Ego is one thing, destroying someone’s self-respect is another altogether. Our topic of discussion today is somewhat disturbing and filled with sadness, as it recounts a life marked by a series of tragedies, yet one that remains held in high esteem. We are talking about Draupadi. In every era, disrespect for women has been the cause of disaster.
Welcome, everyone, to yet another post of Mahabharat: The Forgotten Stories, where we delve deep into the world of mysticism, teachings, and learnings, as well as stories that most of you might have overlooked in the pursuit of a bigger picture, but which carry profound meanings.
How was Draupadi born?
In the great kingdom of Panchal, there was a mighty king, Drupad. King Drupad and Guru Dron were childhood friends, and they made a promise to each other to always stay by each other’s side. Still, after the ascension to the throne, King Drupad not only forgot his promise but also denied and disrespected Dron when he came asking for help. Drona humiliated Drupad by defeating him in a battle.
From that day, Dron and King Drupad became arch enemies, and King Drupad wanted to kill Dronacharya; he wanted to acquire a child who would become the cause of Dronacharya’s death, for which he conducted a great yajna ( sacrificial ceremony) to gain children. The ceremony was conducted with great rishis and led to fruition soon.
From the yajna fire arose two divine-looking children, one was Dhrishtadymna ( who was fated to destroy Dronacharya, which took place in the battle of Mahabharat), and Draupadi. She was dark skinned, beautiful, and was referred to as Krishnā (due to her dusky complexion).
How was Draupadi married?
Let’s start way before the lifetime. Draupadi, in her previous lifetime, was called Nalayani, who was married to a rishi named Maudgalya, but the rishi was not entangled and did not have any material or sexual desires. She, on the other hand, wanted to covort with her husband, which she was not able to, so she did severe penance to gain a boon from lord shiva himself, and one day lord shiva appeared in front of her to fulfill her desires and grant her the boon.
Nalayani, obsessed with her desires, mumbled “husband” five times, to which Shiva granted her a boon of getting five husbands in her next life. Nalayani was reborn as Draupadi.
Pandavas were serving their vanvaas (banishment to the forest) and were eager to increase their strength politically when Arjuna got to know about a swayamvara (a ceremony where a girl can choose any husband from the desired suitors) for her, although the suitors were posed a challenge of piercing the eye of a fish in a pond from a great height.
In which only arjuna passed and was so married to Draupadi, when arjuna and all the other brothers reached home to give their mother kunti the good news, kunti was busy in a ritual and answered absent mindedly to share anything amonst each other and so she was shared by all five brothers.
How was the famous game that turned her life upside down, and how did it lay the groundwork for the great war of Mahabharat?
An event that changed the course of history and due to which the great war of Mahabharat took place, Duryodhana and shakuni were planning a devious plan which would strip the Pandavas of all their respect, wealth, kingdom, and social standing.
Shakuni, who had sworn to destroy the Kuru dynasty) had planned a game of chausar. Chausar is also commonly known as indian ludo, but the difference was that they were betting empires, wealth, slaves, etc. in the first couple of games shakuni let Yudhistara win to build up trust that nothing was wrong in the game, but soon after, he encouraged both parties to bet even higher.
Slowly and steadily, Yudhistara started losing all his bets, and shakuni’s and Duryodhana’s fire of vengeance and greed was still not quenched, when Yudhistara had nothing left, shakuni asked him to bet his siblings, which he also lost, and then came the time of utmost barbarism when shakuni asked to bet his wife. Yudhishtara lost the bet yet again, and Duryodhana asked his younger brother Dushasana to bring Draupadi to the court.
She was pregnant at that time and was dragged to the court by her hair when she tried to resist; everyone was shocked by this vehemence already but it had just begun, Duryodhana asked Dushasana to disrobe her and seat her on his left thigh, when she saw neither her husbands (except Bheem) nor any of the coutiers were coming to her rescue she had no choice but to ultimately pray to lord Krishna for her rescue.
Suddenly the cloth on her body started extending and Dushasana kept pulling her clothes which kept on increasing, when Dushasana stopped their was a huge lightning and all the courtsmen were disrobed suddenly due to Krishna miracle. Draupadi felt immensely disrespected and gave a curse that the cloth that Dushasana pulled would be used to wrap all the dead bodies in the battle of Mahabharat.
An interesting story about Draupadi:
One lesser known story about Draupadi is that after the war of Mahabharat, when peace was established, Draupadi’s heart was still stirred and she went alone at night at the day of a lunar eclipse to the banks of ganga with a black thread, bowl of copper filled with milk and would sit on the banks and stare at the moon until it dissapeared behind the earth shadow. According to texts, she had made a vow on the banks of the Ganga.
Draupadi’s honour was destroyed, and she was in deep pain. The moment the moon had been eclipsed by the earth, She made a vow that.
“If ever there comes a time again when a woman’s dignity is questioned, when kings fall silent in court, when dharma bows to fear — then let me rise again, not as a queen, not as a wife, but as fire itself.”
She tied the black thread on her wrist as a rakhsha bandhan( as a reminder of her vow )
As the last sliver of moon vanished, she spoke her actual name to seal the vow, “Agyeni,” daughter of Agni (fire). Sister of flame and keeper of silent vows, then she smeared the milk on her forehead.
Since that night no one found the shrine where she had taken the vow but according to local beliefs if one sits near the banks of the river ganga on the day of eclipse one can still hear the ruffle of her saree and feel her waiting patiently to rise once agian in the form of the fire that still rages in her heart.
As always, it was a pleasure writing for you guys, and for more related content, stay tuned to The forgotten stories of Mahabharat, also read some of the other interesting content about shakuni, the misunderstood villain.
