191208 - Rivalry PLOT due to DRAUPADI

Rivalry PLOT due to DRAUPADI

Logically if it is to think why and for whom Mahabharata started, many can be named; most prominent among them is Draupadi.

Draupadi is the daughter of King Drupada (Yajnasena) of the Panchala (Bareilly region) kingdom; hence she was named as Draupadi (Drupadakanya) and Panchali. According to the Mahabharata, she took birth from the sacred fire (Yajna), so she is also called as Yagnaseni.  Draupadi is referred to by multiple names in the Mahabharata. She took birth as a maiden and never went through the stages of childhood; Draupadi’s mission and Drupada’s intent is Mahabharata.

Drupada(son of King Prishata) and Drona (who later was the Guru for Pandavas and kauravas and fought for Dhuryodhana) studied together under the tutelage of Rishi Bharadwaja, Drona's father. They become great friends and Drupada assures Drona that once he becomes king, he will share half of his kingdom with Drona. When Drupada got kingship after the death of Prishata, Drona lived a life of poverty. Drona approached Drupada for help but he refused to acknowledge friendship and shuns Drona, calling him a beggar. Drona is later employed by Bhishma to train the Kuru princes. After the military education of the Kauravas and the Pandavas ends, as his gurudakshina as requested by Drona, Arjuna defeated Drupada and subsequently took half his kingdom. To avenge this, Drupada performed Putrakameshti yajna; from the sacrificial fire, Draupadi emerged as a beautiful dark-skinned young woman (who would enter the Kuru family and divide it) after her sibling Dhrishtadyumna (who would kill Drona).

King Drupada arranges a swayamvara for his daughter Draupadi. To win Draupadi's hand, the king's invitees, all of them royalty themselves, must string an enormous bow and shoot five arrows simultaneously through a revolving ring onto the eye of a revolving fish. All the kings fail to even string the bow; when Karna is about to succeed, he was stopped by Draupadi, who refuses to marry the son of a charioteer. The five sons of the late King Pandu of Hastinapur are present at the swayamvara, dressed as holy men. As the other attendees, including the Kauravas, protest at a Brahmin winning the competition and attack, Arjuna and Bhima protect Draupadi and are able to retreat. When Draupadi arrives with the five Pandavas to meet Kunti, they inform her that Arjuna won alms, to which Kunti says, "Share the alms equally". This motherly command leads the five brothers to become the five husbands of Draupadi.

Polyandry is justified here as in her previous birth, Draupadi did “Ghora- Thapasya” (hard penance) and invoked Eswara (God Shiva). She asked for a husband with 14 qualities (the main 5 are Moral values, physical strength, skilled, handsome and intelligent). Shiva said all these qualities cannot co-exist in one man and he can’t bless. There was protest from many including Drupa and Pandavas. But Vyasa and Krishna played their role to convince all.

Earlier Upon the news of Pandavas' death at Varnavrat, the title of crown prince had fallen to Duryodhana. Upon revealing that they are alive Dhritharashtra invites the Pandavas to Hastinapur and proposes that the kingdom be divided. The Pandavas are assigned the wasteland Khandavaprastha, referred to as unclaimed desert. With the help of Krishna, Pandavas rebuilt Khandavaprastha into the glorious Indraprastha. The crown jewel of the kingdom was built at the Khandava forest, where Draupadi resided in the "Palace of Illusions". Yudhishthira performed the Rajasuya Yagna with Draupadi by his side; the Pandavas gained lordship over many regions.

A lesser known fact is Draupadi's role as an Empress. Trained in economy, she took upon the responsibility of looking after the treasury of the Empire and ran a citizen liaison. 

Duryodhana and his entourage were exploring the keep during their visit to Yudhishthira's Rajasuya Yagna. While touring the grounds, an unsuspecting Duryodhana fell prey to one of the many illusions that could be seen all around the palace. When he stepped on the apparently solid part of the courtyard, there was a splash and Duryodhana found himself waist deep in water, drenched from head to foot by the hidden pool. The myth is, Draupadi and her maids saw this from the balcony with amusement, and joked Andhasya Putra Andhaha meaning 'a blind man's son is blind'.

Insult suffered by Duryodhana is often considered to mark a definitive moment in the story of Mahabharata. It is one of the driving reasons for the dies Game, Exile and that ultimately led to the Kurukshetra War.