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ONCE AGAIN DRAUPADĪ'S HAIR
By
M. A. MEHENDALE
In the Sabhāparvan of the Mahābhārata (Mbh.) Draupadi is subjected to two humiliations : dragging her by her hair and trying to remove her upper garment. Alf Hiltebeitel (H.) has published two articles concerning these two themes. The first, on Draupadi's Garments, appeared in 1980 and the second, on Draupadi's Hair, in 1981.3 I bave refuted H'.s yiews on the first elsewhere. Here I examine his views on the second,
For his second article H. bas used evidence from the Mbh. as well as from the Venisahāra of Bhattanārāyaṇa, In the present paper I shall consider mainly the Mbh, evidence, referring to the Venisaṁhara only in a few cases. In his first article on Draupadi's garments H. saw in Kęspa ( dark) Draupadi earth, and, covered with white and red garments, also praksti. In the second paper on Draupadi's hair he has chosen to see in Krşņa (dark ) Draupadi, wearing dishevelled hair, Goddess Kall, and further in her loose hair the dissolution of the universe (pralaya ). His thrust in the second paper is to present Draupadi wearing her hair loose, unwashed and dishe. velled, since the Sabha episode up to the end of the battle, i. e. for well over thirteen years.
It is widely believed in the south, H, informs us, that Draupadi took a vow not to bind up her hair until they were smeared with the blood of either Duryodhana or Duḥśāsana. The theine is represented in the literary conipositions and stage representations of the epic in the south (pp. 179-185).
In the north, the vow related to Draupadi's hair first appears in the Veni sahāra (7th cent. A. D.). In this drama, however, it is Bhima, and
1 The original article in Marathi appeared in the Navabhārat, Divali Number, 1994,
75-90.
1 IIJ 22. 97-112 ( 1980). 8 Autour de la déesse Hindoue. Ed. M. Biardeau, Paris, 179-213 being Vol. 5 (1981) of
Puruşartha : Sciences Sociales en asie du Sud, Paris. BDCRI, (Golden Jubilee Volume ) 50, 285-290 (1990). The numbers of pages 287 and 286 to be corrected respectively as 286 and 287 in that article.
Madhu Vidyā/509
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