“When I came to Hastinapur as a newly wedded bride, you respected elders blessed me with a future beyond imagination. You assured me that soft rose petals would be strewn along the corridors when I walked so that my delicate feet never touch the stone floor. Yet today each and every part of my body, some more delicate than my feet, rubbed against the flooring as I was mercilessly dragged to your presence. I have always presented myself before you properly attired after bathing and after performing the required rituals before the family deity. Yet today I stand before you dishevelled, without bathing and with my garments stained by my menstrual bleeding. I beg your forgiveness for that. Grandsire Bhishma, you then called me the pride of the royal family of Hastinapur, yet today you allowed me to be treated in a manner that no slave has been treated in this palace. Respected Drona, you have taught the princes of Hastinapur to raise arms against injustice, but why was your sword in its sheath when these princes were committing an injustice against me. King Dhritarashtra you are the elder brother of my late father-in-law, who I never saw. You asked me to address you as father and promised to treat me like a daughter. Yet today I cannot and will not address you as even father-in-law. Your blindness cannot be an excuse because you recognise a person from his or her footsteps and today the voices were loud and clear. You knew well who was doing what to me. If any man had spoken rudely to me or forcibly held my arm you would have had him killed on the spot, without trial and without mercy. Why then are your sons still alive. All of you have kept your silence while I was all but raped.”
“Chief Minister Vidur, you are the wisest of men, expert in the theories of ethics and law as well as their implementation. Can you answer a few questions of mine? Why was this game allowed to take place with the patronage of the court? Is a woman property or wealth, even of her husband, that can be put as stake without her consent? How can a person who has lost everything wager something that he never owned in the first place? How can any woman in your realm now feel safe because all men will emulate the precedent set by their crown prince?”
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