Whats the LOGIC behind this so called marriage?/ DT's NT pg 4 - Page 6

Originally posted by: shripadk

Hinduism's basic tenet is cycles of birth and death and how to attain Moksha.

Read up on Gajendra Moksha on why Karma of previous births are binding on current ones and about liberation.

Originally posted by: dramacrazy12

I don't think the marriage was about logic to begin with...also I discount the story of past birth because I see it as an excuse to justify a certain incident without a precedent. To me it was all about politics and emotions otherwise what Kunti said unknowingly was not as big a deal as it was made out to be.

Here is how I interpret it-

When Draupadi visited, she was yet unmarried...when Kunti said what she did...she awakened the lust in other four Pandavas for a moment...maybe they saw Draupadi as a woman they wanted and lusted after until their brain kicked back in...also in that moment their mother insulted Draupadi by comparing her to a chattel while they stood shocked and helpless.

They were thoroughly embarrassed in her presence and had a hard time meeting her eye which put them in a situation where they wanted to avoid Draupadi. They decided to take penance to repent for their mother's actions and their unexpected lust. However that meant that brothers would be broken apart. Draupadi was to be married to Arjun but he had no claim to throne as he was younger to Duryodhana. Draupadi could not marry Yudhi because he did not win her moreover he was helpless politically without the might of his brothers. Without Pandavas on throne, the masses were doomed to a life of servitude and pain and Drupad's desire to avenge his insult would never come to fruition and Adharma would win. If Draupadi did not marry anyone she was destined to a life of shame and pain, if she committed suicide...Arjun and Pandavas would be responsible for her death...an insult to Shatriya Dharma and worthy of penance. The point being there were no easy answers unless everyone was agreeable to forget what just happened and Pandavas were not ready for that.

On the flip-side Draupadi marrying all of them not only solved everything but also contributed to the solidarity of the brothers. Kunti had her sons, her sons had a powerful wife and alliances, Krishna had his way to war of Mahabharat, Drupad had his preferred SIL, Yudhi still had claim to throne. The only price was Draupadi would never truly belong to or be loved by one person , she would have to balance between her 5 husbands and it would open her to some ridicule not that people would jump to say it out openly. It gave everyone what they wanted politically and from a certain perspective was a better life for Draupadi than staying unmarried or committing suicide. The only challenge was that there was no precedent and there were logistic/emotional issues with sharing the wife. Pandavas put certain rules in place to reduce the emotional angst of sharing a wife and well-known sages/powerful political entities like VedVyas, Krishna and Drupad put their weight behind the marriage to give it desired respectability. Logically who could oppose them.

Originally posted by: BarbieGurl

I hav always believed tht draupadi wanted all 5 pandavas...Yeah she was initially impressed with Arjun...but later on at the prospect of getting 5 most powerful, handsome hunks of tht yuga who wld refuse such an offer ;-)atleast I wouldnt :-P
Unlike popular belief women too are sexual creatures.If men can desire n hav multiple wives why not women too ?
If there was an iota of hesitation she could hav easily refused marrying.
I dont view draupadi as a victim here. Rather she is a feminist who is not ashamed of her sexuality.

Originally posted by: Sabhayata

@shripadk:Thanks for all the references

Here is some more

Then the kind-hearted Kunti addressing the daughter of Drupada said, 'O amiable one, take thou first a portion from this and devote it to the gods and give it away to Brahmanas, and feed those that desire to eat and give unto those who have become our guests. Divide the rest into two halves. Give one of these unto Bhima, O amiable one, for this strong youth of fair complexion--equal unto a king of elephants--this hero always eateth much. And divide the other half into six parts, four for these youths, one for myself, and one for thee.' Then the princess hearing those instructive words of her mother-in-law cheerfully did all that she had been directed to do. And those heroes then all ate of the food prepared by Krishna. Then Sahadeva, the son of Madri, endued with great activity, spread on the ground a bed of kusa grass. Then those heroes, each spreading thereon his deer-skin, laid themselves down to sleep. And those foremost of the Kuru princes lay down with heads towards the south. And Kunti laid herself down along the line of their heads, and Krishna along that of their feet. And Krishna though she lay with the sons of Pandu on that bed of kusa grass along the line of their feet as if she were their nether pillow, grieved not in her heart nor thought disrespectfully of those bulls amongst the Kurus

All these instances including the one that shripadk gave clearly indicate that neither Drauapdi nor pandavas were particularly sad or forced into this marriage yes may be they weren't jumping with joy as well but like vrish said after Arjun won her in swyambar he and his family were the masters of her destiny that is the way it was in those times hence she accepted whatever her new family decided for her .Hence neither Drauapdi nor panadavs were any kind of victims in this. They all spent many years happily married Drauapdi always spoke very highly about her husbands. And despite whatever this serial shows they were respected a lot both panadavs and druapadi no one insulted them for this marriage except during the dice hall game only because situation was something else but in normal situation everyone did respect them. This serial is making a big deal out of this marriage showing society disrespecting them and all because this is a a serial in which drama is required

Also i know many people may say that the translation are altered etc may draupadi was really forced and she was sad and all this has been missed from the text and all to make pandavas look better.Of course this is possible but that can be said about each and every character and each and everything in MB. that way we wont me able to say anything about any character or incident since everything could be altered hence for discussions sake no point discussing what could have been we can only discuss on the basis of translations are available to us and none of the translation show either druapadi or panadavs being sad. Now if soemone doesn't want to believe this its their choice .But the fact is available translations say that that neither panadava nor druapadi was sad and there are several reasons given why this marriage was dharma as well

Originally posted by: medha00

Yes, Hinduism is basically all about birth cycles and Karma. All the religious scriptures are standing tall with its base being reincarnation and Previous births.

But belief in previous birth is not confined to just Hinduism. Buddhishts have a whole book called Jatakas describing all 550 previous births of Buddha and then there is the New Age spirituality that discards Religion as a way to divide the masses but its basis is too reincarnation.

Originally posted by: shripadk

Exactly! But I never understood one thing about Buddhism: They don't believe in existence of soul but they do say that Buddha had 550 previous births. How is that possible?