10 Facts About Mahabharata Draupadi

Mahabharata is the great epic of India. There is barely anyone who has not heard about it. And at some point, we all have claimed that we know everything about Mahabharata. But that might not be the truth.

As all of us know about Draupadi. She is a character that needs no definition. But do you know these 10 Facts about Mahabharata Draupadi? Let us see more about these facts.

10 Less Known Facts About Mahabharata’s Draupadi

1. Birth of Draupadi

Every person had a phase of childhood in their life, but the same can’t be said for Yajnaseni. She was known as “Agni Putri,” which means daughter of fire.

Draupadi never had a childhood because she was never a child. Instead, her father, the King of Panchala, created Draupadi from fire (Agni). She came out of the fire as a beautiful young lady.

Her father created her solely for revenge, and she knew nothing about her parents’ love or juvenescence.

When Draupadi’s father was crushed in a battle by Pandava Prince Arjuna and lost half of his province, he could not tolerate the humiliation and defeat.

Therefore he burnt the fire for revenge. After this, Yajnaseni and her twin brother emerged from the blazing fire of Sacrifice.

Birth of Draupadi

2. Draupadi’s Father

Draupadi’s father was Drupada, also known as Yagyasen, the emperor of the Panchal kingdom.

According to the legends, both Drupad and Drona (the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas) attained their education and training from Drona’s father, Rishi Bhardawaja, in a Gurukul.

And needless to say, they were fast friends. One day, Drupada told Drona that he would give half of the province to Drona after taking over the kingdom’s control.

Time passed, and after Draupad’s father’s demise, he became the emperor of Panchal but forgot his promise. Upon asking, he insulted Drona and said he would never do such a thing.

To avenge his insult, Drona became the teacher of Pandavas. After completing their training, he made them battle against Drupada, where Arjuna defeated Draupad.

3. The names of Draupadi

Draupadi is one of the most powerful names in Mahabharata’s epic; therefore, knowing that she had more than one name is no surprise. All her names delineate her personality.

  • Yajnaseni (her primary name) – One born from the sacrificial fire
  • Draupadi – One who is the daughter of king Drupada
  • Panchali – Panchala kingdom’s princess
  • Parshati – Prishata’s granddaughter
  • Sairandhri – A skilled maid
  • Nityayuvani – One who remains young forever
  • Malini – One who makes garlands
  • Krishanaa – Representing her divine personality, pure and dark skin color

4. Yajnaseni’s Brother

You may not know, but she wasn’t alone the day Panchali emerged from the fire (Yagya). Before her, Dhrishtadyumna, her twin brother emerged from the fire.

He was described as “Ayonija,” which means the person who was not born from a lady’s womb.

He was created by Drupada because he wanted a powerful son who could avenge his insult and kill Drona. Later in the epic battle of Kurukshetra, Drishtadyumna decapitated Drona.

The only weakness of Drona was his son Ashwathama. Although Drishtadyumna was on the side of Pandavas during the war, Bhima killed an elephant named Ashwathama to create false rumors about the death of Ashwathama.

Upon hearing this, Drona broke down, and Dhrishtadyumna decapitated him.

Draupadi's Brother Dhrishtadyumna

5. Draupadi’s Marriage

Draupadi wasn’t an ordinary person. She was a woman of great virtue, brave and beautiful. Keeping her caliber into consideration, her father arranged a Swayamvar in hopes of finding the right one for his daughter.

In the Swayamvar, only the person who can shoot the arrow in the fish’s eye hung up by looking down at its reflection would win Draupadi’s hand.

The Pandava Prince Arjun and his brother, Bhima, went to the Swayamvar disguised as Brahmins.

The Pandava Prince Arjun showed great skills and won Draupadi’s hand. When they reached their hut to show what they had achieved, their mother Kunti was occupied with some work. Without looking at Panchali, she told them to distribute it among themselves.

Kunti, through her sons, brought some food, but when she looked at Draupadi, she realized it was a person and what wrong thing she had said.

Kunti went to Yudhisthira and told him what wrong words he had said to solve this problem.

Yudhisthira asked Arjuna to marry Krishnaa as he had won the contest. Still, Arjuna asks Yudhisthira to marry Draupadi as he is the elder brother.

Yudhisthira saw each of his brothers was attracted to Panchali, so he decided she would be the wife of all Pandavas.

This is how Panchali became the wife of all five Pandavas.

Draupadi's Marriage

6. Draupadi’s Vastraharan

During the game of dice between Kauravas and Pandavas on Kaurava’s side, Shakuni cast spells on the dice and controlled the outcomes. As a result, Pandavas had put everything at stake and lost everything.

Lastly, impotent Pandavas thought the only chance they had to gain everything was by putting Panchali at stake and getting one more chance. Eventually, they again lost, but this time, because of their action, Draupadi suffered humiliation.

Since now Draupadi was like a servant for Kauravas, Duryodhana ordered Dushashan to bring Panchali to the court. However, when he reached her, she refused to obey. But Dushashan vehemently took her.

She was manhandled and brought to a court full of people, but none said a word for this brutal behavior.

Draupadi implored everyone for justice, but Kauravas were passive to her request and insulted her for having five husbands.

Things took a miraculous turn when Dushashan tried to disrobe Panchali in court. She started praying to Shri Krishna for help, and her cloth never ended. Dushashan kept on pulling her cloth, but she was still chastely dressed.

Draupadi’s dignity was saved that day by Bhagwan Krishna. Still, the people who witnessed this barbarous act, like Drona, Bhisma, Karna, and many more, met their brutal death during the Kurukshetra war.

Draupadi Vastraharan

7. Draupadi’s Sons

Draupadi had five children, one from each of her husbands, at the interval of one year each. All the sons of Panchali were strong and fearless warriors.

She gave birth to Prativindhya by Yudhishthira, Srutakarman by Arjuna, Sutasoma by Bhima, Satanika by Nakula and Srutasena by Sahadeva.

They were the heroes of Draupadi. The Brahmins blessed Yudhishthira’s son Prativindhya with the pain-bearing capacity of the Vindhya Mountain.

Since Bhima had performed a thousand Soma sacrifices before his son came to the world, he was named Sutasoma.

Arjuna’s son was born after Arjuna’s return from his exile. During Arjuna’s exile, he had accomplished many things; therefore, his son was named Srutakarman. Nakula gave his son the named Satanika after a royal sage in Kuru.

Sahadeva’s son was born during the constellation called Vahini-Devta and was called Srutasena. But Draupadi’s sons were killed by Drona’s son Aswattama.

8. Draupadi’s Vessel

During Pandava’s exile, many guests, saints, and honorable people visited Pandavas and talked about the sudden change in their life.

But Pandavas were living in the middle of the forests. Therefore they found it extremely to extend their customary hospitality to the visitors.

One day, Yudhishthira prayed to God Surya, pleased by his prayers. Lord of the Sun gave him a vessel called Akshaya Patra, meaning the inexhaustible vessel.

In another version, Draupadi is portrayed praying to Lord Krishna. Krishna gave her the Akshaya Patra, which food will never end unless Draupadi has eaten her meal for the day.

9. Panchali’s Condition

Kunti said her sons Pandavas to divide among themselves whatever they had brought mistakenly even without looking at Draupadi.

She agreed to comply with the orders of Kunti, although it was a mistake to respect what her mother-in-law said.

She agreed to become the wife of all the five brothers on one condition that she would never share her home with any other woman. This meant none of the Pandavas had the right to bring their other wives to Indraprastha.

10. Draupadi’s Death

Yudhishthira was the eldest of the five brothers and became the King of Hastinapur. He and Draupadi ruled over the kingdom for 36 years, after which he crowned Parishit as the King.

All the Pandavas and their faithful wife then left to reach heaven on their feet.

Unfortunately, while they were walking through the Himalayas, Draupadi tripped and fell from a high place, and this incident led to her death.

After Panchali died, Bhima asked why she was the first to die. Yudhishthira said it was because she loved Arjuna more than us.

All other brothers also died while reaching heaven on foot, and legend says only Yudhishthira was able to reach heaven alive while the other brothers and Panchali reached in their soul bodies.

Draupadi Death

These were the ten must-know facts about Mahabharata’s Draupadi.

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