It’s almost daybreak. Draupadi calculated the time. Stars have lost their lustre in the corners of the sky. Or is it my fancy? Today King Drupada’s daughter has deteriorated into an object of bargaining in a potter’s hut! Self-contempt pestered Draupadi . Hatred also. Who has gone wrong? Me? Or Fate? When she looked through the window made by bamboo she saw Arjuna, sleepless,walking up and down in the courtyard. Never did I know that I was garlanding among the invited heores ,Arjuna who won the contest. I never waited for him who was thought to be burned to death. Father still keeps hatred and anger towards Arjuna. Had he known that Arjuna was alive, he would never have agreed to conduct a contest. He had hatred and spite towards him to that extent. From the day Arjuna defeated Father , made him captive, and handed
him over to Dronacharya, Father had been revengeful of Arjuna!
It’s impossible to predict what his mental state will be when he comes to know that I’ve married Arjuna. Now my mind is filled with regret and pain. Draupadi felt dejected.
What grieved Draupadi more was the disgraceful failure of Karna, who with the armour and ear ring as innate to his physique, shone so brilliantly that the enemies were dazzled and unable to see anything. But, the failure and humiliation, King of Anga suffered! It was like the flame from camphor when it was burned out. Karna, my beloved was burned out! ‘How can I forget the depth of the look he cast at me when he was about to latch the bow…ah, me, the tenderness of love in that glance … the memory does not leave my mind.’ Draupadi shook her head. When he raised the bow, Shikhandi uttered some abusive words, and Karna lost his balance, slipped his feet, and when Draupadi looked at him with her fallen mind, she saw the blue flame floating away and getting dissolved in the blue-complexioned Krishna. In the magic of the azure-hued Krishna, not only Karna, but also all the kings including Duryodhana fell flat. Some could not even tie the bow- string. Why did that happen?
Draupadi felt agitated.To give away her body to be tormented by the lust of the five? A woman needs only one husband. She likes to be caressed by his hands, and to lie in abandon like the vine of jasmine in the coolness, and the shade of that love. She is safe and secure in his strong hands. She would make love and sex in the nights with him. Her body will rise and fall to the waves of emotions. Will she get from others the rapture as from her husband when she will float in the canoe of love swinging and flowing? How can she imbibe different types of love-play? Does a noble woman have the capacity for such actions?
In the morning itself all the Pandavas bade farewell to their mother and went somewhere away. Nobody said anything to Draupadi. Only the second one came simply and by way of exchanging niceties, said.
“Don’t forget to eat food. We’ll come back only in the evening.”
He did not say where or why they were going. Draupadi did not feel like asking either. What should I tell that hugely built, fat-bellied person? If it had been Arjuna, I might have told him not to be late. Because he alone was the owner of my wedding garland. After some time, an old Sanyasi with extra ordinary glory, came in front of the hut. He said.
“ Kunti, I got the news from Krishna that your third son won a contest and got a Princess by marriage. Krishna came to me from here. He told me that I should definitely come and see you.”
“Yes, Great Sage! The beautiful and scholarly Panchali has fascinated Dharmaputra enough to miss his sleep. Bhima is also not behind. When the elder brothers remain unmarried, it is improper for the younger brother to marry. If Arjuna marries the woman Ydhishthira(Dharmaputra) and Bhima had desired for, it will arouse animosity in them and they will lose their unity. If that happens, everything will turn topsy turvy. We have to regain the lost kingdom. For that they have to stand and work united as a group. The brotherhood among them cannot be destroyed. That was why I asked all of them to take her.”
“Don’t worry, daughter. I’m going to Panchala. You talk to Draupadi and convince her.”
This old Sanyasi is somebody related to the Pandavas. Who is he? His hair and beard looked like silvery wires, tied together. An unearthly light shone around him.
When he left he turned back and on seeing Draupadi near the window, a murmur broke open from his fat lips.
“All blessings!”
Draupadi felt self-contempt. Whom was he wishing all the blessings? To me, who is waiting for the sacrifice, and counting the moments by the sacrificing stone like a lamb? Why does he pour all blessings on this wretched woman who stands helpless like a soldier having lost his weapon in the battlefield surrounded by the enemies?
‘ Oh Noble Sage! When one offers the melted ghee in the sacrificing fire during the ‘homa’ , he thinks, the material for the holy offering is for the deity. But it falls into the glazing fire. Similarly this Drupada’s daughter has become ghee for the deity…But her fate is to burn out in the fiery flames. Arjuna has come as my deity. But the other Pandavas like the flames are about to consume me. With my desires and dreams getting withered and rotten, I’m going to become a bed to the carnal desires of the five.’
The footsteps behind her woke her up from her thoughts. “Panchali, my daughter…”
Draupadi slanted her head slightly to the sweet-smelling, love-spilling, but poison-emitting, call. Mother held her on the right shoulder, the heat of appeal rose from the scorched palm.
“Daughter…I’m a widow. I have five sons. For the first time a daughter-in-law has entered our family.”
Draupadi stood silently with bowed head. She sensed the sacrificial fire burning within her. While she was burning herself out in its flame, she did not have the strength to listen to anybody’s plea. Mother continued.
“Dharmaputra is royal in blood. The Great King Pandu’s sons are your husbands!”
Husbands! The annoyance on hearing that word turned into contempt on Panchali’s lips. “The second one the unbeatable Bhima. The third one…”Mother paused. Something was tormenting her. Words had lost their order. It has to be so.
The hero who received the woman had in Mother’s eyes only the third place! Karna’s manliness and Parthan’s handsomeness fell on the woman called Draupadi . When the manliness was lost, handsomeness came.That’s fate. But, the lot came turning her fate upside down.
Mother Kunti , standing near her, murmured.
“ Five husbands are five deities to you. The luck no woman will ever get. You are Pandavas’ wife.”
Draupadi just stood with her bowed head. True, anybody will desire…to become the wife of one of the Pandavas. Specially, Arjuna’s. Mother Kunti took the edge of the head dress and wiped her face and continued.
“My eldest son is righteous. Invincible. Great archer. Never deviates from righteousness…”
Draupadi has a question to ask…the one who does not abandon righteousness…why did he resort to this unrighteousness?
Mother replied as if she read her mind.
“Look, daughter…No mother likes to see her children fight with one another. The second one is Bhima. His elder brother’s liking is his own liking. He is a complete adventurer . The one who killed the Rakshasa. You will be safe in his protection.”
Safe! Draupadi turned her head in utter hatred.
At the moment of Swayamvara she has become the bride of Arjuna alone. I want to be safe only in Arjuna’s shade.
Kunti continued. “Parthan…”
Kunti remained silent for a while on uttering his name.
“Parthan is most noble. Similarly Nakula-Sahadeva are also equally good. Not inferior.”
Here also Nakula-Sahadevas are pushed behind, Draupadi thought. Nakula is handsomer than Arjuna. Sahadevan is also not bad. May be because they are born to another mother. But a lot is heard about the Pandavas.
“Look, Drupada Princess… You have married not an ordinary Prince. The greatest of archers…Arjuna.”
Till then Draupadi had been looking at Mother Kunti’s slender feet. Her discolured nail was becoming darker. She knew that descriptions would violate the boundary if she stood silent. So she said.
“Mother, This gives happiness, of course. But, I cannot accept something which is not fit for a virtuous woman. I’m King Drupada’s daughter. I want to become a wife who observes the duties of the family. Like any other woman I want to serve my husband and when he dies I want to leap into his funeral pyre and thus become a noble wife.”
Mother Kunti smiled sadly.
“I’m also a woman of noble birth. But I couldn’t jump into my husband’s funeral pyre. Madri did it.”
Did she or was she made to do it? Draupadi wanted to ask. It smoulderded Draupadi’s mind intensely. Mother is throwing live coal to the mind which was already burning in the burden
of the thoughts.
A mother who asks to divide among all the sons, a woman the younger son has accepted. Can anyone say she has no evil intention? She is not a good woman.
Mother Kunti resumed.
“ You are lucky in being the righteous wife of the great warriors.”
Draupadi laughed in contempt.
“Hm. How ….I’m a woman of Aryavartha. I prefer any act fit for the dynasty. I can accept only the one whom I’ve garlanded.”
“But my sons will obey what their mother say. Here the mother’s words are important. They are Pandu’s sons. They won’t do anything against what I say.”
Mother Kunti’s voice sounded firm. Draupadi stared at her with wide open eyes. Not a woman’s face, but it looked like an evil sorceress’ face.
“The eldest son Dharmaputra…He’s also called Yudhishthira. The second Vrukodara or Bhima. The third Parthan or Arjuna. The fourth Nakula and the fifth Sahadeva will become your husbands. The rulers of Time are their fathers. The deities Yamadharma, Vayu, Devendra, and the two Aswini deities have graciously given me these heroic sons.”
In the stories behind the scene somewhere Draupadi had heard through the spies about the sons who were not actually Pandu’s. Stories were not good about Mother Kunti. Now I’ve clearly known who Kunti is.
“Food is kept ready. Princess, you can come and have it.” When the sound of Mother Kunti’s footsteps went farther away, Draupadi felt relief. For those who are sorrowful the boredom of loneliness is comfortable.
(Cont’d)
