The verse and its meaning · Vedas · Vedas — The Gambler's Lament

Honey on the Hook

Rig Veda 10.34.7

अक्षास इदङ्कुशिनो नितोदिनो निकृत्वानस्तपनास्तापयिष्णवः। कुमारदेष्णा जयतः पुनर्हणो मध्वा सम्पृक्ताः कितवस्य बर्हणा

Meaning · English

The dice carry hooks and goads. They pierce, cut, and burn, and make others burn. Like a child they give, then strike the winner down. Honey-smeared, they overpower the gambler.

The dice are a herdsman's tools: the hook and the pointed goad that drive an animal where it does not want to go. They pierce and cut when he loses, and the burning spreads past the player to the household that loses everything with him. Their gifts are a child's gifts, handed over and taken back. The medieval commentator Sāyaṇa reads that phrase differently: to the winner they give so much wealth it is like being given sons. The honey is the sweetness that keeps the gambler reaching.

At a fairground claw machine, the claw closes on the toy, lifts it, carries it nearly to the chute, then loosens and lets it fall. The player feeds in another coin. The dice work like that claw: the near-win is real enough to taste, and the taking back is built into the machine.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Hope at the Gaming Table · Rig Veda 10.34.6
• Next: Dice That Bow to No One · Rig Veda 10.34.8
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