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BHIMA
KILLS DUSSHASANA IN THE
BATTLE OF KURUKSHETRA AND
COLLECTS HIS BLOOD TO
WASH DRAUPADI'S HAIR |
Her speech drips with sarcasm. The elders
whom she ceremoniously salutes, deliberately using the word "duty",
have remained silent in the face of Vidura's exhortation to do
their duty and protect the royal daughter-in-law. At last Duryodhan's
brother Vikarna supported Draupadi but Karna derided him and
questioned his support for her. Thus, despite being humiliated,
Draupadi won morally. Nobody could refute her logic. She said "where
righteousness and justice do not exist, it ceases to be a court;
it is a gang of robbers". In response to Draupadi's volley
of harsh words, Dusshsana grinned and uttered wicked words. Bheema
(the third Pandava) exploded like a volcano now. He thundered
in anger, and promised to burn the hands of Dusshasana. Dusshasana
should have respected Draupadi, his sister-in-law, like his own
mother. But instead, the wicked Dusshasana began to pull at her
saree. Draupadi's weeping and wailing would have moved a stone
to mercy. Draupadi turned to Lord Krishna as her husbands bowed
their heads in shame. She threw out both hands and with both
hands in salutation she cried to Krishna, and miraculously the
more Dusshasana pulled her robe, the more it was still there
on her person. Several meters of the robes he pulled, yet it
was still there. Dusshasana was tired drawing her saree but he
could not find the end of it. This shows us the bond between
a brother and sister or the promise of security. Draupadi gave
to Lord Krishna one small strand from her saree to tie on his
injured finger, during a duel with the cruel Shishupala. At that
moment, Krishna had promised Draupadi of constant security. Lord
Krishna kept his promise during this trying moments of Draupadi
and gave her an endless saree, one which could never be removed
and thus protected her honour.
The injury of Lord Krishna's finger has another
popular origin in mythology: During the celebrations associated
with the Sankranthi festival, Krishna was partaking the freshly
harvested sugarcane offered to him by Gopis in accordance with
the customs of the festival. To squeeze the juice out of the
sugarcanes, Krishna had to cut them. While doing so, he inadvertently
cut his little finger. Seeing blood on his finger, Satyabhama
- Krishna's wife - with her characteristic pride, ordered the
Gopis to go inside the house to fetch some cloth to bandage the
finger. Draupadi who was also there, however, out of her love
and concern for Krishna, immediately tore off a piece of cloth
from the end of her new saree and bandaged the Lord's finger.
For Lord Krishna this signified Raksha bandhan and he immediately
took Draupadi as his sister. Draupadi was a great devotee of
Lord Krishna, who is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-pervading.
Having failed in his efforts to disrobe Draupadi,
Duryodhana's patted his thighs and ordered Draupadi to sit on
his lap, since she was supposed to obey his orders as she was
now a slave to him after her husband, Yudhishtira had lost him
in the game of dice. On hearing this, Draupadi cursed Duryodhana
of a death with a broken thigh. Draupadi also took a vow that
she would not oil or tie her hair until she could wash her hair
with the blood of Dusshasana, after he was killed. At such a
moment, Bheema, the third Pandava, lashed out and vowed to avenge
the insult that Draupadi was subjected to. Bheema killed Dusshasana
in the war of Kurukshetra and Draupadi eventually washed her
hair with the blood of Dusshasana. Bheema also broke the thigh
of Duryodhana in the final battle of Kurukshetra. Eventually
convinced by Vidur, Dhritharashtra scoffed at Duryodhana and
asked Draupadi for any three boons. But Draupadi simply sought
that her husbands should at once be freed from slavery and as
the second boon she asked for their weapons. When Dhritharashtra
asked her to ask for more. She replied that her husbands were
strong and capable to win all the rest that they had lost by
themselves.
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BHIMA
BATTLING DUSSHASANA IN THE
BATTLE OF KURUKSHETRA - KATHAKALI STYLE |
Draupadi succeeded in winning back freedom
for her enslaved husbands. Karna paid her a remarkable tribute,
saying that none of the world's renowned beautiful women have
accomplished such a feat: like a boat she has rescued her husbands
who were drowning in a sea of sorrows. With striking dignity
she refuses to take the third boon Dhritharashtra offered, because
with her husbands free and in possession of their weapons, she
did not need a boon from anyone. No twenty first century feminist
can surpass her in being in charge of herself. Can we even imagine
any woman having to suffer attempted disrobing with her husbands
sitting mute; then facing abduction in the forest and having
to countenance her husband forgiving the abductor; be molested
again in court and be admonished by her husband for creating
a scene; then be carried off to be burnt alive; thereafter, when
war is imminent, witness her husbands asking Krishna to pursue
peace; and finally find all her kith and kin and her sons slain
- and still remain sane?
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LORD
KRISHNA SAVING DRAUPADI
FROM THE WRATH OF SAGE DURVASHA |
When Dhritharashtra returned their kingdom
also and tried to console the Pandavas, the Kauravas were angry.
They decided to play the dice again with Pandavas and whoever
was defeated would have to give up the whole Kingdom and remain
in the forest for twelve years, and then for another year live
incognito (that is, without being recognized by others). If they
were recognized by anybody during that period, then they had
to repeat the twelve years' stay in the forests and spend a year
incognito. This was the condition of the match. Yudhisthira was
defeated again. The Pandavas gave up their royal robes and put
on clothes made of bark of trees. Draupadi followed her husbands,
giving up her life of luxury in palaces. So the forest life of
the Pandavas began. Lord Krishna was the beloved God of Draupadi.
He did not forget his devotees in the forest, but visited them
now and again. Many sages also visited the Pandavas now and then
and guided them. The Sun-God gave Yudhishthira an Akshaya
Patra (magic vessel). This vessel would not become empty
until Draupadi's meal was over. During the exile when Pandavas
were in Kamyaka Forest, Duryodhan sent the short-tempered but
highly knowledgable sage Durvasha and his thousand disciples
to visit Yudhishtira. His intention was to get the Pandavas cursed
by the sage Durvashsa. Yudhishtirs invited the sage and his disciples
to dine, for he was sure that by the virtue of the Akshaya Patra,
he had received from the Sun, they would be able to feed the
sage and his disciples. Everybody at that time, even Draupadi
and Kunti had taken their meal and the Akshaya Patra was empty.
Sage Durvasha went to take a bath in the Ganges. Draupadi got
worried and she again prayed to Krishna to save her and her husbands
from the wrath of Durvasha when he would find out that the Pandavas
had nothing to offer him and his disciples as a meal. Lord Krishna
reached the hut of Draupadi and ate the single grain of rice
in the Akshaya Patra. There at the river bank, sage Durbasha
and his disciples felt as if they had a sumptuous meal with many
delicacies. Durvasa rishi blessed the Pandavas and they decided
to change their course silently.
Draupadi's troubles were not yet over. Jayadrath
was the king of Sindhudesha and was married to Dusshala, the
daughter of Dhritharashtra. He too had gone to Draupadi's Swayamvara
but had lost the contest. He could not get her by valour. During
the days of the banishment to jungle of the Pandavas, one day
Draupadi was [ leaning against a kadamba tree, holding on to
a branch with an upraised hand when Jayadratha seized her. She
repulsed him so hard that he fell to the ground. Retaining full
control of her faculties, she mounted his chariot on finding
him bent on forcing her, calmly asked the family priest to report
to her husbands. No Sita-like lamentation here, nor shrill outcries
for succour! As her husbands closed up on Jayadratha, she taunted
him with an elaborate description of the prowess of each and
the inevitable trouncing that would follow. ][*]
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DRAUPADI
IN DISGUISE AS SAIRINDHRI
AS ATTENDANT OF SUDESHNA
PAINTING BY RAJA RAVI VERMA |
[ Draupadi was fully conscious of her beauty
and its power, for she used it in getting her way with Bhima
in Virata's kitchen. ][*] After
the twelve years of exile in the forest was over, Pandavas had
to spend a year incognito. How could five famous heroes, with
a very beautiful wife, remain unknown for one full year anywhere?
Would the Kauravas keep quiet? And it would be most difficult
for Draupadi because she was a woman. Then they took a secret
decision. Yudhishthira disguised himself as a pious Brhamin.
He assumed the name of Kanka Bhatta and entered the place of
Virata, the king of Matsya country. Bheema joined service in
the kitchen of Virata, taking the name of Ballav, Arjuna, to
be known as Brihannala (disguised as a eunuch) taught the art
of dancing to the princesses at Virat's palace. Nakula joined
the royal stables as a superviser taking the name Granthi and
Sahadeva to be known as Tantri Pal began to look after the palace
dairy. Draupadi as Sairindhri went to Queen Sudeshna and begged
to be taken as one of her attendants. The queen was more than
surprised at the great beauty of Draupadi. When Sudeshna asked
about her she introduced herself as the wife of five Gandharvas
who are divine musicians. Queen Sudeshna was pleased and engaged
her. Draupadi, daughter of the powerful King Drupad, wife of
Pandavas who could conquer the whole world, she who sat on the
throne as an empress and was accepted by Lord Krishna himself
as his sister, was now a servant to Queen Sudeshna. Yet she could
at least see her husbands who were at the same palace; and this
was consolation.
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DRAUPADI
ENTICING KEECHAK
WITH A VESSEL OF MILK
PAINTING BY RAJA RAVI VERMA |
Keechak was queen Sudeshna's younger brother,
and a very strong man. Once he saw Draupadi and was moved by
her great beauty. Sudeshna could make out the evil thoughts of
her brother and was afraid. Without the knowledge of the Queen,
begged Draupadi to be his Queen. Draupadi warned him and ran
away from him. But Keechaka followed her like an evil spirit.
Once he actually chased her and Draupadi ran away with fear and
entered the royal court where King Virata, Kanka Bhatta (Yudhisthira),
and Ballav (Bhima) were present. Keechaka angrily pushed her
and walked away. His eyes were burning. Ravaged by the insulting
incident Draupadi accused the three of them of being mere onlookers
while a woman was being insulted in front of them. The cook Ballav
(Bhima), was hissing in anger. Yudhishthira stopped Bhima from
precipitating a fight with Keechak. He also consoled Draupadi
and sent her back. But Draupadi could not control her anger and
agony. That night she went to Bhima and [ the manner in which
Draupadi manipulated Bhima to destroy Keechaka is a fascinating
lesson in the art and craft of sexual power. She does not turn
to Arjuna, knowing him to be a true disciple of Yudhisthira as
seen in the dice-game. Then Bhima alone had roared out his outrage.
][*] Draupadi enticed Keechak
into a lonely place by making him follow her, while she carried
a vessel of milk for him. At an opportune moment, Bheema pounced
on Keechak while Draupadi watched. [ When Kichaka had been pounded
to death by Bhima, instead of hiding in safety she recklessly
flaunts the corpse before his kin, reveling in her revenge. They
abduct her and she has again to be saved by Bhima from being
burnt to death. ][*]
This fiery heroine Draupadi was not without
kindness an affection. She was insulted, taunted and driven to
the forest by the sons of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari. When, Dusshasana
pulled at her saree, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari would not help
her. But after the war of Mahabharata, Draupadi looked after
Gandhari with respect and affection; she treated her in the same
way as she treated Kunti. She had a resolve that would not cool
off after thirteen long years of suffering, and also sympathy
for Gandhari after all was over.
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BHIMA
HANDING OVER THE SHIROMANI
TO DRAUPADI AS REVENGE FROM
ASHWATHAMA WHO KILLED HER SONS |
When Aswathama (son of Dronacharya) who killed
the sons of Draupadi, inspite of her great grief at the loss
of her children, came to Pandavas, she moved forward and touched
his feet and paid him his due respect. Bhima was unable to bear
such sorrow and because of this, he was in great emotions which
drove him to the point of exhibiting his physical prowess to
the world. In fact he was looking at this quality of forbearance
of Draupadi as a laughing matter. Bhima was greatly surprised
at the peaceful attitude of Draupadi. He thought that the suffering
of having lost all her children had driven her to insanity, for,
otherwise he was not able to understand how a true mother could
show such forbearance when the person who had killed all her
children was standing before her. Draupadi was a great woman
with exemplary character. When the strong Bhima was preparing
to kill Aswathama with his bare hands, would it be possible for
a weakling like Draupadi to go and stop Bhima? It was only the
purity of her thought that was her strength. Draupadi was such
a great woman that in order to protect right conduct, she would
even oppose her husbands. But even now, it was Bheema who tried
to avenge the death of her sons by uprooting the Shiromani (divine
diamond) off the forehead of Ashwathama and thus ending his powers
of invincibility.
Draupadi maintained the reputation of her
husbands, her parents and parents-in-law. She wanted her parents
to be proud of her, she wanted her children to feel that they
are the children of a great mother, she wanted her husbands to
feel that they were married to a great woman and she wanted her
parents-in-law to be proud of her and she wanted to please them.
Draupadi herself was always behaving in a manner in which she
maintained the reputation of her family and her kingdom.
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THE
PANDAVAS WITH DRAUPADI
ON THE MAHAPRASTHANA
THE GREAT JOURNEY TO HEAVEN |
[ Ultimately, the fact that Draupadi stands
quite apart from her five husbands is brought tellingly home
when not even Sahadeva of whom she took care with maternal solicitude,
nor her favourite Arjuna - tarries by her side when she falls
and lies dying husbanded yet unprotected, on the Himalayan slopes
][*] during their journey to
heaven - the Mahaprasthana. It is said, however, in some analyses
of the Mahabharata, that only Bheema, at such a juncture tried
to save her from her fall from the cliffs by extending an unsuccessful
hand to catch her. He failed and Draupadi fell to the ground
below and was dying a painful death when Bheema came to her side,
consoled her and remained by her side till she eventually died.
During these last moments, it is said, Draupadi realized the
futility of her undying love for Arjuna and felt the selfless
and unconditional love and support that Bheema had provided her
at each moment in her life and repented the fact that she could
never reciprocate the love of Bheema in equal terms.
[ Draupadi appears from the flames with a
divine announcement from the heavens that she would be the cause
of destruction of evil-warriors. Draupadi, is always subjected
to violence: her swayamvara ends in strife; a fivefold marriage
is imposed upon her; she is outraged in the royal court twice
over; Jayadratha and Keechaka attempted to rape her. Draupadi
is also veritably a virgin goddess of war. ][*] The
birth of Draupadi was unnatural without having a mother. [ If
Draupadi had hoped to find her missing mother in her mother-in-law,
she was tragically deceived as Kunti thrusts her into a polyandrous
marriage that exposes her to a salacious gossip reaching a horrendous
climax in Karna calling her a public woman whose being clothed
or naked immaterial. No other woman has had to face this peculiar
predicament of dealing with five husbands now as spouse, then
as elder or younger brother-in-law (to be treated like a father
or as a son respectively) in an unending cycle. ][*]
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LORD
KRISHNA AND ARJUNA -
THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT MEN IN
DRAUPADI'S LIFE |
Draupadi is 'Krishna Sakhee'. 'Sakhee' means
friend. She was a courageous queen with a dynamic personality.
Even Duryodhan grudgingly admitted to her greatness. She was
in a way, the revolving kingpin of the Mahabharata war. [ Draupadi
does not rest till the revenge for which her father had invoked
her manifestation is complete and the insult she suffered has
been wiped out in blood. Through the thirteen years of exile,
she never allowed her husbands and her sakha to forget how she
was outraged and they were deceitfully deprived of their kingdom.
When she finds all her husbands, except Sahadeva, in favor of
suing for peace, she brings to bear all her feminine charm to
turn the course of events inexorably towards war. Pouring out
a litany of her injuries, she takes up her serpent-like thick
glossy hair and with tearful eyes urges Lord Krishna to recall
these tresses when He sues for peace. Sobbing, she declares that
her five sons led by Abhimanyu and her old father and brothers
will avenge her if her husbands will not. ][*]
Draupadi was used by everybody. [ Draupadi
was used first by King Drupad to take revenge on Drona by securing
the alliance of the Pandavas and then by Kunti and the Pandavas
to win their kingdom thrice over (first through marriage, then
in the first dice game when she wins them their freedom; finally
as their incessant goal on the path to victory). Unknown to her,
even sakha Krishna throws her in as the ultimate temptation in
Karna's way when seeking to win him over to the Pandavas before
the war, assuring that Draupadi will come to him in the sixth
part of the day. Karna was also borne by Kunti's womb, albeit
before her marriage to Pandu. These efforts of Krishna are followed
by Kunti urging Karna to enjoy Yudhishthira's Shri (another name
of Draupadi) which was acquired by Arjuna. There is an unmistakable
harking back to her command to her sons to enjoy what they had
brought together when Bhima and Arjuna had announced their arrival
with Draupadi as alms. No wonder Draupadi laments that she has
none to call her own, when even her sakha unhesitatingly uses
her as bait! Draupadi, despite having husbands and chidren, remains
alone to the last. ][*]
[ As far back as in 1887, the great Bengali
litterateur Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay drew an illuminating
distinction between Sita and Draupadi, noting that while the
former is chiefly a wife in whom the softer feminine qualities
are expressed, the latter is pre-eminently a tremendously forceful
queen in whom woman's steel will, pride and brilliant intellect
are most evident, a befitting consort indeed of mighty Bhima.
He also pointed out that Draupadi represents woman's selfishness
in performing all household duties flawlessly but detachedly.
In her he sees exemplified the Gita's prescription for controlling
the senses by the higher self. Since a wife is supposed to present
her husband with a son, she gives one to each of the Pandavas,
but no more, and in that exemplifies the conquest over the senses,
as in the case of Kunti. Once this duty is over, there is no
sexual relationship between her and the Pandavas. That is why,
despite having five husbands, Draupadi is the acne of chastity.
Akin to sakha Krishna, lotus-like she is fully of this world
of senses, yet never immersed in it. The bloom of her unique
personality spreads its fragrance far and wide, soaring above
the worldly mire in which it is rooted.][*]
This remarkable "virgin" never asked
anything for herself. Born unwanted, thrust abruptly into a polyandrous
marriage, she seems to have had a profound awareness of being
an instrument in bringing about the extinction of an effete epoch
so that a new age could take birth. And being so aware, Draupadi
offered her entire being as a flaming sacrifice in that holocaust
of which Krishna was the presiding deity.
Draupadi is the most complex and controversial
female character in Hindu literature. On one hand, she could
be womanly, compassionate and generous and on the other, she
could wreak havoc on those who did her wrong. She was never ready
to compromise on either her rights as a daughter-in-law or even
on the rights of the Pandavas and remained ever ready to fight
back or avenge high-handedness and injustice meted out to her
modesty. She secretly vowed that one day she would definitely
seek vendetta on the injustice meted out to her. She did it by
igniting the spark of revenge in the hearts of the Pandavas.
If the Mahabharata is an intricately woven
saga of hatred and love, bloodshed and noble thoughts, courage
and cowardice, beauty and gentleness, victory and defeat, then
Draupadi is its shining jewel, casting the shadow of her towering
personality over the epic poem and the all-destroying war it
describes.
[*]Taken
from Panchkanya by Pradip Bhattacharya ( visit http://www.indianest.com/hinduism/panchkanya/pk01.htm )
This article was written by:
Madhuri Guin Our efforts have been directed at making this article informative and refreshing for you. We will truly appreciate all forms of feedback. Please send your feedback to newsletter@dollsofindia.com.
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