{ "apiVersion": "v1", "kind": "Chapter", "metadata": { "generated": "2026-08-22T14:14:13Z", "language": "en", "book": "rig-veda-book-10", "chapter": 34 }, "data": { "n": 34, "bookSlug": "rig-veda-book-10", "bookCode": "RV10", "refId": "", "title": "", "translation": null, "segments": [], "lines": [], "paragraphs": [{ "n": 1, "refId": "RV10-34:1", "text": "translated by" },{ "n": 2, "refId": "RV10-34:2", "text": "1. SPRUNG from tall trees on windy heights, these rollers transport me as they turn upon the table." },{ "n": 3, "refId": "RV10-34:3", "text": "The enlivening Vibhīdaka has pleased me like the draught of Soma from Mūjavant." },{ "n": 4, "refId": "RV10-34:4", "text": "2. She never vexed me nor was angry with me, but was ever gracious to my friends and me." },{ "n": 5, "refId": "RV10-34:5", "text": "For a dice which scored one too much, I drive away my own devoted wife." },{ "n": 6, "refId": "RV10-34:6", "text": "3. My wife drives me away, her mother hates me: the wretched man finds none to give him comfort." },{ "n": 7, "refId": "RV10-34:7", "text": "[They say:] \"I find no more use in a gambler than in an aged horse which is for sale.\"" },{ "n": 8, "refId": "RV10-34:8", "text": "4. Others embrace the wife of him whose riches the victorious dice have coveted:" },{ "n": 9, "refId": "RV10-34:9", "text": "Father and mother and brothers say about him [to the landlord's men]: \"We know him not: tie him up and take him away.\"" },{ "n": 10, "refId": "RV10-34:10", "text": "5. When I resolve \"I will not play with them, I will remain behind when my friends [= fellow-gamblers] depart [to play]\"," },{ "n": 11, "refId": "RV10-34:11", "text": "and the brown dice, thrown on the board, have rattled, like a fond girl I seek the place of meeting." },{ "n": 12, "refId": "RV10-34:12", "text": "6. The gamester seeks the gambling-house, and wonders, his body all afire, \"Will I be lucky?\"" },{ "n": 13, "refId": "RV10-34:13", "text": "The dice run against his desire, giving the best throws to his adversary." },{ "n": 14, "refId": "RV10-34:14", "text": "7. Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." },{ "n": 15, "refId": "RV10-34:15", "text": "They give gifts like boys [do], and then snatch them back from the winner," },{ "n": 16, "refId": "RV10-34:16", "text": "[they are] sweetened [as] with honey with magic power over the gambler." },{ "n": 17, "refId": "RV10-34:17", "text": "8. Their troop of three-times-fifty plays [as undefeatably] as Savitr the god whose ways are faithful." },{ "n": 18, "refId": "RV10-34:18", "text": "They bend not even to the anger of the mighty: the King himself pays homage and reveres them." },{ "n": 19, "refId": "RV10-34:19", "text": "9. Downward they roll, and then spring quickly upward, and, handless, force the man with hands to serve them." },{ "n": 20, "refId": "RV10-34:20", "text": "Cast on the board, like lumps of magic charcoal, though cold themselves they burn the heart to ashes." },{ "n": 21, "refId": "RV10-34:21", "text": "10. The gambler's wife is left forlorn and wretched: the mother mourns the son who wanders homeless." },{ "n": 22, "refId": "RV10-34:22", "text": "In constant fear, in debt, and seeking money, he goes by night to the home of others [probably to steal]." },{ "n": 23, "refId": "RV10-34:23", "text": "11. Sad is the gambler when he sees a woman, another man's wife, and his well-ordered dwelling." },{ "n": 24, "refId": "RV10-34:24", "text": "He yokes the brown horses [= the dice] in the early morning, and in the evening he sinks down beside [his] fire, a beggar." },{ "n": 25, "refId": "RV10-34:25", "text": "12. To the great captain of your mighty army [of dice], who has become the host's imperial leader," },{ "n": 26, "refId": "RV10-34:26", "text": "To him I show [my] ten [extended fingers]: \"I speak the truth: No wealth am I withholding.\"" },{ "n": 27, "refId": "RV10-34:27", "text": "13. \"Play not with dice, [but] cultivate your corn-land. Enjoy the gain, and deem that wealth sufficient." },{ "n": 28, "refId": "RV10-34:28", "text": "There are your cattle, there your wife, O gambler\": So this good Savitr himself has told me." },{ "n": 29, "refId": "RV10-34:29", "text": "14. Make me your friend: show us some little mercy. Do not forcibly bewitch us with magic power." },{ "n": 30, "refId": "RV10-34:30", "text": "Let your wrath [and] emnity now come to rest. Let the brown [dice] now snare some other captive." },{ "n": 31, "refId": "RV10-34:31", "text": "Translation revised 25 April 2006 by" },{ "n": 32, "refId": "RV10-34:32", "text": "Anthony Appleyard" },{ "n": 33, "refId": "RV10-34:33", "text": "following Arthur Anthony Macdonnell's book \"A Vedic Reader\", publ" },{ "n": 34, "refId": "RV10-34:34", "text": "Motilal Banarsidass" },{ "n": 35, "refId": "RV10-34:35", "text": "ISBN 81-208-1017-1" },{ "n": 36, "refId": "RV10-34:36", "text": "(cloth bound)," },{ "n": 37, "refId": "RV10-34:37", "text": "ISBN 81-208-1018-X" },{ "n": 38, "refId": "RV10-34:38", "text": "(paperback)." },{ "n": 39, "refId": "RV10-34:39", "text": "for notes" } ] }, "links": { "self": "/v1/library/books/rig-veda-book-10/chapters/34", "book": "/v1/library/books/rig-veda-book-10/", "chapters": "/v1/library/books/rig-veda-book-10/chapters/", "library": "/v1/library/", "schema": "/v1/schema/book/" } }