Polyandry in Mahabharata - Page 5

Originally posted by: CaptainSpark

Yes but I am sure Krishna knew that Yudhishthir would be king not Duryodhan. I mean not like in a divine way but because of the politics, he was sure to make it happen or assist in it.

Eventually tho, it was Subhadra's grandson who got the throne.

Lastly about Drau, definitely Yudhi is a better match for Arjun if she is seeing in terms of the empire. But that she got being married to five too. In fact wasn't the archery contest designed to ARJUN could win it? If Yudhi was the target why not have a Yaksha Prashna kind of contest or simply a Dharma Sankat?

But it didn't happen, na? Subhadra marrying Duryodhan is not in the epic, If it was Subhadra would have been mother of Crown Prince and Duryodhan's son, Yadavas had a win win situation

@All. Some of of my bits accepting the polyandrous marriage

Here

Drapaudi on polyandrous marriage

1) vyasa already had narrated drapaudi s previous birth story to pandavas before the Swamyvaar so the plan that was excuted in the potter house everyone was including it it

2) about drapaudi having soft spot for arjuna because he won her Swamyvaar i think we indirectly try to see drapaudi as 16 year hormonal teenager of today s times who was flattered by an alpha male s archery skills. Or even a helpless woman of today s time who would not have willingly married to five men . But that was not the case in those time. In dwarpar yug princess were taught and groomed mostly to become an empress someday. So in drapaudi s situation on we have a third brother arjuna who ofcourse was a great warrior but what will his warrior skills provide drapaudi with?? What would have been her position in the empire as arjuna s wife - nothing she would have been just a shadow of the empress just like how subdhara was. Subdhara s importance to the plot is only because the person listening to the story is her great grandson and nothing else had the succession story changed a little bit subhdra would have been reduced to just a name. Even in general what position did subdhara or any of the other pandava wives held in empire politics nothing they were just in drapaudi s shadow. Hell drapaudi as an empress held a better and more higher position than any of the other four pandavas

Another point being we should not forget drapaudi was drapaud s daughter princes of panchal and panchal in those times was a Very prosperous kingdom coming second as par with the kurus. And we should not forget that it was via this marriage that yudhishtra and his brother dared to go back to claim their inheritance. Drapaudi being well educated knew these facts. So one opportunity was presented to her to marrying the crown prince and be the empress ofcourse she will grab it and why not ?? She was smart well educated plus this marriage came as a boon to the pandavas. So she deserved the foremost position

Even from a 16 year old princess s pov a crown prince is anyday more attractive and alluring match than his third brother. Plus polyandrous was not so uncommon as tv shows present it.

Plus when all of them go back to drapaudi and yudhishtra says that he being the eldest should be married first than drapaud was all happy to give drapaudi s hand to only yudhishtra inspite of the fact that arjuna won the Swamyvaar so i don't think that was much of a problem that who won. At the end i would say the entire Swamyvaar was just a set up to seek the Pandavas out so that this pandavas bdrapaudi would marriage seals the deal of coming together of two of the most powerful kingdoms. The plan was already made from both the side with panchali being completely aware of it. Krishna s presence and his entry right in Swamyvaar further proves this fact. This is was a well made plane by krishna panchali and panchal.

So even if it was a polyandrous marriage i don't think drapaudi was upset about it because again polyandry was not so uncommon.

3) Arjun bring subdhara - i don't think drapaudi was jealous of this marriage because this scene is completely out of her character .She who was an empress and finance minister of ip. She who did not loose her calm even when the worst (dyut sabha) happened to her would lament for such a small matter. Specially in those times when polygamy was a commonly accepted practice specially knowing the fact that this alliance would further strengthen the bond between dwaraka and ip. Again we should not reduce drapaudi as jealous wife 21st century she was not she was an dwarpar yug s empress.

Same goes for her lament in forest. Do you really believe it when vyasa says that according to panchali separation from arjuna was more painful to her than the assault a bloody assault. Not POSSIBLE. Another bit done to exaggerate arjuna s position.

Originally posted by: NoraSM

But it didn't happen, na? Subhadra marrying Duryodhan is not in the epic, If it was Subhadra would have been mother of Crown Prince and Duryodhan's son, Yadavas had a win win situation

How would that be possible? Duryodhan would clearly not be king neither his sons would because Krishna, Yudhishthir and Draupadi would make sure it was Yudhi who would get the throne. Krishna knew this, he had his plans in mind as to how to get Yudhi on throne. Duryodhan had no chance. Subhadra would end up a widow.

Continuation to my previous post

Coming to duyt sabha this s main proof that she was married to all, l believe polyandry wasn’t added to malign her image it was there already, in dyut sabha they used this mainly and insulted her repeatedly, karna wouldn’t dare to insult her with such a henious word if she wasn’t married to five legally ( strictly in karna’ s pov) , if she was only married to yudi that words karna said to her means nothing , he wouldn’t use that word at all, here vikarna duryodhan brother the only man who opposes his brothers doings and pretty much says in Draupadi defence, yudi alone doesn’t have any rt to stake panchali, because she was married to all 5 , this s what exactly he said in her defence, and y would he says that if she was married to only yudi, years back i and my professor who has profund knowledge on mahabharat discussed few points , he told me some interesting points i ll discuss this here, though polyandry s not uncommon but also became forbidden and limited by dwapayug it seems, because according to dharma a woman can have relationship ( r marriage) with 4 men more than this it ll be called illegal, there’s a reason y kunti didn’t agree to give child after arjun because she already had child with surya dev, and that makes her 4 chances over, she knows she’s not allowed according to dharma, that’s y she didn’t agree even after pandu’ s repeated pleadings and shared her mantra with madri, here I don’t believe the children were popped out in air she pretty much had intimate relationship with devas r rishis, and the birth was natural, it’s called niyoga and was leagal back then,. this s exactly how Dhritarashtra, pandu , vidur were born. Karna pretty much narrow minded man used this as leverage and dared to call her that, if she was only yudi’ s they wouid have said r done many things but wouldn’t have used that word u know ( again strictly their pov, it was mostly them who had problems with that). And bheem when yudi was staking her says openly sahadev get some fire i ll burn yudi hands who s staking her, now y would he says this, on her bhabhi defence he would have just said bhayya don’t stake bhabhi but he gets furious because she s also his wife and want to burn yudi hands whos like their father, and there’s this sentence this defiled r insulted wife of ours and how sons of her and them ll serve them r useful to serve them whatever he meant to say there, this also proves prativindhaya s not the only son because he says our sons means there r more, proves upapandavas r her children only, and arjun who never went against eldest first time says yudi doesn’t have rt on her after losing himself, because he knows what’s going to happen to her once they took her to slave quarters, karna repeatedly says take her to skave quarter, that’s when arjun reacts, this s big coming from arjun who refused to marry alone because he don’t want to make his mothers words false, he didn’t do this for bhabhi but for his wife, if it’s bhabhi he wouldn’t have interfered r atleast he wouldn’t have said yudi don’t have any right on her. I really can’t ignore bheem and arjun interactions r relationship with her.

and y exactly she asked for yudi, maharaj doesn’t give only one boon, he says i ll give u boons asks whatever u want, she asks first boon that s freedom of yudi and kingdom, it’s very important for Yudi freedom, because yudi s emperor with yudi freedom and getting kingdom back she ll get her freedom and empress status back, which s very important for her at that time, it’s because she’s slave they were calling her all sort of names now they cannot, and with empire and emperor back he can get his brothers back and she already guessed maharaj ll asks her to ask more, and it’s also practical and political move , surviving move from her, getting her position is very important for her there, that’s only happens through yudi only, and even then she can not ask for arjun and bheem, because it ll come across as partial, she knows even if she asks freedom of her warrior husband’s they ll not fight against yudi so it’s useless asking for their freedom, and technically he s her 1 husband and emperor so what she did was calculative move, and then just like she gussed maharaj asks for another boon that’s when she asks the freedom of her other husbands with their weapons, here she didn’t asks anything about herself, that’s when again maharaj asks asks something for herself but that’s here we see what an amazing woman s she , she rejects saying khatriya woman was only allowed to ask only 2 boons, and brahmin woman 3 , and her boons r over because she’s kshtriya she cannot ask anymore, this shows how much this woman s well informeed and not at all greedy. This s exactly what happened in Ramayana , kaikeyi was allowed only 2 boons because she was kshatriya. Something even karna and Duryodhana praised her for some of her qualities duryodhan praises saying even though she s empress she serves everyone with her own hands this actually doesn’t come here. So that’s s the reason y emperor freedom was necessary .

What an amazing and wonderful woman she s no matter how many times i read I always admire and love her, and what a progressive mentality she had and knows how to get herself out of any situation, just like that she saved her husband’s and got them everything they lost, she s pride of pandavas and their biggest strength someone who united them in one thread, they knows it ll breaks them, that’s y they hurted their pride, karna sole purpose s to hurt them especially arjun , Krishna says in one particular instance karna’s words hurted arjun deeply, but they saw she’s more than pandavas pride and got scared of her presence of mind and included her also in agreement.

she was dragged infront of entire court full of men in single cloth, before her ritual bath, she was on her periods that time, most probably 3 day, it says before ritual bath, just imagine back then there’s no comfortable pads like we have now, so she was dragged with stained clothes, just thinking makes me shudder, even we modern woman couldn’t have handled that but she did, faced this mighty kuru warriors and defeated them.

and that no wife s not allowed s also another rubbish, because in vana parva during satyabhama and Draupadi conversation satya asks how all her 5 husbands r devoted her and obeys every word, here she explains her life with pandavas and how she serves pandavas along with their wifes and children, here she didn’t said just subhadra but pandavas and their wifes and children, this explains other queens also present there alonng with their children.

to think that such an amazing woman was reduced to some suta putra, Andha putra comment, which doesn’t have any basis, these were later interpolations to somehow right karna’s actions.,and cheer haran s really saddening, dyut sabha s more than this, Draupadi presence of mind her political knowledge, bheems outbursts, arjun calculative moves, sadly tv shows r reallly ignoring this amazing interactions, ofcourse the pandavas actions in duyt sabha s loathsome and there’s no excuse for that . Hope she gets her due some tv , movies made her some vamp which she doesn’t deserve, the hate she gets s really sad, as they believed all those things they showed, hope she gets her due one day.

she s my favourite character apart from krishna, I somewhat like arjun and bheem also, krishna- krishnaa bond s my another favourite , i ll explain some of their moments and upapandavas, in another post, because I believe they r her kids only. And really a big salute to this woman a true mahanayak of mahabharat, an inspiration to evey generation woman, just who would put up with all those things she had gone through and still stands with dignity and grace.

Originally posted by: CaptainSpark

Yes but I am sure Krishna knew that Yudhishthir would be king not Duryodhan. I mean not like in a divine way but because of the politics, he was sure to make it happen or assist in it.

Eventually tho, it was Subhadra's grandson who got the throne.

Lastly about Drau, definitely Yudhi is a better match for Arjun if she is seeing in terms of the empire. But that she got being married to five too. In fact wasn't the archery contest designed to ARJUN could win it? If Yudhi was the target why not have a Yaksha Prashna kind of contest or simply a Dharma Sankat?

Because yudhishtra would have never tried to seek her out actively no matter how attracted he was to het beauty or to panchal s alliance. That s how he was. Because doing so would have risked them being exposed to their enemy hence vyasa has fo come and convince yudhishtra to go for the Swamyvaar Arjuna was young and more easy to lure.

Originally posted by: swathi90

Continuation to my previous post

Coming to duyt sabha this s main proof that she was married to all, l believe polyandry wasn’t added to malign her image it was there already, in dyut sabha they used this mainly and insulted her repeatedly, karna wouldn’t dare to insult her with such a henious word if she wasn’t married to five legally ( strictly in karna’ s pov) , if she was only married to yudi that words karna said to her means nothing , he wouldn’t use that word at all, here vikarna duryodhan brother the only man who opposes his brothers doings and pretty much says in Draupadi defence, yudi alone doesn’t have any rt to stake panchali, because she was married to all 5 , this s what exactly he said in her defence, and y would he says that if she was married to only yudi, years back i and my professor who has profund knowledge on mahabharat discussed few points , he told me some interesting points i ll discuss this here, though polyandry s not uncommon but also became forbidden and limited by dwapayug it seems, because according to dharma a woman can have relationship ( r marriage) with 4 men more than this it ll be called illegal, there’s a reason y kunti didn’t agree to give child after arjun because she already had child with surya dev, and that makes her 4 chances over, she knows she’s not allowed according to dharma, that’s y she didn’t agree even after pandu’ s repeated pleadings and shared her mantra with madri, here I don’t believe the children were popped out in air she pretty much had intimate relationship with devas r rishis, and the birth was natural, it’s called niyoga and was leagal back then,. this s exactly how Dhritarashtra, pandu , vidur were born. Karna pretty much narrow minded man used this as leverage and dared to call her that, if she was only yudi’ s they wouid have said r done many things but wouldn’t have used that word u know ( again strictly their pov, it was mostly them who had problems with that). And bheem when yudi was staking her says openly sahadev get some fire i ll burn yudi hands who s staking her, now y would he says this, on her bhabhi defence he would have just said bhayya don’t stake bhabhi but he gets furious because she s also his wife and want to burn yudi hands whos like their father, and there’s this sentence this defiled r insulted wife of ours and how sons of her and them ll serve them r useful to serve them whatever he meant to say there, this also proves prativindhaya s not the only son because he says our sons means there r more, proves upapandavas r her children only, and arjun who never went against eldest first time says yudi doesn’t have rt on her after losing himself, because he knows what’s going to happen to her once they took her to slave quarters, karna repeatedly says take her to skave quarter, that’s when arjun reacts, this s big coming from arjun who refused to marry alone because he don’t want to make his mothers words false, he didn’t do this for bhabhi but for his wife, if it’s bhabhi he wouldn’t have interfered r atleast he wouldn’t have said yudi don’t have any right on her. I really can’t ignore bheem and arjun interactions r relationship with her.

and y exactly she asked for yudi, maharaj doesn’t give only one boon, he says i ll give u boons asks whatever u want, she asks first boon that s freedom of yudi and kingdom, it’s very important for Yudi freedom, because yudi s emperor with yudi freedom and getting kingdom back she ll get her freedom and empress status back, which s very important for her at that time, it’s because she’s slave they were calling her all sort of names now they cannot, and with empire and emperor back he can get his brothers back and she already guessed maharaj ll asks her to ask more, and it’s also practical and political move , surviving move from her, getting her position is very important for her there, that’s only happens through yudi only, and even then she can not ask for arjun and bheem, because it ll come across as partial, she knows even if she asks freedom of her warrior husband’s they ll not fight against yudi so it’s useless asking for their freedom, and technically he s her 1 husband and emperor so what she did was calculative move, and then just like she gussed maharaj asks for another boon that’s when she asks the freedom of her other husbands with their weapons, here she didn’t asks anything about herself, that’s when again maharaj asks asks something for herself but that’s here we see what an amazing woman s she , she rejects saying khatriya woman was only allowed to ask only 2 boons, and brahmin woman 3 , and her boons r over because she’s kshtriya she cannot ask anymore, this shows how much this woman s well informeed and not at all greedy. This s exactly what happened in Ramayana , kaikeyi was allowed only 2 boons because she was kshatriya. Something even karna and Duryodhana praised her for some of her qualities duryodhan praises saying even though she s empress she serves everyone with her own hands this actually doesn’t come here. So that’s s the reason y emperor freedom was necessary .

What an amazing and wonderful woman she s no matter how many times i read I always admire and love her, and what a progressive mentality she had and knows how to get herself out of any situation, just like that she saved her husband’s and got them everything they lost, she s pride of pandavas and their biggest strength someone who united them in one thread, they knows it ll breaks them, that’s y they hurted their pride, karna sole purpose s to hurt them especially arjun , Krishna says in one particular instance karna’s words hurted arjun deeply, but they saw she’s more than pandavas pride and got scared of her presence of mind and included her also in agreement.

she was dragged infront of entire court full of men in single cloth, before her ritual bath, she was on her periods that time, most probably 3 day, it says before ritual bath, just imagine back then there’s no comfortable pads like we have now, so she was dragged with stained clothes, just thinking makes me shudder, even we modern woman couldn’t have handled that but she did, faced this mighty kuru warriors and defeated them.

and that no wife s not allowed s also another rubbish, because in vana parva during satyabhama and Draupadi conversation satya asks how all her 5 husbands r devoted her and obeys every word, here she explains her life with pandavas and how she serves pandavas along with their wifes and children, here she didn’t said just subhadra but pandavas and their wifes and children, this explains other queens also present there alonng with their children.

to think that such an amazing woman was reduced to some suta putra, Andha putra comment, which doesn’t have any basis, these were later interpolations to somehow right karna’s actions.,and cheer haran s really saddening, dyut sabha s more than this, Draupadi presence of mind her political knowledge, bheems outbursts, arjun calculative moves, sadly tv shows r reallly ignoring this amazing interactions, ofcourse the pandavas actions in duyt sabha s loathsome and there’s no excuse for that . Hope she gets her due some tv , movies made her some vamp which she doesn’t deserve, the hate she gets s really sad, as they believed all those things they showed, hope she gets her due one day.

she s my favourite character apart from krishna, I somewhat like arjun and bheem also, krishna- krishnaa bond s my another favourite , i ll explain some of their moments and upapandavas, in another post, because I believe they r her kids only. And really a big salute to this woman a true mahanayak of mahabharat, an inspiration to evey generation woman, just who would put up with all those things she had gone through and still stands with dignity and grace.

Yes di she is my fav character too. Now let me do another of my shameless promotion and draw your attention to another thread 😆

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/b-r-chopras-mahabharat/5161627/drapaudi-an-enigma-an-inspiration

Draupadi was definitely not angry for Arjun marrying Subhadra or for bringing her home, as HearMeRoar said in other thread there were other wives staying in Indraprasth. A brother of Nakul's wife is specifically mentioned to have come to take her home during Vanwaas, that's why her theory that probably the reason for exile was not so simple as we know

Aside the one year rule isn't mentioned in the epic, I however would like to believe it was else determining the parentage of her kids would be a big challenge

The thing about her having issues with the polyandry. I don't understand why should she have when none of her husbands were monogamous like SriRam. Aside she was not a simple girl, she was the daughter of Drupad and back then Pandavas needed Panchal support and not vice versa

I personally think that there was polyandry and Draupadi was in such relation because there is no reason at all that it could have been added later. If polyandry wasn't common in Dwapar Yug then it nearly became a sin in Kaliyuga, there is no reason why the heroine of the epic would be given such characteristics had that not been the case in reality, unless it was a deliberate attempt to malign our Itihas by the Islamic Invaders and British rulers. That however seems not possible to me

Originally posted by: CaptainSpark

How would that be possible? Duryodhan would clearly not be king neither his sons would because Krishna, Yudhishthir and Draupadi would make sure it was Yudhi who would get the throne. Krishna knew this, he had his plans in mind as to how to get Yudhi on throne. Duryodhan had no chance. Subhadra would end up a widow.

How can one make sure what happens? One can't decide what would have happended if they were as able they would have stopped the war which resulted in deaths of people dear to them, the outcome of war is decided on the last day of war. Krishna was just one man, He wasn't even a King, Its just that Pandavas with their allies won, None knew they Will win from day 1

Originally posted by: FlauntPessimism

Draupadi was definitely not angry for Arjun marrying Subhadra or for bringing her home, as HearMeRoar said in other thread there were other wives staying in Indraprasth. A brother of Nakul's wife is specifically mentioned to have come to take her home during Vanwaas, that's why her theory that probably the reason for exile was not so simple as we know

Aside the one year rule isn't mentioned in the epic, I however would like to believe it was else determining the parentage of her kids would be a big challenge

The thing about her having issues with the polyandry. I don't understand why should she have when none of her husbands were monogamous like SriRam. Aside she was not a simple girl, she was the daughter of Drupad and back then Pandavas needed Panchal support and not vice versa

I personally think that there was polyandry and Draupadi was in such relation because there is no reason at all that it could have been added later. If polyandry wasn't common in Dwapar Yug then it nearly became a sin in Kaliyuga, there is no reason why the heroine of the epic would be given such characteristics had that not been the case in reality, unless it was a deliberate attempt to malign our Itihas by the Islamic Invaders and British rulers. That however seems not possible to me

Exactly i don't think polyandry was such an uncommon practice either. Yudhishtra himself gives a lot many example.

Though i will still not discard her being married to only yudhishtra just yet. Maybe polyandrous situation came because of mistranslation because there are many aspects where some of the words have been mistranslated thus completely changing the meaning

@Poorabhforever -

Not quoting you as a long post 😂😂

Draupadi was not against polyandrous marriage, infact there is not a single instance in the epic which states she lamented her marriage. No scholar will claim this. This was a consensual polyandrous marriage and there are many examples of it. Apart from Karna, nobody had any problem with it either. Even Duryodhan never said a word against this neither did anyone in Kuru sabha as per my knowledge.

About Arjuna - marrying all 5 is giving her the chance to be empress too. Marrying only Yudhishthir is no way a BETTER option here if she had two options 1) Marry all 5 or 2) Marry Yudhishthir. Both have the same consequence because polyandry was not new to anyone. So this point cannot support the claim for her being only Yudhi's wife.

Now coming to why Arjun or why Drupad arranged for an archery contest. I am of the opinion that even Drupad or Krishna were aware of Vyasa's instructions as to what is coming up. Moreover, knowing Panchali Krishna knew she was not dumb to not marry Yudhi or protest because he knew she was not a child. Hence an archery contest was arranged so that ARJUN could win it because it is important to have someone to protect her as well. We would all like to think Panchali can protect herself. But here we are looking at all possibilities and no risks. If she is married to ALL FIVE, she is empress + she gets Bheem Arjun's protection and support. I cannot accept that these two were so godly that they would give their lives for their bhabiji. No sorry 😂 Hence 5 is way better than only Yudhishthir.

In the end, modern perspective loves to reduce Mahabharata into ancient day Game of Thrones where no body cares about emotions and feelings. I refuse to accept this. You don't need to be 16 years old to have feelings for someone. Also, it is obvious that she didn't have love at first sight with Arjun. It grew after marriage. Arjun was a better person, a better man and more human than Yudhishthir and his robotic dharma when he doesn't think twice before gambling away his empire.

I still don't get if Arjun was useless and the aim was to marry only Yudhishthir, why was an archery contest arranged? Why not a Dharma quiz. Why not spear contest which could easily be won by Yudhishthir. It would only create feelings of jealousy among brothers when someone wins the contest and someone else marries. Drupad wasn't Arjun's childhood friend to know he would do nothing against Yudhi. It is natural for anyone to feel disgusted if u win something and your brother gets her and any person other than Arjun would not accept this unless it was SHARING.

The story of Amba also existed. I don't see this logic of one person winning and another one marrying. And why Drupad was an idiot to arrange for archery when Yudhishthir was the aim.

My only answer is it's not about politics and blood only. It had something to do with more than that. Yudhi had other wives too. Did Bheem and Arjun do anything of such sort to protect her or show love to their Bhaabi? No. Why Draupadi then, unless she had a connection with all five.