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Stellenbosch Theological Journal 2017, Vol 3, No 2, 477–492

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17570/stj.2017.v3n2.a22
Online ISSN 2413-9467 | Print ISSN 2413-9459
2017 © Pieter de Waal Neethling Trust

Understanding Draupadi as a paragon

of gender and resistance
Motswapong, Pulane Elizabeth
University of Botswana
[email protected]

Abstract
In this article Draupadi will be presented not only as an unsung heroine in the Hindu
epic Mahabharata but also as a paragon of gender and resistance in the wake of the
injustices meted out on her. It is her ability to overcome adversity in a venerable
manner that sets her apart from other women. As a result Draupadi becomes the most
complex and controversial female character in the Hindu literature. On the one hand
she could be womanly, compassionate and generous and on the other, she could wreak
havoc on those who wronged her. She was never ready to compromise on either her
rights as a daughter-in-law or even on the rights of the Pandavas, and remained ever
ready to fight back or avenge with high handedness any injustices meted out to her.
She can be termed a pioneer of feminism. The subversion theory will be employed to
further the argument of the article. This article, will further illustrate how Draupadi in
the midst of suffering managed to overcome the predicaments she faced and continue
to strive where most women would have given up.

Key words
Draupadi; marriage; gender and resistance; Mahabharata and women

1. Introduction
The heroine Draupadi had many names: she was called Draupadi from her
father’s family; Krishnaa the dusky princess, Yajnaseni-born of sacrificial
fire, Parshati from her grandfather side, panchali from her country;
Sairindhiri, the maid servant of the queen Vitara, Panchami (having
five husbands)and Nitayauvani,(the every young) (Kahlon 2011:533). In
the epic Mahabharata she has not been celebrated in the same way as her
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counterpart Sita1 in the Ramayana. In spite of that, this article maintains

that Draupadi is a very powerful woman who should be given the same
recognition like Site. The article will first of all introduce Draupadi as a
mythological figure in her past life and after rebirth, where the story and
her marriage to five brothers is developed. Furthermore, Subversion Theory
will be adopted as a theoretical framework, and lastly the paper will argue
that Draupadi is a paragon of gender and resistance through a rereading
the narrative of Draupadi.

2. Draupadi: Her life

Before presenting Draupadi as a paragon of gender and resistance, her
story will be briefly outlined to familiarise the reader with the heroine of
Epic of Mahabharata. Saptorshi Das (2014:224) sees Draupadi as one of
the most prominent and exceedingly interesting characters within one
of Hindu Mythology’s greatest magnum opuses of all times, namely the
Mahabharata. Similarly, Preeti Chaudhary (2014:17) describes Draupadi as
not a human but a super human, who is also worshipped as a cult Goddess
in many temples of south India. The story will be outlined in such a way
that Draupadi is introduced both in her previous life and after her rebirth
when the story is set.
According to Narayana Pillai (1988), in her past life:
Draupadi had been born as Nalayani, the wife of a powerful sage
Maudgalaya. Maudgalaya suffered from leprosy, however Nalayani
serves him dutifully and without complaint. One day while eating,
Maudgalaya’s finger fell into the food; Nalayani however quietly
removed the finger and continued eating, the food for her tasting as
sweet as honey (Pillai 1988:138–139).
Maudgalya was pleased with her devotion and granted her a boon. Nalayani
requested that he takes the form of many beings and fulfil her sexual wishes
and desires. Her wishes and desires were granted and the two continued to

1 Sita is a heroine of Ramayana. Her conduct and character not Draupadi is regarded as
normative in Hindu Society. She maintains throughout most of her ordeal a submissive
acquiescence to the whims of her often cruel husband Rama. Finally, rather than re-join
him, she abandons her life and is swallowed by the Earth, her mother. For a full detailed
story of Sita (see Uttara Kanda Canto 1 of Valmiki Ramayana)
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live in bliss for a very long time until it was time for Maudgalya to renounce
the world. Nalayani “was distraught and wanted to know where she was
going to seek pleasure (that is sexual pleasure) from then on. Maudgalya
was exasperated by her unbridled lust and cursed her” (Pattnaik 2010:92):
that “she would be born as a prostitute, the wife of five men” (Pillai 1988:
138–139).
Since the Gods have ordained a maximum of three husbands for a woman,
and Draupadi has many husbands and according to the shastras2of the
age, she can be considered a characterless women nameless and stripped
of her dignity by being derided by Duryodhana as “that women with five
husbands” which suggests some moral and sexual deviance in her family
situation. The moral condemnation appears to those who taunt her to
justify their treatment of her to use her as they choose.

Draupadi’s life after rebirth

Draupadi is daughter of King Drupada in the epic of Mahabharata3. For
many years Drupada, the king of Panchala had no children. So to have
children he performed tapas (austerities). He thought only of God day
and night and prayed to him. God blessed him, and two children were
born out of the haven fire lit by Drupada, here to fulfil his determination
of vengeance against Dronacharya, his enemy, through death. The first
to emerge out of the holy pyre was a son called Dhristadyumna, and the
second a daughter called Draupadi. She was extremely beautiful, intelligent
and virtuous women, with her body smelling like fresh bloom lotus. There
were only a few women in Hindu Mythology who were aggressive and who
spoke their mind in the world of men. Draupadi was one of them. She is
considered by many as the first feminist of Hindu Mythology. At time of
her birth, a celestial voice had proclaimed, that this unparalleled beauty
has taken birth to uproot the Kauravas and establish the rule of religion
(Ganguli 1990).

2 This is a Sanskrit word that means ‘precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or
treatise’ in a general sense. The word is generally used as a suffix in the Indian literature
context, for technical or specialized knowledge in a defined area of practice. Available:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shastra.
3 For a full and detailed story of Draupadi read Mahabharata Book I and II. [Online]
Available: http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/xeno.mahabsynop.htm
480 Motswapong • STJ 2017, Vol 3, No 2, 477–492

There was war between Draupada and Arjuna. Arjuna won and left
Draupada humiliated by taking half his kingdom. When it was time for
Draupadi to get married her father, who had wanted only Arjuna to wed
his daughter, set a swamyavara (marriage by self-choice) with the hope of
bringing Arjuna to the wedding and out of his hiding. The participants in
the swayamvara had to shoot an arrow at a revolving target, while looking
at its reflection in a bowl of water kept under it. Drupada knew that only
Arjuna would be able to accomplish this task. Arriving with his brother
disguised as Brahmins (Priestly class), Arjuna successfully hit the target,
winning Draupadi’s hand in marriage.
As soon as the brothers arrived home with Draupadi, they asked their
mother, Kunti, to take a look at what they had brought home. Without
looking, she asked them to share it equally among themselves. This was not
strange because the brothers usually share the bhiksha (alms) they received
every day. In order to obey their mother’s order, the five Pandavas brothers
accepted Draupadi as their wife, without discussing it with her or asking
for her consent.

The game of ice

Shakuni (Yudhisthira’s cousin) had always wanted to bring his cousin
down. Together with his brother’s friend Karna and maternal uncle called
the Pandavas to a place called Hastinapura to play a game of dice. Shakuni
was skilled at winning by unfair means. The plan was that Shakuni would
play against Yudhishthira and win the game, since it was impossible to
win at the battlefield. The game of dice began and Yudhishthira gradually
lost all his wealth and kingdom in the stakes. He went on to put each
of his brothers at stake and lost them too. Ultimately he put himself at
stake and lost again. All the Pandavas were now the dasas (servants) of
Kauravas. But Shakuni told Yudhishthira that he had not lost all yet, that
he still had Draupadi with him. He also told him that he could try and win
it all back by putting Draupadi at stake. To the shock of all present there,
Yudhishthira put Draupadi as a bet for the next round. Shakuni won this
round too and Duryodhana commanded his younger brother Dushasana
to present Draupadi at the forum. Dushasana barged into Draupadi’s living
quarters. She was clad merely in one piece of attire and was menstruating.
She begged him not to take her to the sabha (court) filled with dignitaries.
But Dushasana grabbed her by the hair and presented her into the court.
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Draupadi’s disrobing
Draupadi repeatedly questioned the right of Yudhishthira to place her at
stake when he himself has lost his freedom in the first place. No one could
give her answer. Then to the horror of everybody present Duryodhana
ordered his brother to strip Draupadi of her sari. Dushasana proceeded
to obey the order and starts disrobing Draupadi. On the realization that
her husbands were unable and unwilling to come to her rescue, Draupadi
started praying to Krishna to protect her. Krishna answered her prayer and
a miracle occurred in front of everyone’s eyes. Instead of being stripped
naked, Draupadi’s sari kept getting extended as Dushasana unwrapped
layers and layers of it. In the meantime, Draupadi was lost in prayer and
was oblivious of her surroundings. Finally, an exhausted Dushasana gave
up his effort and fell to the ground. This way, Draupadi was protected from
being humiliated in front of the entire congregation.

3. Subversion as a theoretical framework

The Feminist theory of subversion will be employed in the article to
further the discussion. Subversion is the act of undermining patriarchal
institutions. To subvert something is to take oppressive forces and turn
them into something that challenges the oppressor. Feminist scholarship
(Mukherjee 2016, Chaudhary 2014, Chakravorty 2016) unitedly refer
to the experiences of Draupadi, especially the disrobing incident, as an
illustration of the ways in which such a discourse has constructed and
perpetrated the idea of the woman’s body being the site on which male
hegemonic structures operate. Since a woman’s honour is presumed to
reside in her violated body, its violation through public stripping means
that she loses the honour both of herself as an individual, as well as a group
family or even the nation which she belongs. Subversion becomes apparent
because first of all polyandry maybe seen as a subversion of patriarchal
norm of a patriarchal society; although she is very uncomfortable she gives
her consent thinking of a great good (Mukherjee 2016).
In Mahabharata Draupadi’s disrobing is a culmination of dishonouring of
the Pandavas. Her acts upset the oppressors’ carefully laid plans for her
subjugation. By refusing to acknowledge her ‘dishonour’ she also refuses
to acknowledge their ‘manhood’. Her resistance lies in subverting the
whole construct of equating feminine honour and purity with an inviolate
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body. Draupadi articulates the narrative of resistance on many levels, and

therefore she becomes no only powerful but also complex. She achieves a
subversion of a mythical Draupadi story while at the same time endangering
the stabilities of the gender hegemonies. She resists her oppressor through
defiance, anger and courage because she has suffered outrageous attacks
on her body and spirit. She becomes a feminist figure because she is able to
subvert the objectification and commodification of women in society. It is
her stri-shakti (power of woman) which is manifested when she comes out
unscathed during the disrobing episode.
Draupadi raises her voice against extreme torture and atrocities inflicted
on her, such that at the end she redefines herself. She refuses to remain the
object of male narrative, but asserts herself as ‘subject’ and emphasises the
truth her own presence and constructs a meaning. Through subversion she
becomes that which resists ‘counter’ male knowledge, power and glory. By
so doing Draupadi rejects the binary structures of patriarchal discourses
of the political social and ideological forces of the society, hence subverting
commodification in the society and foregoing her identity as a human, not
a commodity.

4. Reading Draupadi’s narrative as a paragon of gender and

resistance
Draupadi is one of the most celebrated heroines of Indian epic Mahabharata,4
which together with Ramayana5 are cultural credential of the so-called
Aryan Civilization. Sita, not Draupadi, is one of the best known examples
of a Goddess being held up as a paradigm for women in a culture obsessed
with marriage, in which ‘she is presented as the role model of the ideal,

4 One of the two major Sanskrit epics (the other being Ramayana) of ancient India, was
attributed to Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa. The Mahabharata is an epic narrative of the
Kurukshetra war and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes. It dates back
to 1600 BC and is considered the world’s longest poem, the original epic consists of
100,000stanzas in verse structured 18 books. (cf. Narayana 1988, vii).
5 This is the first ancient Indian heroic epic poem traditionally ascribed to the Hindu
muni (sage) Vālmīki The epic narrates the life of Rāma, a legendary rāja-kumāra
(prince) of Kośala; his banishment from his kingdom by his father king Daśaratha, his
travels across forests in India with his wife Sītā and brother Lakṣmaṇa, the kidnap of
his wife by his enemies, resulting in a war with Rāvaṇa (the king of the island of Laṅkā),
and eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king.
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selfless, submissive wife (pativrata) who is expected to remain faithful

and devoted to her husband, no matter how badly she is treated’ (Kinsley,
1986:79–78). This article maintains however that Draupadi should also
be given the same prominence accorded to Sita, despite being married
to five husbands. Whereas Sita maintains her silence when ill-treated by
her husband, Draupadi does not. She is vocal and laments the despicable
treatment she gets from the males in the story. She had grown up to be an
aggressive woman who spoke her mind in a world where women would
silently suffer than speak. Draupadi, therefore is a force to be reckoned
because:
… If Mahabharata is an intricately women saga of hatred and love,
bloodshed and noble thoughts, beauty and gentleness, victory and
defeat, then Draupadi is its shining jewel, casting the shadow of her
towering personality over the epic poem and the all destroying war
described (Das 2014: 231).
Preeti Chaudhary (2014) describes Draupadi as “not a human … a super
human, worshipped as a cult Goddess in many temples of South India”.
She has firm determination and unbending will, making her “proud and
angry heroine of the epic Mahabharata who has remained an enigmatic
woman of substance” (Chaudhary 2014:17). Therefore Draupadi becomes
an image of empowering women because of her strong will power, brilliant
intellectuality and pride which mark her as a dignified woman different
from other women like Sita who expressed softer feminine qualities. It
must be noted that there are few women in Hindu mythology who were
aggressive and who spoke their mind in a world of men. Draupadi was one
of those few. That is why she is considered by many as the first feminist of
Indian mythology because of her resilience, and nonconformity to male
dominated religious hierarchy (Ganguli 1990). Her unpopularity, therefore
has to do with the fact that her image does not encourage women to
conform to the requirements of an Indian patriarchal society. Subsequently,
Draupadi becomes a paragon of gender and resistance.
It is worth noting that while polyandry was pretty much accepted during
the time of Mahabharata, it was regarded with much censure in the era
of the epic. Hence Draupadi was much looked-down-upon for having
married the five Pandava brothers. In fact, Karna during the game of dice
had addressed her as veshya or prostitute for having several husbands. She
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was neither the perpetrator of this social transgression nor did she enter
into a polyandrous contract of her own accord. She had given her heart to
the noble Arjuna at her swayamvara (marriage by self-choice). The intricate
web of polyandry that she got entangled in, had been bestowed upon her by
destiny. There is no reason, whatsoever to thrust the fault of transgression
on her. Incidentally, though the matter of polyandry was so controversial,
Draupadi is also regarded as one of the five srestha (or the most chaste)
Naris. This in itself is an anomaly and cannot be properly explained.

5. Draupadi within the patriarchal context

The portrayal of Draupadi in the epic leaves so much to be desired that is
why she is conceived by most as insignificant. However, it worth noting that
Draupadi can be seen as an unsung heroine of the epics. Notwithstanding,
there are women characters in both Ramayana and Mahabharata who have
not been given platform to exist independently. Chitra Banerjee (2009)
echoes that sentiment very well by lamenting about ‘powerful women’ in
the epics who have remained shadowy figures, and whatever their thoughts
and emotions are seen as inexplicable. These women are only brought to
the fore when they concede with the lives of the male heroes, ultimately
rendering their roles as subservient to those of their fathers, husbands,
brothers and sons.
In addition, within a masculine and patronymic context, Draupadi is
exceptional, indeed single in the sense of cold, unpaired and detached. She
provides the occasion for the violent transaction between men, the efficient
cause of the crucial battle (Spivak 1981). Her eldest husband is about to
lose her by default in the game of dice. He had staked all he owned and
Draupadi belonged within that all (Mah. 65:32). Furthermore, even though
Draupadi is strong, spirited and an outspoken woman she is still very
faithful to the five brothers. Alleyn Diesel (2002) compares her to Helen of
Troy where she is “regarded by many men as a prize, valuable object to be
competed for and squabbled over, and she becomes the central reason for
internecine conflict, which brings disorder (adharma) and devastation to
society” (Diesel 2002: 9).
By the same token, Draupadi’s strange civil status seems to offer grounds for
her predicament and non-recognition as well. Since “the scripture prescribed
 Motswapong • STJ 2017, Vol 3, No 2, 477–492 485

one husband for a woman, Draupadi is dependent on many husbands, she

can be designated as ‘a prostitute’. Therefore, there is nothing improper in
bringing her clothed or unclothed into the assembly’ (Mah. 65:35–36). In
the epic Draupadi’s legitimized pluralisation (as a wife among husbands
in singularity as a possible mother or harlot) is used to demonstrate male
glory. Karna for instance, publicly called Draupadi a whore for being a wife
of five men. Despite all these horrific experiences, Draupadi is not in the
least deterred by the harsh treatment she receives from the males in the
story. If anything these experiences of ill-treatment empower her, hence
driving her to be even stronger and resilient. She continues to display her
individuality, strength and unyielding determination for both justice and
vengeance, hence becoming an empowering character.
Throughout her life Draupadi had to undergo humiliation, abuse and
deprivation. Though unjustly treated and hence a very angry woman,
Draupadi draws from her purity, gained over male intimidation and
violence, and thus brought healing to communities. These “translate the
ultimate victor of women’s strength” (Diesel 2002: 10). This does not deter
Draupadi to be resilient as she continued to resist male dominance. The
resilience is discussed under the themes below:

(a) Women as properties or possessions of men

When the five brothers arrive at the household, they ask their mothers to
come and see what they have brought from their outing. The mother without
knowing instructs the brothers to share amongst them equally. There is no
doubt that there seems to be total ownership over Draupadi as a daughter-
in-law, a wife and a mother. This is evident in the way (even though some
might argue that Kunti was not aware that her sons had brought Draupadi)
that she innocently assumed it was the usual alms her sons brought daily to
the homestead. Even so there is no justification as to why the sons decided
to follow their mother’s instruction without questioning it. The answer is
obvious. Draupadi does not have a say in the whole saga simply because she
is viewed as a possession. Hence the sons did not see the need to alert their
mother that this time around they had brought somewhat different alms to
be shared equally.
Consequently, Draupadi becomes a possession of five husbands even
though she had chosen her real husband during the swayamvara. One
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cannot but wonder what the purpose of the swayamvara was if at the end
of the day it is not taken into consideration. Actually the swayamvara is
also doubtful in the way it was conducted. In a proper swayamvara, the
kanya (daughter) gets to choose her husband by herself, yet in the case of
Draupadi the father King Draupada arranges the swayamvara because he
wants Arjuna (his choice) to come out of his hiding. It is worth noting
that matters affecting women directly are never shared with them or any
consent given. Significantly, Draupadi questions their behaviour: “is a
woman her husband’s property? Is she an object that can be gambled?”
(Mankekar 1993:474). The fact that Draupadi has been given to the five
brothers by their mother makes her their property, hence she can be
gambled. Draupadi further questions the dharma (religious duty) of the
kings especially those present in the assembly. Her words are not just a plea
of a humiliated and helpless woman, but a challenge to the knowledge of
right and wrong of the kings. By questioning the behaviour of her husband
as well as the dignitaries present, Draupadi is challenging the normative,
something which was unheard of during the time of the Mahabharata. In
other words she was disrupting the order reigning in the (Sabha) court
because she was rebelling against the norm, hence the subversion. This was
a step unimaginable for a woman of her time and setting. Das (2014:228)
sees Draupadi’s question:
not as an antiquated question of the wronged virtuous queen whose
integrity has been put on stake, rather it holds as much importance
and relevance because it is a question of the protection of those who
find themselves unprotected by a system in a court full of the most
powerful kings of the time, here was a woman who dared to stand
for herself and speak up, aloud, against male perpetrated injustices.

(b) Paradigm of pativarta (ideal wife) in a matrimonial polyandry

Despite Draupadi suffering at the hands of five husbands, (the only case of
matrimonial polyandry in The Mahabharata), she is expected to service
her five husbands without any complaints. By being in the company of five
husbands, Draupadi becomes a possession, yet the expectation is that she
should be a pativrata (an ideal wife). Let it be made clear that polyandry
was not an alien concept in ancient India because it has been mentioned
even in the Vedas (Neelakantan 2013). Although the practice has been
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alluded to in the Vedas, the Kama Sutra6 as well as the sutras7 and smritis8,
it is not confined to Hinduism, it was also found in Jain and Buddhist texts
confirming that it was not a foreign practice at the time (Singh 1978).
Although views might be diverse some theories endorse the strengthening
of the patriarchal society of ancient India by the sporadic shift from a more
standard form of polyandry to the type of fraternal polyandry witnessed in
the Mahabharata (Nabar & Shanta 1997). Aarathi Ganesan (2014) is quick
to point out that simply “mentioning the practice is not analogous to its
actual practice in Indian society,” for the same reasons that its occurrence
“in the Mahabharata is almost innocently incidental and most importantly
singular” (Ganesan 2014: 9). She is to be a submissive wife and a mother.
By maintaining her silence until a point when she is pushed to a corner,
Draupadi is actually upholding not only her honour but that of her family
and her community as well. Failure to honour might incur repercussion
as a pativrata. On relationship with her husbands, Bhawalkar (2002:143)
says “Draupadi was not a dumb follower of her husbands. She had her own
individuality. Though soft speaking she used harsh words to her husbands
and others when necessary”. It is because of this uniqueness that the
Pandavas often looked to Draupadi for guidance and approval.

(c) Denied motherhood, lost motherhood

Motherhood defines a woman in Indian cultures. Therefore, it follows
that a woman becomes fully recognised and accepted by the family and
community because she has produced a child or an heir. In India there is
still an emphasis on producing an heir who is a boy, for various reasons:

6 Doniger (2003: i) defines The Kamasutra is the oldest extant Hindu textbook of erotic
love. It was composed in Sanskrit, the literary language of ancient India, probably in
North India and probably sometime in the third century.
7 Sutra is a type of religious literature present in many Asian traditions such as Hinduism,
Jainism and Buddhism. The word sutra is a Sanskrit term that means ‘discourse’ (in
the Pali language: sutta). Another meaning suggested for the word sutra is ‘threads’.
Sutras were originally oral traditions and designed to prompt the memory, which was
probably the best alternative in a context where the majority of the population was
illiterate (Available: https://www.ancient.eu/Sutra/)
8 O'Flaherty and Doniger (1988: 2–3), defines Smriti as literally “that which is
remembered” are a body of Hindu texts usually attributed to an author, traditionally
written down but constantly revised, in contrast to Śrutis (the Vedic literature)
considered authorless that were transmitted verbally across the generations and fixed.
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for example, to keep the family name alive, to perform ritually during
his father’s cremation to mention, to name but a few. It is because of the
importance of having children that it is believed in this culture that children
cement the relation between husband and wife and their respective families.
This explains why Draupadi in the midst of her suffering decides to stay in
the marriage rather than go back to her natal home. This is partly because
she did not want to shame her natal family by returning, and but (most
importantly) she wanted to be with her five sons and raise them instead
of abandoning them. In other words, she had to forgo her freedom for the
sake of staying and raising her children. This is what I refer to as denied
motherhood, lost motherhood.

(d) Humiliation vs shaming

The humiliation, the pain and shaming that Draupadi has to undergo
during her stay at in the marriage is beyond comprehension. The highlight
of this unacceptable and atrocious treatment comes at a time when she
is dragged to her court by her hair and disrobed. She was subject to
horrific indignity, being ogled at while wearing a garment stained with her
menstrual blood (Ganesan 2014:19). She is disrobed in front of a group of
men. She is humiliated because she is seen as a “prostitute, a servant of the
Pandavas and therefore they are free to do as they please with her”. Devdutt
Pattanaik (2010) maintains that “Karna calls Draupadi a whore, stating
that the law only allows a woman to lie with four men and she married five
men, [and] is to be treated without dignity, effectively as a piece of public
property’ (Pattanaik 2010:146).
If one looks closely at why she has to undergo such unimaginable torture,
we are told it is for the glory of men. This is unacceptable because Draupadi
finds herself in the predicament in the first place because of the men.
She had done everything right by marrying a man of her choice, yet she
finds herself married to five men and is called names, something out of
her control. However, it can be argued that her status after the game of
dice facilitated such an incident, and her current societal position placed
her in a position of being unable to disobey order (Dhavalikar 1991). It is
worth noting that the very same men who put her in this situation turn
around and humiliate her. Despite all the shame and humiliation meted
to her Draupadi stood her ground and survives and in fact he tables are
 Motswapong • STJ 2017, Vol 3, No 2, 477–492 489

turned when the shame and humiliation is diverted to the men in the sabha
(court).

6. Draupadi: war of justice and resistance

Despite the humiliation that Draupadi had to undergo. Seeing that she is
at the mercy of the men in the sabha (court) and seeing that her husbands
were not going to rescue her. She calls on Krishna to intervene. By evoking
Krishna, Draupadi exercises what could be called war of justice. Her
innermost strength and firmness of mind is rooted in the way she vows
that she will not tie her hair until she has decorated it with the blood of
Dushasana (Rajgopalachari 1979). Despite being cornered Draupadi defies
the odds by denying Dushasana the pleasure of humiliating her. Her vows
portray her as not only powerful but as a woman filled with vengeance as
well as resistance. The humiliation is the worse of its kind but she does
not curse the men who are fascinated in seeing her naked clad body. She
calls Krishna to rescue her. This is an interesting twist of events because
Krishna comes to her rescue and her honour and dignity is restored. The
notion of women as weaker and powerless is contested throughout the text
of Draupadi because her ‘vow show[s] the hidden and latent potential of
creation and destruction possessed by a woman” (Chaudhary 2014:20).
Despite all her humiliation Draupadi emerges a victor because “she has
her own will, her own determination, her own capacity, and most of all her
own existence” (Ibid: 20).

7. Conclusion
The injustices meted out to Draupadi, all justified by her marriage are
inexcusable, and the legends condemning her sexuality are unreasonable.
Depending how one reads the story, Draupadi can be viewed as subversive
character who emerges a victor. At the end of it all Draupadi uses the
same tool that is used to bring her down and instead lifts herself up. It is
apparent that men play dice and wage wars in Mahabharata. However, it
is the women who wield power and influence. It is the women who take
decisions, direct the course of event and decide the fate of men and their
generations to follow. Draupadi is that woman! Draupadi has the resilience
and power that is seen as a threat to men. Draupadi’s text highlights abuse
of women, particularly within the family.
490 Motswapong • STJ 2017, Vol 3, No 2, 477–492

In conclusion, silence disempowers women and because men know

that most women would suffer in silence they continue to advance their
tyrannical deeds. However, one woman, Draupadi stood her ground and
voiced her disgruntlement whenever she felt wronged. That was very brave
and impressive of her considering the time, place and the community she
lived in. In the midst of the humiliation, torture, suffering and abuse,
Draupadi found strength in herself to fight the injustices meted on to her
by cruel males in a male-dominated androcentric society. It is because of
that resilience and valour displayed by Draupadi that transforms her into
paragon of gender and resistance.

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