Draupadi: the fiery goddess!!!

Draupadi, or Panchali, is one of the central characters of Veda Vyasa's Mahabharata, one of India's greatest epics of all times!

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Originally posted by: godisone

Draupadi, or Panchali, is one of the central characters of Veda Vyasa's Mahabharata, one of India's greatest epics of all times!

Along with a number of other people, she is called one of the Pancha Maha Kanyas, and is known as a very chaste and virtuous wife, so much so that her anger against the sinful Kauravas destroyed the whole dynasty.

Draupadi was known to be divinely beautiful, with shiny black locks, a compelling dark complexion, and lotus petal eyes. As the daughter of Drupada, she was called Draupadi, as the princess of Panchala, she was called Panchali, as the dark complexioned beauty, she was called Krishnaa, as the grand-daughter of Prishata she was called Parshati, as the maid-servant of the Queen of Virata, she was called Sairandhri, as the woman who had five husbands, she was called Panchami, as the one who always looked young, she was called Nitayauvani, and as the woman born out of fire, she was called Yajnaseni.

Draupadi bore much suffering. With patience, courage, and hard-work, she made sure her enemies were annihilated. Along with other great women in our Indian puranas, she is a role model of patience, virtue, and bravery.

Draupadi had five heroic and powerful sons: Prativindhya from Dharmaraja, Srutasoma from Bhima, Srutakirti from Arjuna, Satanika from Nakula, and Strutakarman from Sahadeva.

Draupadi is described as as "radiant and graceful as if she had descended from the city of the gods".

What do you all have to say about this fiery beautiful goddess who bore much suffering. Who do you think is to blame for her suffering? Is anyone to blame at all? Or was it all fate? What do you guys think?

Draupadi was the pivotal character of the Mahabharata. An ardent devotee of Shri Krishna, she was literally chosen by the Lord to be the wife of the five Pnadavas. The Pandavas in turn were instrumental in helping the Lord to establish of Dharma over Adharma.

Many of us have the notion that the Kurukshetra war happened due to Draupadi, but Lord Krishna explained to her, she was a mere instrument in that. He explained, the war was not fought to bring an end to Duryodhan and his allies, but the main concept was to establish a proper society. If in a society, a queen like Draupadi does not have any protection, then how come an ordinary person will have any. Thus it was necessary to divide people between Dharma and Adharma and completely perish Adharma from its root. The people who joined Duryodhan, were basically towards Adharma. Now comes a question, how come one explain the significance of the characters like Vishma, Karna. Basically if you ponder deep, these people laid their lives to establish Dharma too. Vishma himself revealed his death secret to the Pandavas.

Sorry, if my discussion is a bit out of the track from Draupadi.

Thanks for starting the topic on Draupadi.

Originally posted by: Omshanti1111

Draupadi was the pivotal character of the Mahabharata. An ardent devotee of Shri Krishna, she was literally chosen by the Lord to be the wife of the five Pnadavas. The Pandavas in turn were instrumental in helping the Lord to establish of Dharma over Adharma.

Many of us have the notion that the Kurukshetra war happened due to Draupadi, but Lord Krishna explained to her, she was a mere instrument in that. He explained, the war was not fought to bring an end to Duryodhan and his allies, but the main concept was to establish a proper society. If in a society, a queen like Draupadi does not have any protection, then how come an ordinary person will have any. Thus it was necessary to divide people between Dharma and Adharma and completely perish Adharma from its root. The people who joined Duryodhan, were basically towards Adharma. Now comes a question, how come one explain the significance of the characters like Vishma, Karna. Basically if you ponder deep, these people laid their lives to establish Dharma too. Vishma himself revealed his death secret to the Pandavas.

Sorry, if my discussion is a bit out of the track from Draupadi.

Thanks for starting the topic on Draupadi.

Upon request from the OP I am copy-pasting a post of mine from the Mahabharata Quiz thread.

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It seems to me that the arguments and justifications behind Draupadi's polyandry are never mentioned completely by anyone. Most people leave out a lot of elements. There was a question somewhere about the justifications behind the polyandry and only a truncated answer was provided. Let me try and add some more detail. 😊


It all started with Kunti's order to divide the alms equally amongst the brothers as we all know. When she saw it was actually a woman she asked Yudhisthir to settle the issue: how would they prevent Draupadi from committing a major sin while also ensuring that her words don't become false?

Yudhisthir said Arjun should marry Draupadi since he had won the swayamvar competition but Arjun objected saying that it would be inappropriate for him to marry before Yudhisthir or Bhima (strangely, Hidimba is never mentioned).

Here it is explicitly stated that all 5 of the brothers had fallen in love with Draupadi. Yudhisthir understood what was happening and was afraid of a division amongst the brothers. Hence he decided that they would all marry Draupadi.

After this of course, the matter reached Drupad's court as we know. Let's skip over the introductory details between Drupad and the Pandavas and go to the marriage issue directly. Drupad, shocked at the polyandrous proposition, questions Yudhisthir who offers a number of arguments. The first argument is of course the most famous one: that it had been ordered by their mother whom they cannot disobey. Yudhisthir then says that he is unmarried and so is Bhima (again, no mention of Hidimba). He says that it is their rule that they always share equally whatever prize they win. Hence they will all share Draupadi.

Drupad, still not convinced, says that while it is the norm for men to take many wives how can a woman take multiple husbands? It is here that Yudhisthir provides his second and very enigmatic argument. He says that dharma or morality is a subtle issue. It is not always possible to know how dharma plays out (note that he is being unusually vague in this argument). His heart says this is the right choice and he has never entertained any sin in his heart. Therefore this should be the correct path. He also made a most interesting statement: that it would be best to follow the ways of their ancestors.

I have bolded above the most enigmatic statement made by Yudhisthir on this topic: that they should follow the ways of their ancestors. This line is very curious. Scholars have debated on exactly what he meant. Some have theorized that he is referring to their early life in the Himalayas (before Pandu died) where they may have come into contact with a branch of Kurus who had probably settled in that region. It is a fact that polyandry has been practised in the Himalayan regions and it is still practiced in some places over there even today. Perhaps Yudhisthir was referring to the "ways" of their northern ancestors. It is a matter of debate.

The matter does not end here. Ved Vyas makes his entry here and the matter is laid before him. Yudhisthir then places his third argument: he says that he has read in the puranas that a rishi's daughter called Jatila, from rishi Gautam's lineage, had married seven rishis. Yet she was still known as one of the most chaste women. He had also read about another woman, born from a tree and fathered by a rishi, being married to 10 rishi brothers and still being glorified as chaste/virtuous. So how can their marrying Draupadi be wrong especially since it was commanded so by their mother?

Yudhisthir's second and third arguments are usually overlooked in discussions. 😊

Finally, when it comes to Ved Vyas, people mention the story of Shiva's boon but overlook another story that he described. Let me throw light on it.

Long ago, the devas had arranged a great yajna in the Naimishi forest near the confluence of Bhagirathi and Gomti rivers. Lord Yama was performing the sacrifice of animals in that yajna. Because Yama was busy there, death had vanished from earth. No human being was dying and the world became overpopulated. The devas became worried that the humans had seemingly become immortal and there was no longer any distinction between devas and humans. They went to Brahma for a solution. He said that things would resume their normal course once the yajna was over and Yama returned to his duties.

The devas then went back to the yajna. There, Indra observed a golden lotus floating along the river. Curious, he followed the lotus to the Himalayas. There he saw a woman bathing in the river. She was continously weeping and her tears were transforming into golden lotuses. He asked her what was the matter. She said that to find out, he must follow her and see for himself. Indra did so and she led him to one of the mountain peaks where he saw a couple on a throne playing dice. Indra introduced himself as the lord of the universe but they paid no attention. This angered Indra and he again said that he was lord of the universe. Of course, the couple were none other than Lord Shiva and Parvati. Shiva paralyzed Indra with a look and continued the game of dice. Once the game was finished, Shiva commanded the woman to bring Indra to him so that he may crush his arrogance. The moment that woman touched Indra he fell down. Shiva told him to remove a large stone and enter the cave where there were four other men resembling Indra and also in a pathetic state. Indra went inside, tried to placate Shiva and asked him about the other men. As it turns out, those men were Indras from previous kalpas and they had also insulted Shiva out of arrogance. Hence Shiva commanded them all to be born on earth and carry out great deeds so that they may regain the status of Indra which they had lost due to arrogance. The four previous Indras immediately agreed and requested that they should be fathered by Vayu, Yama/Dharma and the Ashwinis so that they will be able to use both human and divine means in their battles on earth and thus ensure that they regain the status of Indra.

The current Indra proposed that, instead of going himself, he would send a portion of himself to earth.

Shiva, out of kindness, granted their wishes and also commanded that the woman who had led Indra to him would be the common wife of the 5 Indras on earth. Vyas says that that woman was the goddess Sri.

The rest is of course, history: the 5 Indras were reborn as the Pandavas (Arjun being the partial incarnation of the current Indra) and the goddess Sri became Draupadi.

Vyas then granted Drupad temporary divine sight by which he was able to see the Pandavas and Draupadi in their original divine form.

After this Vyas also described the story of Draupadi being a rishi's daugher in her previous birth who received the boon of 5 husbands from Shiva. This story is the one usually mentioned in discussions and has already been posted earlier.

And that's it. These are all the arguments and justifications provided regarding Draupadi's polyandrous marriage. It was only after all this that Drupad gave his consent. 😃

Thank you for sharing Kal El. I also read this(I think in mahabharat but am not sure)that draupadi is born from fire and most impure things are burned in fire however fire stays pure. Thats why draupadi is pure always.