Jayadratha abducts Draupadi
The Pandavas, the great warriors of the race of Bharata sojourned like immortals in the great forest of Kamyaka, employed in hunting and pleased with the sight of numerous wild tracts of country and wide reaches of woodland, gorgeous with flowers blossoming in season. The sons of Pandu, each like unto Indra and the terror of his enemies, dwelt there for some time. One day those valiant men, the conquerors of their foes, went about in all directions in search of game for feeding the Brahmanas in their company, leaving Draupadi alone at the hermitage, with the permission of the great ascetic Trinabindu, resplendent with ascetic grandeur, and of their spiritual guide Dhaumya.
Meanwhile, the famous king of Sindhu, the son of Vriddhakshatra was, with a view to matrimony, proceeding to the kingdom of Salva, dressed in his best royal apparel and accompanied by numerous princes. The prince halted in the woods of Kamyaka. In that secluded place, he found the beautiful Draupadi, the beloved and celebrated wife of the Pandavas, standing at the threshold of the hermitage. She looked grand in the superb beauty of her form, and seemed to shed a lustre on the woodland around, like lightning illuminating masses of dark clouds. They who saw her asked themselves, “Is this an Apsara, or a daughter of the gods, or a celestial phantom?” With this thought, their hands also joined together, they stood gazing on the perfect and faultless beauty of her form. Jayadratha, struck with amazement at the sight of that lady of faultless beauty, was seized with an evil intention. Inflamed with desire, he said to the prince named Kotika,
“Whose is this lady of faultless form? Is she of the human kind? I have no need to marry if I can secure this exquisitely beautiful creature. Taking her with me, I shall go back to my abode, and enquire who she is and whence she has come and why also that delicate being has come into this forest beset with thorns. Will this ornament of womankind, this slender-waisted lady of so much beauty, endued with handsome teeth and large eyes, accept me as her lord? I shall certainly regard myself successful, if I obtain the hand of this excellent lady. Go, Kotika, and enquire who her husband may be.”
Thus asked, Kotika jumped out of his chariot and came near her, as a jackal approaches a tigress, and spoke unto her these words.
Kotika said,
“Excellent lady, who are you that stands alone, leaning on a branch of the Kadamba tree at this hermitage and looking grand like a flame of fire blazing at night time, and fanned by the wind? Exquisitely beautiful as you are, how is it that you feel not any fear in these forests? Methinks you are a goddess, or a Yakshi, or a Danavi, or an excellent Apsara, or the wife of a Daitya, or a daughter of the Naga king, or a Rakshasi or the wife of Varuna, or of Yama, or of Soma, or of Kubera, who, having assumed a human form, wanders in these forests. Or, have you come from the mansions of Dhatri, or of Vidhatri, or of Savitri, or of Vibhu, or of Indra? You do not ask us who we are, nor do we know who protects you here! Respectfully do we ask you, good lady, who is your powerful father, and, do tell us truly the names of your husband, your relatives, and your race, and tell us also what you do here. As for us, I am king Suratha's son whom people know by the name of Kotika, and that man with eyes large as the petals of the lotus, sitting on a chariot of gold, like the sacrificial fire on the altar, is the warrior known by the name of Kshemankara, king of Trigarta. Behind him is the famous son of the king of Pulinda, who is even now gazing on you. Armed with a mighty bow and endued with large eyes, and decorated with floral wreaths, he always lives on the breasts of mountains. The dark and handsome young man, the scourge of his enemies, standing at the edge of that rank, is the son of Subala of the race of Ikshwaku. If you have ever heard the name of Jayadratha, the king of Sauviras, he is there at the head of six thousand chariots, with horses and elephants and infantry, and followed by twelve Sauvira princes as his standard-bearers, named Angaraka, Kunjara, Guptaka, Satrunjaya, Srinjaya, Suprabiddha, Prabhankara, Bhramara, Ravi, Sura, Pratapa and Kuhana, all mounted on chariots drawn by chestnut horses and every one of them looking like the fire on the sacrificial altar. The brothers also of the king, viz., the powerful Balahaka, Anika, Vidarana and others, are among his followers. These strong-limbed and noble youths are the followers of the Sauvira chivalry. The king is journeying in the company of these friends, like Indra surrounded by the Maruts. O fine-haired lady! Do tell us that are unacquainted with these matters, whose wife and whose daughter you are.”
The princess Draupadi, thus questioned by that ornament of Sibi's race, moved her eyes gently, and letting go her hold of the Kadamba blanch and arranging her silken apparel she said,
“I am aware, O prince! that it is not proper for a person like me to address you thus, but as there is not another man or woman here to speak with you and as I am alone here just now, let me, therefore, speak. Know that being alone in this forest here, I should not speak unto you, remembering the usages of my sex. I have learned that you are Suratha's son, whom people know by the name of Kotika. Therefore, on my part, I shall now tell you of my relations and renowned race. I am the daughter of king Drupada, and people know me by the name of Krishna, and I have accepted as my husbands, five persons of whom you may have heard while they were living at Kahandavaprastha. Those noble persons, viz., Yudhishthira, Bhimasena, Arjuna, and the two sons of Madri, leaving me here and having assigned unto themselves the four points of the horizon, have gone out on a hunting excursion. The king has gone to the east, Bhimasena towards the south, Arjuna to the west, and the twin brothers towards the north! Therefore, do you now alight and dismiss your carriages so that you may depart after receiving a due welcome from them. The high-souled son of Dharma is fond of guests and will surely be delighted to see you!”
Having addressed Saibya's son in this way, the daughter of Drupada, with face beautiful as the moon, remembering well her husband's character for hospitality, entered her spacious cottage.
Kotikakhya related to those princes who had been waiting, all that had passed between him and Krishna. Hearing Kotikakhya's words, Jayadratha said to that scion of the race of Sibi,
“Having listened only to her speech, my heart has been lovingly inclined towards that ornament of womankind. Why therefore, have you returned thus unsuccessful? I tell you truly that having once seen this lady, other women now seem to me like so many monkeys. I having looked at her, she has captivated my heart. Do tell me if that excellent lady is of the human kind.”
Kotika replied,
“This lady is the famous princess Krishna, the daughter of Drupada, and the celebrated wife of the five sons of Pandu. She is the much esteemed and beloved and chaste wife of the sons of Pritha. Taking her with you, do you proceed towards Sauvira!”
Thus addressed, the evil-minded Jayadratha said, “I must see Draupadi.” And with six other men he entered that solitary hermitage, like a wolf entering the den of a lion. He said unto Krishna,
“Hail to you, excellent lady! Are your husbands well and those, besides, whose prosperity you always wish.”
Draupadi replied,
“Kunti's son king Yudhishthira of the race of Kuru, his brothers, myself, and all those of whom you have enquired of, are well. Is everything right with your kingdom, your government, exchequer, and your army? Are you, as sole ruler, governing with justice the rich countries of Saibya, Sibi, Sindhu and others that you have brought under your sway? Do you, O prince, accept this water for washing your feet. Do you also take this seat. I offer you fifty animals for your train's breakfast. Besides these, Yudhishthira himself will give you porcine deer and Ranku deer, and does, and antelopes, and Sarabhas, and rabbits, and Ruru deer, and bears, and Sambara deer and gayals and many other animals, besides wild boars and buffaloes and other animals of the quadruped tribe.”
Hearing this Jayadratha replied, saying,
“All is well with me. By offering to provide our breakfast, you have in a manner actually done it. Come now and ride my chariot and be completely happy. For it becomes not you to have any regard for the miserable sons of Pritha who are living in the woods, whose energies have been paralysed, whose kingdom has been snatched and whose fortunes are at the lowest ebb. A woman of sense like you does not attach herself to a husband that is poor. She should follow her lord when he is in prosperity but abandon him when in adversity. The sons of Pandu have for ever fallen away from their high state, and have lost their kingdom for all time to come. You have no need, therefore, to partake of their misery from any regard for them. Therefore, O you of beautiful hips! forsaking the sons of Pandu, be happy by becoming my wife, and share you with me the kingdoms of Sindhu and Sauvira.”
Hearing these frightful words of the king of Sindhu, Krishna retired from that place, her face furrowed into a frown owing to the contraction of her eye-brows. But disregarding his words from supreme contempt, Krishna reproving said unto the king of Sindhu,
“Speak not thus again! Are you not ashamed? Be on your guard!” And that lady of irreproachable character anxiously expecting the return of her husband, began, with long speeches, to beguile him completely.
The daughter of Drupada, though naturally handsome, was suffused with crimson arising from a fit of anger. With eyes inflamed and eye-brows bent in wrath, she reproved the ruler of the Suviras, saying,
“Are you not ashamed, O fool! to use such insulting words in respect of those celebrated and terrible warriors, each like unto Indra himself, and who are all devoted to their duties and who never waver in fight with even hosts of Yakshas and Rakshasas? Good men never speak ill of learned persons devoted to austerities and endued with learning, no matter whether they live in the wilderness or in houses. It is only wretches that are mean as you who do so. Methinks there is none in this assemblage of Kshatriya, who is capable of holding you by the hand to save you from falling into the pit you opens under your feet. In hoping to vanquish king Yudhishthira, you really hope to separate, stick in hand, from a herd roaming in Himalayan valleys, its leader, huge as a mountain peak and with the temporal juice trickling down its rent temples. Out of childish folly you are kicking up into wakefulness the powerful lion lying asleep, in order to pluck the hair from off his face! You shall, however, have to run away when you sees Bhimasena in wrath! Your courting a combat with the furious Arjuna may be likened to your kicking up a mighty, terrible, full-grown and furious lion asleep in a mountain cave. The encounter you speak of with those two excellent youths, the younger Pandavas, is like unto the act of a fool that wantonly tramples on the tails of two venomous black cobras with bifurcated tongues. The bamboo, the reed, and the plantain bear fruit only to perish and not to grow in size any further. Like also the crab that conceives for her own destruction, you will lay hands upon me who am protected by these mighty heroes!”
Jayadratha replied,
“I know all this, O Krishna! and I am well aware of the prowess of those princes. But you canst not frighten us now with these threats. We, too, belong by birth to the seventeen high clans, and are endowed with the six royal qualities. We, therefore, look down upon the Pandavas as inferior men! Therefore, do you ride this elephant or this chariot quickly, for you can not baffle us with your words alone; or, speaking less boastfully, seek you the mercy of the king of the Sauviras!”
Draupadi replied,
“Though I am so powerful, why does the king of Sauvira yet consider me so powerless. Well-known as I am, I cannot, from fear of violence, demean myself before that prince. Even Indra himself cannot abduct her for whose protection Krishna and Arjuna would together follow, riding in the same chariot. What shall I say, therefore, of a weak human being. When Kiriti, riding on his car, will, on my account, enter your ranks, striking terror into every heart, he will consume everything around like fire consuming a stack of dry grass in summer. The warring princes of the Andhaka and the Vrishni races, with Janardana at their head, and the mighty bowmen of the Kaikeya tribe, will all follow in my wake with great ardour. The terrible arrows of Arjuna, shot from the string of the Gandiva and propelled by his arms fly with great force through the air, roaring like the very clouds. When you will behold Arjuna shooting from the Gandiva a thick mass of mighty arrows like unto a flight of locusts, then will you repent of your own folly! Bethink yourself of what you will feel when that warrior armed with the Gandiva, blowing his conch-shell and with gloves reverberating with the strokes of his bowstring will again and again pierce your breast with his shafts. When Bhima will advance towards you, mace in hand and the two sons of Madri range in all directions, vomiting forth the venom of their wrath, you will then experience pangs of keen regret that will last for ever. As I have never been false to my worthy lords even in thought, so by that merit shall I now have the pleasure of beholding you vanquished and dragged by the sons of Pritha. You can not, cruel as you are, frighten me by seizing me with violence, for as soon as those Kuru warriors will spy me they will bring me back to the woods of Kamyaka.”
Then that lady of large eyes, beholding them ready to lay violent hands on her, rebuked them and said, “Defile me not by your touch!” In a great alarm she then called upon her spiritual adviser, Dhaumya. Jayadratha, however, seized her by her upper garment, but she pushed him with great vigour. Pushed by the lady, that sinful wretch fell upon the ground like a tree severed from its roots. Seized, however, once more by him with great violence, she began to pant for breath. Dragged by the wretch, Krishna at last ascended his chariot having worshipped Dhaumya's feet. Dhaumya then addressed Jayadratha and said,
“O Jayadratha! Observe the ancient custom of the Kshatriyas. You can not carry her off without having vanquished those great warriors. Without doubt, you shall reap the painful fruits of this your despicable act, when you encounters the heroic sons of Pandu with Yudhishthira the just at their head!”
Having said these words Dhaumya, entering into the midst of Jayadratha's infantry, began to follow that renowned princess who was thus being carried away by the ravisher.