Mahabharata – Loaded Dice – {Ep.268}

Today’s story is from the Mahabharata. It’s about a palace of illusions, hurt feelings, a high stakes game of chance played with loaded dice, and Yudhishtir’s weakness for gambling

Namaskar and welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

In this episode, we’re back to the main storyline of the Mahabharata.

If you haven’t binged the previous Mahabharata episodes, I welcome you to check out the links in the show notes and on the site sfipodcast.com. Regardless, I’ll recap the story so far.

The Mahabharata is one of two major epics from India, the other is the Ramayana, which we have also covered here on this show.

The Mahabharata kicked off with Bhishma who was the crown prince of Hastinapur. Bhishma gave up the throne so that his father could play the geriatric romeo. The price Bhishma paid was a promise that he would never sit on the throne, and never have children, and always serve whoever did sit on the throne. Bhishma did his best, but tragedy after tragedy struck the family. Every King who ascended to the throne seemed to quickly slide off of it as well, as if the space around the throne was littered with banana peels. Maybe it was, there were so many Kings, it’s actually possible one of them did slip on a literal banana peel.

After much confusion and turmoil, Dhritarashtra became King. Despite being blind, he was the only possible Emperor candidate in his generation. And now Dhritarashtra was getting old too. So you might think it’s a good thing he had a 100+ children, each physically able to handle the responsibilities of ruling an empire. But it was not so simple. Duryodhan was younger than Yudhishthir, the eldest of 5 boys of the previous Emperor Pandu, and Yudhishtir was certainly considered a much more sensible candidate to succeed Dhritarashtra.

This public opinion nudged the Emperor into naming Yudhishthir his crown prince much to Duryodhan’s chagrin. Duryodhan responded by inviting the Pandavas and their mother Kunti to a barbecue with themselves on the menu.

Unknown to Duryodhan, and the almost 100 Kaurava brothers, the Pandavas and Kunti, escaped. Rather than confronting Duryodhan’s dastardly deed, they decided to go on a countryside jaunt, incognito. Along the way, Bhima, the second oldest Pandava, married a demoness and had a child with her.

Arjun outdid Bhima. He found a bride not only for himself, but for each of his brothers as well. Unfortunately there was really just one bride across all 5 brothers. That was because of a ridiculous mixup worthy of a modern-day sitcom.

Dhritarashtra, and all the other Kauravas realized that the Pandavas were still alive. They summoned the brothers and Kunti back to Hastinapur. Duryodhan had already been made crown prince, and there was no chance of Yudhishthir getting his hands on the royal headgear. Duryodhan had had his name engraved on it already. The coins and banknotes and posters were all updated. Dhritarashtra, Duryodhan and Duryodhan’s uncle Shakuni, gave the Pandavas a piece of land as a compromise. The land was a very dense and inhospitable forest. 

Through hard work, a bit of help from Krishna, and the God of fire himself, Arjun cleared the forest. From the forest emerged Mayasura, the demon architect who was responsible for incredible creations including the Golden city of Lanka. In exchange for sparing his life, Mayasura promised to construct a massive palace. The likes of which no one had ever seen before.

Now Yudhishthir stood in front of the Mayasabha and remarked “Oh wow, look at this palace. It’s massive, the likes of which one one has ever seen before”

He wasn’t the only one impressed by the Mayasabha. Arjun was gushing over the fact that he had his own private Archery range – within his chambers. Nakul and Sahadeva had large enough rooms that they would need a horse to get from one side to the other. And that was fine – because their chambers had stables. Mayasura had thought of everything!

Bheema had an idea. “You know bro, how you were saying just yesterday that our little Kingdom needs a revenue source? We can use the Ring in my chambers. We can stage prime time wrestling matches there, and people will pay to see folks fight. We can charge for admissions, and the pay-per-view television rights will rake in a bunch of money. And it won’t cost us a thing – we can choreograph the fights, people will still believe it’s all real”

It was a solid idea. But Yudhishtir had bigger fish to fry.

“Before we do things like earn money, we need to express our gratitude”

“Eh,” Bheema exclaimed. Then he added “to the gods you mean?” 

“No, brothers,” Yudhishthir replied. “To Duryodhan and Uncle Dhritarashtra. If they hadn’t sent us here to the forest, we wouldn’t have had to clear it, and then we wouldn’t have found Mayasura, and he wouldn’t have made this amazing palace for us”

Arjun should have objected at this point – he had done all the real work of clearing this forest and sparing Mayasura’s life and all that. He did object but not about that. “Are you seriously thinking Duryodhan was being altruistic here?”

But Yudhishtir was keen to play this by the book. Ill-will towards his cousins would get their new Kingdom off to a bad start. Let’s be thankful and simply live and let live.

Duryodhan certainly wanted to live and let die judging by the assassination attempt at Lakshagriha, as Arjun, Bheema, Draupadi, Nakul and Sahadeva all pointed out. But Yudhishtir just wouldn’t listen. He dashed off a letter to Duryodhan dripping with kindness, and gratitude and inviting him to visit Mayasabha.

The other Pandavas may have feared that Duryodhan would read this letter and think the Pandavas were groveling. But they need not have feared. Duryodhan was overcome with a stronger emotion – jealousy. And that was because he saw the Insta-paintings that Yudhishtir had enclosed.

He couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing. He had to see the palace in person. If it was inferior, he could gloat about it. But if it wasn’t he had to know.

And so it was that Crown Prince Duryodhan visited the Pandavas in their new city of Indraprashtha. Some called it New Delhi, but that name hadn’t stuck yet.

Duryodhan had to keep his jaw in check to avoid giving away how impressed he was. The palace was truly marvelous. And the true extent of the palace’s size and luxury became clear the moment his carriage pulled into the marble courtyard. The valet opened the door for him, and swapped the keys to the carriage for a gold plated ticket, and took off with the carriage to the parking area. An attendant came up with a hot towel while another served an ice cold lassi in a tall glass, with a cute little umbrella in it. She also handed the Crown Prince a map to the palace, so he wouldn’t get lost.

Duryodhan began his tour of the place. A few hours later, he was impressed by the indoor water slides, the home theater system, the majestic courtroom, the war rooms, the arsenal, the cricket field. But his favorite was the Sweets bar. The Gulab Jamoons and Rasagullas there had been heavenly. His only regret was that he hadn’t eaten enough. But that had been difficult. Bheema had been in the room, and that made it awkward for Duryodhan to pig out. 

Duryodhan eagerly grabbed another glass of lassi that the hostess offered him. “Your highness, how did you like the A-wing?”

“The A-wing?!” Duryodhan was stunned. “You mean there are more?”

Indeed, there are several. The first few are named after the letters of the alphabet. Then we ran out of letters, and switched to numbers. 

This was too much. Such opulence was unheard of, even in the mighty kingdom of Hastinapur. How had the Pandavas achieved so much in such little time? 

The hostess invited him to step in this direction to the rest area, if he wanted a break before touring the next wing.

“What, here into this pond?” Duryodhan asked.

She had clearly indicated a room that was an indoor swimming pool. It was clearly filled with water, was she trying to trick him? And now that he saw the Pandava brothers strolling by, he was confident that was what it was. They wanted him to fall in the water, then they would laugh at him.

But the hostess shocked him by walking directly into the swimming pool and she didn’t fall in! The floor must be solid. But he could see his reflection in it! And it looked exactly like water. Even PC Sorcar couldn’t have managed an illusion of this caliber.

Duryodhan chuckled nervously and stepped forward. And to his enormous relief he didn’t fall in either. This was a truly marvelous design. Duryodhan had to have this palace for himself. As he strolled to the next room, he saw it was just like this one. It was also made up to look like a pool. Confidently he strolled forward. The hostess shouted a warning but it was too late. There was a loud splash as Duryodhan fell into the water. The hostess, and Yudhishthir were the only ones who rushed to help him out. The other Pandavas were rolling on the floor laughing. On the solid floor, not the watery one.

There was just one thought running through Duryodhan’s mind as he headed back to Hastinapur. He had to have Indraprastha for himself. And he had to humiliate the Pandavas. He was convinced they had deliberately set him up for this. He would take over Indraprastha and the Mayasabha. And then he’d sit back eating Rasgullas from the Sweets bar and ordering his men to dunk the Pandavas in the swimming pool. 

When he got back, Shakuni Mama was there to receive him, and straightaway could see the lines of worry on his nephew’s face.

Shakuni heard everything and said, not to worry. He had the solution well in hand.

Duryodhan looked curiously. “Shakuni Mama, all you have in your hand are a pair of dice”

“And that, my dear nephew, is our solution.”

Duryodhan didn’t understand, so Shakuni explained that Duryodhan was going to invite the Pandavas to board game night.

This only infuriated Duryodhan. “They humiliated me, and now you want me to play ball with these Pandavas?”

“Not ball. Dice,” Shakuni corrected.

This made no sense to the Crown prince, so Shakuni said “I’ll show you what I mean, Duryodhan. Pick a number.”

“Nineteen thousand six hundred and seventy four,” Duryodhan replied.

“A number between two and twelve,” Shakuni specified.

Duryodhan said six. Shakuni rolled the dice, and they came up to six.

“I gave you an easy one. Six was easy. Do 12 now.”

Shakuni rolled the dice again and they showed 12.

“Okay, sheer luck. Now I want a two”

Shakuni rolled a two and said with more than a touch of pride. “God doesn’t roll dice. I do, and I do it to win.”

“You’re on a roll Shakuni mama! You know, with your talents, we should visit a casino,” Duryodhan said. “We’ll make a pile of money! Then we can hire our own architect to make a bigger palace than Mayasabha, and then we’ll see who has the last laugh”

Shakuni shook his head. “Why bother with all that, just invite the Pandavas to a game of Ludo. Yudhishthir has a bit of an addiction for games of chance. You were telling me how he lost everything at the carnival that you went to.

“The carnival that came to town back when we were in Dronacharya university? Sure, but that was long ago. I’m not sure he’s still much of a gambling man”

“We’ll see soon enough won’t him. Write to him tonight. Don’t delay” Shakuni instructed.

Cut back to Indraprastha a few days later, where Yudhishtir was reading aloud Duryodhan’s letter to his brothers.

“Congratulations, you have been entered into the Inter-Kingdom Ludo Championships. The winner will receive a grand prize beyond their imagination! And a lifetime supply of Laddoos from Nathoo’s mithaiwale. Finals will take place at Hastinapura Ludo arena, next Tuesday, 7pm sharp. Be there or be square.”

It’s a trap – Draupadi, Arjun, Nakul, Sahadeva all said. Bheema may have been a little tempted by the offer of a lifetime supply of Nathoo’s Laddoos, but despite that he thought the situation felt a little dicey.

But Yudhishtir, ever the gentleman, believed they were duty-bound to attend. “I’ll have to roll the dice. How could I reject such a polite invitation? This might be the chance we were waiting for – to make peace with Duryodhan”

Draupadi asked why Yudhishtir didn’t think it was odd that Duryodhan had asked in the post script for them to bring along the deed to Mayasabha.

“Maybe he just wants his lawyers to model other deeds on this one. I did mention in passing sometime that my lawyers write watertight contracts”

The others didn’t agree. They felt that Yudhishthir was simply eager to gamble and that was the real reason he was ready to roll the dice. But no one said so.

It was at about this point that I came into the story. Yes, me. Narada Muni. Bet you didn’t expect that, did you? But then again, if you have heard Episode 120 maybe you did. Because I told the story of Nala and Damayanti to Yudhishtir to persuade him not to go. But no dice. Yudhishtir didn’t listen to me. If he had, the rest of the Mahabharata would probably not have happened.

Fast forward to next Tuesday when the Pandavas arrived in Hastinapur. In the city, there were Ludo themed banners everywhere. People were even dressed in costumes, and eager to greet Yudhishtir on his visit to Hastinapur. There was a general Holi-like spirit everywhere. Little did people know what was about to happen to the Indraprastha Prince whom they knew and loved.

The dice were loaded from the start and the Pandavas had walked straight into the Lion’s mouth.

The group assembled in the courtroom that doubled as the Ludo arena. There were streamers announcing the annual Ludo championships.

Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, Dronacharya, Kripacharya, all of the elders were there. And so were the 100+ Kaurav brothers, as well as Shakuni and Karna.

There was a general shaking of hands all around between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, which given their numbers came out to over 600 handshakes. That got people bored a bit.

Draupadi opted not to stay, she made her way to the guest rooms and the library. She preferred to curl up with the latest Royal gossip magazine instead.

And finally the action got under way. It was Pandavas vs Kauravas.

Duryodhan complained that his hand was a little sore, don’t you know. And that his mama Shakuni had graciously agreed to roll the dice on his behalf.

Yudhishtir didn’t mind, and he even wished Duryodhan a speedy recovery.

Yudhisthir rolled the dice, and got a twelve. Calmly he moved his counter forward 12 steps. Nice way to begin the game he thought.

Shakuni’s turn was next, Duryodhan hoped for a 12 as well. But the dice came up on 2.

Duryodhan was more than a little miffed. What was Shakuni doing here? He looked sternly at his Mama, but Shakuni seemed calm.

The game went on, and it seemed to all be going the Pandavas’ way. Within 20 minutes, the annual Ludo championship was over. The Kauravas had lost. Duryodhan was more than angry, but he couldn’t yell at his Uncle. Not in front of the Pandavas anyway. 

The grand prize was unveiled. A latest model chariot and with a giant size Key for the Insta-painters in the media gallery. 

“Well done, nephews,” Shakuni said, addressing the Pandavas. “You have a remarkable talent for this game!” 

This remark only infuriated Duryodhan further. 

“But it’s early and it’ll be a shame if you came all the way here for just a short 20 minute game. What do you say to the idea of playing some more? Just for fun. Let’s give the audience a little bit more entertainment. Truth be told the game was shorter than all the handshakes in the beginning.”

He added that they had won the World Ludo championship fair and square and they would keep that title and the chariot too.

This was Yudhishtir’s cue to say no. 

“Yes,” he said enthusiastically, as the other four Pandavas collectively face-palmed.

He was riding a wave of euphoria! And confidence in his abilities, though this was purely a game of chance.

It was not a game of chance. Shakuni had deliberately let Yudhisthir win the championships, only to bait him into higher stakes. Hey, if Yudhishtir won once, it meant he could win again, couldn’t he? 

They started off with a small bet, just a 1000 gold coins. And slowly progressed. It was not one-sided. Not in the beginning at least. Shakuni let Yudhishtir win enough to keep his hand in the game.

And before he knew it, Yudhishtir had wagered not only his gold, and his palace, but the entire Kingdom of Indraprastha.

Yudhisthir should have stopped then. But then Shakuni offered an especially sweet deal. If Yudhishtir won the next round, he’d get everything back, Indraprastha, all his gold, his chariots, horses, armies. But if he lost, he’d have to become a slave to Duryodhan. It wasn’t so bad. He was already homeless, there was little to lose if he lost and all to gain if he won. 

The rest of the court was silent. No one said a word. They were shocked by this state of affairs. But what could they do? Duryodhan was their Crown prince, and the Emperor Dhritarashtra was not putting a stop to this. 

Yudhishtir’s brothers urged him to pull out of the game now. It was bad enough they were homeless. Again. They would recover somehow. Just leave it here.

But Yudhisthir did not leave it there. He felt he owed it to his brothers to try and win it back. And he knew he must succeed. Even just purely by probability, the dice would roll in his favor now.

They didn’t. Duryodhan and Karna, and Dushasana laughed out loud – the Pandavas had become their slaves. Dushasana was particularly acerbic towards Bheema. “I’m going to make you polish my shoes,” he said with a sick sort of happiness.

Shakuni seemed more sympathetic to the Pandavas. “I feel bad for you nephews. I want to give you another chance. Let’s have another round. You win, you get everything back – your freedom, your Kingdom, your palace, everything.”

“And if we lose?” asked Yudhisthir in a weak voice, slightly hopeful that Shakuni genuinely wanted to correct the situation.

“Draupadi will be our slave,” came Shakuni’s reply, with an unmistakably wolf-like grin.

If Yudhishtir did not agree, Shakuni was going to point out that as Duryodhan’s slave, Yudhishtir could be ordered to wager Draupadi. 

But it wasn’t necessary. Yudhishtir took a deep breath. And then he nodded. It was game on.

We’ll leave it there on a cliffhanger, though the part that follows next is infamous and it’s likely many of you already know what will come next. We’ll pick up the story again in a future episode

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

Previous Mahabharata Episodes are linked in the show notes and on the site sfipodcast.com check them out:

https://sfipodcast.com/category/mahabharata

I’ve said this often before and I’ll say it again. There are no clear villains and heroes in the Mahabharata. Just a bunch of people who sometimes behave badly and sometimes behave well. Yudhishtir clearly demonstrated a lack of judgment at multiple points in today’s story. And many people will pay the price for it as we shall see later on in the story.

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll go back to the Singhasan Battisi. We’ll cover yet another story – this time Vikramaditya solves an important question – what defines a creature – nature or nurture?

Feedback

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The music is from Purple Planet.

Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time!