Mahabharata is referred as the most important and valuable epic of Indian mythology. The takeaways from this epic is innumerable and can make a person attain the ultimate happiness if he understands it in and out. But. wait! Have you ever tried to read Mahabharata the way Draupadi thinks? You will be shocked to find how life has been for her and how cruel people were even then.
Table of Contents
Draupadi was the most beautiful, but was still ridiculed!
Despite her personality and beauty, she herself was compelled to think of herself as “a princess afflicted with a skin so dark that people termed it blue. It was all because she was considered to be impure and involved with many men physically.
Draupadi had to loose everything after marriage
Even if she was a princess – daughter of the very famous Dhristadyumna, and wife of the Pandavas; still she had to live a life of nomads. She had to sacrifice all the luxuries and wealth and go away to jungles with her husbands. Even after so much sacrifice, she was ridiculed by many.
She was humiliated by many
The incident of Draupadi Vastraharan cannot be forgotten by anyone. Those cruel people had tried to undress her in front of hundreds of people present in the hall. She was humiliated and tortured. It was Lord Krishna who came to her rescue at that moment else she would have been left to humiliation. No one came to support her, not even her husbands. The worst incident Indian Mythology has ever witnessed.
Her husbands kept her in stake for their pleasure
The Kauravas and the Pandavas had a game of gambling among them. The Pandavas lost everything to the Kauravas. At the end, they also kept their wife – Draupadi at stake. This shows how least important the respect of their wife was for them. Keeping your wife at stake could have extremely unwanted situations, but they didn’t bother.
Draupadi had to marry 5 men against her wish
Draupadi loved Arjuna and Arjuna had got to win her from the Swayambar. Arjuna got her to his mother and said her that he has a beautiful surprise for her. His mother in response replied that whatever you have got, divide it among you, five brothers. This changed everything! Just these few words of her mother made Arjuna divide Draupadi among the five Pandavas. No one bothered to ask her wish nor did anyone care about her feelings, and she was left to darkness forever.
She had to prove her virginity every time with 5 different husbands
Vyasa, the sage, gives her a “boon” to make up for her fate of being a “communal drinking cup”. The boon was that each time Draupadi goes to live with one of her husbands, her virginity will be restored. And it was only Draupadi herself who wonders if this so-called boon is for her benefit or for her husbands – sums up the Indian obsession with a woman’s virginity, does it not?
On the whole, life for Draupadi has been as cruel as it is for the girls of the nation. Nothing has changed and we still torture these beautiful ladies of our generation. India has always been a male dominating society and no one knows when things will change for the betterment of women.
Dhristadyumna was her brother and Drupada her father.