Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c18.s2.28

v1.c18.s2.28

Slavery due to Gambling.—Tacitus ³ describes the baneful effects of gambling amongst the German tribes, as involving personal liberty ; their becoming slaves, and being subsequently sold by the winner. The Rajput’s passion for gaming, as remarked in the history of the tribes, is strong ; and we can revert to periods long anterior to Tacitus, and perhaps before the woods of Germany were peopled with the worshippers of Tuisto, for the antiquity of this vice amongst the Rajput warriors, presenting a highly interesting picture of its pernicious effects. Yudhishthira having staked and lost the throne of India to Duryodhana, to recover it hazarded the beautiful and virtuous Draupadi. By the loaded dice of his foes she became the goli of the Kaurava, who, triumphing in his pride, would have unveiled her in public ; but the deity presiding over female modesty preserved her from the rude gaze of the assembled host ; the miraculous scarf lengthened as he withdrew it, till tired, he desisted at the instance of superior interposition. Yudhishthira, not satisfied with this, staked twelve years of his personal liberty, and became an exile from the haunts of Kalindi, a wanderer in the wilds skirting the distant ocean [180].