Week 9 Story: An alternate ending to the Dice Game

UPDATE - The newest version of this story is here on my portfolio!

When Shakuni challenged Yudhishthira to a game of dice, several thoughts flitted through his mind. The chief thought was that he had heard rumors that Shakuni used special die, which gave him the advantage in every game played, and that was quickly followed by the thought that as a kshatriya, he could not refuse the offer to play the game of dice, leaving him in quite a sticky situation.

He reluctantly agreed to play against Shakuni, hoping with all of his heart that the rumors of Shakuni’s special die were false. His hopes were dashed, however, when he lost all of his possessions and wealth in the first game. They were crushed even further when he lost himself and the rest of the Pandavas. He wasn’t sure what would happen next – he had lost himself and the Pandavas – what else was there to lose if he was lost and his wealth and possessions were also already lost?

Yudhishthira was stuck. From the gleam in Shakuni’s eyes and his whisperings to Duryodhani, they were up to something more, which meant that he did have something more to lose. He looked around and saw his brothers, some of their comrades, and all of their expensive, silk clothing and assorted gold jewelry. What did they want? Did they want the comrades of the Pandavas to pledge loyalty to the Kauravas?

Shakuni finally ceased his whispering and turned to Yudhishthira with a smile. “For this next round, if you win, you can take back your wealth, possessions, and your ownership of yourselves. But if you lose, you turn over Draupadi,” he stated. Yudhishthira could not believe what he had just heard. The stakes of this game was his wife? The beloved wife of all the Pandavas? He couldn’t stop playing this stupid game and had already gambled everything that he had, including himself, and now he had to give up the person most dear in his life?

He looked over to the rest of his brothers, who stared back at him hopelessly, and then looked at Draupadi, who was glaring at him, as if to say, “how could you get yourself into this mess?”

He had no other alternative. He briefly looked up to the heavens and prayed to any of the gods who were there listening, to please spare his wife this dishonor.

He turned back to Shakuni and nodded at him to commence the game. The die were rolled, and after what seemed like an eternity (but was likely only a brief second), the die turned over and revealed Yudhishthira as the winner of the game! He had just been restored his possessions, wealth, and self-ownership, but most importantly, had not lost his beloved wife!

An innocuous pair of dice [source]

Author’s Note – I’m a huge fan of happy endings, and although I know that the Mahabharata ultimately has a happy ending, I hated how the story of Yudhishthira and the dice game had ended! I really disliked that Draupadi was won by Shakuni, and how he and the Kauravas tried to dishonor her by having her disrobe in front of everyone. I wanted to remake the story, so that she wasn’t won, and also include more of Yudhishthira’s thoughts. When I researched the story to refresh my memory of it, I found out that the dice game that they were playing was a game that kshatriyas (which Yudhishthira was) could not refuse to play if offered. This really clarified things for me, since I was originally very irritated at Yudhishthira for continuing to play this stupid game after he kept losing, not understanding that he had to do so.

Bibliography - PDE Mahabharata. Multiple Authors. Link.