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Diverse Treatment / 91
had become the disa of the Kauravas. Unfortunately for Yudhisthira he lost the last game too. But now Draupadi raises a question regarding the legality of the last game. Her question boils down to this: Can a dasa, who is not supposed to own any dhana (2.63.1), play a game of dice? However, raising this question does not make Draupadi 'a social rebel' or 'a nonconformist' (p. 2); nor was she 'standing up for the rights and autonomy of the entire womanhood of that time' (p. 3), as Matilal observes. It is no use making Draupadi what she is not. Matilal also feels that Draupadi's question raises problem of a general nature like: Can wives be regarded as chattels? Can they be gambled away? (p. xi). This also is not true. As he himself observes, her question is a specific one and it has only legal implication.
With regard to the conduct of the game of dice, Matilal observes: "If Sakuni cheated Yudhisthira in the game of dice and Yudhisthira did not claim that he had been cheated, even when this was openly known to him, would Sakuni be morally. reprehensible? I believe he could be but he would not be legally condemned" (p. xi). I do not wish to argue whether or not Sakuni was morally reprehensible or deserved to be legally condemned. But it has to be pointed out that the presumption from which these considerations follow, viz., that Sakuni cheated Yudhisthira and that this was known to the latter, is baseless. In the first instance Šakuni was an acknowledged expert in the game, whereas Yudhisthira was admittedly not. In a match between these two, where is the necessity for Sakuni to resort to fraudulent play? Next, both parties, before the start of the game, had expressly agreed not to resort to cheating (2.53.2-5) and there is no reason to believe that any one of them violated the agreement. Bhisma has openly declared that Yudhishira has at no stage complained of fraudulent play on the part of Sakuni (2.60.42). When Yudhisthira lost the first game he felt that he lost it because the number of vibhitaka fruit with which they were playing was small. He therefore suggests to use large number fruit (2.54.1). This did not help Yudhisthira, and he
No. 140
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