After the royal sacrifice, Duryodhana becomes increasingly jealous of the Pandavas' eminence. He also wants revenge for the humiliation he experienced when he fell and Draupadi ridiculed him.

 He sends Vidura to invite the Pandavas to Hastinapura. Meanwhile, he constructs a special, five-pillared hall where a fraudulent game of dice takes place between Sakuni and Dharmaraja or Yudhishthira. During the dice game, Dharma loses his country, his brothers and himself. At last, he stakes and loses his wife Draupadi.

Duryodhana orders his younger brother Duhsasana to bring Draupadi to the court. Draupadi refuses and Duhsasana drags her by the hair to the assembly. There Draupadi wants to know whether her husband Dharmaraja lost her in the game of dice prior to or after losing himself. The royal assembly remains silent except for Vikarna who objects against Draupadi’s mistreatment and is forcefully removed from the court.

Duryodhana commands Duhsana to disrobe Draupadi. Draupadi surrenders to Lord Krishna. A furious and mad Duhsana pulls and pulls at Draupadi’s sari but is unable to disrobe her because for every sari he removes a new one appears. Astonished and afraid he falls down exhausted.

Draupadi vows that she will not tie up her hair until she has dressed it with Duryodhana’s blood and combed it with a rib taken from his body. Realising the desperate turn of events, Duryodhana’s father King Dhritarashtra  promises to return everything that Dharma has gambled away. In the final scene – an innovation added by P. Rajagopal to the traditional play - Draupadi challenges Duryodhana to a last game of dice directly opposing her. It is this game she wins, enabling her and her husbands to go into 12 years of exile as free people.