Draupadi is an important character in Indian mythology and there are stories related to her which are talked about most. One aspect of her personality which is controversial as well, is her having five husbands. But as everything in life happens for a reason, this is no exception as well.
She also had a wooden bowl, which will always be filled with food. It was presented Draupadi when thepandavas were exiled. This bowl helped the Pandavas to survive during their exile in inhospitable forests. It is said that Dhanyalakshmi presented Draupadi this bowl.
Draupadi refused participation of Karna in swayamvar. She refused to be the wife of a suta-putra (son of a charioteer). Though Karna could also have won the competition of pierecing the fish’s eye.
The seeds of Mahabharata war were sown by her. It is said that Draupadi said about Duryodhana that blind’s son are also blind. This happened when Duryodhan slipped in the fabulous palace of Indraprastha.
Draupadi was an ambitious lady in her previous birth. This led to a strange situation. Draupadi, the wife of five pandavas, had an eventful life. She was born when Drupad performed yagya to take revenge from Drona. She was born alongwith Dhrishtdyumna, who fought the war of Mahabharata with pandavas.
According to Narada Purana and Vayu Purana, Draupadi is the composite Avatar of Goddesses Shyamala (wife of Dharma), Bharati (Wife of Vayu), Shachi (wife of Indra), Usha (wife of Ashwins), and Parvati (wife of Shiva), and hence married their earthly counterparts in the form of the five Pandavas.
In earlier lives, she did assume important avatars. The first time was as Vedavati who cursed Ravana (who is another goddess Avatar Swaha, wife to Agni). She then came in place of Sita’s avatar, to be the cause of Ravana’s death, while Agni hid the real Sita. Her third incarnation was partial: either Damayanti (whose husband, Nala, was equivalent to Dharma, Vayu, and Indra, just like the Pandavas) or her daughter Nalayani. She married Sage Mudgala. The fifth avatar was Draupadi herself.
In earlier lives, she did assume important avatars. The first time was as Vedavati who cursed Ravana (who is another goddess Avatar Swaha, wife to Agni). She then came in place of Sita’s avatar, to be the cause of Ravana’s death, while Agni hid the real Sita. Her third incarnation was partial: either Damayanti (whose husband, Nala, was equivalent to Dharma, Vayu, and Indra, just like the Pandavas) or her daughter Nalayani. She married Sage Mudgala. The fifth avatar was Draupadi herself.
Due to an incident happened, Lord Brahma cursed these goddesses to human birth. Devi Parvati thought of the solution wherein they will be born as one woman, Draupadi and hence share the earthly body for a smaller period of time. She is one of the Panchkanya’s, alongwith Kunti.
When Kunti asked her sons to share draupadi as their wives, Lord Krishna took Draupadi aside and explained to her. “This awkward situation you find yourself in is of your own making. In your previous birth you had pleased Lord Shiva with your prayers. Draupadi made her request but she added a long list of qualities that she wanted in her husband. Shiva said that it would be impossible to find one man with all these qualities. But she sticks to her ground and asks for the same. Then Lord Shiva grants her wish saying that she would get the same in her next birth with fourteen husbands. She asked for these qualities in her previous birth. Hence she would have five husbands in her next life. All of them together would posses the qualities she had enumerated."
The fourteen qualities which she wanted were available in five pandavas.The just Yudhisthira for his wisdom of Dharma; The powerful Bhima for his strength that exceeded that of a thousand elephants combined; The valiant Arjuna for his courage and knowledge of the battlefield; the exceedingly handsome Nakula and Sahadeva, for their love.
She queried Lord Shiva was this a boon or curse? Shiva promised that she would regain her virginity each morning when she took bath, this was the Lord Shiva’s boon to her. Thus, she had the unique quality of remain virgin throughout her life because of the boon from Shiva.
Lord Krishna then added,” You will spend one year with each husband. Others will be forbidden to enter the chamber in which you and the husband-of-the-year are staying. If one does so, even accidentally, he would be exiled for one year.”
The fourteen qualities which she wanted were available in five pandavas.The just Yudhisthira for his wisdom of Dharma; The powerful Bhima for his strength that exceeded that of a thousand elephants combined; The valiant Arjuna for his courage and knowledge of the battlefield; the exceedingly handsome Nakula and Sahadeva, for their love.
She queried Lord Shiva was this a boon or curse? Shiva promised that she would regain her virginity each morning when she took bath, this was the Lord Shiva’s boon to her. Thus, she had the unique quality of remain virgin throughout her life because of the boon from Shiva.
Lord Krishna then added,” You will spend one year with each husband. Others will be forbidden to enter the chamber in which you and the husband-of-the-year are staying. If one does so, even accidentally, he would be exiled for one year.”
She also had a wooden bowl, which will always be filled with food. It was presented Draupadi when thepandavas were exiled. This bowl helped the Pandavas to survive during their exile in inhospitable forests. It is said that Dhanyalakshmi presented Draupadi this bowl.
Draupadi refused participation of Karna in swayamvar. She refused to be the wife of a suta-putra (son of a charioteer). Though Karna could also have won the competition of pierecing the fish’s eye.
The seeds of Mahabharata war were sown by her. It is said that Draupadi said about Duryodhana that blind’s son are also blind. This happened when Duryodhan slipped in the fabulous palace of Indraprastha.
The Jambul episode
According to a legend from Mahabharata, during the last year of the exile of the Pandavas, Draupadi saw a ripe jambul (rose apple), hanging from a tree. She wanted to eat and hence plucked it. When Lord Krishna saw this, he stopped her from eating it. He told her that the Jambul fruit was supposed to be the fruit with which sage Amitra was supposed to break his twelve-year fast. Not finding the fruit at its place, the Pandavas could earn the wrath of the sage, resulting in more trouble.
Lord Krishna gave a solution to this problem. In order for that to happen, each one of Pandavas must speak only the truth. Saying thus, he took them to the tree. He placed the fruit under the tree and told that each one of them should reveal all secrets about them without hiding anything and without any deceit. Then the fruit will go and cling to the tree on its own accord. One by one, the Pandavas and Draupadi reveal their truths, with the fruit moving up each time
At last, Draupadi professes her love for the Pandavas, and reveals her own faults in their situation. However, the fruit doesn’t move, and Krishna says that she is hiding something. With great trepidation, Draupadi looked into the eyes of her husbands and laments that she wished that she had married Karna, saying that had she done so, she wouldn’t have suffered such misery. This was a shock to all the husbands, but none said anything.The fruit went back on the branch of the tree and all was well. The Pandavas got the message that in spite of five brave husbands, they had failed their wife when she needed them the most.
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