Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 456

DRAUPADI'S QUESTION
189
This reply of Arjuna resolves the deadlock in the Assembly. One of the Pāņdavas has clearly declared that when Yudhisthira staked Draupadi he was no longer her lord, (and hence he had no right to stake her). Even if he lost that stake, Draupadi had not become the slave of the Kauravas. After Arjuna's clear reply, it was unnecessary to ask any one else, nor to discuss any further the legality of the matter.
As already announced by Duryodhana, the Kauravas accept Arjuna's verdict. Without a monient's delay, Dhịtarāßfra speaks highly of Draupadi as the lawfully-wedded wife of the Pāņdavas and his own very special daughter-in-law. Until that moment Draupadi was addressed as a 'dasi' and was humiliated. Against this background the good words spoken by Dhstarāşțra are particularly striking. Dhstarāştra does not stop at merely speaking a few good words to please Draupadi. He offers her a boon. He, as an elderly Kaurava, is perfectly within his rights to do so, and Draupadi, on her part, fully deserves to receive the boon after having been humiliated for some time for no lault of her own. Draupadi asks relief of Yudhisthira from bondage, and when Dhrtarāştra offers her another boon, she asks for the relief of the rest of the Pandavas. All the Pandavas had become slaves of the Kauravas and it was necessary to secure their freedom. Draupadi does not ask for her own freedom because that is no longer necessary. After the reply of Arjuna it is accepted that she has not become a slave. If she is not a slave, why ask for her freedom? Hence when Dhstarăstra offers Draupadi a third boon she politely declines it saying that only two boons are considered proper for a Kșatriya woman.
When one carefully observes this sequence of events which occurred in the Assembly Hall one realizes that the turn which the events took was entirely due to the reply given by Arjuna. If that were not the case, and if the turn was given by the bad omens, we will have to assume that the basic question-whether or not Draupadi had become a slave-remained unresolved. In that situation Dhstarāştra's honouring her as a lawfully-wedded wife of the Pandavas and his own special daughter-in-law would be inappropriate. Moreover, in that case it would be necessary for Draupadi to ask her own freedom from slavery, since that question had remained undecided. But since nothing of the sort happens it is clear that nothing in the Assembly had happened due to the bad omens. What happened was due to the decisive reply given by Arjuna, and to the fact that this verdict was accepted by the Kauravas.
But the version of the Mahabharata available today makes a meption of the bad omens immediately after Arjuna's reply. It is also said that Vidura and Gāndhări, apprehensive of the ill omens, approached Dhstarāşțra and requested him to intervene. Naturally it has been assumed that Dhstar ştra took the matteres in his hand because of the occurrence of the bad omens. Nobody has ever sensed that what happened was due to Arjuna's reply. The importance of
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