59. NALA'S GAME OF DICE

SRIMAD MAHABHARATA > AARANYA PARVA > NALOPAAKHYAANA PARVA > CHAPTER 59 - NALA'S GAME OF DICE

Summary: Kali possesses Nala; Nala and his brother entered into game of dice; Citizens, ministers and Damayanti try to prevent Nala from gambling but failed to achieve their objective.

“Brihadashwa said, ‘Having made this compact with Dwapara (yuga), Kali (yuga) came to the place where the king of the Nishadhas (Nala) was. Always watching for a hole, he continued to stay in the country of the Nishadhas for a long time. It was in the twelfth year that Kali saw a hole. For one day after urinating, Naishadha touching water said his twilight prayers (Sandhyavandanam in Sanskrit), without having previously washed his feet. It was through this (omission) that Kali entered his body. Having possessed Nala, he (Kali yuga) appeared before (Nala’s brother) Pushkara, and addressed him, saying, ‘Come and play at dice with Nala. Through my assistance you will surely win at the play. Defeating king Nala and acquiring his kingdom, you do rule the Nishadhas.’ Thus, encouraged by Kali, Pushkara went to Nala. Dwapara also approached Pushkara, becoming the principal die called Vrisha. Appearing before the warlike Nala, that slayer of hostile heroes, Pushkara, repeatedly said, ‘Let us play together with dice.’

“Thus, challenged in the presence of Damayanti, the Mahatma king (Nala) could not long decline it. He accordingly fixed the time for the play. Possessed by Kali, Nala began to lose, in the game, his stakes in gold, silver, chariots with the teams thereof, and dresses. Maddened at dice, no one among his friends could succeed in dissuading that represser of enemies from the play that went on. Immediately, O Bharata (Yudhishthira), the citizens in a body, with the chief councillors, came there to see the distressed monarch and make him desist. The charioteer coming to Damayanti spoke to her of this, saying, ‘O lady (Devi in Sanskrit), the citizens and officers of the state wait at the gate. You do inform the king of the Nishadhas that the citizens have come here, unable to bear the calamity that has happened to their king knowledgeable with Dharma and Arthaa.’

“Immediately Bhima’s daughter (Damayanti), overwhelmed with grief and almost deprived of reason by it, spoke to Nala in choked accents, ‘O king, the citizens with the councillors of state, urged by loyalty, stay at the gate desirous of seeing you. It is your duty to grant them an interview.' But the king, possessed by Kali, uttered not a word in reply to his queen of graceful glances, uttering thus her lamentations. At this, those councillors of state as also the citizens, pained with grief and shame, returned to their homes, saying, ‘He lives not.’ O Yudhishthira, it was thus that Nala and Pushkara gambled together for many months, the Dharmic Nala being always worsted.’”