Fates Decided by a Game of Dice

Duryodhana's anger against the Pandavas having reached new heights, the plotting against them resumed with renewed vigour. Many plans were considered, outright war being one of them. Karna was fully in favour of a direct attack, but Duryodhana's uncle Sakuni strongly advised against it. He said, "We must use brains and not brawn. Entice them to a game of dice and leave the rest to me." Seeing the merit of the suggestion, the plotters then met Dhritarashtra and sought his blessings to invite the Pandavas for a game of dice.

Dhritarashtra consulted Vidura who was revolted by the idea. However, by exploiting parental softness, Duryodhana had his way and Vidura, the objector, was himself despatched to convey the invitation to the Pandavas for a game of dice. In those days, the etiquette among kings was that an invitation to a sport, especially a game of dice should be honoured and not refused. And thus, it was that Yudhishtra and his brothers came to Hastinapura for what they thought was a normal game of dice.
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Sai Avatars

Yudhishtra gambles everything away through a rigged game of dice

Duryodhana, of course, had other plans and proposed that while he would make the wagers, the dice would actually be thrown on his behalf by Sakuni. The ever-soft Yudhishtra raised no objections, not suspecting in the least that Sakuni would skilfully manipulate the dice, literally making them dance to his (Sakuni's) tune.

Yudhishtra had a string of failures or bad luck, unprecedented in history but never once did he suspect foul play. In all innocence, he played according to the rules, while his opponents cheated at every conceivable opportunity.

To cut a long story short, Yudhishtra wagered and successively lost jewels, chariots, animals like horses, elephants, even cows, sheep, etc. Having lost all worldly possessions, he then bet his four brothers and lost them too. Egged by Sakuni, he then thoughtlessly offered his own self as a wager, and soon found that he too had become the slave of Duryodhana!

One would have thought that would be the end of the game; no, Yudhishtra was reminded that he still had something he could wager and that was his wife, Draupadi. His discrimination entirely blunted, Yudhishtra took the incredible step of offering Draupadi as a bet and lost her too. And this precisely was what many like Karna were waiting for - to inflict the ultimate in humiliation.

While all this drama was going on in the royal assembly, Draupadi was indoors blissfully unaware that her husband had lost everything including himself and her too. But when Duryodhana's brother Duhsasana burst into her chambers to drag her by her hair to the assembly, the reality of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks. There she was in the assembly, the high and the mighty at one end, her enslaved husbands at the other, and she in the middle held by her hair by Duhsasana, while the Kauravas took turns in taunting her and hurling filthy remarks.