Draupadi: A Tale Unsung, A Woman Unheard

Priyanka Rout

Draupadi: A Tale Unsung, A Woman Unheard

This dark-complexioned girl will be the first of all women, and she will be the cause of the destruction of many Kshatriyas. This slender-waisted one will, in time, accomplish the purpose of the gods, and along with her many a danger will overtake the Kauravas.”

Draupadi: The Tale of an Empress; Image Source: Wiki Fandom- Roshani Chokshi

She arose from the holy fire with confidence unmatched. Her curly locks cascaded down her curvy waist with enchanting black eyes and long lashes that were as large as lotus. Her dark complexion complimented her hourglass figure. Resembling the daughter of a celestial being, her body smelled like a blue lotus that could be identified from two miles away. Her beauty had no equal on earth as she was one of a kind.

As soon as Draupadi arose from the holy fire, a youth and a maiden gave a prophecy that elated Drupada. Drupada was happy to see his creation coming to life. He had to take revenge from Drona, who defeated him with a handful of students and gained control of half of Panchala.

This dark-complexioned girl will be the first of all women, and she will be the cause of the destruction of many Kshatriyas. This slender-waisted one will, in time, accomplish the purpose of the gods, and along with her many, a danger will overtake the Kauravas.

Not only did Draupadi grow up to be extremely beautiful, but she also possessed intelligence that could be matched to none. With every passing day, people in and around the kingdom began discussing Draupadi’s beauty, and famous kings from far and vast areas began sending marriage proposals. “The right time has come. I should arrange for a swayamvara for Draupadi.”, Drupada thought.

Preparations began at Panchala. The palace was decorated like a bride. Invitations were sent to princes and kings belonging to well-known and wealthy kingdoms. Drupada wanted Draupadi to marry Arjuna, but when he heard about the death of the Pandavas at Varnavata, he decided to hold a swayamvara to find the best husband for his daughter. Little did Drupada know that the Pandavas were safe and sound, and Arjuna too was coming to Panchala to compete against the other suitors in the swayamvara. Dressed as a Brahmin, no one could identify that he was the mighty Arjun whose archery skills never failed when he entered the hall. Karna too entered the arena to participate in the swayamvara.

All the suitors present in the arena were required to lift and string a bow and fire arrows to pierce the eye of a rotating golden fish by looking at its reflection in the water. None of the suitors could complete the task except Arjuna and Karna. However, Draupadi rejected Karna saying that he was a Suta and would not marry a Suta Putra. Finally, Draupadi and Arjuna married and proceeded with the other Pandavas to their mother, Kunti.

When they reached their hut, Kunti was cooking something. Together, the Pandava brothers shouted, “Look, what we have found!” Kunti asked them to share whatever they had got amongst themselves without looking at what they were referring to. This misunderstanding of Kunti, combined with her motherly command, led to an agreement that Draupadi should marry all the five brothers to fulfill her mother-in-law’s command. The Draupadi’s Panchavallabha avatar took shape, which meant ‘Beloved of the five Pandavas.’

As days passed, the succession crisis kept on increasing. Dhritarashtra invited the Pandavas to Hastinapur and proposed to divide the kingdom. When he assigned the land to the Pandavas, it was nothing but the wasteland of Khandavprastha. However, this land did not stay barren for long as, along with Krishna, they converted this entire land into Indraprastha. When the Kaurava clan was invited for the Rajasuya Yajna, they could not believe their eyes after witnessing the magnificence of the palace. When Duryodhana entered Draupadi’s Palace of Illusions, he was mesmerized by the interiors. Just when he thought he was stepping on the solid part of the courtyard, a loud splash of water echoed throughout the hall. Duryodhana found a pool, and he was drenched from head to foot. Draupadi, along with some of her friends, laughed at the miserable condition of Duryodhana and said, “A blind man’s son is blind.” Not only Draupadi, but the other Pandavas too laughed at his miserable condition.

Humiliated at their comment, Duryodhana went back to Hastinapur and told everything to his uncle, Shakuni. Enraged at how his nephew was treated, Shakuni hatched a plan and sent an invitation to the Pandavas for a game of dice. The main protagonist of this game was the dice that Shakuni used. The dice never disobeyed the commands of Shakuni as it was made from the bone of his father. As expected, Yudhisthir participated in the game as he loved playing dice.

As the game proceeded, Yudhisthir began losing everything from the very first round. He gambled Nakul, Shadeva, Arjuna, Bhima, and himself and all his treasures and the Indraprastha palace. When he had nothing else to lose, Shakuni advised him to stake Draupadi, and in return, he could win back all that he had lost till now. Reluctantly agreeing to this, Yudhisthir put Draupadi at stake, and in the next round, he lost Draupadi as well. When a messenger was sent to Draupadi’s chamber to inform her that she was Duryodhana’s slave and staked by Yudhisthir in the game of dice, she was shocked to the core. Draupadi questions that if Yudhisthir had lost himself in the game, how could he stake her when she was still the queen. Agitated at her questions, Duryodhana ordered Dushasana to drag Draupadi to the court.

Dushasana drags Draupadi inside the court, and seeing this, Bhima vows to cut off his arms. Duryodhana signals Draupadi to sit on his thighs, and once again, an enraged Bhishma vows to break his thighs. Draupadi then shouts at the entire crowd present at the court:

Kaisa yeh dharma hai jis mein bhari sabha mein naari ka chirharan hua;

Kaisa yeh dharma hai jis mein andhkar ki lau ka janm hua;

Kaisa yeh dharma hai jis mein dav paase ka zyada mol hua;

Kaisa yeh dharma hai jis mein gyaani kshatriya ke haathon ka bandhan hua;

Kaisa yeh dharma hai jis mein Draupadi ka swabhimaan lajjit hua.

The elders in the court said that no one has the right to stake a woman, not even the husband nor the god. An angry Karna says that Yudhisthira has already staked Draupadi, and now he cannot back out. He orders Dushasana to remove Draupadi’s clothes. When Dushasana attempts to disrobe her, Bhima shouts in rage, “I vow to tear Dushasana’s chest into two halves and drink his blood.” Not able to bear the insult, Draupadi prays to Krishna and asks him to rescue her from this humiliating situation.

When Dushasana begins to unwrap Draupadi’s clothes, the amount of fabric on her torso never reduces. He goes on pulling the cloth, but Draupadi was still immaculately dressed. Exhausted after trying for so long, Dushasana finally gives up. Draupadi takes a vow that she would wash her hair with Dushasana’s blood and until then, she would not wash her hair.

During the Kurukshetra war, Draupadi also arrives when Bhima fulfills his vow of killing Dushasana and drinking his blood. Bhima pours Dushasana’s blood on her hair, and she gets her vengeance after finally washing her hair with her brother-in-law’s blood.

Standing up with the same grace and poise with which she was born, Draupadi said: