Vidura warns the assembly of impending calamity
As the quarrel escalates, Vidura addresses the kings. He diagnoses the situation as a great danger and a transgression of dharma, arguing that Yudhishthira lost himself first and thus could not stake Draupadi. He frames it as a destined calamity for the lineage.
Vidura spoke to the kings. O kings, look out for the extreme danger that emanates from Bhimasena. Watch, for this is like Varuna’s noose. The great calamity that the gods had destined for the descendants of the Bharata lineage in ancient times, has come to pass.
He laid out the transgression. Dhritarashtra’s sons have transgressed in gambling. They are now quarrelling about a lady in a sabha. There is great danger to what you have already obtained and what you wish to obtain. The counsel of the Kurus is now based on evil advice.
Then he offered his judgment on the point of dharma. O Kurus, know this to be dharma. If it is wrongly diagnosed, this entire assembly will be tainted. If this gambler had staked her before, he would not have been won and would have still been her master. But if a man puts up a stake when he is not the lord of anything, winning that stake is like obtaining riches in a dream.
His final words were a plea and a warning. O Kurus, you have listened to Gandhari’s son. But do not deviate from the path of dharma. His counsel framed the event not as a mere dispute but as the unfolding of a divine curse, a crack in the foundation of the kingdom that threatened to bring the whole structure down.