Week 9 Story: Draupadi's Five Husbands
Authors Note: This is a story of Draupadi who was Nalayani in her past life. In this life she marries the five Pandava brothers. This story provides an explanation for why Draupadi has five husbands as it is very uncommon for a woman to have more than one husband in the Ramayana. This is not my own story I am simply writing it with some twists and turns of my own.
When Arjuna wins Draupadi as bride after successfully completeling the bow task. He takes her as huis bride. Upon returning home the Pandava brothers tell their mother Kunti of a gift they had received She asks them to share the gift and then realizes it is a bride. After asking a rishi about the situation they are told she will be the wife of all five Pandava brothers and not just Arjuna. Drupada, Draupadi's father, is concerned about his daughter having five husbands. Upon seeing his concern the rishi explains Draupadi's karma and past life story.
The rishi tells him she was married to another rishi who after getting married with Draupadi and living with her happily for many years decided to give up life to go meditate. He also gave up any form of intimacy or intercourse with his wife. He had basically abandoned her.
When she protested about this the rishi said;
"Your loss, I don't know who you think you are. I don't need you. People be dying for me son." Saddened Draupadi flipped her hair and left. She was distressed and craved everything that came with her beautiful marriage and husband. There was nothing she could do so she prayed, still being dissatisfied with not having a husband prayed for one again and again to God Shankara.
"Give me a husband. Give me a husband. Give me a husband. Give me a husband. Give me a husband."
Shankara appeared before her and gave her a boon after hearing her consistent prayer.
Draupadi's jaw dropped. "Aw, hell nah. What kinda girl do you take me for. I ain't no prostitute." She protested and protested to having five husbands and being shown a prostitute to the world but he told her the situation was not as bad as she thought. After hearing him out she asked for the benefit of virginity before each marriage and she was granted it.
And that's how Draupadi ended with five husbands.
Image Source:
https://www.islam-hinduism.com/draupadi-five-husbands-hindu-myths/
Bibliography
Laura Gibbs, Mahabaratha Reading
http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/search/label/PDE%20Mahabharata
HI! I really like how you formatted your page making the quotes larger helps for the reader to see what is most important to the story. I love this story, and actually chose to write a story on this particular backstory. I think it is so interesting and a great topic for a blog post! I like how you gave her a personality and allowed her to speak her mind on the topic. Maybe she doesn't want five husbands, that's a bit too many haha.
ReplyDeleteHi Zille! This was such a great story to retell, and the way you wrote the story brought a smile to my face. I love that you had Draupadi speaking in today's lingo, and that she had so much sass. It also makes me wonder if in the real story she was upset or happy about having five husbands, or if it made any difference to her.
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