Yudhishthira and Duhshasana

Yudhishthira, instated in a great sacrifice, knows its success depends on more than wealth. He gathers his elders and kin, declares all his riches are theirs, and appoints each to a specific office of responsibility. The result is a spectacle of perfect order, where every guest is a master, every duty is in trusted hands, and the entire world assembles to see a king rival the gods in prosperity.

Shakuni has already won Yudhishthira's wealth. He asks if the Pandava has anything left to gamble. Compelled by the game, Yudhishthira begins to stake what remains: his kingdom, his brothers, himself, and finally his wife Draupadi. Each time, Shakuni casts the dice and declares victory.

When the attendant is too afraid to lay hands on Draupadi, Duryodhana orders his brother Duhshasana to bring her by force. Duhshasana grabs her by her long, blue hair—hair once sanctified at a royal sacrifice—and drags her into the sabha as she protests her state and her dignity.

Enraged by Vikarna’s defense and the assembly’s approval, Karna delivers a brutal rebuttal. He declares Draupadi lawfully won and, because she has five husbands, a courtesan. He orders Duhshasana to strip the Pandavas and Draupadi.

As the defeated Pandavas dress in deerskins for exile, Duhshasana publicly taunts them for their poverty and urges Draupadi to abandon her impotent husbands and choose a new one from among the prosperous Kurus.

Defeated at dice by Duryodhana and his allies, the Pandavas leave Gajasahrya with Draupadi and their servants, heading north. But the citizens — grieving, furious at Bhishma and Vidura and Drona for allowing it — decide to follow them. Yudhishthira must turn them back, asking them to care for those left behind in Nagasahrya.

Draupadi approaches Krishna and begins to recount everything — the poisoning of Bhima, the burning of the lac house, the killing of Hidimba and Baka, her own svayamvara. She censures the Pandavas for tolerating her molestation, names each of her five sons, and declares that her grief over Karna's laughter will never be pacified.

Seated in the forest with her husbands, Draupadi watches them suffer in silence while Duryodhana celebrates in the city. She turns to Yudhishthira and begins to speak — not to console, but to question why a king who can destroy his enemies feels no anger at seeing his brothers and his wife reduced to rags and mud.

Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that after the Pandavas' defeat at dice, Krishna and their allies visited them in Kamyaka forest. Krishna vowed to kill Duryodhana and his allies, but Yudhishthira insisted on keeping his thirteen-year vow. The assembled warriors then pledged to Draupadi that her oppressors would be destroyed when the time came.

Dhritarashtra, hearing the brahmana's report, is overcome with grief and self-reproach. He describes each Pandava's suffering in detail — Yudhishthira sleeping on bare ground, Bhima's restrained rage, Arjuna's sleepless anger, the twins' wretchedness — and reflects on the inevitability of destiny and the futility of deeds. His words are secretly overheard by Duryodhana, Shakuni, and Karna, who become disturbed and unhappy.

King Duryodhana is captured by the gandharvas along with his brothers Duhshasana, Durvishaha, Durmukha, and Durjaya, and all the kings' wives. His wounded survivors and advisers flee in misery to the Pandavas, setting the stage for what comes next.

After Bhishma leaves in shame, Duryodhana asks his advisers what to do next. Karna reassures him the earth is his. Duryodhana confesses his envy of the Pandavas' rajasuya sacrifice and wants one of his own — but a priest explains it cannot be performed while Yudhishthira and Dhritarashtra live, and recommends a Vaishnava sacrifice instead.

Duhshasana sends a messenger to Dvaitavana to invite the exiled Pandavas to Duryodhana's sacrifice. Yudhishthira politely declines, citing their oath of thirteen years. But Bhima's answer is different: they will come, he says, only when Duryodhana himself is offered as an oblation in the fire of war.