Originally posted by: Sabhayata
Gossipgirl:That is what we are trying to decipher how did Shakuni cheat ?Even i read several places he cheated but exactly how?
Even in the above excerpts its just said he cheated or used foul methods but what exactly what were these foul methods?
Is it like what Diala said that shakuni knew the tact of getting the numbers which is why its considered as cheating or may be that yudi wasn't aware of how skilled shakuni is that is why its considered cheating?
You are right. It is important to know how Shakuni cheated to understand whether he was a fraud or not. The reason being that Yudisthir, ashamed of losing all his belongings to dice, then took lessons on how to play dice. That shows that it was not just luck that was involved, but skill as well, which could be acquired. And those who are familiar with probability would know that with the help of the rules of probability one can strategise and win. This does not involve using biased dice, where only some desired numbers/values are made to occur. But as we learn later in the epic, dice was a game which had to mastered and was not purely based on luck. So Shakuni could not have cheated by using biased dice, he just knew the tricks of the trade better than Yudisthir, which was perhaps seen as cheating.
EDIT: I just read the excerpts from the text that people have posted. I think we can fairly arrive at the conclusion that Shakuni won by a combination of deceit and expertise at the game. And a large part of the cheating was perhaps that Shakuni had an unfair advantage over Yudisthir, and was adept at tweaking the rules of the game to his favour. (IMO)
And I'm not trying to absolve Shakuni of his wrongdoings. As far as I know, a game of dice was the most un-kshatriya way of winning over somebody's kingdom at that time.So the Kauravas, headed by Shakuni, are the actual culprits over here. And to top it, Duryodhan did not even play the game himself, which Yudi objected to, but did not press against.Nor do I believe Yudi consciously did all the things he did. Just as is the case with so many of the MB characters, he had probably no idea of the repercussions of his actions and the fallout of the dice game debacle. I had read that he had vowed, that he would not refuse anything to others as much as possible to avoid conflict, as he had been warned of prophecies about an impending war.
Edited by ashwi_d - 11 years ago
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