The only real man that day was Krishna, and he wasn't even present there.
This was appallingly depressing and I will stab anyone who dares to come too close to touch even a strand of my hair.š
Everyone in the dice hall, and there thousands of Kings present mind you, all of these great learned men were busy either:
Protecting and following their false sense of Dharma and duties.
OR
Being entertained and laughing at the woman being dragged by her hair and being perverted lustful imbeciles
OR
Being spiteful and satisfied that they were finally getting their revenge and now can happily say 'Tit for Tat, Lady" You laughed at me so I laughed at you, you offended my honor so i destroyed yours.
Yudhishtira lost her, his everything, all the hard work their brothers did to build a city just for him to rule, he even lost those brothers. His gambling addiction paid off, every bad thing you do will come to hurt you one day.
He let his Empress and his wife down; He let those brothers who gave him the status of their Father down. He let himself down.
And he knew it. Seeing his wife verbally and physically abused while he was some measly slave was his punishment.
But not even in his worst nightmare he would have anticipated that these men would stoop so low as to assault her and humiliate her in public, because he is that person who just can't accept that everyone cannot be goody and dharmik.
He was too good for his own good because even after all that, when it came time to either leave Duryodhna or free him from the Gandharvas, he chose to help Duryodhna like the foolish person he was.
And Draupadi was a Kuru woman, a royal bride, a kuru daughter-in-law. A woman doesn't just marry the man but adopts the whole family. Why only the Husbands? Every man of the Kuru dynasty was accountable for her. They all were her guardians. Women of the family are to be protected by the Men.
They all were obliged to protect and defend her honour. But no!
As Krishna said, and this is so significant, Customs and workings of a society have essence of Dharma in them but not all the customs are Dharma.You cannot just say I have to follow these men -made customs of the society because it is dharma.
This is just a warped sense of Dharma.
When Draupadi asks Bhishma that why won't he do anything? Well, he says that she has been won by Duryodhna so..
He could see that he doesn't have any right to meddle because he was too busy seeing everything from the perspective of Duryodhnas ownership and rights.
He didnt even think of just forgetting his duties towards his King and look at it from the viewpoint of a woman standing bruised and almost naked in front of him asking that why wont he help her when he accepted her as a daughter and blessed her, extending his protection to her.
Now that when it truly mattered, his duties towards his Kingdom are his first priority and a woman's honor comes way later. And he feels angered and disturbed but he wont go against his King and the King's sons.
Even if Pandavas had lost their freedom and their weapons, it was not the case for all those other mighty Kings sitting there laughing and leering at Draupadi. Vidura spoke and tried to defend her, Vikarna tried to stop the assaults only to be shot down by Karna as being too young and childish to understand these BIG MANLY MATTERS.
Even if Karna didn't knew that Draupadi was her sister- in- law, he knew well enough that she was a daughter-in-law of these great Kuru men, Dhritrashtra and Bhishma. She belonged to the family that has given him so much.
And moreover she was 'Per-Istri', someone else's wife. He was probably drowning in his jealousy towards her husband and whatever petty hate he had towards her to call her stuff and then ask that she be stripped in front of her Father-In-laws.
And then he told her that 'Lady you have a loving soul, You don't have husbands now, so become a slave-Woman for the Kauravas. "Choose" anyone for your Lord."
There was never hope for Duryodhna and Dushasana and all their brothers, but you would think that they would have enough shame and adequate of princes of such a celebrated kingdom, that they wouldn't drag a family matter in a public court and get down to insulting their sister-in-law(even if they won't accept it for reasons you can imagineš¤¢) verbally and physically!
Alas, no such luck!
Dhritrashtra, the King of the court, sitting in his royal chair, probably assuring himself that 'Oh I am Blind, It is not like i can see my daughter-in-law being stripped"
He was a vindictive insecure man himself that is why he sat quietly, being 'BLIND' when his sons were cheating the sons of his younger brother, making them slaves and insulting them.
And suddenly, when Draupadi had enough and started cursing all the Kaurava wives widows and all their children orphans, Dhritrashtra childless and the large HP castle all empty and bare, instead of Dhritrashtras son laughing all around and their children shrieking and playing in the halls, only Women crying and lamenting the loss of their sons and husbands.
THAT is when he remembers that he has a voice and he can do something to stop all his daughter-in-laws from becoming widows.š
Krishna, only Krishna who was above it all, he was not tied down by the 'Reeti-Reevaz' of this society, the only one who saw everything from Draupadis standpoint
He was the only one who put a woman's honor above any other Dharma, Vows and Duties. He was able to put everything aside and just concentrate on the woman standing in the court being stripped naked and verbally insulted while everyone just laughed.
So really, Krishna was the only man that day. Others were dishonorable excuse of Men.
Anupamaa
