191222 - Kurukshetra War and aftermath - DRAUPADI

Kurukshetra War and aftermath - DRAUPADI

Students of Drona, when trained had only one role; defeat his enemy Drupada. Thus, Drupada got defeated and half of the kingdom was got under Drona. Now it is Drupada’s turn to fight back Drona and his students. They can only be won when they are divided. Drupada needs a trump card here. Hence, Draupadi was born. Her mission was to create jealousy among the first cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, which will make her a cause for war through humiliation and will make the brothers kill other brothers. Drupada’s classical example of Divide and Conquer can only be achieved by a woman whose beauty has no match on this planet.

The plot of the swayamvara hiding Arjuna’s identity, though Arjuna knew that Drupada whom he defeated is the father of Draupadi, got her married. The dice game and the plot created for the war is to make Bheema’s pledge to kill Kauravas. Thus, Kurukshetra war is a requirement of Drupada through Draupadi.

During the war, Draupadi stays at Ekachakra with other women. On the 16th day, Bhima kills Dushasana, drinking his blood and fulfilling his oath to Draupadi.

There is a popular myth often depicted in well-known adaptations of Mahabharata. It says that, Draupadi washed her hair with her brother-in-law Dushasana's blood, as a mark of her vengeance against the abuse she had suffered at the dice-game. Though an extremely powerful and symbolic theme, this incident does not appear in Vyasa's Sanskrit Mahabharata. 

Ashwathama, in order to avenge his father's as well as other Kuru warriors' deceitful killing by the Pandavas, attacks during his surprise raid on Pandavas camp at night with Kripacharya and Kritavarma. Aswathama killed Shikhandi,  Dhrishtadyumna and Upapandavas (Draupadi had five sons, one son each from the Pandava brothers. They were known as Upapandavas; Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Shrutakarma, Satanika, and Shrutasena. None of the Draupadi's children survive the end of the epic.)

In the morning, Yudhishthira hears the news and asks Nakula to bring Draupadi from Matsya kingdom. Draupadi vows that if the Pandavas do not kill Ashwathama, she would fast to death. The Pandavas find Ashwathama at Vyasa's hut. Arjuna and Ashwathama end up firing the Brahmashirsha astra at each other. Vyasa intervenes and asks the two warriors to withdraw the destructive weapon. Not endowed with the knowledge to do so, Ashwathama instead redirects the weapon to Uttara's womb, killing the Pandavas' only heir (Parikshit, who was again revived by Krishna). Krishna curses him for this act. As a punishment, Ashwathama was asked by Vyasa to surrender the gem on his forehead to Pandavas.

After the cremation was done Yudhishtira was crowned as the king of Hastinapur and he in consultation with Dhrithrashtra was running the Kingdom and is loved by all people. When Yudhishtira became the king of Hastinapura, Draupadi again became the queen.

Later Dhrithrashtra and Gandhari made their mind to retire to woods to do penance. After pacifying by Vyasa, Vidura, Yudhishtira was ready to let them retire. After performing due rituals when they were ready to leave for the woods then Vidura and Sanjaya also wanted to accompany them and seeing all this Kunti also accompanied them to woods.

Thus, Draupadi became the senior queen at Hastinapura.

After Lord Krishna ascended to Vaikhunta-loka; Pandavs after the advice of Veda Vyasa left their Kingdom in the hands of Parikshit and left for the Himalayas. When they were travelling to Himalayas a Dog accompanied them throughout their journey.

When her husbands retired from the world and went on their journey towards the Himalayas and heaven, Draupadi accompanied them, and was the first to fall on the journey. When Bhima asked Yudhishthira why Draupadi had fallen, Yudhishthira replied, "O best of men, though we were all equal unto her she had great partiality for Dhananjaya. She obtains the fruit of that conduct today, O best of men."

The Draupadi Amman sect (or Draupadi devotional sect) is a tradition that binds together a community of people in worshipping Draupadi Amman as a village goddess with unique rituals and mythologies. The sect believes that Draupadi is the incarnation of goddess Kali. Fire walking or theemithi is a popular ritual enacted at Draupadi Amman temples. At the ancient religious festival of Bangalore named Karaga, Draupadi is worshipped as an incarnation of Adishakti and Parvati in a nine-day event.

There are over 400 temples dedicated to Draupadi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and other countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, South Africa. In these regions, Draupadi is worshipped mainly by people of the Vanniyar caste. There are a few processions and festivals which are conducted for about 3 weeks a year. The most famous festival is in the village Durgasamudram, Tirupati of Chittoor district.