Gambling

A practice with a long history in Indian
culture, but that has almost always been
portrayed in a negative light by Hindu
texts. The earliest reference appears in
the Rg Veda, the oldest Hindu religious
text, in a hymn often described as “The
Gambler’s Lament.” The hymn is a gambler’s first-person account of the ways in
which his obsession with gaming ruined
his life. It ends with a warning to the listener not to be seduced by gambling’s
siren song. Gambling is also negatively
portrayed in the Mahabharata, the later
of the two great Hindu epics. A passion
for gaming is the only fault afflicting
Yudhishthira (the eldest of the five
Pandava brothers who are the epic’s
protagonists), but it brings disastrous
results. In a dice game with the kingdom’s most skillful player, Shakuni,
Yudhishthira loses his kingdom, his
brothers, and even himself; as a result of
the game, he and his brothers have to go
into exile.
These mythic models mirror the
attitudes toward gambling in Hindu
society. Sober and upright Hindus have
generally avoided games of chance,
since they are not a stable or respectable
way to risk one’s capital or earn a living.
The only time that prudence and
caution can be legitimately disregarded
is on the festival of Diwali, which is
sacred to Lakshmi, the goddess of
wealth and prosperity. Gambling is a
traditional part of the Diwali celebrations, used to pay homage to Lakshmi in
her guise as Lady Luck. Diwali is most
often celebrated in people’s homes, and
thus any gambling will take place with
one’s family and close associates, and
with purely nominal betting. Aside from
Diwali, gambling is strictly proscribed in
polite society, and even on Diwali its disruptive capacities are strictly contained.
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