OS: Draupadi: A woman of substance and epitome

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There are many perceptions about this particular character of the Mahabharata. Draupadi's character has been repeatedly questioned throughout the epic. But only a few tend to look beyond, into what her life would have actually been like. She was a woman who struggled throughout her life, from the beginning till the very end. As she walked out of the sacrificial fire, she became the prey of the jealous eyes of those who despised her beauty. But she remained unfeigned like a true princess. With time, she stood with the title of the best loved child of her father, his most prized possession, hand in hand along with her twin brother Dhrishtadhyumna, who was born from the same pure fire of the Yajna and he also, was one of the best loved children of their father because of his gender and because he was born to fulfil a motive, his father's motive, to kill Guru Dronacharya. Her other supporter, throughout her life was her sister Shikandini later Shikhandi, the reason for the death of the valiant Bheeshma and the re-incarnation of Amba, the princess of Kashi.
When she crossed the first stage of her life and understood her own personality and developed the knowledge of the worldly affairs, a friend entered her life. A friend who guided her in every walk of her life, a friend who was always there for her, a friend who wrote her future and helped her accomplish the purpose of her birth, a friend with whose entrance the path of her life changed course towards the real motive of her birth and after whom she was named Krishnaa. It was her Govind, her lord, it was Krishna.
Then she entered a stage in her life when she fell in love. Just a glance at that Brahmin and she knew he would be her husband. Her sakha had given her a knowing smile upon her realization which only increased her surety. But alas! She was bound into a marriage with five men, who were fortunately or unfortunately brothers. This marriage divided all of her in five bits. The Pandawas were said to be like the five organs of one body, but that body was Yajnaseni. She spent one year with each brother with utmost loyalty, forgetting everything about the previous years, forgetting the "smaran", but her heart lay with that Brahmin, also known as Arjuna. This has been one turning point in the story and this polygamist relation was considered a sin but people forget to acknowledge the fact that how selflessly, the daughter of Drupad entered this marriage because if she only married Arjuna, he would be ridden by a life of ever-lasting guilt as his brothers would enter into a life of hermitage.
Also, Draupadi did this for her father as Arjuna had already won her and no other king would take her for a wife. She couldn't subject her father to possible and repeated criticism by staying in his palace forever. She didn't want to be the next Amba for destiny wanted to make her the only Draupadi.
Even after overcoming this hurdle, she maintained her calm and poise. With the fieriness of a born queen she became the strongest queen any kingdom had seen in those times. But her happiness was still short-lived.
This woman was dragged like a beast into a court full of her husbands' kinsmen by her hair and tried to be stripped off her sari. That is when her lord, Krishna saved her dignity and this event marked the beginning of Mahabharata. Although, the lord saved her dignity and pride, what woman could come to terms with the fact that one of her husband's gambled her away and the other four just looked on while their kinsmen were trying to put their wife to shame. Mere tears could not heal this wound.
Even then, the only thing she asked for was for her dignity to be restored and her subjects to live a peaceful life which they never could have under the Kaurav prince Duryodhan's rule. But her palace disappeared and took with it the memories of her past life. Krishna once again wiped her tears and showed her the right path.
Even after all this she went on to live a life of exile for twelve years and incognito for the thirteenth year along with her husbands like a true devoted wife. She served as the hairdresser for queen Sudeshna, the queen of Matsaya kingdom only for others, or rather majorly for those five men who failed in coming to her support in her hour of need. Her feeling of revenge had been wiped off along with her tears and a want for establishment of justice replaced the former feeling.
This woman's sons too were killed in the Kurukshetra war in their sleep while an integral part of her, her twin was killed brutally while protecting her beloved sons. When asked what made her most anguished about the murder of her sons, she replied, "The only thing that hurts me most is that my dear sons were killed in their sleep. Oh, lord! Why didn't you give them the chance to remember you while death faced them in its full form?" She maintained her courage even then and vested her energy into bringing up her grandson, Parikshit to whom she was most attached and vice-versa.
But in the end, she was the first to fall in her journey unto death on the way to the Himalayas and to attain heaven in human flesh and her partiality for Arjuna was cited as the reason. Draupadi was punished to fall in love and her previous birth as Nalayani was to be blamed. Only a few people can understand that she had to shed her mortal shell in order to attain her true form as goddess Lakshmi. Yes, she was a goddess incarnate!
But today, this woman is looked up to and prayed as a goddess in many parts of India, not because she was a form of goddess Lakshmi but because she was herself, one of the strongest women to have ever taken birth in history. She has finally attained true heaven, that is, she is immortal in the eyes of history and pure in the eyes of the upcoming generations. She is an iconic heroine of the hindu mythology and one of the Panchkanyas.
She is Draupadi!