Draupadi
Draupadi ( Sanskrit : द्रौपदी Draupadī) is one of the most famous female characters of the Mahābhārata epic or Indian mythology . She was the joint wife of the five Pāndava brothers Yudhishthira , Bhima , Arjuna , Nakula and Sahadeva, each of whom she had a son.
myth
Draupadi was the fire-born daughter of Drupada , the king of Panchala , a kingdom in northwestern India mentioned several times in Vedic times. Drupada had lost half of his kingdom in a battle against Arjuna, which had fought on behalf of Drona , a childhood friend of Drupada. Then Drupada decided to hold a fire sacrifice ( yajna ); During this ceremony, Draupadi, a beautiful young woman, suddenly sprang from the fire with her brother Dhrishtadyumna. Drupada decided to give her to Prince Arjuna as his wife, but shortly afterwards decided to hold a contest ( swayamvara ). All applicants except Karna could not cope with the set tasks, but Draupadi refused Karna with the reference to his lower origin. Later the Pandavas joined and Draupadi agreed to marry Arjuna. When he wanted to introduce his wife to his mother Kunti , she was busy at the stove and therefore distracted; she replied to his remark "Look what I have brought with me" by saying that this is not so important as long as he shares it with his brothers ... So Draupadi became the wife of all five Pandavas.
In the period that followed, the brothers founded numerous cities in northern India, including Indraprastha , which is often equated with the city of Delhi . They lived together in a palace full of art and books, but also full of illusionary games and deceptions; nevertheless, the Pandavas brought several city-states in the area under their control. One day Duryodhana , the eldest of the Kaurava brothers, came to visit; he fell into a pool of water, the surface of which had seemed solid to him, and was laughed at and mocked by Draupadi and her maids. He later succeeded in luring the Pandava brothers into his palace for a game of dice, in which Yudhishthira, the eldest, lost the kingdom and all their belongings - they had suddenly become servants of their cousins. Finally he also gambled away Draupadi. Duryodhana gave the order to undress Draupadi, but her sari got longer and longer ... In the end it all ended with the five brothers and their wife having to go into exile for 13 years.
In the Kamyaka forest, while her brothers were out hunting, she was harassed again by one of the Kaurava sons (Jayadratha), who even managed to drag her into his chariot . Shortly afterwards, the brothers noticed the kidnapping of their wife and pursued Jayadratha, who saw them coming and left Draupadi behind on the street. Still, the brothers were able to capture the evildoer; however, his killing by Bhima was prevented with reference to his wife and children. Another attack on her person took place by Kichaka, but this was also foiled; Kichaka kicked her in public, whereupon she complained to her inactive husband. Ultimately, however, Kishaka was killed by Bhima disguised as Draupadi. More adventures followed.
The story of the Pandavas and their wife ends with a pilgrimage to the Himalayan mountains . Draupadi was the first to collapse and lag behind under the strains of the journey, but Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula and Sahadeva also met the same fate a little later; only Yudhishthira reached Indra's paradise Amaravati and asked about his brothers and his wife, whereupon he was taken to a palace where they were all gathered.
meaning
By rejecting Karna and mocking Duryodhanas , Draupadi exerts - albeit unintentionally - significant influence on the progress of the narrative: The increasingly hardened fronts between the Pandavas and their cousins, the Kauravas , ultimately lead to the battle of Kurukshetra , in which all five of them Sons find death.
The stories about Draupadi are still extremely popular in Hindu India today - she is the epitome of a beautiful, a little frivolous, but in any case desirable and precisely because of that suffering woman. Some accuse her of polyandry and thoughtlessness, others pity her because of her husbands who often stand idly by. Ultimately, however, she remains one of the outstanding female figures in Hinduism and perhaps even in world literature.
Representation and worship
Draupadi is rarely depicted in medieval art. This changed with the advent of miniature painting in the Mughal era , but especially during the British colonial era . Today colorful prints are spread all over India. In southern India in particular there are almost 400 village temples dedicated to her, because at the end of the story she is referred to as the incarnation of the goddess Shri (= Lakshmi ). The so-called Draupadi-Ratha in Mamallapuram bears her name, but never had any kind of cultic meaning.
literature
- Mahabharata , Diederichs, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-424-00576-2 .
