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द्रौपदीहरणपर्वन् (draupadIharaNaparvan)

 
Mahabharata
English
[Draupadīharaṇaparvan] (“the carrying away of Draupadī, ” the 46th of the minor parvans of Mhbhr.). (Cf. Draupadīharaṇa(ṃ) parva.) § 521: While Duryodhana, Duḥśāsana, Karṇa, and Śakuni were longing to harm the Pāṇḍavas, Durvāsas arrived with 10, 000 disciples, and harassed Duryodhana with his whimsical and insolent behaviour
but as Duryodhana was neither angered nor annoyed, he granted him a boon. According to what had been agreed upon between himself and Karṇa and Duḥśāsana, Duryodhana asked Durvāsas to visit the Pāṇḍavas with his disciples, when Draupadī, after having regaled the brahmans, etc., with food, would have gone to rest. Durvāsas promised to do so (III, 262). Then Durvāsas one day came to the Pāṇḍavas with 10, 000 disciples, when the meal was over and Kṛshṇā was reposing. Kṛshṇā then praised Kṛshṇa, who, leaving Rūkmiṇī, who was sleeping by his side, came to her and demanded something to eat. Draupadī became embarrassed, because the sun-given vessel only remained full till she had finished her meal, and therefore now was empty. At the request of Kṛshṇa she, however, fetched the vessel, and Kṛshṇa found a particle of rice and vegetable sticking at its rim, and swallowing it he said to her: “May it please the god who is the soul of the universe (viśvātmā), and may the partaker of sacrifices (yajñabhuk) be satisfied.” Then he ordered Bhīma (B. Sahadeva) to invite the munis to dinner. Meanwhile those ascetics, having bathed in the river, observed that their stomachs were full, and as Durvāsas feared that the Pāṇḍavas would destroy them, looking down upon them with angry eyes, because the repast had been uselessly prepared for them (“I am afraid, ” said Durvāsas, “of men that are devoted to Hari”), they all ran away, so that Bhīma (B. Sahadeva) sought for them in vain. As the Pāṇḍavas were afraid that the munis might return at night and curse them, Kṛshṇa suddenly appeared and consoled them. Then he repaired to his capital (III, 263).--§ 522: One day when the Pāṇḍavas had gone a-hunting, leaving Draupadī in the hermitage with the permission of the great ṛshi Tṛṇabindu and of Dhaumya, the king of Sindhu (of Sauvīra, v. 15599
of the Śibis, Sauvīras, Sindhus, etc., 15621), Jayadratha Vārddhakshattri, who, with a view of matrimony, was on his way to the king of the Śālveyas, halted in the wood of Kāmyaka, and seeing Draupadī standing at the threshold of the hermitage, he fell in love with her, and sent king Koṭikāsya (king Suratha's son, v. 15593
the foremost of the Śibis, v. 15602) to inquire who she was (III, 264). Koṭikāsya introduced himself to Draupadī and showed her the Trigarta king Kshemaṅkara, and the son of the king of the Kulindas (“who always lives in the mountains”), and the son of Subala (B. Subhava) of the race of Ikshvāku
he said that Jayadratha was there at the head of 6, 000 chariots, etc., followed by twelve Sauvīra princes as his standard-bearers (Aṅgāraka, etc., enumerated) (), and his brothers (Balāhaka, Anīka, Vidāraṇa, etc.) (III, 265). Draupadī told Koṭikāsya who she was, and that her husbands were out a-hunting (Yudhishṭhira to the east, Bhīma towards the south, Arjuna to the west, and the Aśvins towards the north), and invited them to alight and await the return of the Pāṇḍavas (III, 266). Koṭikāsya told Jayadratha the words of Draupadī, and exhorted him to take her with him to the Sauvīras. Jayadratha introduced himself to Draupadī, who offered him water for washing his feet, and promised him fifty animals for breakfast and various kinds of deer, etc., etc. (enumerated), when Yudhishṭhira returned. Jayadratha asked her to leave the miserable Pāṇḍavas and become his wife (III, 267), but was severely rebuked by Draupadī, who threatened him with the Pāṇḍavas. As Jayadratha said, “We too belong by birth to the seventeen high clans, and look down upon the Pāṇḍavas, ” she threatened him with Kṛshṇa and Arjuna, and the Andhakas, Vṛshṇis, and Kaikeyas, and called upon Dhaumya. Jayadratha seized her by her upper garment
Draupadī pushed him so that he fell upon the ground
but at last she was obliged to ascend his chariot, while Dhaumya followed amidst Jayadratha's infantry (III, 268). When the Pāṇḍavas again met, Yudhishṭhira knew from the shrill cries of the birds that the forest had been invaded by hostile intruders, and he caused them to give up the chase and drive home on their great chariots drawn by Saindhava horses. A yellow jackal on their left indicated the violence done. Indrasena learned what had happened from the weeping foster-sister of Draupadī, and then they pursued and overtook Jayadratha, who was greatly alarmed (III, 269). Draupadī, asked by Jayadratha, pointed out to him each of the five Pāṇḍavas, and advised him to throw down his arms and seek the protection of Yudhishṭhira, at the top of whose flagstaff two tabours called Nanda and Upananda are constantly played. The Pāṇḍavas, leaving the panic-stricken infantry alone, rushed upon the charioteers [so PCR., who seems to have read rathānīkaṃ, which is, to be sure, the right reading, instead of yathānīkaṃ, which occurs both in C. and B.]
(III, 270). Bhīma with his iron mace (sarvaśaikyāyasīṃ gadāṃ), embossed with gold, rushed towards Jayadratha, who was defended by Koṭikāsya. The Trigarta king, who had killed the four steeds of Yudhishṭhira with his mace, was himself killed by Yudhishṭhira, who then, together with Indrasena, mounted the chariot of Sahadeva. Nakula killed Kshemaṅkara and Mahāmukha, and was compelled by the Trigarta king Suratha (whom he killed?) to mount Bhīma's chariot. Bhīma put Koṭikāsya to flight and slew him. Arjuna killed the twelve Sauvīra heroes, etc.
Jayadratha put Draupadī down and fled. Yudhishṭhira, seeing Draupadī and Dhaumya walking in front, caused her to be taken up on the chariot of Sahadeva. Arjuna advised Bhīma to refrain from slaying the remnant of the Saindhava host. Bhīma prevailed upon Yudhishṭhira to return to the hermitage with the twins and Draupadī and Dhaumya, while he himself would find out and slay Jayadratha. Yudhishṭhira entreated him not to slay him, remembering Duḥśalā and Gāndhārī
but Draupadī indignantly required that he should be slain, and Bhīma and Arjuna went in search of him. In the hermitage Yudhishṭhira found Mārkaṇḍeya and many other brahmans and ascetics, who were greatly bewailing the lot of Draupadī. Meanwhile Arjuna killed the horses of Jayadratha, though they were a full krośa ahead of him. Jayadratha was then overtaken by Bhīma, but Arjuna entreated Bhīma not to kill him (III, 271).