9 Facts About Draupadi Which You Don't Know – Part III

Draupadi – Confesses Her Guilt

Krishna could help Draupadi in putting the jambul plucked by her back on the tree on one condition which was that there should be someone holding no secrets at all. Draupadi had no option but to confess some guilt which she had not disclosed to anyone. She had to confess her guilt and confessed to her husbands that though she was a chaste woman and loved all the five husbands equally, there seemed to be someone else that she also loved and longed for.

She had always longed for Karna, who was the arch enemy of the Pandavas. This disclosure was shocking to her husbands though none reacted to it. She was thus free of any guilt and went to place the fruit back on the branch of the tree and was saved from the sage’s curse. Many writers have explored the hidden love of Draupadi for Karna and some have also justified it that the powerful and the dynamic character of Draupadi could only find her match in Karna and not in the five brothers who seemed to be incomplete without one another.

Implication of Revelation 

It is also related that Karna regretted his behaviour of stripping Draupadi in the Kuru court after she was lost in a dice-game, where the behaviour was more as a revenge for the insult during the swayamvar of Draupadi. This unexpressed and undercurrent romance had always been suspected in the whole of Mahabharat. This myth has double purpose where one is that all have some secrets which are not disclosed.

 Others do not reveal for fear of annoying ones loved one and fearing of losing them if it is revealed. At other times, it is not revealed for fear of upsetting as in the case of the five husbands who were shocked but all the same respected the honesty displayed by Draupadi besides the cause of the revelation which was to avoid the wrath of the sage who had been fasting. The implication of a revelation is brought out well besides the fact that it does well and rarely causes any harm.

Portrayed to Be Reborn as Different Heroines 

The second reason is that through this myth, the Pandavas also tend to get the message that being the brave husbands that they were; they had failed Draupadi when she needed them the most. Moreover, when she was also being stripped after losing in the dice-game, none of her brave husbands supported her or rescued her. This portrayed the weakness among each one of them and that she had a tender spot for one who seemed to be much more than the five of them.

This seemed to be insulting which they had to bear without any hatred for Draupadi. She bore the five Pandavas five sons – Prativindhya, son of Yudhistira, Satsuma, son of Bhima, Shrutakirti, son of Arjuna, Satanika, son of Nakula and Shrutasena, son of Sahadeva.

 All her sons is said to have died in the hands of Aswathamma, who also killed her twin brother Dhrishtadyumna. Draupadi is represented as a rather helpless person in Mahabharata. However, she has been portrayed to be reborn as different heroines in her later births like Vira Shakti, Bela and Alha (Tamil folklore).