Finally, when it comes to Ved Vyas, people mention the story of Shiva's boon but overlook another story that he described. Let us see that story for the benefirt of our readers.
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/interpretations/significa... provided regarding Draupadi's polyandrous marriage. ( 5 husbands ) It was only after all this that Drupad gave his consent.
From the above story it is clear that Draupati did not commit any polyandry and she married only 5 indras .
## this story is taken by mnx12 post
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