**Panchali Draupadi - Pooja Sharma's AT**#3 - Page 19

Originally posted by: Rushika

Nooo poojie I don't think so coz the pic of dp is nothing new n the header is a creation from IF n I don't think so she will follow MB cast 1st then her best friend like Aishwarya Sakhuja... 😕

Part B: Who are the Upapandavas?

How many children did Pandavas had with Draupadi and how many children in all?

First we need to answer the question of wives, mothers of Upapandavas. See that could be lengthy so this post will just talk how many children did Draupadi had.

We had a separate post on Yudhishthara's wives. Basically, in the main Epic story line, he has just one wife, Draupadi. There are no more wives associated with him in the Epic. We all know Devika appears before the start of story in Adivansavatarana Parva. She does not re-appear.

Yudhishthara is not one Wife-King, that fact would be highlighted like in the case of Rama. Also, unlike Rama, Yudhishthara had four coronations and even if allowing for Draupadi to be the common queen in 2nd, 3rd and even 4th coronations (highly unlikely), we still have Yuvraj coronation long before Hari met Panchali. So, it stands to reason that Yudhishthara had a wife and might be a widower when he married Draupadi otherwise First Mrs. Dharmaraj will follow him to forest through burning houses, Indian ladies are like that, ek baar pakar liya to saat janam tak peechha nahi chhorti. Other versions of epics have many wives of Yudhishthara. We will just follow the main Epic, Stapatha Brahaman and related Vedanga which are historically written in the period after war and reported the people in the period), the oldest non-vaishanava Puranas (Agni and Vayu, both are henchmen to both Siva and Vishnu so no later editorial trangressions to glorify, we can add Matsaya and Varaha to the mix, except Varaha cult is the one responsible for emerging of Rama from a list of 22/24/26 to the smaller list of Ten.)

In Epic, Yudhishthara has one son Prativindhya and one daughter Suthanu prominently mentioned in the as children from Draupadi. In Dakshinatya and Neelkanth, the throwaway phrases of him being Samrata and "Kings" Jareya in one edition and Kurumataya (Kalimataya) in another may be grandchildren or not.
Suthanu married Bhanu, son of Satyabhama, also called Asva and is the mother to Vajra whose sons were Vajranabha and VajraKhira. (Khira is prominent chap who backs Janamjeya).

Also, I might have mentioned before that I used to identify lot of errant slokas in original epic and slight details, the little characters. I also might have mentioned that I read the Ganguli version online and compared it extensively to the Sankrit editions available both online and elsewhere and see the translations.

Yudhishthara is surrounded by his sons, grandsons and relatives as he does the Shradha rituals. This sloka means there are sons and grandsons alive after War.

Several places in Epic, we have a son of Yudhishthara described doing things after the war also like discussing the benefits of Artha over pure Spirituality with Yudhishthira.

So Yudhishthara had other children as well. The Yaudheya republic lasted thousand plus years. It was a republican form of Govt where a Hundred Prativindhyas ruled. Their ancient coins claim descent from Yudhishthara hence their name. In Puranic descriptions of sarpa-Satra, there is Prativindhya present which meaning from term hundred prativindhyas is the descendent maybe not the original one. Janamejaya's cousin Kakshasena (Not same as Vajra's son Vajranabha who has moved to Mathura) is King of Indraprastha at time of Sarpa-satra, Janamejaya rules from Asandivati, capital of Parikshita.

In Satapatha, we have great description of Kingdom left by Dharmaraja and the coalition of kings he left it too. Jayashankar Prasad and others wrote several novels describing this in more detail. Major Temple covered the Punjab folk tales on same stories as well. I have started that series separately.

Parikshita ruled from Ganga to Sarasvati in three parts Kurujangala, Kurukshetra and Kurushena. The capital was Asandivati, now called safidon near Kurukshetra actually Panipata (Pandavaprastha). Parikshita's western boundary was Sirhind; rivers Drishdavati, Kausiki, Aruna, Sarasvati. Apaya, Pastya, and Lakes Sharyanavant and Anyatah-plaksha were the major water bodies. Parikshita is backed by the Bharatas of Agni, (Bharata princes descended from fire born daughter) well versed in Rika, Devashravas and Devavata. The Goddess Bharati (four of whose avatars are Draupadi, Panchali, Kaali and Chandaa) is the guarantor of sacredness of Sarasvati and Drishdavati (the other Doab).

This Satapatha and description of various coalition of princes can wait. (I will create separate post.) It sort of explains that Parikshita was chosen to be King or was later first among equals. Yaudheya, Arjunayana and Malava coins mention the tern Samvagri, United or a Union. There was a USP, United Sons of Pandavas.

We have common priests for several kingdoms; we have King Paushya who replaced Parikshita and then later put Janamejaya on throne when he went blind. So Upa-pandavas abounded. We have Babhruvahana's son Setu and grandson Anarvrdha.
In Puranas we have 18 grandsons of Karna, some survived the War, atleast one was listed in line to rule Anga before replaced by Vairochana. Karna's grandsons would be Brahmins as per the law, the seventh generation gets the caste of ancestress if higher than father. As Sutas in seventh generation, they would become Brahmins. Kalanemi, a son of Drupada becomes Brahmin after war and preceptor to Malava, his grandnephew. Another son of Drupada, Shikhandi Yagnasena is famous teacher and Brahmin in Kaushitaki Brahmana (VII. 4) and royal priest to his grandnephew Kesi Dalbhya, sister's son of Kuru kings.

Going back to the how many sons post.

So Yudhishthara may have more wives or daughters-in-law. We have one thing made abundantly clear, Draupadi treated her husbands equally, She gave Yudhishthara two children. That stands to reason that there would be more than five children for Draupadi alone, paanch ka pahara boliye.

There are definitely two more daughters of Dharmaraja and another married to Maharishi Santu somebody. They may be born from Draupadi, maybe not. I can guarantee that they did exist because there are Hindu festivals and fairs around their descendents.

Puranas and Jatakas have multiple Panchala princesses marry into Pandava family. They all would be Panchalis by title and maybe Draupadis as daughters of Drupada as well. This is not to say that there were five Draupadis and poet taking into account egos (and lack of acting ability) of future actresses decided to make lives of casting director (for serials) easy and said one married all. I do not want to re-start the debate but there is enough evidence that One daughter of Drupada, Krishnaa atleast married all five brothers. Again enuff said. The research by a Bengali scholar published in 1927 and available on archive.org identifies several origin stories of various Draupadis or similar princesses to use a term, adopted or not by Panchala King. Not all of them marry all five, most of them are wives of single Pandava. In Saraladas Mahabharata, two Draupadis Sairandhari and Store keeper are working for Virata. In another variant, one is wife of Kanka (she is Kaali btw and chides Ballava for visiting the Sairandhari secretly whenever she comes to wash Kanka's utensils after meals; she handles the Upakichakas).

Now you should find this in my rant on errant slokas but the Draupadi they dragged in court might not be (I write with fingers crossed) the one who married all FIVE but one who married only Yudhishthara aka not Krishnaa but Saudyamani Suadharmani something. It is a difficult Sanskrit name. You see in Sabha Parva, she says she is only married to Yudhishthara (that could be translator's mistake). But she is the mother to Prativindhya.

My bringing this point out to show that maybe mother of Prativindhya was not Krishnaa and Krishnaa's first child to Yudhishthara was Suthanu. Prativindhya was born to Saudyamani. And Krishnaa just gave one child to each brother. That's why you have unbalance of one child.

(Vayu Purana) Bhima is listed as marrying four avatars of Bharati Devi, Draupadi, Kaali, Kashija and Panchali. Note how they have differentiated Panchali and Drauapdi in that list. Draupadi is our Krishnaa and this Panchali is some other lady from Panchala. Kaali is sister to Jarasandh or to even Draupadi (I would discount that sloka if two ladies marry same person they are termed "sisters".) Kashija is Balandhara or Jalandhara. Any children Bhima has with these four could be termed as common children and though indicating more than one child from Draupadi, in reality there may be several mothers for these children.

In Udyoga Parva is mentioned Dridhdhanvan, a Draupedeya who is Maharathi. He is not mentioned elsewhere so probably another name for one of the famous five (or six). Satapatha calls him father to the bharata King of Mithila replacing the line of Dharmanetra another Kuru branch. Maybe this is same person as Prativindhya. (Prati Vindhya means one who is solid or dridha like Vindhya; Yudhishthira means Solid in battle, Dridhdhanvan means Solid archer.) We will discuss Prativindhya and other Upapandavas at length later.

The version of Mahabharata published by one of western publishing houses (back in 1980s) based on some central Indian recession listed the name of Yudhishthara's son as Prahara, obviously making it easy for western audiences (but the variant is that his mother is Drona's daughter in this book, more about it later).

Draupadi also had Shatanika from Nakula, Sootasoma from Bhima, Shrutkarmma from Sahadev and Shrutkirti from Arjuna (born after Arjuna returned from his adventures.)

In the Epic "MAIN" Upapandavas are the sons of Draupadi, Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Shrutkarmma, Shatanika and Shrutashan as well as Abhimanyu, Ghatotkacha. Bhima might have killed hundreds (Kauravas), the Draupdeyas killed thousands of grand children of Dhritrashtra. (Abhimanyu kills 100 along with Lakshamana and Rukmaratha alone on the fateful day).

Shrutakirti, Shrutasoma, Shrutasena, Shrutasharma, Shrutanika, Shrutavindhya are alternate spellings. The Hindi CHH, SH, Shra, Sa are also used as starting words haphazardly for these five.

They are avatars of Visvadevas (by the way normal list has 10 Visvadevas and I myself counted 61 names in Puranas I read, remembering one can have many names (same with Adityas as we recently talked about)).

They are also variously listed as Avatars of Gandharvas with major details. In Epic, Prativindhya is also listed as avatar of Ekachakra asura. (btw Ekachakra nagari of Bakasura is also called Shrutapur, the starting name for most of Draupdeyas.) Only one is Asura in Epic. He rules the doab between Sialkot and Jalandhara.

In southern Shakta Saivite tales, five Rakshasas wanted uddhar and were born in forest from Draupadi in Kaalirupa and Bhimashankara. (Did'nt he used to hog the alms they got everyday!) The same tales have sixth son of Sahadeva born in 12th year, Draupadi had to leave the child with widowed kshatrani and she makes some magical arrangements for child. That is a sort of nice folk story and use of certain toys in nursery to ward off dangers and all that. And we have many stories of various dynasties formed from children left by great heroes in peril.

Let us return to main epic. Bhima has Sootasoma as son who is very famous in Jatakas and other texts as later King of Indraprastha (specifically succeeding Yudhishthara there) before taking sanyas and he also married Chandadevi (she is also the avatar of Bharati Devi, Saas bhi kabhi bahu thee). In Epic, an errant sloka describes his married putraja hermit son Vraja dying in the War. Vraja had children who would be older than Parikshita.

Agni Purana chapter 278 makes Shruta, a different person than Sootasoma, as son of Bhima and Draupadi.
So Bhima has atleast two sons (5 children were by duty of wife and this one was for love??)
This Shruta with set of seven other warriors was wounded by Karna in Karna Parva chapter 27 verse 1156. The other seven with him do not share the names of main Draupdeyas. Shruta's son is Jaya, a name Bhima is also called in epic or translator puts Bhima in place of Jaya. Shruta may have been the casualty in Sauptika, if Sauptika really happened.

In the Main Epic, Shatanika the son of Nakula and Draupadi is the deputy commander of the army. He is in the general staff, he does not move around with his brothers. He is in charge of Vyuha planning and his post would be with Dhrishtadamyun or Yudhishthara or his father Nakula (who is prime in charge of Yudhishthara's defence). I will post more details about him later, he is big hero in Satapatha.

When the five sons of Draupadi fight on many occasions in War Parvas, if some one needs succor like change of ratha, Satanika is conspicuously absent, others help out the brother in danger, indicating again that Satanika would be with the General staff as we talked earlier. So this means, Satanika and 5 more aka six sons are fighting. Following slokas make this clearer.

In Karna Parva, chapter 48, verse 2680 describes Nakula's s son Shatanika and Five sons of Draupadi fighting on a front backing their brother like five Suns dispelling gloom around him.

In Karna Parva, Chapter 73, verse 4457, the Pandava warriors are taking their positions, the five sons of Draupadi like five fires, stood ahead of Dhrishtadamyun and Shikhandi, supported by the sons of Dhrishtadamyun, and Satanika, the son of Nakula, and Nakula himself. To take battle to enemy stood, Sahadeva, and Durmukha, and Janamejaya, and Sudharman, supporting Satyaki. (Durmukha, Janamejaya and Sudharman are nephews to Drupada.)

Then we have Shrutakarmma, son to Bhima or Arjuna or Sahadeva, he is called that in several places in the epic. (the problem is that another name is added in where this son is not listed as a son of Arjuna, so we get distinct seven names). Srutakirti/Sritkarmma, Arjunas son kills Abhimanyu's murderer.

Then there is Shrutasana or Shrutasena , son of Sahadeva. Satapatha makes his son the priest Srutasrvas. His other son is Dilipa who cremates Ugrasena and other yadavas with Arjuna.

So, basically, Epic tells us that Draupadi had five plus sons maybe six, maybe seven atleast. The Jain Pandava Puranas mention 16 sons. (Thing is 8, 16, 108 are auspicious numbers but they do list 16 names as well when they name the sons, names are not in common with five except Shruta portion in some of the names.)

Draupadi has some daughters as well, atleast two maybe more. Arjuna did not have a daughter, he mentions something to that effect that teaching princesses dance is filling that hole. Or Arjuna missed out on certain portions of childhood of his daughters. It goes either way. Bhasa is very cryptic.

So if we would presume that Draupadi had atleast 2 children with each husband, 2 sons to Arjuna and Bhima and Sahadeva and 1 son and daughter to Dharma and Nakula. She did differentiate; she loved Dharma and Nakula more (daughters smell nicer than sons).

Draupadi does adopt young tribal boys & girls and later orphans in battlefield and in IP/Hastinapur in many folk versions. There is very detailed Ambasura Timirasura legends which I will detail separately.

I had mentioned Arjuna's son Rochanagarbha killed by Bhagdatta and there was another Upapandava Himavan killed by Devavrdha whose revenge was taken by Shrutakarmma. Again, these sons come in for couple of slokas and leave the Epic quickly as well.

Source : Click Here...

Originally posted by: amritat

Sometimes, even I wonder, how Pooja has no offscreen pics with her co-stars. There are at most 2 or 3 pics maybe, where she's sitting in a group, with everyone. But she doesn't click pics with anyone as such. N since she's not in any social networking site, it makes it all the more difficult to get offscreen pics of hers.

Originally posted by: amritat

Ya Rushika, we can really request for Pooja to be active or to post her pics. N even she's not on any social networking site, the people she clicks with, probably are. But still we rarely get pics posted by others, with Pooja in them.

Originally posted by: ...Poojie...

Today's spoiler

Mahabharat: As Arjun & Subhadra enter the wedding mandap, Krishna smartly tells Dhritarashtra till the time Arjun is a Kuruvanshi and considered a grandson he can't attack Dwarka as Dwarka will be in relation & if Arjun is cut off as a Kruvanshi then they'll have to free Indraprastha and declare it as an independent kingdom. Arjun Subhadra get married in everyone's presence, Dhritarashtra grudgingly gives blessings to the couple. Bheeshma refuses to bless the couple, Krishna intervenes and tells Bheeshma that it's the time of revolution in Aryavarta and in such a time Bheeshma will have to decide in whose side he is in Dharm or Adharm..

Originally posted by: monishasri

how about my creations??