JUST PLAY DOOMED GAME OF DICE

THE theme of dice and gambling is a recurrent one in Indian mythology.

- VINITA SIDHARTHA

From the ‘Gambler’s Lament’ in the Rig Veda, a great deal of literature is devoted to the dice game — most famously, the Mahabharata’s dice game that led to the Kurukshetra war. However, while the dice game between the Pandavas and Kauravas had far-reaching consequences, affecting numerous kingdoms and rules, the story of Nala and Damayanti is no less powerful.

One of the best portrayals of this story is by the prominent 16th-century poet-saint Kanakadasa from Karnataka, who emerged as one of the foremost voices of the Haridasa movement — composing devotional songs in simple Kannada and creating literary classics that blend deep philosophy with social commentary.