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13. THE STORY OF DRAUPADI
(The polyandrous marriage of Draupadi has given rise to much criticism and much explanation. Here is one such that brings in a hereditary drawback much in the style of the French novelist Emile Zola. The Rāmāyanasque abduction is an interesting episode in the story.) -GSB
There was a city named Campà in which lived three Brahmin brothers, Soma, Somadatta and Sambhūti by name. They were extremely rich, well versed in the four Vedas and the most respected scholars in the city. Their wives, Nägasri, Bhūtasri, and Yaksasri, were delicate and pretty looking. They lived their life full of enjoyment of human pleasures with their husbands. The three brothers often came together, ate and talked together. One of these days, they proposed that since they had no other anxiety and since they had no want of anything, they could easily increase their pleasures by taking their meals every day in each other's house by turn. They assured themselves of plentiful meals, drinks and other delicacies.
As they had expected, their life went on merrily, a huge enjoyment, and each one of them and their wives felt extremely happy. Once it was the turn of the eldest of the women, Nāgasri, to entertain the others in her house. She therefore prepared plenty of food. She also made a special preparation of a large and juicy gourd and mixed it with a generous dash of spices and fried it in ghee. Then she tasted a drop of it and was shocked to find that it was extremely bitter and not fit to be eaten, probably the gourd was over-done and turned into poison. She cursed herself for her
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| SR No. | 006762 |
| Book Title | Treasury of Jain Tales |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | V M Kulkarni |
| Publisher | Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre |
| Publication Year | 1994 |
| Total Pages | 468 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 17 MB |