Title:

STUDY OF DRAUPADI: Is she a 'DEVI' or an 'Extraordinary

Woman'?

Student's Name: Mrs. Sulagna Mukherjee

Course name: Indology
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark
Session:2015-2016

Abstract :

Draupadi plays a critical role in the Mahabharata. She not only bears the auspicious birth legacy but
also conjoins the humanity with the divinity. A great many features of Draupadi make herself exotic for Aryan
princess and put herself to an aboriginal provenance. As a human, Draupadi depicts the piety of the
Panchkanyas as well as modernity in terms of the feminist arguments. Also she depicts her feminine
characteristics in various parts of the epic. Thus the question stands about the synthesis of her character in
duality of divinity and humanity.

1. Introduction:

Draupadi, the fire-born daughter of king Drupad, remains a mysterious character of the great epic
Mahabharata, till this day (Buck). She reminds us of the time and taste of the-then north Indian 'city-states'.
Now, questions stand about the existence of divinity in this female character, that are yet to be illustrated in a
scholastic proforma. Divinity, as explained by Merriam-Websters', is a state of being a 'god', which one shall
interpret according to the religious ideology of those days (Merriam-Webster). Written in around 1200 BC,
India in the time of Mahabharata believed in polytheism (Kapoor). Like other contemporary Aryan
civilizations, one can see a myriad of 'Gods' and 'demigods' in Indian epics (Hiltebeitel Rethinking the
Mahabharata: A Reader's Guide to the Education of the Dharma King). The birth of Draupadi is cloaked in
the veneer of mystery. It is written that she was born out of the fire of the yajna Drupad did to avenge
Drona (Hiltebeitel The Cult of Draupad: Mythologies : From Gingee to Kurukserta). Hence, it is often
believed she was sought to be born to destroy Drona, that instead culminated in a large scale destruction of
the kshatriya clan (Ray and Bhattacharya). Also the burning flame turned Draupadi's skin into 'Darkness',
embalming her as Krisnaa. Also, much later on when the epic saga unfolded its glory and sham, Draupadi
or Panchali or Krishnaa restyled into different color, in order to contribute more smoke into the already
intrigue story of Mahabharata.

2.1.

Origin:

The fire born princess possessed many names, apart from the Draupadi, few of which are Panchali,
Krishnaa, Yajnaseni, Soirindhree etc (some of these were earned by her while others were coined by
some significant characters of the play), all of which has some history attached to it (Ray and Bhattacharya).
The name Draupadi has been practiced many times as it refers her to be the daughter of Drupad, the king of

Panchala belonging to Somaka clan(Suri). The historical origin of Panchala can be traced back to the
Iron age Vedic culture, especially between 1100-600 BC, which much later on established itself as the 16 city
states of 'ancient India' and the second most important one after Kuru in vedic period (Mittal). Thus, being a
daughter of Drupad, Draupadi excelled as a proud and determinant princess, which we can catch glimpses
in various parts of the Mahabharata, especially in the prelude of the war. This is demonstrated where
Draupadi pledges to soak her hair in the blood of eminent 'kauravas' to avenge her humiliation(Ray and
Bhattacharya). Panchali as she is the princess of the state, also describes her alliance with the motherland.
None among the other issues of king Drupad attained such glory to bear the title of the motherland. It shows
the pretensions the society possessed during that point of time. A lady of the- then royal blood was treated as an
emblem, a representation, of the state which we find difficult to parallel with. But, Panchali means also
Puppet(Gupta). Thus may be, by cunning alliteration, Vyas gave us a dramatic irony to this princess turned
shared asset, proven fatal at the time of Yudhisthira betting her in the game of Dice (Buck). Thus, Panchali
being a princess of Panchala, was shown the acrimonious truth of patriarchal hegemony and it may very well
be treated as the true status of women back in those days. Yajnaseni attaches to her as she is born in a yajna.
To decipher this, we need to look out for a dispute between Drupad and Drona back when they were
students of Bharadwaja. In the asrama, as they were best of friends, Drupad pledged Drona to grant him
half of his kingdom, but when Drona came to Panchala to claim some solvency, Drupad vehemently rejected
Drona's claim of friendship, pushing the latter to hatch a revenge, by arresting Drupad and dragging him to
Hastinapur to get him maltreated at the hands of the mighty Pandavas, disciples of Drona. Though he was
released, Drupad took an oath to destroy Drona.. For the sake of the oath, Drupad performed Putrakami
Yajna, and from it Draupadi and Dhristadyumna were born(Buck; Hiltebeitel The Cult of Draupad:
Mythologies : From Gingee to Kurukserta; Hiltebeitel Rethinking the Mahabharata: A Reader's Guide to the
Education of the Dharma King; Ray and Bhattacharya). This is said to be Avichara or black magic and as a
consequence, Draupadi was born. Much later on, though Dhristadyumna killed Drona, Draupadi categorically
saw the destruction of the kshatriya clan(Muruganar; Ray and Bhattacharya). It constitutes a great cosmic
justice, which is again very rare in its nature in the parallel artistry. The name Krishnaa also justifies her birth

in the fire and later in the popular Panch-Kanyas, Draupadi was taken as a fire altar (Bhattacharya and
Centre). But, Krishnaa also means the friend of Krishna, the demigod and a pivotal character in
Mahabharata. Throughout the Mahabharata, Krishna and Krishnaa shared a peculiar type of relationship
between them. They were Sakhas and society let them be like that(Ray and Bhattacharya). Also, another
significant distinction that Draupadi has in her name, is the dark complexion. Among the Panchkanyas it was
Draupadi whose beauty is most elaborated (Vyasa). The mere fact that Aryans were Caucasian white, we feel
intrigue in this beauty, who stood erect and tall in her dark skin from among other characters of the great
epic(Bartulin).

Also the incarnation of god theory puts Draupadi as the incarnation of Shree, the goddess of wealth
(Hiltebeitel The Cult of Draupad: Mythologies : From Gingee to Kurukserta). As we have seen in this
discussion, Draupadi is not just a female character, but she is also a fascinating lady who encompass a whole
breadth of civilized India in the Vedic times. Now we shall enter into the two most sociological discussion that
scholarship must propagate about Draupadi.

2.2.

Draupadi: a goddess?

Draupadi amman is worshiped as a Goddess of South India (Hiltebeitel The Cult of

Draupad: Mythologies : From Gingee to Kurukserta; Hiltebeitel The Cult of Draupadi, Volume 2: On Hindu
Ritual and the Goddess) . Now, besides the story of being Shree fallen from grace, Draupadi also has Sachi,
wife of Indra and Mahakali, consort of Shiva, to be incarnated as mortal(Ray and Bhattacharya). The story
that Krishna was avatar of Lord Vishnu and Draupadi escorts him as a specially privileged Sakha, points

Draupadi to be an avatar of Kali, as Shiva's consort Parvati was Vishnu's sister(Raman). Also, Kali means
black. It may be the fact that, even prior to Aryan invasion, Draupadi was worshiped in Southern or
Dravidian India as a deity and Aryans have taken her with an allegory of fire born. Though, Vyasdeva was
very unpleasant look-wise and dark in skin color and Krishna being pigmented , Krishnaa, a woman with
described amorous features , being charred dark in skin color probably states Draupadi's claim to rise above an
ordinary woman. Elsewhere, when we see ill treatment of Nishadas who were dark and Rakshashis who
were ere-Aryan aboriginals arguably, the fair treatment of Draupadi perhaps indicates to the fact that she was a
prime among others (Hiltebeitel Rethinking the Mahabharata: A Reader's Guide to the Education of the
Dharma King). She was comparable to Mahakali. Also in her idol at Gingee, Draupadi stands with a parrot
and a lotus, which proclaims her peculiar virginity which we will discuss later (Hiltebeitel The Cult of
Draupad: Mythologies : From Gingee to Kurukserta; Hiltebeitel The Cult of Draupadi, Volume 2: On Hindu
Ritual and the Goddess).

Before the time of the great epic, India witnessed the marvelous Harappan civilizations, a chalcolithic
enterprise which stood upright in the middle 3rd and 2nd millenia BC, in the North-Western part of India about
the river Indus, now largely located in Pakistan (Fairservis). In that derelict remains a female figurine which
along with Pasupati Shiva is the only conjectured deity found in the great ruin of ere-Vedic India (Foulston
and Abbott). Now, Kal means time. Also Kal means death. Kali means 'black'(Apte). So, Kali usually
depicts a overwhelming lady with tantalizing character of uncertainty. Had Draupadi being an altar of Kali, she
would have been a harbinger of destruction which, by the way, she is. She is one of the most potent cause of
Kurukshetra war and this war was brutal in terms of death of Maharathis, who are mainly from
Kshatriya clan. Thus singlehandedly Draupadi brought death and destruction upon northern India, which
perhaps, if delved into deeply, might established the early democratic nature of Sorhas Mahajanapadas
( sixteen city states) (Raychaudhuri). One argument, that belies Draupadi's claim to compare with Kali, is
being the fire born part. Yajna, a well established vedic ritual, created Draupadi, thus separating her from
being Kali. However, a recent interpretation is to be noteworthy here. Vengeful to his skin, Drupada converts

his anger into flame which gives birth to Draupadi and Dhristadyumna, it may put the former as prakriti and
later as purusha (Kapila). As we know from later interpretations, Mahakali or Durga is respected as the
emblem of prakriti(Chitgopekar). Thus, arguably Draupadi can be taken as an early non-vedic form of
complimentary energy. This duality, not seen in other Aryan creations, and much elaborated by the Sankhya
school, makes us wonder about its origin and conceptualization (Kapila). When the great Minoan and
Mycenaean civilizations were taking fumbling steps towards attaining a scholarly philosophy, another branch of
there forefathers, might be lucky to stumble upon some ere-existing deeply significant intelligentsia, that in turn
helped them to consolidate. Thus, Draupadi character may origin from a ere-existing powerful worshiped deity
which established the very basic of duality in realm of Indian mind.

2.3.

Draupadi as a woman:

The woman inside almost every feminine characters in great epic ages lacked luster in terms of attaining
feminist principles. As in Greek tragedies, we have witnessed a number of women characters, who on an
average almost never stood by their womanhood. They were used as a lust-invoking amorous or jealous,
overambitious characters seldom taking morality on any account. Even in Ramayana, all four Panchkanyas,
Ahalya, Sita, Tara, Mandodory had hardly questioned moral high ground of feminist virtues
(Bhattacharya and Centre). They had always portrayed a character of piety. On the contrary, Panchali protested
in numerous occasions. Whether these altercations are of feminist principles or not, is a matter of serious
discussion. Feminist ideology sprouted at the hand of Mary Wollstonecraft in the English literature which is
defined as The advocacy of woman's rights on the ground of equality of sexes(Wollstonecraft). Draupadi,
when on the brink of humiliation asked the elders of Hastinapur whether one can rightfully own someone
when he is himself owned by other(Ray and Bhattacharya). In answer even Bhisma, the grand patriarch of
mighty Hastinapur fell to disgrace by interjection of wayward explanation to this elementary question, citing

nuances of morality creating a barrier in proper comprehension of wisdom in this matter (Buck). This is a
beautiful example where Draupadi not only denounced male chauvinism but also declared gender equality in
terms of nominal morality.

Draupadi was also an woman thrust unto the realm of polyandry by peculiar situation. When after
Swayambhara, Arjuna won Draupadi's hand for marriage, she was directed to be shared among five
pandavas at their return to the wild-abode (Buck). This is significant in various aspect. Firstly, Draupadi's
acceptance depicted her obedience to the norms of the society but at the same time, the sheer peculiarity of
obeying a command from another woman, Kunti, juxtaposed Draupadi to beyond mortal reverence. She
sacrificed her conjugal possession in the hand of matriarchy and shared the bed with five men. Also, she let
others to go for polygamy, albeit with romantic repercussions. Thus Pandava and Draupadi depicted a
wonderful example of third type of polygamous relationship which was very bold and revolutionary at the time
of its inception and even today in the modern westernized society (Altman and Ginat). The sequence of them
lying in the bed was also intriguing where Kunti and Draupadi laid parallel in opposite direction whence five
men laid vertical to them (Bhattacharya and Centre). It depicts the ladies encircling the men, which is
significant in its inner meaning. Draupadi was to be with one pandava for a whole year and then shift to next
the next year. At the end of each year, Draupadi attained virginity (Ray and Bhattacharya). This bizarre
condition is noteworthy of discussion. To some scholar, this may depict the absolute male chauvinism and
delusional believe of piety among men. But further exploration will prove that indeed brides are taken to
Soma, Indra and Agni prior to her husband at the time of marriage (Bhattacharya and Centre). This system of
purification is inherent in epic ages and may be the virginity renewal is allegorically representative of evergreen
beauty that Draupadi was and concocted with the mythological cloud surrounded her fire birth.

To complicate matters more, the death of Draupadi was shown to be most feminine of her character
where she bestowed with conjugal affection to third pandava Arjuna died at the time of Mahaprasthan
(Buck). This shows beneath all the feminist character of Draupadi, there remained a single-most lady with all

her affection deep-seeded in her heart for one man who won her among many others.

2.4.

Conclusion:

In the pages of the Mahabharata, a great many political and social principles got established. And
many philosophical colleges were started on. Whether divine or not, the character of Draupadi beyond all doubt
have shown various shades of humanity. The divinity here got diluted in humanity, a common trend in
Mahabharata, unlike its predecessor Ramayana. Draupadi stood as a divine creation with unique creation
myth and died in a most humanistic death. Through out her life, she stood for feminist principles and at the
same time shown unparalleled femininity. The concept of Draupadi being an import from ere- vedic belief
system is also established here on firm basis of arguments. In conclusion, it can be justifiably synthesized that
Draupadi or Draupadi like figurine was worshiped before Aryan invasion and patriarchal vedic Aryans
imbibed her into their life system but she stood upright in her posture of being arguably the first ever feminist in
the history of mankind with contrasting feminine ego.

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