhana:
Enough of dicing, son of Gandhari, Vidura does not approves of it. Nor would he, in his great sagacity,
tell us aught that is in bad faith that I think Vidura is speaking ……for gambling is found to be
divisive. At a breach the kingdom perishes, therefore avoid it, son. The Dicing (46.1)
Yudhishthira too knows the dangers. When Vidura goes to invite him to the game on behalf of
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Dhritrashtra, he says :
At a dicing, Steward, we surely shall quarrel.
Who, knowing this, will consent to a game? The Dicing (52.1)
Vidura is equally sure that the game will bring disaster. The most dangerous gamblers have been
assembled by Dhritrashtra but, Yudhishthira feels compelled to accept :
It is the King Dhritrashtra’s behest
So, I will not refuse, sage to go to the game
A son will always respect the father:
I shall, Vidura, do as thou tellest me.
I am not, unwilling to play Sakuni,
I were, would recklessly challenge
In that hall….Once challenged I will not refuse,
For so I have sworn for eternity. The Dicing (52.1)
Yudhishthira is well aware that he is going to his ruin:
Fate takes away our reason
As glare blinds the eye.
Man bound as with nooses
Obeys the Placer’s sway. The Dicing (52.1)
Then why does Yudhishthira knowingly go to his doom? Perhaps because it is a part of the
Rajasuya Yagya that Yudhisthira is performing and he feels he is honor bound to follow the rules and
not because he has a weakness for gambling as Sakuni would have us believe. In any case up to this
point there is no incident, which exhibits this weakness in Yudhishthira. The dice game follows the
unction and the chariot drive in the ritual. However, the question still remains why should a game and
that too a game of dice be a part of the rituals of Rajasuya Yagya.
Dicing seems to have a special significance when connected with myths and rituals. Shiva and
Parvati play dice and dicing is also a part of Deepawali the beginning of the financial year in Hindu
Society. Dicing involves uncertainty, chance, the vagaries of fortune. The dice game is representative
of the challenges that a king must endure during his reign.
