Episode 5

One Lady for five Men

(Draupadi’s Marriage with five Pandavas and yet no disputes among the Brothers)[i]

In the history of human race we find innumerable stories of wars being fought for the sake of a woman. Brothers, cousins, friends, blood relations, kings and the like fought bitter battles among themselves to win over the heart of a lady. Empires have fallen, kingdoms perished, friendships rattled and institutions have been broken to pieces – all to gain the hand of woman.

Here is a story of Draupadhi marrying five brothers and yet there was no dispute among the brothers for the sake of her. How the marriage took place? What was the dharma that protected them from quarreling?   

Drupada, the king of Panchala performed a great Yajna with the intention to have a son capable enough to kill Drona (the teacher of archery for Pandavas and Kauravas) and a daughter beautiful enough to marry a great warrior Arjuna.  As desired, a warrior armed with bows and arrows emerged out of the fire and he was named as Drushtadyumna. Then a young damsel looking like a celestial queen emerged from the same fire in the Yagna and Drupada named her as Krishna (subsequently came to be called as Draupadi).  The literal meaning of Krishna in Sanskrit is black and the name was given to her as she happened to be a black beauty.

Drushtadyumna became the disciple of Drona and the latter accepted him as Shishya (disciple) and imparted him the art of warfare. Drona knew very well that his present day disciple was going to be his destroyer in future. Thinking that the destiny cannot be changed and with the intention to gain the fame that he was not vindictive, Drona was magnanimous in teaching him the art of warfare.

From the day of Draupadi’s birth, Drupada was very much aware of the fact that she would become the wife of Arjuna. But everybody was believing that Pandavas were scorched to death in a great fire in the house of lak engineered by the cruel Duryodhana. Pandavas survived from the tragedy and they were moving incognito from place to place in the guise Bramhins, living on alms collected from house to house. 

Drupada was keen to have the marriage of his daughter fast and he did not know the whereabouts of Pandavas. He announced an open Svayamvara for her daughter. Many kings from different kingdoms tried to shot an arrow against a rotating fish on the roof top by seeing its shade in the water beneath the roof. All efforts of all kings proved in vain. Arjuna in the guise of a Bramhin came forward and won the game much to the astonishment of many kings and warriors. Draupadi came forward to garland the coveted warrior Arjuna. Unable to bear the insult, Duryodhana and his team pounced upon Drupada. As there was a hell of noise and pell-mell condition, Dharmaraja left for home along with Nakula and Sahadeva. Bhima and Arjuna came to the rescue of Drupada and defeated  the Kauravas and other kings.  Sri Krishna intervened and pacified all warriors as the entire process of Svayamvara was done according to the prescribed rules of the game.

It was almost midnight and Arjuna and Bhima reached their house along with Draupadi. The mother of Pandus, Kunti was worrying as to what would happen to Bhima and Arjuna. Arjuna, on reaching home, told, ‘Mother we have brought a biksha (alms) intending Draupadi’. Without turning her head towards Arjuna, she told to distribute it among all brothers equally. Then she turned her head and found to her astonishment a beautiful lady standing on the back of Arjuna. She had told to distribute the bounty thinking that it was food. How can a single woman can become the common property of five brothers? There lies an ethical dilemma. On one side her words cannot go untrue and on the other side it is not dharma to get a woman married to five brothers. Then she asked Dharmaraja only to pronounce the dharma for the given situation.

Dharmaraja turned towards Arjuna and told, ‘You gained her in the Svayamvara by aiming the bow and so you marry her’. But Arjuna raised a dharmic issue. ‘As per dharma, I can marry after yours and Bhima’s marriage as I am third in succession. After me Nakula and Sahadeva should marry. So you only tell me as to what we should do, given the background of mother’s words’, Arjuna told. Then all brothers looked at Draupadi and everyone had desire towards the beautiful lady. Dharmaraja easily detected the minds of his brothers and told his mother, ‘she will become the wife of all of us’.

The spies of Drupada were observing what was happening in the small hut of Pandavas and rushed back to inform Drupada. Drupada was not still sure whether they were Pandavas. He invited them for a gala lunch on the following day and enquired with the elder brother as to who they were. Dharmaraja revealed their real identity and the person who won the Svayamvara game was none other than Arjuna. Drupada’s was overwhelmed with joy and immediately proposed to conduct the marriage with Arjuna. Dharmaraja expressed his intention of marriage of all brothers with Draupadi. ‘But is it according to Dharma? We have seen one man having many wives but never seen one woman having many husbands’, inquired Drupada.

‘Dharma is quite subtle. Let us tread on the path trodden by our elders. What my mother ordered for all of us is dharma for us and it is my intention also[ii]’. Drupada was not satisfied. He wanted to discuss the matter on the following day.  Sage Vyasa arrived to the place and told Drupada that what was being told by Kunti and Dharmaraja was as in accordance with Dharma. He also revealed the story of Draupadi and Pandavas in their previous birth (story of five Indras and Swarga Lakshmi; and the story of virgin Rishi lady seeking husband five times with Lord Shiva)[iii] and how it was ordained by Rudra that all brothers should marry a single lady in the current birth. Then Drupada agreed for consummation of marriage with all five brothers.

While days were rolling by, Narada visited the place of Pandus. Then he spoke to all five brothers secretly an important matter. ‘All of you have now become the husbands of Draupadi. In order that there should be no rivalry among yourselves for the sake of a lady, I want to tell you a story’. They were eager to listen.

Sunda and Upa Sunda were two brothers. They were two deadly demons (Asuras) and by the boon blessed by Bramha, they even defeated all gods. They were so close to each other that they never quarreled for anything in life. They asked for a boon of immortality but Bramha could not bestow the boon defying the  nature of natural Dharma. They were so close companions that they sought a boon by virtue of which they cannot die by anyone except by their internal fighting and the same was sanctioned.

The gods did not know as to how they could create dissension between the brothers. Upon their request Viswakarma (Chief Architect for Gods) took out a sesame (til in Sanskrit) size of beauty from each beautiful object in the world and created  the most beautiful lady of the worlds and named her Tilottama (the best of beautiful til). One day she was strolling in a beautiful garden nearer to the visible distance of Sunda and Upa Sunda. Both brother saw her and mesmerized by her enchanting beauty. Both wanted to possess her and verbal duel ultimately resulted in to duel of fists. Both fell to the ground dead to gain the hand of a lady who mesmerized their minds and clouded their discerning intellects.

Narada completed the story and suggested some plan of action. All Pandavas took an oath that if any one person was with Draupadi, other persons should desist from going there and see them in privacy. If any violation happened, the offender had to leave for forest life for twelve years. From then on wards, they lived happily abiding by the dictum of their own oath.

On one occasion, Arjuna had to go inside to take his bow when Dharmaraja and  Draupati were in privacy. This he could not avoid as he had to chase the thieves which he had to attend on priority. “It is the duty of the king to protect people from thieves as he takes one sixth of people’s income as tax. If he fails in his duty, he attracts all sins of his people”[iv]. As Arjuna violated the own oath for performing some other dharmic cause, Dharmaraja suggested that Arjuna need not go for forest life. Still Arjuna desisted and went for forest life. All Pandus lived happily without any quarrels for life.

A single lady was never an impediment before their strong will and their obsessive adherence to the dictum of their own oath.

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[i]  The story is from Adi Parva of Maha Bharata written by sage Vyasa.

[ii] सूक्ष्मो धर्मो महाराज नास्य विद्मो वयं गतिम्

पूर्वेषामानुपूर्व्येणा यातंवर्त्मानुयामहे - Adi Parva, Draupadi Svayamvaram, 28

नमे वागनृतं प्राह नाधर्मे धीयते मति:

एवं चैव वदत्यम्बा मम चैव मनोगतिम् - Adi Parva, Draupadi Svayamvaram, 29

[iii]  The stories of five Indras and Swarga Lakshmi; and the story of virgin Rishi lady seeking husband five times with Lord Shiva are to be studied from Adiparva. Anyone can seek clarifications by inserting comments in the blog.

[iv]  अरक्षितारं राजानं बलिषड्भागहारिणम्

तमाहु: सर्वलोकस्य समग्रं पापचारिणम् – Adi Parva 217-9.

Points to ponder over

1. Is it the nature of Dharma that it changes over the tunes of times or changes from the perspective different persons? If so, what is eternal?

2. Can a dictum of dharma be followed without codifying it into law?

3. What are the essentials for practicing dharma?

4. What are the dharmic duties of the king towards his subjects?

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