Originally posted by: .Vrish.
I have a new question about Draupadi.
When it was decided that she should marry all the 5 Pandavas, a few precedents supporting polyandry were cited in that context. Does anyone recall who they were, and what the background stories were regarding them?
I wrote about this some years ago in the 9X Mahabharata serial forum and just today mentioned it in
a post in the DKDM forum. It seems the creatives took some inspiration from one of those background stories for their current Indra track.
Here is my old post from the 9X forum:
[quote=Kal El]
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. 😃[/quote]
Note: in that last story the rishi's daughter got that boon because in her excitement she repeated the request five times and Shiva therefore blessed her to have five husbands in a subsequent life.
Edited by Kal El - 11 years ago
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