Name: Irmeen Ansari

Class: 1B
Roll no: 1236
Date of submission: 22 February 2022

If comparing Sita with Draupadi these two are totally different characters. One being a soft,
fragile woman other a fearless, brave and a forceful queen. She was a woman in whom
qualities of pride and good intellect were present.
Draupadi was the daughter of Draupad and wife of the great Pandavas. In the reading we
got to know that Draupadi had the ultimate strength to bear all the trials and difficulties of life
with bravery. She was a woman who was against harming good people and bending before
the evil. Although she was a woman but because of her heroic and brave attitude she
became as popular as the Pandavas. Her personality was that of storm, thunder and
lightning. She had an entire life of suffering but she handled everything gracefully. In the
incident of dicing it was Yudhishthir who was fond of gambling but the one who suffered and
got disrespected and humiliated was Draupadi. When her appearance in the court was
ordered, she, setting aside her obediency sent back a question which remains unanswered
till present. She asked whether Yudhishthir had lost her before or after he had lost himself in
the gambling. Draupadi with her great intellect argued that if he had lost himself first then he
had no right over her as he was already a slave. This question of Draupadi shows us how
brainy and smart she was. At that point of time this question contained legality but the heroic
Draupadi turned it into a moral question in front of the whole assembly. She stated " Is it right
or fair that a woman, let alone a queen, become a slave because her husband staked her in
a gambling game." This particular instance where a woman could raise her voice in front of
the whole assembly at that point of time shows us how courageous, wise, brave Draupadi
was, a woman who is ever ready to preserve her respect and dignity at any cost even if it
means raising a question against her own husband. Her question unsettled each and every
person of the assembly. She had the guts to speak in the assembly of men and elders who
might have been more learned than her, but who were like, at that point of time, mute
spectators to her disrespect and humiliation. But it, without any doubt, forced them to think
about dharma, about right and wrong and who has the authority to decide this.
She without a doubt was very much intelligent and brave, who very boldly appealed the
elders to behave with justice. But unfortunately nobody came for her help not even her own
husbands. She said where righteousness and justice do not exist, it ceases to be a court, it
is a gang of robbers. In response of bold words of Draupadi, Dushasana uttered wicked and
bad words. When he began to pull her saree Draupadi seeing her husbands bowed their
heads in shame, weeping turned to her sakha Lord Krishna. After that the more Dushasana
pulled her robe, the more it was still there in her. This shows us the bond between Draupadi
and Krishna, between a brother and a sister.
Even when Dhritarashtr mocked Duryodhan and asked Draupadi for any three boons, she
simply said that her husbands to be freed from slavery and given back their weapons. With
dignity she refused the third boon and bravely added that her husbands were strong and
capable enough to win all the rest. This ultimately shows us the trust Draupadi had in her
husbands despite of their failure in protecting her honour in front of the whole assembly. In a
time where a husband was responsible for the protection of his wife and the wife was
expected to dutifully follow her husbands direction or wish, Draupadi setting an example and
breaking the typical patriarchal norms succeeded in winning back freedom for her husbands.
She like a boat had rescued her husbands who were drowning in a sea of sorrow and
difficulty.
Draupadi has been portrayed as one of the bravest and strongest female characters ever
mentioned in an epic. Also the metaphors used for her have heroic taste and element like
storm, fire etc. We cannot even imagine any woman having suffered attempting disrobing
with her husbands sitting mute, then facing abduction in the forest, being molested in the
court.
When the Pandavas were to remain in forest for 12 years, Draupadi followed her husbands
totally giving up her life of luxury in the palace. The woman who was once enjoying a life of
comfort and luxury was now happily and willingly following her husbands to the forest. This
shows how much dedicated was she towards her husbands. She was a dutiful woman but
was also not ready to bear or accept any wrongdoing even if it were her husbands who did it.
Also it is totally wrong to think of her as an unaffectionate woman or someone who is unkind.
Draupadi was insulted and driven to forest by the sons of Dhritarashtr and Gandhari but after
the war Draupadi helped and looketafter Gandhari with utmost respect and affection. She
treated her in the same way as she treated Kunti. Draupadi had always behaved in a
manner with which she was able to maintain the reputation of her family. She was a woman
with proud parents and in laws, a great mother to her children and a dutiful and brave wife to
her husbands. Since the beginning of the Mahabharat Draupadi had been subjected to
violence in some or the other way: her swayamvar ends in a strife, fivefold marriage,
outraged in the Royal court twice, Jayadratha and Keechaka attempt to rape her. Draupadi
was used as an object at every point of time and by everyone first by her father to take
revenge from Drona, by Pandavas to win the kingdom. She had none to call her own. She
was used as a bait. Despite having five husbands she was in a state of being chaste. She
had five sons, one from each Pandavas and after this was over there was no sexual
relationship between her and her husbands.
If mahabharat is a take of hatred,love, blood, courage, cowardice, victory, defeat then
Draupadi is an emerging shining pearl whose rays outshined all the other elements of the
epic.
Draupadi's bravery is commendable and she should be credited for her attempt to break all
the barriers that are present in a woman's life and have restricted her. Rather than just
suffering she decided to practically tackle the situations. She fearlessly stood in front of all
the problematic situations. She is a slap on the face of the criticizing society who expects
victim, especially a woman, to stay silent. Draupadi has questioned the authority man over
his wife, master over his slave and position of woman in a patriarchal society.