In the previous episode, we had witnessed a crucial set of events wherein the Paandava brothers bring Draupati to the place where they were residing, only for Kunthi Devi to give a first-hand instruction that all the five of them should go ahead with her, without knowing the person with whom the Paandavas ha come home with. Even though Kunthi Devi relented later, Yudishtra and Co. decided that all the five brothers would go ahead marrying Draupati, since that was her first instruction. Also, since Bhagawan Shiva had already blessed Draupati with the boon of marrying five husbands, and also since Sage Veday Vyaasa had also indirectly indicated that Draupati would be having five husbands, Yudishtra decided that the marriage would happen in this way only. All the other brothers also accepted Yudishtra’s proposal. Meanwhile, we had also witnessed in the concluding part of yesterday’s episode that Drshtadhyumna had secretly followed these five “Brahmana Rishis” to their place, while they were taking Draupati along with them. He overheard the conversation between the Paandava brothers and Kunthi Devi, and also came to understand a very important thing as well.
As Drshtadhyumna was overhearing the conversation thus, he allegedly heard Kunthi Devi addressing her sons by their respective names – Yudishtra, Bheemasena, Arjuna, etc. With this, Drshtadhyumna clearly understood that these five people weren’t Brahmana Rishis as they looked like, but are none other than the Paandava brothers. He also came to know that the person who won the Svayamvara event was none other than Arjuna himself! With this, Drshtadhyumna was extremely happy! He considered himself fortunate that he is going to give his sister in marriage to the Paandava brothers. But one thing struck in his mind – If it was only Arjuna who was going to marry Draupati, it’s fine. But how come all five of them will marry one woman? He was puzzled! Anyways – He had obtained the required information and background story, and with this, Drshtadhyumna rushed back to his father, King Drupada to convey the matter. As King Drupada hears Drshtadhyumna’s accord, he was also very happy that it was the Paandava brothers who had won Draupati’s hand. Till that point, King Drupada was also thinking that he is going to give his daughter in marriage to a Brahmana Rishi, which was primarily opposed by all the kings who had come for the event. However, now that the Brahmana Rishi was really a superb Kshatrya prince, King Drupada’s worries were put to an end.
Thus, Drshtadhyumna had done his job! However, he was still having a mild doubt within himself, whether these so-called “Brahmana-Rishis” were really the Paandava brothers or not. He wanted a confirmation of the same. For this, initially Drshtadhyumna wanted to go all by himself again to the Paandava brothers to talk it out, however, he had a doubt whether Yudishtra would completely disclose himself or not. Thus, with the suggestion from King Drupada himself, Drshtadhyumna sent a Brahmana Rishi to find out the truth. According to the “Raaja-Dharma”, a Kshatrya shouldn’t lie to a Brahmana Rishi and if the five brothers were really the Paandava brothers, they shouldn’t lie, isn’t it? Thus the plan was made and the Brahmana Rishi was sent to the house of the Paandava brothers to find out who they really were. When Yudishtra sees a Brahmana Rishi, as expected, he too did not want to lie about himself or his brothers and eventually he disclosed their real identities. With this, Drshtadhyumna was extremely happy, and so was King Drupada. All of them were proud that Draupati is going to be given in marriage to extremely great Kshatrya princes.
However, the same question surfaced again – How could one woman live with five husbands? Is it really feasible? A lot of debate took place in King Drupada’s courtroom and many people spoke many things – Both for and against the decision. Eventually, King Drupada called the five Paandava brothers for a grand feast at the palace, and an invite was sent through his messenger. Meanwhile, King Drupada wanted to conduct an indirect test to check whether these five people are really the Paandava brothers or not. Till that time, only Drshtadhyumna and the Brahmana Rishi had confirmed the Paandavas’ real identity, but King Drupada wanted to see it for himself. As the Paandava brothers arrived, he had already made all the arrangements with the food items on the table. However, King Drupada did something different – All along the way through which they walked through, he had kept some “Dharba” grass, some fruits, vegetables, etc. and towards the end of the passage at one corner, he had kept some weapons like the sword, bow and arrow, “Gadha”, etc. As the Paandava brothers walked through, their eyes fell directly only on the weapons and not on the fruits, vegetables and the Dharba grass! With this, King Drupada understood that if the five people would have been Brahmana Rishis, their attention would have gone towards the Dharba grass and the other items, but not on the weapons. It is only because these five people were Kshatryas by nature, their eyes directly went towards the weapons that were used for warfare. Thus, King Drupada concluded that these five people were not Brahmana Rishis as they appear to be, but are none other than the Paandava brothers themselves!
So for today, let us understand up to this point. This is an important phase that we’re passing through, because, this is the first time since the “Laaksha Griha” (Wax palace) episode, the Paandavas are revealing their real identity to the outside world. We shall continue this discussion in the next episode to find out how King Drupada received the Paandava brothers with his famed hospitality! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 