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Draupadi IV - Polyandry

© Harsh Nevatia

The Pandavas then took Draupadi to their hideout in Ekachakra. The princess who had not seen the midday sun, had to walk miles in the sweltering heat to reach her new home. When Kunti heard the footsteps of her sons she asked them to share whatever they had brought among themselves. This was how she daily greeted them in order to ensure they remain united. The six stopped where they were. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard. Kunti, realising that something was amiss, turned around and saw the princess of Panchal and Arjun with garlands around their necks. She realised the utter inappropriateness of her words.

Kunti took her words back. She argued that they possibly could not apply to a woman. But the Pandavas were silent. For them even her unspoken desire was law and this was a spoken instruction. Absurd though it may seem, Yudhishthir explained, this was now how it would be. Bhim, Nakul and Sahadev nodded in agreement. Draupadi turned to Arjun. "It was your arrow that pierced the fish," she said. Arjun remained silent.

Krishna was God incarnate. He knew that Draupadi would be in a predicament and had followed her to Ekachakra. Krishna was Kunti's nephew and was the guide to Draupadi and the Pandavas. All were relieved to see him. He took Draupadi aside and said, "This awkward situation you find yourself in is of your own making. In your previous birth you had pleased Lord Shiva with your prayers. He granted a boon to you. You said that you wanted a husband and to ensure that your request was heard, you repeated it five times in all. Shiva then said that in your next life you would have five husbands." Some sources have a slightly different narration. Draupadi made her request only once but she added a long list of qualities that she wanted in her husband. Shiva said that it would be impossible to find one man with all these qualities. Hence she would have five husbands in her next life. All of them together would posses the qualities she had enumerated.

But Draupadi was not satisfied. She was afraid of the kind of sexual commitment she was being asked to make. She placed her worry in a less explicit manner before Krishna. "How am I to divide myself physically and emotionally between five husbands?" Krishna had an answer to that as well. You will spend one year with each husband. During that period your other husbands will not have any sexual contact with you. They will be forbidden to enter the chamber in which you and the husband-of-the-year are spending intimate moments. If one does so, even accidentally, he would be exiled for twelve years. Thus Draupadi became the common consort of the five Pandavas.

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