Episode 24

Draupadi’s Svayamvaram[i]

Draupadi’s svayamvaram was a great event. The epic marriage that took place in Panchala desa was the talk of the country in those days.  Ved Vyasa has devoted an exclusive chapter, ‘Svayamvara Parva’ in Adi Parva for describing the events of the marriage. The event has been the source of inspiration for a number of ballads and folklore across the country and abroad.

Draupadi was the daughter of Drupada, the king of Panchala and the arch-rival of Drona. When Drupada was defeated by Arjuna, the beloved disciple of Drona, he took an oath and did tapas. Lord Siva appeared before Drupada and blessed him a son capable enough to kill Drona and a daughter worthy enough to marry Arjuna.

Draupadi was an exceptional beauty and the kings who thronged the palace for svayamvara vie each other to have a look at her and suddenly they became enemies among themselves, though they were good friends earlier.  Such was her beauty that the gods, gandharvas and other celestial nymphs graced the occasion. The clouds were cluttered by the celestial aeroplanes and the earth was reverberated with music and musings (Adi Parva 186.14).

The altar for svayamvaram was an open auditorium and decked with innumerable flowers and garlands. People from different janapadas (kingdoms) came in hordes to witness the event. Drupada had a blessing that his daughter would be the wife of Arjuna but the whole world was believing at that time that all Pandavas including Arjuna were scorched in the fire lit to lak house. If Arjuna was not alive, who would marry her? Can the blessings of Siva would become redundant? There were many unanswered questions in the minds of the general populace. No one could see Pandavas sitting in the guise of brahmins since all eyes were glued to the exceptional beauty, that is Draupadi.

When the ceremonial rituals were over, Drushtadyumna escorted his sister Draupadi to the stadium and spelled out the conditions of svayamvara in a bold voice-

‘Hi kings! Listen carefully. Here is a bow and five arrows. You should take these arrows and aim at the target that is rotating on the top. The man who accomplishes this act and the man who has the aura, strength and caste shall have the hand of my sister. I shall not tell untruth’[ii] .

Then Drushtadyumna started introducing the assembled kings to his sister one after another. Everyone wanted to have her but how could it be possible? The competition was tough, but the compulsions of biological urge bode them to the podium. They came, they saw, and they touched the bow but fell to the ground groaning under the weight of the bow.

Then Karna with an aura of the resplendent Surya stood up to reach the podium. Everyone including Pandavas thought that he would win the bet of the day. The moment Draupadi saw Karna, she cried aloud, ‘I will not marry the son of a suta’ (186.23)[iii]. Karna left the bow then and there with anger shrouded by a loud laughter. He looked at the sun with a sigh and left the podium. Then the mighty warriors of the day like Salya, Sisupala, Duryodhana and Jarasandha tried their luck but in vain.

Arjuna in the guise of Brahmin stood up and everyone looked at him with different emotions. A few brahmins opined that he would bring defame to the brahmin community since he was sure to taste defeat. Others felt that only bramhins, by virtue of tapas, could achieve the unachievable things. Did not the brahmin Parasurama defeat the kings? Did not the brahmin Agastya drink the ocean? They were arguing whether to support Arjuna or not.

The din of the brahmins did not deter Arjuna to design his destiny. He came forwarded, lifted the bow and aimed arrows with precision and shot the target with ease. There was a huge applause and the gods showered flower petals profusely. Draupadi looked at Arjuna who looked like lord Indra and decorated the garland in his neck.

But the kings looked upon the event with disdain. ‘How can Drupada gives his daughter to a brahmin disregarding all Kshatriyas? Further how can brahmins participate in svayamvaram? Let us all kill this Drupada’, thinking like this they pounced upon Drupada. But the mighty Bhima plucked out a tree and stood before Drupada. No warrior could match the might of Arjuna and Bhima.

Karna attacked Arjuna thinking that he was a brahmana. But the amazing mastery of his archery bewildered Karna. ‘It is difficult to win victory over the Brahma Tejam’[iv], thinking like this Karna left from the seen. Bhima swirled Salya around and beaten him to the ground. Krishna was witnessing the events and he told his brother Balarama that the winners were none other than Pandavas. Who else can defeat warriors like Karna and Salya other than Pandavas?

Krishna intervened and pacified all Kshatriyas and all of them left the place. Once the war was over, Bhima and Arjuna escorted Draupadi to their mother. (The subsequent story of actual marriage and its dharmic implications were already discussed in episode 5 – ‘One Lady for five Men’ of the same blog.  For ready reference click the link http://unclekatha.com/?p=103).    

Let us analyse the story

A few scholars argue whether it was really a ‘svayamvaram’? Svayamvaram is a Sanskrit word and its etymological meaning is ‘selecting the groom by oneself’- वरं स्वयं वृणोति इति स्वयंवर:). Here in the story the conditions for marriage were already laid down – that the man who aims at the rotating target and who has the aura, strength and caste status shall marry Draupadi’. Thus, the power to choose the man of her choice was already restricted within a spectrum of certain condition. So, where is ‘svayavaram’ here?

A few other scholars argue that since the power of denying a person from participating in the competition was well within the command of Draupadi (she refused to marry Karna), this event was still a svayamvaram. Of course, this is an intellectual debate.

Can Draupadi deny Karna from participating in the competition based on his caste? Was it not against dharma?

But a careful reading of the conditions announced by her brother Drushtadyumna clearly indicated that only a person of equal caste can marry Draupadi if at all he could satisfy other conditions. Thus the svayamvaram was not open to all castes of people and was restricted to others who have aura and strength. Brahmins were not excluded to participate even though Drupada was a Kshatriya. Karna’s aggressiveness to participate in the event was rightly denied by Draupadi and she was well within the rules of the game. Further, from the perspective of Draupadi, it was a right decision. It is after all her life. She cannot marry a man whom she does not like for any reason and suffer throughout his life. She was a lady of a firm determination and the presence of many kings in the palace did not deter her courage to crop up and cry foul at the turn of events. She was following the rules of the game and also firm enough to deny a person since he was not her choice.

Then why did Karna try to participate? From this story and from other stories of Maha Bharata we find that he was aggressive and was the first person to advocate fighting always. His impetuous overtones were curtailed even before he could embark on his mission. He could have challenged the conditions of svayamvaram; but once they were accepted, he should have stuck to the rules.

Were the conditions fit into the frame of dharma? Even in 21^st century today, we find to-let boards in certain houses- ‘only for vegetarians’. We find in matrimonial advertisements, people seeking same caste and same community boy or girl. Setting conditions are the prerogative of the condition-setter and it is up to the other party to accept or reject it. In this story, Drupada and Drushtadyumna had laid down the condition of caste status in advance and they had announced it for the benefit of the audience.  In the story, Karna would have kept quiet by not trying to participate in the event.

Agreeing that Drupada can set terms of the competition, is it well within the compass of morals of the society? This question is difficult to answer since morals of society change from time to time, place to place and person to person. The current day morals cannot be the scale on which we can measure the morals of Maha Bharata times.

The story talks of a war between all kshatriya kings against Drupada and his brahmin supporters. Everyone thought that Bhima and Arjuna were Brahmins only. Karna appreciated the dexterity in archery by Arjuna who was in the guise of a brahmana and withdrew from the war since Brahma tejam (the spiritual power of a brahmin) could not be won by anybody. Everyone in the audience started arguing that a brahmin does not deserve punishment even if he does wrong sometimes (ब्राह्मणा  हि सदा रक्ष्या: सापराधापि नित्यदा- brāhmaṇā  hi sadā rakṣyā: sāparādhāpi nityadā)[v].

Do these passages suggest that Brahmins occupied pride position in the society? The answer is certainly ‘yes’. But a Brahmin in the context of Brahma tejam has to be understood with reference to the definition given to brahmin. A person was considered brahmin in those days if he possessed Brahma Jnana (ब्रह्म ज्ञानेन ब्राह्मणः - brahma jñānena brāhmaṇaḥ). A person well versed with vedas and sastras and dharmic traditions was believed not to go wrong in those days; and even if goes wrong, it should be tolerated and not to be frowned upon. Character and not the birth was the deciding factor of a true brahmin.  In Maha Bharata days, intellectuals were held in high esteem and people preferred not to harm them.

The svayanvaram as we see is certainly put Karna into shame. Draupadi openly rejected Karna. Karna must have nurtured grudge which eventually resulted in insulting Draupadi in the court of Duryodhana (please see the story- ‘Game of Dice- unanswered questions’  by clicking http://unclekatha.com/?p=1)).

Karna looked at the sun in the sky and dropped the bow below. What was his intention? ‘You are shining in the sky when I am suffering in the ground’ (Swami Sundara Chaitanyananda)[vi], was the thinking of Karna. The dilemma was that he could not disclose his true lineage and at the same time could not afford to accept the shame’.

Things to unlearn

1.    Draupadi’s svayamvaram has been portrayed in different versions by different authors; and many popular films were screened taking those episodes into account. In a few films we witness Karna aiming at the target with an arrow and Krishna sending his chakra (the popular weapon of Krishna) to obstruct it.  In some versions Krishna was seen asking Arjuna to go ahead in the competition.

2.     Story of Draupadi’s intention to marry Karna

The popular tale that was known to many of us is about Draupadi’s intention to marry Karna as her sixth husband. The story runs like this. When Pandavas were wandering in the forest, they saw only one fruit in certain tree. Arjuna aimed at it and the fruit fell to the ground. Krishna immediately alerted that the one fruit was supposed to be the food for a rishi and he may curse them. Then what was the way out? Krishna only suggested that if all of them spell out their secret wishes the fruit could get back to original place in the tree.

Dharmaraja initially told that he wanted all of his subjects (people) should be happy and prosperous. But the fruit just remained on the ground. Then he whispered in Krishna’s ears that he wanted to become emperor. The fruit rose from the ground by an inch. Then Bhima told his wish as killing all Kauravas. Arjuna’s wish was to kill Karna in the battlefield. The wishes of Nakula and Sahadeva were to serve their brothers dutifully. The fruit rose from the ground each time. Draipadi told her wish as serving all her husbands but the fruit did not move. Then Krishna took her aside and she told her secret wish as marrying Karna as her sixth husband. Then the fruit budged and stuck to the tree.

This story of Secrets of Pandavas’ wishes is concoction of someone’s imagination which is nowhere found in Veda Vyasa’s Maha Bharata. Serious readers of Veda Vyasa’s Bharata should be aware of these stories.  When Draupadi rejected Karna in the svayamvaram itself, where is the necessity of building this concocted story?

Points to ponder

1.    Can we set conditions for a deal ignoring the overall morals of the society?

2.    Can we measure the morals of one century on the scale of morals prescribed for another century?

3.    Do you feel that the spiritual power overrides physical power?

4.    Do you feel that Brahma Jnanam is the soft power for anyone in the society?

Footnotes

---

[i] This story is taken from Adi Parva of Maha Bharata.

[ii] एतन्महत्कर्म करोति  यो वै

कुलेन रूपेण बलेन युक्त:

तस्याद्य भार्या भगिनी ममेयं

कृष्णा भवत्री  न मृषा ब्रवीमि - Adi Parva 184.36

[iii] नाहं वरयामि सूतं - Adi parva 186.23.

[iv] ब्राह्मं तेजास्तदा जय्यं मन्यमानो महारथः - Adi Parva 189.22

[v] Adi Parva 189.36

[vi] Swamy Sundara Chaitanyananda, ‘Chaitanya Maha Bharatam, vol 1, page 154.

Copy