Draupadi

Draupadi (far right) with his five Pandava husbands

Draupadi ( Skt. द्रौपदी , draupadī ^IAST “daughter of Drupada”) - in Hinduism, the earthly incarnation of Lakshmi , the wife of Vishnu or, according to more ancient ideas, Indra ; the main character of the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata , the daughter of the king of the Panchals of Drupada and the common wife of the Pandavas .

Draupadi is not a name, but a patronym meaning "daughter of Drupada", her own name seems to be Krishna ( Krishni ) ( Skt. कृष्णा , kṛṣṇā ^IAST "black, dark").

Draupadi was miraculously born from the sacrificial fire on the altar, and her heavenly father is the god Agni . At the birth of Draupadi, an invisible voice utters a prophecy that the princess is destined to cause the death of the kshatriyas .

According to the Mahabharata , many suitors claim the hand of Draupadi, who was reputed to be the first beauty in the world, and then her father arranges svayamvara (the ritual of choosing a bridegroom). In accordance with the epic motif of heroic matchmaking, knights who came from many countries must pull on a huge bow and hit the target (cf. the story of Penelope ’s suitors and Luka Odysseus , Svayamvara Sita in “ Ramayana ”). The main contenders are the middle of the Pandavas Arjuna , acting under the guise of a brahmana , and his eternal rival and unrecognized older brother, the mighty Karna , brought up by foster parents from infancy. Regional versions of the tale suggest that Karna managed to pull the bow, but the beautiful princess proudly rejected the rootless son of the driver, as his royal origin remained a mystery. As a result, the young “brahmana” Arjuna won the bride, and from that moment on, the rivalry of the humble Karna and Arjuna turns into mortal enmity (the folklore motive of the brothers' enmity over their wife or bride, cf. Osiris / Isis / Seth collision).

After the svayamvaras, the Pandavas brought Draupadi home, their mother Kunti thought that the sons returned home with alms, and said: “use it together,” after which she could not cancel her command, and in accordance with her words, Draupadi becomes the common wife of all five brothers. The omniscient Vyasa offers the indignant father of the bride and more mythological explanations of the polyandry of Draupadi. According to Vyasa, in one of the previous births, Draupadi appealed to Shiva five times with a prayer to give her a spouse, therefore, in a new birth, she had to have five husbands at the behest of God. In addition, also according to Vyasa, “those who were born here by the Pandavas were formerly Indra. And Lakshmi, which was previously determined by their wife, is Draupadi, ”who therefore must now be the common wife of the Pandavas. In the Mahabharata there is also an explanation of the more practical plan of Draupadi polyandry: all five brothers fell in love with the beauty, and the wise older brother Yudhishthira , in order to avoid contention, suggested: “The beautiful Draupadi will be a spouse for all of us.”

In the ill-fated dice game started by the envious Kauravas prince Duryodhana (who also claimed the hand of Draupadi, but was defeated), the elder Pandava king Yudhisthira loses to the Kauravas the kingdom, his brothers, himself, and then Draupadi. During the game, the triumphant Duryodhana, his younger brother Duhshasana and sister Karna subjected Draupadi to humiliation, considering her from now on a slave of the Kauravas. This public dishonor of the Queen of Pandavas was supposed to symbolize that her crowned spouse Yudhisthira lost power and his kingdom now belongs to Duryodhana (cf. the victorious Absalom enters the concubines of David who fled from Jerusalem to demonstrate that power passed to him). But Draupadi, who has not lost her temper, confuses the present sages and elders of the Kaurava family with the question: could Yudhisthira put her at stake if he had already lost himself and lost the right to dispose of his property and family? For the sake of Draupadi, the old king Dhritarashtra cancels the results of the game and restores freedom and kingdom to the Pandavas. In the replay, the Pandavas lose the kingdom and retire into a thirteen-year exile, cherishing plans for revenge. But the legend emphasizes that they want to avenge not for losing (the game of dice was a ritual duel, the outcome of which revealed the will of the gods), but for insulting the wife. This is perfectly understood by the king of the Kauravas, Dhrtarastra, who speaks of the Pandavas: “Proud, they will never reconcile themselves to the insult inflicted by Draupadi!” And in the exile of Draupadi everyone cannot forget the humiliation suffered and constantly incites the Pandavas to revenge, and the hatred of her hatred is a special object for her on svayamvara Karna: “My spiritual anguish, born of those taunts of Karna, does not cease!”

In the eighteen-day battle that followed at Kurukshetra, Draupadi lost her father, brothers, and all five sons, and after 36 years of reign in the hereditary capital of Kaurava, Hastinapura abdicated with her husbands. Draupadi accompanies the Pandavas on their last pilgrimage to the Himalayas and dies, unable to bear the hardships of the path. The Mahabharata repeatedly emphasizes that, in fulfillment of the prophecy at the birth of the beautiful princess, it was the encroachment on Draupadi that caused the epic battle on the Kuru field (cf. the Trojan war over Queen Sparta Elena the Beautiful ).