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92 / Indian Literature
went on losing. If a gambler suspects fraudulent play he had the right to object to the winner's declaration jitam (cf. Harivamsa, 89-38). Yudhisthira docs nothing of the sort, on the contrary he declares that he was defeated (2.60.41).
All contributors who have referred to the subject of Draupadi's problem have declared that the problem remained unresolved till the end: Matilal (p. 2), T.S. Rukmani (p. 31), S.P. Dubey (p. 43), S.M, Kulkarni (p. 155); Kunjunni Raja is of the opinion that Draupadi should not have raised the question because that would prove Yudhisthira to be a liar (p. 51). Apparently according to him too the question remained unanswered. As was mentioned above Matilal has gone a step further and has declared it to be 'unresolvable' (p. x). This again is not true. What the Mahābhārata tells us in this regard is as follows: Duryodhana challenged the Pāodavas that if any one of them said that Yudhisthira was not the master of Draupadi when he staked her he (Duryodhana) would accept the verdict and free Draupadi (2.63.20). Arjuna accepted the challenge and boldly asked the Kauravas that when Yudhisthira had lost himself whose master could he be (2.63.21), thereby implying that he could not be the master of Draupadi, Arjuna's reply had settled the question of Draupadi once for all. The Kauravas accept the verdict and Dhstar/stra steps forward to confer boons on Draupadi. The intervening stanzas about bad omens (2.63.22-26) are clearly an interpolation and should have really no place in the epic narrative. The ugly situation was saved by Arjuna's reply and not hy 'a miracle' as Matilal thinks (p. 3)".
Y. Krishnan's contribution on "The Meaning of the Purusarthas", Amiya Dev's on "La Guerre de Kuruksetra n'aura pas lieu: Udyoga Reconsidered'', Peter Della Santina's on "Conceptions of Dharma in the Sramanical and Brāhmnical Traditions: Buddhism and the Mahābhūrata", and S. Paul Kashyap's on "Reflections, on the Concept of Action in the Gita" have no relevance to the subject of moral dilemma. They may be good papers in themselves (Matilal describes some of them as 'scholarly' (p. xiii), 'illuminating' (p. ix), raising 'some interesting
Nov.-Dec. 1990
Madhu Vidyā/706
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