Draupadi is remembered as the heroic princess of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata and one of the first feminists in Hindu mythology as a woman who was firm, proud, rebellious, fiery and possessed an unbreakable will, a true symbol of the very heavenly fire she was bred from. Draupadi may resemble one of the many progressive female characters that we see in popular culture today but in 4th century India when the Mahabharata was published, there were no other women as defiant or full of substance as Draupadi. Few women in any mythologies of that era were aggressive and spoke their mind in a world of men but Draupadi razed these expectations to the ground. Throughout her role in the famous Hindu epic, Draupadi has remained as riotous, passionate and beautiful as the heavenly fire she was born from.
Draupadi’s story begins with the king of Panchal, King Drupad who prayed every night to have children and regularly performed rigorous and exhausting rituals in tribulation to god in order to fulfil his determination and vengeance against Dronacharya, his enemy, and bring about the destruction of the Kuru line. The first to emerge out of the holy pyre was his son Dhristadymna and the second, a daughter named Draupadi. This is also an explanation for much of her personality as she was literally born from a fire lit in vengeance, anger and passion, making men and women fear crossing her path. At the time of her birth, a celestial voice came in the form of a shining light upon the fire and proclaimed, “This unparalleled beauty has taken birth to uproot the Kauravas and establish the rule of religion”. At this point we know that Draupadi is no ordinary princess who will be married off to a prince of her father’s choosing and remain behind the curtains. She is a revolutionary, a fighter through her words and actions, her very existence is to be a dangerous forest fire, boundless and bright.
Draupadi’s role began with her marrying the five Pandava brothers because of a wish Lord Shiva granted her in her previous lifetime as she wished to marry a husband with 14 qualities she found most desirable. These were found in the five brothers Yudhisthira for his wisdom, Arjuna for his valiance and knowledge on the battlefield, Bhima for his strength that exceeded a thousand elephants combined and Nakula and Sahadeva for their love. The key incident that is considered to mark a definitive moment in the story of the Mahabharata is when the Pandavas lost a game of dice that was rigged by Duryodhana, an arch-nemesis of theirs.
“Throughout her role in the famous Hindu epic, Draupadi has remained as riotous, passionate and beautiful as the heavenly fire she was born from.”
The eldest brother Yuridhistra had lost all of his material wealth to Duryodhana and slowly began betting the life of his brothers and ultimately himself and losing, becoming slaves of their enemy. When all was lost, he wished to win everything back by putting Draupadi at the stake and lost her as well. When news reached Draupadi, she was consumed by fury and contested Duryodhana’s right to her as her husband had lost his title and no longer had any claim to her, the queen of the kingdom. She refused to present herself in court but was dragged in by her hair and humiliated. Draupadi did not go down without a fight as she spat and screamed at all the higher officials of the court, swearing the fires of vengeance upon them and that she will not tie her hair until it is decorated with the blood of those who humiliated her. This event sparked the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, the central plot of the Mahabharata.
