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DRAUPADI'S QUESTION
(11) The proceedings thus appear to have come to a deadlock. Draupadi first puts her question to Yudhisthira. When he does not answer, she puts it to the Assembly. Now even the Assembly members do not speak. What is to be done ?
At this juncture Duryodhana comes forward and daringly gives a turn to the course of the events. He tells Draupadi: the Assembly members give no reply to you. Let us therefore suppose that you have addressed your question to the rest of the Pandavas-Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. If they declare that Yudhisthira was no lord of yours when he staked you, you will be a free woman. If Yudhisthira so feels, let him answer the question even now. All the Kauravas share your grief (sarve hime Kauraveydḥ sabhāyāṁ duḥkhântare vartmånds tavaiva 2.62.27).
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All the kings present in the assembly praise Duryodhana and waive their garments to show their approval of what Duryodhana had announced. Then they all turn their necks in the direction of the Pandavas to listen to what they have to say.
(12) When the noise made by the kings subsides Bhima begins to speak. He says: "If Yudhisthira had not been our master, we would not have tolerated all this (insult). But Yudhisthira is the master of our meritorious acts, our austerities and lives. If he considers himself won then we too have also been won in dice." (2. 62, 32-33).
Bhima's reply is irrelevant. The real issue is whether Yudhisthira, after losing himself, has the right to stake Draupadi, whether in that condition he is any longer her master. This point has not been answered by Bhima. He says that if Yudhisthira considers himself a slave, the rest of the Pandavas are slaves too. But no one has raised the question about the status of the Pandavas, That they were reduced to the state of slaves is well established because when Yudhisthira staked them, he had not lost himself. But Bhima seems to say that it was not even necessary actually to stake the Pandavas; if Yudhisthira for any reason feels himself lost', the Pandavas are lost too. Bhima's reply is totally neglected in the assembly, and it deserved to be,
(13) Bhima is followed by Karpa. Actually he has no right to speak now. If at all he wanted to say something he should have done so when Draupadi had put her question to all the members in the Assembly. He does not speak then. Now Duryodhana has put the question specifically to the Pandavas, and it is they who have to answer, not Karpa. But he intervenes and, like Vikarna', argues his case on the basis of certain grounds. He says:
1 Karna carlier refutes Vikarpa's view and now puts forth his own view. Whether the opposition reflected in their names (Karpa and Vikarça) is deliberato or accidental is hard to say.
Madhu Vidya/429
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