Dice
“akṣa”
object · 3 works · 7 mentions · 9 anchored passages
dice · the dice · All-dwellers · Bhadra · Dvāpara · Kali throw · Tretā · akṣa · gaming board · prize die
in the texts
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
Gaming dice and their named throws, addressed to secure a winning outcome and defeat a rival gambler.
Hither the Bhadra, hither the Dvāpara, and the Tretā — away with the Kali!
Both hands of my adversary in dicing we smite with the brahman-power — so that the Kali throw may strike him down;
The winning throw is placed in my right hand;
Republic
Gaming object used metaphorically to describe rational deliberation about how to respond to misfortune.
To deliberate, I said, about what has happened to us, and, as it were in the fall of the dice, to determine the movements of our affairs with reference to the numbers that turn up, in the way that reason indicates would be the best, and, instead of stumbling like children, clapping one’s hands to the stricken spot and wasting the time in wailing, ever to accustom the soul to devote itself at once …
Rigveda
Dice made from vibhīdaka nuts, personified as deceitful and destructive.
The dice indeed are hooked, pricking, deceitful, torturing, scorching.
Like the draught of Soma from mount Mujāvat, the vibhīdaka tree, the wakeful one, has drawn me to itself.
The dice cross his desire in the opposite direction, giving to his adversary the winnings.