Madhuvidya

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

Page 535

160
Annals BORI, LXXVIII (1997)
not Draupadi, who takes the vow. In the Mbh. itself we hear of two vows of Bhima: to drink the blood from Duḥsasana's chest (2. 61.46 ) and to break the left thigh of Duryodhana (2. 63. 14). None of these has anything to do with the anointing of Draupadi's loose hair with blood and tying them up.
H. asserts : "The Mahābhārata seems to know more about Drau. padi's hair than it ever makes explicit" (p. 186). The epic events he uses for his discussion are the following:
1. Dragging Draupads to the Sabbā
According to H. Draupadi's hair were already loose and dishevelled when Duḥśāsana held them in his hand. His opinion is based on two epithets, ürmimant ( 2 (0.22), which he renders flowing', and prakirna (2.60.28 ) dishevelled', used in the Mbh. to describe Draupadi's hair. He justifies the 'flowing' i.e. the loose and dishevelled condition of Draupadi's hair by pointing out that she was at that time rajasvala. Women in period were required to observe certain restrictions on taking care of their hair. For example, according to a statement in the Taitt. Samh. 2. 5. 1 rajasvala women were not expected to comb their hair (yä pralikhate).
It is true that according to the Mbh. Draupadl was rajasvalā on the day the dice game began. But it does not say the rest of the things imagined, by H. about Draupadi's hair. In the first instance, the epithet armimant, used for her hair, does not mean .flowing', hence loose, but wavy', i, e, curly, Draupadi's hair were dark and curly as seen from the epithets nilakuñcitamürdhajā (1.155.42) and vellitāgrān ( 4.8.1). Next, the Mbh. does not say that Draupadi was already prakirnakes! when Daḥśāsana beld her by hair. It says that she became so a little later owing to the shakings she recei. ved while being dragged to the Sabhā (praklrņake$t patitārdhavastră duhsa. sanena vyavadhūyamānā 2. 60. 28; and later duḥsāsanakarotsȚstaviprakirņa. široruhā 3.12.17). It is also wrong to infer 'the dishevelled condition of her hair on the basis of the Taitt. Samh. passage referred to above. The passage in question mentions such restrictions on rajasvalā women as not bathing, not applying ointment to eyes (or oil to the body ), and not combing hair. The last restriction only means that women in period were expected to keep
Among the medieval Marathi poets, Mukteśvara (17th cent.) shows knowledge of Bhima's vow (Sabhāparvan 16. 72 ). But it is absent both in Sridharasvamin's ( 17th-18th cent.) Pandavapratāpa (29.92 tr.) and Moropant's (18th cent.) āryābhārata ( 5.91; 6. 29). It would be interesting to find out whether or not the vow figures in the medieval literature of the other parts of northern India.
Madhu Vidyā/510