Shakuni proudly claims in the Sabha Parva of Mahabharata that his bow and arrows are his dice. The heart of the dice is the string of my bow. There is a strange and weird story about the dice of Shakuni.
Legend has it that King Suvala of Gandhara, father of Shakuni, had noticed his son’s fondness for the game of dice. It is said that King Suvala asked Shakuni to turn his finger bones to dice after his death.
As per folklore, King Suvala and his sons had to die to prison due to the Kuru Clan. Suvala wanted Shakuni to avenge the death of his family.
It is said that the dice always rolled in favor of Shakuni because it was fuelled by the anger and hatred that Suvala had for the Kuru clan.
Shakuni poisoned the mind of the Kauravas and filled it with hatred and jealousy for their cousins the Pandavas. He wanted the Kuru clan to fight each other die.
Shakuni knew the game of dice was a weakness of Yudhishthira. He used it against him.
Many dice carved from bone, belonging to the medieval period have been excavated from around the world.