Madhuvidya

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

Page 548

MEHENDALE : Once Again Draupadi's Hair
173
and read 1. 155.44 as: tāṁ cāpi jālām suśroni in vāguvācāśaririni / surakāryam iyan kāle karisyati sumadhyamā, it is suitably followed imme. diately by 1.151.46 which speaks of the joy of the Pañcālas on hearing the prophecy.
Having imagined Draupadi to be the prefiguration of Kāli, first on account of her assumed dishevelled hair and, next, on account of her equally assumed relationship with Death and Destruction, H. tries to bring Kāli and Draupadi closer through Kalarātri, Kälarātri is mentioned in the epic. It is said that sbe was seen by the soldiers at the time of the noctural massacre in the camp of the Pandavas. H. points out that this Kālarātri of the epic not only receives the epithet Kall dark', but her whole description is such that no other goddess but Kāli can be thought of as coming closest to her. H. thus tries to identify Kälarātri, who is mentioned in the epic, with Kali who is not mentioned. But H. has yet to show relationship between Draupadi and Kälarātri before he can relate Draupadi with Kāli. Relation. ship between Draupadi and Kālarātri is, however, totally absent in the epic. H. has, therefore, only to rely on certain connections. First, in the description of Kälarātri she receives an epithet fikhandini, and Kalarātri appears in the camp after Aśvatthaman has killed the first few beroes one of whom is Sikhaodin, Draupadi's brother. And then in the Veni sanihāra, while arranging Draupadi's hair, Bhima calls her veni as the Kalarătri of all the Kauravas (dhārtarā sırakulakālarātrih ... iyam veni VI, after st. 41 ).
One wonders how this can be considered evidence enough to associate epic Draupadi with Kälarātri. Bhima's reference to Draupadi's braid as Kälaratri is from outside the epic. Kālarătri's epithet śikhandini has nothing to do with her mention after Sikhaodin's death. Kālarātri could be present in the camp right from the beginning of the massacre. Only she was noticed by ordinary warriors when Aśvatthaman made them his target. Morcover, the epic itself has quite a different story to tell about the identity of this Kāiarătri. The epic identifies her with a krtyā an evil spirit' activo on the side of the Kauravas It is said that since the very start of the battle, ordinary fighters in the camp of the Pandavas used to see in a dream Aśvatthāman killing sleeping warriors and a krtyā carrying them away. When on the night of the real destruction they saw Kūlarātri, they remembered what they had earlier seen in dreams and identified Kālarātri with the krtyā ( 10. 8. 66-69 ).
H.'s connecting Draupadi with Kalarātri is horrible. It is said that Kalaratri was all smiles at mass killings in the camp of Pandavas (10.8. 64
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