PART I

Five Holy Virgins, Five Sacred Myths

A Quest for Meaning
Pradip Bhattacharya
When Vyasa asked Ganesha to become his amanuensis, the elephant-headed god agreed, provided the dictation proceed without pause. Vyasa, in turn, laid down a condition of his own: nothing should be transcribed without comprehension. To wrest breathing space, he often composed shlokas so abstruse that even the elephant-headed god had to pause, before writing them down, to plumb their meaning. It is not only these Vyasa-kuta in the Mahabharata that challenge comprehension. Even a traditional saying can pose an enigma, raising questions that have no simple answers. We begin a five-part series on the Panchakanyas of the Indian epics, taking as our starting point a Sanskrit verse in praise of these five women, all dancers to a different drum. In their stories, in their choices and the consequences these led to, we find upheld a pattern of values quite other than is conventionally understood to be the case.

here is an ancient exhortation1 naming five maidens as pratah-smaraniya, urging that they be invoked daily at dawn: Ahalya Draupadi Kunti Tara Mandodari tatha Panchakanya smaranityam mahapataka nashaka (Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari: constantly remembering these virgins five destroys great failings.) The verse poses a puzzle worth grappling with. Two things strike us in this verse: the use of the epithet kanya (virgin, maiden), not nari (woman); and the unusual combination of names that redeem, of whom at least two Ahalya and Draupadi are ayonijasambhava, not-of-woman-born. Of the five kanyas, none quite measure up to the standard of monogamous chastity, commended so overwhelmingly in our culture. Each has had either an extra-marital relationship or more than one husband. Why should invoking 4

these panchakanyas be extolled as redemptive and why, indeed, is the intriguing term kanya applied to them? As we shall see, the key to the mystery of these five virgin maidens lies in the type of sexual encounters they have with non-husbands, encounters that are neither rape nor adultery but are, in fact, quite unique. Of this group three Ahalya, Tara, and Mandodari belong to the Ramayana, the epic composed by Valmiki, the first seer-poet. Draupadi and Kunti are celebrated in Vyasas Mahabharata. At the outset, we need to keep in mind that Valmiki and Vyasas great compositions are

designated as kavya, truth perceived by a kavi, a seer-poet. Hence, in evaluating the characters they have created, it is necessary to probe consciously beneath the surface appearance to reach the underlying meaning. When such an exhortation has come down the centuries, it cannot be dismissed as a meaningless conundrum, specially when it combines, as this one does, as many as five myths in one verse.

Ahalya: Crime and Punishment

It is the nobility of her character, her extraordinary beauty and the fact of her being chronologically the first kanya that places Ahalya at the head of the five virgin maidens. She had been true to her independent nature, fulfilling her womanhood in a manner that she found appropriate, though, finally, she is unable to assert herself. The name Ahalya itself has a double meaning: one who is flawless; it also means un-ploughed, that is, one who is a virgin. Her origin-myth 2 states that, having MANUSHI

created this flawless beauty from what was unique and loveliest in all creatures (as was later done to create Tilottama), Brahma handed her over to the sage Gautama for safe custody until she reached puberty. When Gautama handed her back to the Creator, he was so pleased with the sages self-restraint that he bestowed Ahalya upon him. Indra, lord of the gods, enamoured of her beauty, had presumed that this loveliest of women was meant for him and resented a forest-dwelling ascetic becoming her spouse. In the Adi (Bala) Kanda of the Ramayana, Vishvamitra tells Rama and Lakshmana that, assuming Gautamas form in his absence, Indra approached Ahalya saying, Those craving coitus cannot wait; I crave union, slim-waisted one! Though Ahalya saw through the disguise, yet out of curiosity (kutuhalat) the same impulse that impels Kunti to summon Surya she granted him sexual favours and said, I am gratified. Now leave this place quickly, best of gods! Protect yourself and me from Gautama in every way. As Indra was leaving, however, Gautama returned. By his curse, Indras testicles fell off. Another version in the Mahabharata (12.342.23) states that Indras beard was turned yellow by the curse. Ahalya was condemned to perform penance in that terrible forest, hidden from all, fasting (subsisting on air), sleeping in ashes, tormented by guilt. Gautama ordained that, purified of delusion (lobhamohavivarjita), by offering hospitality to Rama, she, fairest of all (varavarnini3) would be redeemed to rejoin him. This account is frank regarding Ahalyas deliberate choice to satisfy her curiosity. Creations sole beautiful woman, she is the archetypal feminine responding to the ardent, urgent, direct sexual advances of the ruler of heaven who presents such a dazzling contrast to her ascetic, aged, forest-dwelling No.141

The Ahalya myth in Orissi patachitra husband. Mortal woman welcomes the intimate touch of heavens immortal, driven by that irrepressible curiosity for varied and unusual experience, and a willingness to take risks for it, which is said to characterise the feminine. Although Ahalya already had a son, Shatananda, yet the deepest urges of her femininity remained unfulfilled. The kanya is not just mother but is also beloved, and it is this aspect that had not been actualised in her relationship with Gautama. The first kanya not-born-ofwoman, Ahalya has the courage to respond to the call of her inner urge, but does not challenge the sentence pronounced on her by patriarchal society. Meghanada), bear half the guilt of every act of rape and lose all peace of mind. As for Ahalya, she would cease to be unique as the only beautiful female other lovely women would be born. (That is why men fall in love with different women, projecting their anima on to them.) When Ahalya protested that she could not recognise the disguised Indra and was not guilty of wilful wickedness, Gautama relented and said that he would take her back after she had been purified through Rama accepting her hospitality. In popular retelling of the myth, depicted often enough on stage and in films and television serials, Ahalya is turned to stone. She regains her form only when Ram, reluctantly, places his foot on her head. In Valmiki, however, there is no petrifaction nor does Rama restore the stone-Ahalya to flesh and blood. These are Katha-Sarit-Sagara innovations. We witness here a male backlash that condemns the woman as soiled even though she may not be at fault, as Rama does with Sita. 5

The Backlash
The Uttara Kanda4 version is exculpatory, as may be expected of a later addition to the epic. Here Agastya states that, infuriated at Brahma bestowing Ahalya upon Gautama, Indra raped her, thus absolving Ahalya of any active role in the liason. Gautama cursed Indra to suffer imprisonment (by

The opposite occurs in the Mahabharata version, told in the Shanti Parva, where the furious Gautama commands his son Chirakari to slay his polluted mother (as Jamadagni ordered Parashurama to behead Renuka), but later regrets his rash command, realising that the fault lies not with his wife but with the lustful Indra. The Brahma Purana 5 has Gautama turn Ahalya into a dry stream and disfigure Indra who, terrified, has become a cat with a thousand marks of the vulva. When Ahalya pleads her ignorance, Gautama grants her redemption upon her mingling with the Gautami River. By bathing in the same river, the marks on Indras body turn into eyes and he becomes thousand-eyed like the Greek Argus. The Shiva Purana 6 features Ahalya in an incident said to have occurred in another epoch (yuga). During a hundred year drought, Gautamas ascesis resulted in Varuna gifting him an inexhaustible well, because of which his hermitage became a refuge for the distressed, including the Seven Sages. The wives of the Seven Sages abused Gautamas disciples, insisting on having access to the well first. When Ahalya went to resolve the dispute, they abused her as well and lied to their husbands about what had happened. Blinded by passion for their wives, these sages turned to Ganesha, the vighna-karta, god of obstacles. They had him turn into an illusory cow that fell dead at Gautamas touch, whereupon they stoned Ahalya and Gautama, driving them out of the hermitage. Shiva cursed the sages and their wives to be outside the Vedic pale, dooming them to perdition. Here Ahalya is a foil to the wickedness of the sages wives, instead of being the fallen one. The Shiva Purana being later 6

Tagores Ahalya
What were your dreams, Ahalya, when you passed Long years as stone, rooted in earth, prayer And ritual gone, sacred fire extinct In the dark, abandoned forest-shram? Earth Merged with your body; did you know her vast Love, did hazy awareness haunt your stone? And keep you blindly, dimly, half-awake? When lifes excited zest Rushed along branching paths in numerous forms To conquer the desert, did it rise in outrage, Circle your stone and crush your sterile curse? Didnt its pounding blows shake you awake? Did you, long asleep on her breast, enter That place of oblivion, cool as endless night, Where millions sleep forever without fear, Resting their lifes exhaustion in the dust, Where withered flowers fall in the days heat, Burnt-up stars and meteors, crumbled fame, Sated pleasure, grief too tired to sting? There, Earth smoothed with her soothing hand Your lines of sin and stress. Today you shine Like a newly woken princess, calm and pure. You stare amazed at the dawn world. The dew Which moistened your stone at night shimmers now On your black, loosely-flowing hair. The mosses Which clothed you with the green mantle of Earth, Thickened and brightened by each fall of rain, Are now a sari lightly placed by a mothers Loving hand on your glorious naked limbs. The world smiles; you recognise that smile. You gaze; your heart swings back from the far past, Traces its lost steps. In a sudden rush, All round, your former knowledge of life returns Like first Created dawn, you slowly rise from the blue Sea of forgetfulness. You stare entranced; The world, too, is speechless; face to face Beside a sea of mystery none can cross You know afresh what you have always known. Extracts from Ahalya Rabindranath Tagore (trans. William Radice)

MANUSHI

than Valmikis composition, it is probable that here we see a later redactors attempt to re-write the Ahalya myth to remove the stigma of adultery. The Katha-Sarit-Sagara7 version provides a clue to the psychological condition of Ahalya. The story is told to illustrate how evil acts lead to suffering for evildoers. On Gautamas return, as in the Brahma Purana, Indra flees in the form of a cat and is cursed to be covered with the marks of the vulva he had so coveted. Replying to the sages enquiry about who had been in the cottage, Ahalya dissimulates, saying that it was a majjara (in Prakrit meaning both cat or my lover, because of which a synonym for Indra is Ahalyayaijara). She is punished by being turned to stone, reflecting the social ostracism of transgressing women and their consequent psychological trauma. In the Adi Kanda of the Ramayana, Vishvamitra, who praises Ahalya to Rama, condemns the apsara Rambha to a similar fate for disturbing his ascesis at Indras behest. He curses her to become a stone until some sage of great spiritual prowess should redeem her. These are not simply physical transformations (as in the Grimms fairy tale of Faithful John or Hatim Tais Seven Riddles), but a deep psychological trauma, in which oppressive guilt virtually throttles the vital spirit, freezing the emotions and making the woman socially into a nonperson. Ahalya becomes an automaton, denying her emotions, feelings and selfrespect, shunned by all. Even as a mother, she finds no fulfilment. Shatananda, her son, abandons her in the forest, despite referring to her as renowned (mama mata yashasvini).

connotes. When he and Lakshmana touch her feet in salutation, this recognition restores her self-respect and her status in society, so that she truly lives again. (It is ironic that though Ramas visit redeems Ahalya, it is because of his suspicions that Sita decides to suffer fire and later enters exile and oblivion.) Vishvamitra repeatedly refers to Ahalya as mahabhaga, most virtuous and noble. In the eyes of this mighty rebel who proved that a kshatriya could

Ahalya meeting Ram, Deogarh, 5th c. transform himself into the greatest of seers, who presented the world the Gayatri mantra, saved Sunahshepa from being sacrificed and created a second heaven for the outcaste Trishanku, Ahalya was not a fallen woman. Valmikis description of Ahalya as Rama sees her needs to be noted (my translation): The Creator, it seems, with utmost care had perfected this form, divine, enchanting. Like a tongue of flame smoke-shrouded, Like the full moons glory ice-reflected, Like blinding sunlight mirrored in water.

Among the panchakanyas, Ahalya remains unique because of the nature of her daring and its consequence. Her single transgression, for having done what her femininity demanded, calls down an awful curse. Because of her unflinching acceptance of her sentence, both Vishvamitra and Valmiki glorify her. Chandra Rajan, a sensitive modern-day poetess, catches the psychological nuances of her situation: Gautama cursed his impotence and raged she stood petrified uncomprehending in stony silence withdrawn into the secret cave of her inviolate inner self she had her shelter sanctuary benediction within, perfect, inviolate in the one-ness of spirit with rock rain and wind with flowing tree and ripening fruit and seed that falls silently in its time into the rich dark earth. 8

Tara: Bold Statecraft

Ahalyas Redemption
On the other hand, Rama, at Vishvamitras behest, regards her as blameless and inviolate, as her name No.141

Tara,9 wife of Vali and daughter of the vanara physician Sushena, is the next kanya we meet in the Ramayana. She is a woman of unusual intelligence, foresight and selfconfidence. In the Mahabharata she is called sarvabhutarutajna, able to understand the language of all creatures. In the Kishkindha Kanda of the Ramayana, we see her warning Vali against Sugriva when he comes to challenge Vali for the second time. Appearances are deceptive, she points out; normally no contestant returns to the field so soon after having been soundly thrashed. Moreover, she says, she has heard that Rama, prince of Ayodhya, has 7

befriended him. She urges Vali to anoint Sugriva as the crown prince and live in peace with him. Vali, in the Mahabharata account, suspects that Tara might be favouring Sugriva and therefore rejects her advice. By brushing aside her wise warning, he walks into Ramas arrow, as he himself admits while he lies dying. He pays a fine tribute to his wife, imploring Ram to ensure that tapasvinim Tara is not insulted by Sugriva and advising Sugriva to follow Taras advice unquestioningly. She is skilled, he says, in assessing a situation and deciding what action should be taken; she never judges the merit of anything wrongly. After Valis fall, Tara not only rallies the fleeing subjects, but also shows great political sagacity. When Hanuman asks her to stop grieving and place her son Angada on the throne, she refuses, since, with his uncle Sugriva alive, this would be inadvisable. Then she rushes to Rama and, in an extremely forceful speech, demands that he kill her too. The strength of her personality in facing up to the prince of Ayodhya is strikingly portrayed. In Krittibas Bengali Ramayana, Tara curses Rama to be slain by Vali in a future birth. This is confirmed in the Mahanataka and the Ananda Ramayana where the hunter who causes Krishnas death is Vali reborn. In several vernacular versions of the epic, Tara also curses Rama that he will not be able to enjoy the company of Sita for long. Taras upbraiding elicits Ramas assurance that Sugriva will protect both her and her sons rights. To ensure that her son 8

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Angada is not deprived of his fathers throne, she becomes her brother-in-law Sugrivas consort. When Lakshmana storms into the inner apartments of Kishkindha, to upbraid Sugriva who has reneged on his promise to track down Sita, it is Tara who is sent by the terrified Sugriva to tackle this rage-incarnate. Approaching Lakshmana with intoxicated, half-closed eyes and unsteady gait, lovely, slim, unashamed, Tara effectively disarms him. She gently reprimands him for being unaware of lusts overwhelming power that overthrows the most ascetic of sages, whereas Sugriva is a mere vanara (a forest dweller). When he abuses Sugriva, Tara fearlessly intervenes, pointing out that the rebuke is unjustified and details all the efforts already made to gather an army. Once again, as when tendering advice to Vali, Tara displays her superb ability to marshal information and to intervene in a

crisis. Thus, she acts as Sugrivas shield while ensuring that her son Angada becomes the crown prince. In the Mahabharata there is an interesting statement in the Vana Parva that Vali and Sugriva fought over a woman. Surely that woman was the remarkable Tara for, the Ramayana tells us, when attendants report Lakshmanas arrival, Sugriva is so engrossed in Tara (and not his original wife Ruma) that he remains oblivious to the news. This idea is reinforced when we find that, in the Balinese dance Kebyar, Rama helps Sugriwa get his lover, Dewi Tara, back from his brother, SuVali. 10 In both the Nrisimha Purana (50.21-27) and the Mahanataka (5.51), Tara is actually Sugrivas wife whom Vali forcibly took away. The Telegu Ranganatha Ramayana (4.4) has an even more interesting account of Taras origins that aligns her more closely with Ahalya, by also depicting her as not born of woman. In this account, Tara is said to have emerged along with the other apsaras during the churning of the ocean for amrita, the nectar of immortality. Tara was then gifted to Vali and Sugriva for the help they had given the gods. Subsequently, Sugriva married Sushenas daughter Ruma. The Thai Ramkien states that Vali was given a trident and Sugriva got Tara, but Vali snatched her away and married her. 11 Dr. Ratna Roy, in her performance of the Pancha Kanya dance in the Mahari Odissi tradition, interprets Taras predicament as a story that reflects our present crisis, telling of the plight of women during war. MANUSHI

Brihaspatis Tara
The earliest bearer of the name Tara is the wife of Brihaspati who runs away with his disciple Chandra, causing the Tarakamaya war between the devas and their stepbrothers, the asuras. The name Tara, therefore, carries an aura of internecine strife. Tara, like Helen with Paris, let herself be ruled by her preferences, ignoring social conventions in choosing to leave her ascetic husband for the young and irresistibly handsome Chandra. Even after the war, when the devas and the asuras fight again over possession of her son, it is she who has the last word. As this second war is inconclusive, Brahma himself requests Tara to declare who is the father of her son. Once again, Tara chooses to announce the truth instead of hiding behind the safety of conventions and declares that Chandra, not Brihaspati, is the father. That is how she becomes the ancestress of the Lunar dynasty, the Chandra Vamsa, whose fortunes are the stuff of Vyasas epic. Let us not forget that Tara is the name of the second of the Ten Mahavidyas (the ten Transcendental Wisdoms). Erich Neumann, while discussing the highest form of the feminine archetype, the Goddess of Spiritual Transformation, views Tara as the highest evolution of this universal aspect of consciousness. Her name signifies both star and the pupil of the eye, conveying the idea of a focal point, which suggests that Tara is in some manner a very concentrated essence. We can also interpret her name as coming from the causative form of the verb t.r, meaning to cross, to traverse or to escape. Like Draupadi, as we shall see later, Tara is she who ferries across, she who saves. Indeed, by her intrepid actions Tara, the wife of No.141

Vali, saves the kingdom and her son from ruin.

Mandodari: The Frog Princess

It is with Mandodari, Ravanas wife and the last kanya portrayed by Valmiki, that we face a problem. There is hardly anything special that Valmiki has written about her except that, like Tara, her assessment of the enemy is shrewd and correct. She warns her husband to return Sita to avoid destruction and has enough influence to prevent him from raping her. Of her birth, the dananva Maya states in the Uttara Kanda (canto 12) that she is born to him from the apsara Hema who left him after giving birth (as apsaras do). The Mahari Panchakanya dance composition, however, provides the following myth of her origin: A snake poisons the milk of a hermit as a frog watches. Realising the consequences, the frog jumps into the bowl of milk and dies instantaneously. The hermit, on his return, sees the frog in the milk and curses it for its gluttony. The curse reverses a former curse and the frog turns into the beautiful maiden, Mandodari, who is pure, fair, slender

and sharp, with voice like that of a vina (somber and majestic), with the gait of a white swan, flashing and restless eyes, and desired of all men.12 The story appears to be a version of the Oriya Dharma Purana (canto 5). 13 Two hermits, Mandar and Udar, refuse to share with the earth any part of their cows milk. Angered, she despatches her son Maninaga to poison the milk. A female frog resident in their ashram notices this and jumps into the vessel of milk to save the sages. By their curse, she turns into a kanya whom they name Vengavati and affiance to Vali. He, however, has sexual intercourse with her before marriage and she becomes pregnant. Ravana asks the hermits for her hand. When they refuse, he assumes Valis form (like Indra with Ahalya) and spirits her away. Pulled in opposite directions by Ravana and Vali, she splits into two, giving birth to Angad Yama and Vayu revive her. Thus, she is a double of Tara. Being obtained through ill means, she was named Mandodari; or perhaps she was

Ravana and Mandodari, Rajasthani traditional painting 9

named after the two sages who turned her from a frog into a woman. The Ananda Ramayana account (1.9.33-57) has Vishnu create her from the sandalwood paste smeared on his body to delude Ravana into believing that she is Parvati, whom he has asked for from Shiva. According to the Ranganath Ramayana, it is Parvati who makes the doll and Shiva breathes life into it. The doll is Mandodari, whose beauty causes Parvati concern; she has Shiva turn Mandodari into a frog. When Maya begs for children, Shiva restores the frog to human form and gives her to the danava as his daughter. Like Ahalya, Tara and Draupadi, Mandodari is also ayonijasambhava, once again, not-of-woman-born. There is an analogous myth about her origin in the Telegu Uttara Ramayana.14 Once, when Parvati was away, Shiva had intercourse with the apsara Madhura, who came to Kailash to worship him. On her return, Parvati turned Madhura into a frog. After twelve years, by Shivas grace, the frog took the form of Mandodari who was adopted by Maya and Hema and became the wife of Ravana. The sperm of Shiva which remained dormant in the womb of Mandodari when she was a frog began to develop, and finally gave birth to Indrajit. Thus, the socalled son of Ravana Indrajit of Lanka was an intelligence son [sic] of Shiva.15 Here we find another clue to the reason behind her name. Desiraju Hanumanta Rao, translating and commenting on the epic, writes, When Shurpanakha was claiming herself a befitting female for Rama, and belittling Seetha she uses words like krishodari, shaatodari meaning a female with feeble womb. So also manda udari slow, womb...lady with 10

slow conception... Mandodari gives birth to one Indrajit, son of Ravana, an extraordinary fighter, and all-conquering warrior. Had Mandodari given birth to one or two more Indrajits, a dozen Ramas have to take incarnation.16 In Rajasthan, the Sri Alvar Tirth of the Jains celebrates the power of Mandodaris chastity: Ravana, the king of Lanka observed the vow of taking meals only after worshipping God. Once he was going in a plane [sic] to a foreign country. When it was time for lunch, he landed near Alvar to take rest. He remembered the vow of worshipping God but he had forgotten to bring the idol with him. In order to keep the vow, Mandodari made an idol of sand and invested it with life by reciting the mantra of Namaskar. Having worshipped God with devotion, Ravan and Mandodari kept their vow. By virtue of the vow and Mandodaris chastity, the presiding deity made the idol adamantine. Thus, the idol of Parshvanathji worshipped by Mandodari and Ravan began to be known as Shri Ravan Parshvanath. 17

Not Her Husbands Shadow

Mandodaris importance for Ravana is highlighted in certain recensions which describe Ravana performing a sacrifice after his son Indrajits death. Vibhishana advises Rama to prevent him from completing the ritual. When Hanuman fails to disturb Ravanas meditation, Angada drags Mandodari by her hair to Ravana, tearing off her bodice and girdle so that her skirt slips. Upbraiding her husband for shamelessly countenancing all this, she exclaims that such a husband were better dead and calls on her dead son to protect her honour. That arouses Ravana who attacks Angada to free his wife, leaving the ritual incomplete and sealing his fate. 18 The Khmer Ramakerti account has Hanuman snatch away Mandodaris clothes to break Ravanas meditation. The Thai Ramakien provides a fascinating parallel with the Ahalya story and the myth of Vishnu assuming Shankhachuda or Jalandhars form to seduce his wife Tulsi. According to this telling, Mandodari had learnt the secret of preparing amrita from Uma. Assuming Ravanas form, Hanuman embraces her. By thus sullying her purity, her sanjivani yajna, performed to make her husband immortal, is rendered fruitless. 19 Like Tara, Mandodari accepts Vibhishana, her husbands enemy and brother, as spouse, either at Ramas behest or because it was the custom among non-Aryans for a new ruler to wed an enthroned queen. In the Mahabharata, the rakshashi Hidimba has no hesitation in pursuing her desire for Bhima, who has just killed her brother, and she even has a son by him. In the Mahanataka, when Mandodari asks Rama what her fate will be after MANUSHI

Kadambari Mishra

the war and the death of her husband, he prohibits her from committing sati and advises her to rule by Vibhishanas side. The Bengali Krittibas Ramayan, the Oriya Balaramdas Ramayan, the Thai Ramkien and the Mahari dance composition all refer to Mandodari marrying Vibhishana.20 Vernacular versions of the epic have Mandodari curse Sita that she will be abandoned by her husband, complementing Taras curse on Rama. The Adbhut Ramayana (canto 8) provides more insight. Ravana had stored blood drawn from ascetics in a pot and kept it with Mandodari, telling her that it contained deadly poison. Furious with his violating women during his conquests, she broke his injunction not to drink from the pot. By doing what she felt moved to do, Mandodari shows she is not her husbands shadow. The consequence is that she becomes pregnant, and, like Satyavati and Kunti later, discards the newborn infant in the field Janaka ploughs to discover the orphan Sita. 21 This is perhaps the reason why we see Hanuman in the Sundara Kanda of the Ramayana mistaking Mandodari (resplendent in bejewelled ornaments, fair, goldencomplexioned, beautiful, mistress of the royal inner apartments, embellishing the palace with her loveliness) for Sita in Ravanas palace. Tara and Mandodari are parallels. Both offer sound advice to their husbands who recklessly reject it and suffer the ultimate consequence. Then, both deliberately accept as their spouse the younger brother-inlaw responsible for the deaths of their husbands. Thereby, they are able to keep their kingdoms strong and prosperous as allies of Ayodhya, and they are able to continue to have a say in governance. Tara and Mandodari can never be described No.141

Kadambari Mishra

as shadows of such strong personalities as Vali and Ravana. To be continued

The author has written 22 books and numerous papers on Indology and Comparative Mythology. He is a Principal Secretary to the Govt. of West Bengal and International HRD Fellow, ManchesterUniversity.

Endnotes
1 Ahinik Sutravali, cf. Bharatiya Sanskriti Kosh by Liladhar Sharma Parvatiya, (Delhi: Rajpal & Sons, 2nd edition, 1996) p. 502. Sharma also cites the Brahmanda Purana, 3.7.219, but has not seen it himself (personal communication). The verse was not found in the editions of this Purana available in Calcutta. Sudhirchandra Sarkars Pauranik Abhidhan (Calcutta: M.C. Sarkar & Sons, 1963) has an entry on Panchakanya (p.287) giving these five names. This shloka forms part of Orissas dying Mahari dance composition, kept alive by Padma Sri Guru Pankaj Charan Das, his disciple Dr. Ratna Roy and Ritha Devi. The Guru told Dr. Roy that the text was by Ratnakar Bandhu (personal communication). Dr. Jan E.M. Houben notes (http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/ cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0302&L=indology& D=1&F=P&O=D&P=8493) a similar sloka in the Brahmavaivarta Purana, Prakriti khanda (16.68), celebrating famous women as emanations of the goddesses Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Durga, Savitri, Radhika, etcetera. All these are aspects of the supreme Prakriti herself, not created by Brahma, and they are the cause of all that is auspicious. Three of the five kanyas (Ahalya, Tara, Mandodari) are mentioned

here, along with Arundhati, Mena, Damayanti, Vedavati, Ganga and Yamuna (Manasa in the Bengal recension) Ahalyarundhati mena tara mandodari para Damayanti vedavati ganga ca manasa tatha. 2 Ramayana: Adi Kanda 48.15-34 (Aryashastra recension, Kolkata 1964) also known as Bala Kanda. Brahma Purana 87.7 specifically mentions puberty as the time when Ahalya is to be returned to Brahma. 3 Ramayana: Uttara Kanda 30.46. In Harivamsa 31. 31-34 she is one of the twins (king Divodasa being the other) born to Vadhryashva and Menaka. Vadhryashya is the son of Maudgalya who is one of the five sons of Vahyashva after whom the kingdom was named Panchala. There is no encounter with Indra in this story, nor is Menaka called an apsara, so this must be another Ahalya. 4 Ramayana: Uttara Kanda 30. Also Brahma Purana 87.44, 62 where Ahalya cites the ashram guards as witnesses that Indra deceived her by assuming the sages form and therefore she is not at fault. 5 Brahma Purana, canto 87 (Aryashastra recension, Calcutta, 1983). 6 Shiva Purana, 4.25-27 summarised by W.D. OFlaherty in The Origins of Evil in Hindu mythology (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1988) p. 298. 7 Somadevas Katha Sarit Sagara, Taranga 17 translated by V. Balasubrahmanyam (Calcutta: M.P. Birla Foundation, 1994), p.113. 8 Chandra Rajan: Re-visions (Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1987) p. 12. 9 Not to be confused with Tara, wife of Brihaspati, preceptor of the gods who elopes with his disciple Chandra, or with Taramati, wife of king Harishchandra in some Puranas and an example of a sati.

11

10 h t t p : / / w w w . m u r n i s . c o m / Valinesedances.htm 1 1 op.cit. p.469. 1 2 Parts III and IV of Guru Pankaj Charan Das repertoire presented by Dr. Ratna Roy. She states that the five elements earth, water, fire, air and ether represent the five virtuous women ( w w w. o l y w a . n e t / r a t n a - d a v i d / panchakanya.htm) and that the emphasis is on the purity of these women because they did not break any humanistic codes, only the strictures of an orthodox patriarchal society. Rama sanctifies Ahalya, Tara and Mandodari at the climactic moment of the dance drama. 1 3 Fr. Camille Bulcke: Ramkathautpatti aur vikas (Hindi Parishad Prakashan, Prayag Vishvavidyalay, 3rd edition., 1971), pp. 636-7.

1 4 Vettam Mani: Puranic Encyclopaedia (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975) p. 476. 1 5 Dr. Abraham Kovoor: Gods, Demons and Spirits, quoted www.uni-giessen.de/ ~gk1415/amorous-gods-andgoddesses.htm. 1 6 www.valmikiramayan.net/kishkindha/ sarga58/kishkindha_58_prose.htm However, Vettam Manis Puranic Encylopaedia states on p. 476 that Mandodari has 3 sons: Meghanada, Atikaya and Akshakumar. 1 7 www.jaintirth.org This ancient temple survived till the fifteenth century. The new temple was built in the year 1654 of the Vikram era, and the idol was reinstalled in the year 1983 of the Vikram era. Ravan Parshvanath is mentioned in many ancient scriptures and tirthmalas written from 1422 to 1689 of the Vikram era.

18 Adhyatma Ramayana 6.10. Bulcke op.cit. (p. 579) refers to the Telegu Dvipada Ramayana 6.133-135, Ananda Ramayana 1.11.229, Padma Purana Uttara khanda, canto 269 as having the incident as well. 1 9 Bulcke ibid. 2 0 Bulcke op.cit. p. 540; S.D. Singh, Polyandry in Ancient India (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1978) p. 141. Dr. Ratna Roy writes that, in Part X of the Mahari Panchakanya dance: In celebration of his victory, Rama places Bibhisana, Ravanas brother, on the throne of Lanka and blesses Mandodari as his bride and queen, virtuous in spite of her second marriage. 2 1 Bulcke (p.362-4) provides several references to Jain versions and the Mahabhagavata Purana canto 42 that tell of Sita as the daughter of Mandodari.

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12 MANUSHI

PART II: FIVE HOLY VIRGINS, FIVE SACRED MYTHS

Of Kunti and Satyawati

Sexually Assertive Women of the Mahabharata
Pradip Bhattacharya
Our five-part series, begun in issue 141, on the Panchakanyas of the Indian epics, takes its starting point from a Sanskrit verse in praise of five unusual women: Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari . In their stories, in their choices and the consequences these led to, we find upheld a pattern of values quite other than is conventionally understood to be the dominant code for women in our epics.
unti and Draupadi are two women who shape the entire course of dynastic destiny in the Mahabharata. Kunti chooses the scion of Hastinapura, Pandu, to wed, and becomes the mother of the epics protagonists: the Pandavas. By birth, she is a Yadava and her brothers son is Krishna, one of the major shapers of epic action. Draupadi, arriving virtually out of nowhere as the adopted daughter of Drupada, king of Panchala and rival of Hastinapura, becomes the common wife of the Pandavas and the cause celebre of the epic. In the Mahabharata, Draupadi and Kunti are not only closely related to each other as daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, but are also parallels. Kunti, or Pritha, is the daughter of Shoora of the Vrishnis, given away when just a child to her fathers childless friend Kuntibhoja. This rankles deep within her; she voices her resentment pointedly both before and after the Kurukshetra war (V.90.62-64). Growing up in Kuntibhojas apartments, she finds no mother; Kuntibhoja himself hands her over, in adolescence, to the vagaries of the eccentric, irascible and fiery sage Durvasa. Should she displease the sage, she is warned, it will dishonour her guardians clan as well as her own. Large-eyed and wellendowed, as her name Pritha connotes, she is strikingly lovely, and Kuntibhoja exhorts her No.142

not to neglect any service out of pride in her beauty. Kuntis relationship with Durvasa does not appear to have been easy. In the account she gives much later to Vyasa, she tells him that despite Durvasas conduct having been such as to provide abundant cause for anger, she had not given way to it (XV.30). She further states that she was constrained at the sages insistence to accept his boon, whereby any god would be compelled to answer her summons, and that she obeyed out of fear of his curse. The interaction that she describes after this between her and the sun god, Surya, is exactly similar the same insistence and the same fear. Kunti, like Ahalya with Indra, is curious. She wishes to test whether Durvasas boon really works. Significantly, this desire arises in her after she has menstruated. In her account to Vyasa, she frankly states that she had desired (sprihayanti) Surya, again reminding us of Ahalya when approached by Indra. Perceiving a radiant being in the rising sun she invites him, using the mantra. Once summoned, Surya, like Indra, will not return unsatisfied. He cajoles and browbeats the girl, assuring her of unimpaired virginity, and threatening to consume the kingdom and the boon-bestowing sage if denied. A thrilling conflation of desire and fear overpower Kuntis reluctance, and she stipulates that the son 21

thus born must be like his father. Kshirodeprasad Bidyabinode struck home in his Bengali play Nara Narayana (1926), with his succinct, yet profound, description of this encounter placed on Karnas lips: A maidens misstep, a gods prurient curiosity, A virgins curiosity and his shameless lust. (IV. 3, my translation) Kunti wins two boons from the encounter: her own virgo intacta and special powers for her son. In this she is remarkably akin to her grandmother-in-law, Satyavati the Queen-Mother; to Madhavi, daughter of the lunar dynast Yayati (to whose lineage she belongs); and to the Yadava Bhanumati who, too, has Durvasas boon that, if raped, she will regain her virgin status1 . Just as Satyavatis illegitimate son Vyasa protects the Pandavas, it is Kuntis illegitimate son Karna who becomes the mainstay of the sons of Dhritarashtra and, like Vyasa, also repeatedly challenges the authority of the family head, Bhishma. Little is written about Satyavati in the Mahabharata although she transformed the fortunes of the royal lineage of Hastinapura despite her low-caste origins. She obviously engaged the imagination of later redactors in the Harivamsa and even more so in Devi Bhagavata Purana (II.2.1-36). In her previous birth, Satyavati is named Achchhoda, daughter of the pitris (manes), cursed to be reborn of apsara-turned-fish Adrika, who swallowed king Uparichara Vasus semen.2 She resembles an early queen of the lunar dynasty, the illegitimate ashramite Shakuntala, daughter of apsara Menaka and king-turnedsage Vishvamitra, who insisted, before giving in to Dushyantas importunate advances, that the offspring of their union alone would inherit the throne of Hastinapura. We meet Satyavati in the epic and in pauranic accounts as an adolescent fisher-girl called Kali, because of her dark complexion, plying her boat across the black Kalinidi (Yamuna) with a lone passenger, the sage Parashara, who presses her to satisfy his desires. Finding 22

him importunate and, pragmatically concerned that he might upset the boat in midstream, she gives in to him on two conditions: that her virginity shall remain unimpaired and that the disgusting body-odour that attends her be removed. Thus, Kali the Matsyagandha (she who stinks of fish) transforms into Yojanagandha-Gandhakali (she whose fragrance can be smelled across a yojana) who later will captivate Shantanu, king of Hastinapura. When Parashara grasps her right hand, Kali smiles, ever so much in control, ever so mature, and says (my translation): What you are about to do, befits it your ancestry, your ascesis or the scriptures? Your family name is spotless; of Vashishthas clan are you. Hence, O dharma-knower, what is this you crave, enslaved by desire? Best of Brahmins! Rare is human birth on earth. Specially rare in men is Brahmin birth. Best of the twice-born! You are highborn, virtuous, scripture-versed, dharma-knowing. O Indra among Brahmins, my body stinks of fish, yet why do un-Aryan feelings arise in you? O twice-born! Your wisdom is doubtless most prescient, but what auspicious marks do you perceive in my body that you crave me thus? Does desire so possess you that your own dharma you forget? So saying, she muses: Oh! mad to possess me this dvija has lost his senses. Hell upset the boat and drown. Hes desperate, his hearts pierced by desires five arrows; Hes unstoppable. Then the girl tells the sage: Great one, be patient till we reach the other bank. Suta said Parashara heeded her well-meant advice. Her hand he left and sat quiet. But reaching the other side, the sage, desire-tormented, seized Matsyagandha again for intercourse. Quivering, annoyed, she spoke to the sage before her: O best of sages! My body stinks. Cant you sense it? Making love ought to delight both equally. As she spoke, in a flash she turned fragrant-for-a-yojana, Yojanagandha, lovely, beautiful. Making his beloved musk-fragrant, enchanting, MANUSHI

Aditi

the sage, desire-tormented, seized her right hand. Then auspicious Satyavati told the sage bent on coitus, From the bank all people and my father can see us. It is daylight. Such beastly conduct doesnt please me. It disgusts me. Hence, O best of sages, wait till nightfall. Coitus is prescribed for men only at night, not in daytime. In daylight its grievous sin; if seen, brings great disrepute. Grant this desire of mine, wise one. Finding her words proper, the generous sage at once shrouded all in mist by his powers. As the mist arose deep darkness shrouded the bank. Then the desirable woman spoke to the sage in dulcet tones: Im a virgin, O tiger among twice-born. Enjoying me, youll depart where you will. But infallible is your seed, O Brahmin. What of me? If today Im pregnant, what shall I tell my father? When, enjoying me, you leave, what shall I do? Tell me! Parashara said, Beloved, today having delighted me, you shall again be virgin. Yet, woman, if you fear, ask what boon you will. Satyavati said, Best of twice-born, ever you honour others. Act that neither my father nor anyone knows anything. Act that my virgin status isnt ruined. May your son be like you, wondrously gifted. May my body be forever fragrant; May my youth be forever fresh, ever new. Assuring Kali of her sons fame as arranger of the Vedas and author of the Puranas, Parashara swoops upon the consenting maiden. Having sated himself, the sage bathes in the dark waters of Yamuna and leaves, never to have any contact with her again. This fisher-girls striking character emerges from this interaction. Though she has but just reached puberty, a No.142

sage, howsoever famous, does not overawe her. Instead, she reads him quite a lesson in propriety, resisting his advances with remarkable presence of mind. Noticing his violent passion, she takes care not to refuse him outright, lest in forcing her he should capsize the boat. She buys time till they have crossed, hoping his passion will have cooled by then. Reaching near the other shore, she voices her irritation and disgust at his animal lust and draws attention to her own repulsive body-odour more than once. With a maturity and frankness that astonishes us even in the twenty-first century, she points out that coitus ought to be mutually enjoyable. Even after becoming musk-fragrant she does not give in, objecting to beastly coupling in daylight in public. Once again, the sage bows to the logic of her arguments and raises a screen of mist. Yet Kali still does not give in and raises the ultimate objection: what will her status be when he has deflowered her and departed? No one will point a finger at the highcaste sage, but what about her? With a maturity that is astounding for an uneducated pubescent girl, she harbours no illusions that the sage might wed her. Hence,

Raja Ravi Varmas version of the Satyavati myth 23

she obtains agree to the assurances of wedding only if her regaining her virgin progeny succeed to status and of the the throne. Thus fame of her she manoeuvres the illegitimate offspring. crown prince Only after these Bhishma out of practical aspects reckoning. When have been taken care fate plays her false of does she allow the and both her sons eternal feminine to die childless, she come forward, first asks Bhishma desiring to remain to do his duty as forever young, stepbrother and sire forever fragrant a sons on the widows gift that was Helens, by levirate (niyoga). and one that women Because of his vow of all times, of celibacy everywhere, have ironically the fruit of craved. The her own stipulation Mahabharata that her children version provides a must not have any fascinating glimpse rival claimants to into the feminine the throne he psyche: refuses. Now she And she, ecstatic ensures that it is her with her boon, blood that will run Conceived the through the ruling same day line of Hastinapura From her by forcing her intercourse with princely son Shantanu falls in love with Satyavati Parashara.3 Vi c h i t r a v i r y a s Matsyagandha is careful to tell the sage that, being widows to be impregnated by the son of her union with ruled by her father, she is not at liberty to respond to Parashara, the illegitimate, mixed-caste Vyasa. As the Parasharas demand. When she then breaks away from stepbrother of Vichitravirya he has the social sanction this, to assert her independence of action, she achieves to beget children on the widowed princesses. The that one-in-herselfness4 that is unique to the virgin. offspring, Dhritarashtra and Pandu carry no part of the After intercourse she does not become dependent on lunar dynastys blood in them. With her low-caste birth, Parashara, by clinging to him or insisting that the moment Satyavati does not suffer from high-caste hesitations in be made eternity through formalised marriage. The bringing her illegitimate son into the limelight. Rather, purpose of the encounter fulfilled, both break off without she makes him the decisive factor in the fortunes of any lingering backward glances or mushy sentimentality. Hastinapura, rivalling the shadowy authority of Bhishma, No romantic hope is expressed of meeting again, no guilt, who is instead ruled by her. Her disregard of social not even any anguished query about the child to be opprobrium stands out all the more when we find that born. Modern-day women could well wish that they were her royal granddaughter-in-law Kunti does not dare half as confident, clear-headed and assertive of their emulate her in acknowledging her illegitimate son Karna. desires and goals as Satyavati. Satyavati turns the renowned Chandravamsha, the Satyavati goes on to take Hastinapura, and its king lunar dynasty, into the lineage of a dasa maiden and Shantanu, by storm. When a love-struck Shantanu asks brings about a fascinating reversal in pauranic history. her to marry him, she once again displays her The epic and the Puranas say that the worlds first characteristic far-sightedness by insisting that she will monarch was Vena, who was slain by the Brahmins 24 MANUSHI

because he refused to obey their dictates. Seeking a successor, they churned his right thigh and produced a short, dark, snub-nosed human whom they named Nishada. However, finding his appearance not kingly enough, they assigned him the forest as his dwelling.5 It is this nishada tribe, deprived of its birthright, whose fortunes are restored by Satyavati. Long before Mahapadma Nanda established what is known as the first shudra dynasty in the country, Satyavati daseya (of the dasas, as Bhishma calls her6 ) accomplished it in Hastinapura. She pays special attention to Vidura, born of Vyasa and her daughter-in-law Ambikas low-caste maid, ensuring that he is brought up with the two princes Dhritarashtra and Pandu as their brother to become the undisputed conscience of the throne. Ambikas sister and co-wife Ambalikas son Pandu, unable to father children, has his wives Kunti and Madri beget sons for him employing the same means levirate (niyoga) by which he was born of Vyasa. Vidura and his father Vyasa become the protectors of the niyoga-born Pandavas against the conspiracies of their uncle, Dhritarashtra, born to their aunt Ambika by Vyasa. The Devi Bhagavata Purana records a very important detail absent in the Mahabharata. In VI.24.15 Vyasa laments that his mother abandoned him immediately after his birth; his survival he attributes to chance. In this, Kunti parallels Satyavati, each abandoning her pre-marital first-born to fate. Grievously upset by the death of his son Shuka, Vyasa returns to his birthplace in search of his mother, finds out from the fishermen that she is now queen and, wishing to be near her, settles on the banks of the Sarasvati. Delighted to hear of the births of his stepbrothers, he refuses to beget sons on the widows of her royal son Vichitravirya, as they are like his daughters, and intercourse with the wives of others is a grievous sin. Niyoga was permissible for a widow only at the instance of the husband (as in Kuntis case, ordered by Pandu), not of the mother-inlaw. Vyasa even tells his mother that preserving the dynasty by adopting such heinous means is improper (VI.24.46-48). Satyavati once again displays her mastery of realpolitik. Hungry for grandsons, desperate to propagate her lineage to keep the throne secure (her grandson Pandu inherits this trait, craving son after son), she argues that even the improper directives of elders ought to be obeyed and that such compliance attracts no blame, particularly when it will remove the sorrow of a grieving mother. When Bhishma urges Vyasa to obey his mother he gives in and engages in what he describes as this disgusting task (VI.24.56). Vyasa wonders whether progeny born of perversity (vyabhicharodbhava) can No.142

ever be a source of happiness (VI.25.28). How prophetic! Dhritarashtra, born from Vyasas encounter with Ambika, who shut her eyes in revulsion, is himself blind; Pandu, born from Ambalika, who turned pale with shock on seeing Vyasa, is sickly and unable to have children. Parashara and Shantanu were not Satyavatis only conquests. There was yet another, which shows what a ravishing beauty she must have been. In the Harivamsa 7 Bhishma tells Yudhishthira that, during the period of mourning after Shantanus death, he received a demand from the usurper of Panchala, Ugrayudha Paurava, to hand over Gandhakali in return for considerable wealth. The ministers did not allow the affronted Bhishma to attack Ugrayudha, invincible because of his dazzling discus, and tried to put him off peacefully. When this failed, at the end of the mourning period Bhishma killed Ugrayudha whose discus had, in the meantime, lost its power because of his lusting after anothers wife. This incident explains Satyavatis desperation for heirs; she was compelled to be all too conscious of the greedy eyes of neighbours on the empty throne of Hastinapura. In relentlessly pursuing her ends, she reminds us of the earliest queens of the lunar dynasty: the Brahmin Devayani and the Asura Sharmishtha. The one virtually forces king Yayati into an inter-caste marriage, while the other seduces him into fathering her sons in secret, slipping a move past her co-wife Devayani, just as, generations later, Madri betters Kunti. In both cases the younger wife charms her husband into giving her what she craves, successfully out-manoeuvring the elder. To be continued

Endnotes
Harivamsa, Vishnu Parva 90.76-77. Harivamsa 18.26-45. 3 Adi Parva, 63.83, P. Lal: The Mahabharata verse-by-verse transcreation, Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1968 ff. All translations are from this version unless otherwise specified. References to the Sanskrit text are to the Aryashastra (Calcutta) edition. 4 M. Esther Harding: Womans Mysteries, Rider, 1971, London, p. 103. 5 Vishnu Purana I.13, Mahabharata Shanti Parva 59.94 6 She is of the dasa race. Harivamsa 18.45 narrates Achchhoda being cursed to be born as Daseya Satyavati. Bhishma explains in the Anushasana Parva 48.21 that offspring of a Nishada and a Sairandhri (an orphan working as a servant maid) of Magadha are called madguru or dasa, and their profession is plying ferries, which is precisely what Gandhakali was engaged in. 7 Harivamsa Parva XX.50-73
1 2

The author has written twenty-two books and numerous papers on Indology and Comparative Mythology. He is a Principal Secretary to the Govt. of West Bengal.

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unti, Satyavatis granddaughter-in-law, is a remarkable study in womanhood. 1 Kunti chooses the handsome Pandu in a bridegroomchoice ceremony, svayamvara, only to find Bhishma snatching away her happiness by marrying him off again immediately to the captivating Madri. She insists on accompanying her husband into exile and faces a horripilating situation: her beloved husband insists that she get son after son for him by others. It is in this husband-wife encounter2 that Kuntis individuality shines forth. At first she firmly refuses saying, Not even in thought will I be embraced by another (I.121.5). Her statement is somewhat devious, as already she has embraced Surya and regained virgin status by virtue of his boon after delivering Karna. It is, however, evidence of her resolve to maintain an unsullied reputation. Unlike her grandmother-inlaw Satyavati, who had no problems with summoning her illegitimate son Vyasa to keep the Hastinapura dynasty running, Kunti does not acknowledge the existence of her premarital son. Nothing must interfere with the chances of Pandus restoration to the throne. She does not tell Pandu about Karna, even when, while trying to persuade her, he enumerates various categories of sons who are scripturally permissible, including kanin (one born to the wife before marriage). Children born with the sanction of her husband would be a completely different proposition from one born to her in adolescence as an unmarried princess. Hence, Kunti urges Pandu to emulate Vyushitashva, who died prematurely because of sexual overindulgence like Pandus father, but whose wife Bhadra obtained seven sons by embracing his corpse. Pandu refuses to invite death-in-intercourse with Kuntithough ironically that is precisely what he does with Madri No.143

Part III: Five Holy Virgins, Five Sacred Myths

One-in Herself
Why Kunti Remains a Kanya
Pradip Bhattacharya

In the first two parts of this quest we have explored two of the five kanyas, Ahalya and Mandodari of the Ramayana, seeking to understand what makes them such remarkable women, as well as describe what special features characterise all these kanyas.We are now entering the dense forest of the Mahabharata to discuss Kunti. To help the readers through its thickly interwoven maze of relationships, I have provided the broad linkages of these characters in a separate box (see opposite page).*
and tries to persuade her urging that (a) she will only be doing what is sanctioned by the northern Kurus (I.122.7); (b) the new custom of being faithful to ones husband is very recent; (c) precedents exist of Sharadandayani, Madayanti, Ambika and Ambalika. 3 ; Finally, he quotes Shvetaketus scriptural directive for implicitly obeying the husbands commands: The woman who, commanded by her husband to procreate children, refuses, is guilty of the sin of infanticide. (I.122.19)

This Kangra painting ca 1800 painting shows Draupadi, the Pandavas, and their mother, Kunti, eating a meal; then their figures are repeated as they lie down to sleep. Draupadis brother eavesdrops on their nighttime conversation to ascertain the identity of the ascetics. He then hastens back to report to his father to stop worrying about Draupadi because the ascetics are indeed princes in disguise.

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This makes no impact on Kunti. She cannot be browbeaten and her character is far stronger than her husbands. She gives in only when Pandu abjectly begs her: Sweet lady, I fold my palms joining the tips of my lotus-leaf fingers and I implore you listen to me! (I.122.29) Look at the sheer grace and power of her reply: Best of Bharatas! Great adharma it is for a husband to ask repeatedly a favour: shouldnt a wife anticipate his wishes? (I.122.32)

Only now, Kunti reveals the ace up her sleeve: where her husband had wanted her to approach some eminent Brahmin, she has the power to summon any god to her bed. Like her grandmother-in-law Satyavati revealing her final weapon Vyasa to Bhishma only in the last extremity, Kunti shares the secret of her mantra only after Pandu has been virtually brought to his knees. However, the choice of the impregnators remains wholly Pandus; Kunti has no say in it. Let us not forget that she had chosen Pandu as her husband from among all the assembled kings. Perhaps it is this love, never trumpeted for public

Kunti cannot be browbeaten and her character is far stronger than her husbands.
consumption, that drives her all through her life. Yet, just as Kunti was denied the choice of her sons fathers, she too denies her daughter-in-law Draupadi of any say in choosing her husband and ensures that all her five sons, not just Arjuna who won her, wed her. How pregnantly succinct is Vyasas account of Kuntis encounter with Dharma!

Relationship of Characters of Mahabharata to Each Other

The sage Parashara forces himself on the fisher-maidKali (dark)Matsyagandha (fish-odorous)Satyavati who is ferrying him across the Yamuna Krishna (dark) Dvaipayana (born-on-an-island) Vyasa (the arranger). Shantanu, king of Hastinapura, marries (m.) Ganga DevavrataBhishma (of the terrible vow), who abjures the throne and vows celibacy to obtain the agreement of Satyavati to marry his father. Shantanu m. Satyavati Chitrangada (killed in a duel) & Vichitravirya who becomes king in adolescence, with Bhishma as regent. Vichitravirya m. Ambika and Ambalika, princesses of Kashi (Benares) whom Bhishma abducts for this purpose. The youth dies without progeny. Bhishma refuses to break his vow and practice levirate on the widows as requested by the Queen-mother Satyavati. She summons her illegitimate son Vyasa who is a famous sage by now. Reluctantly he agrees blind Dhritarashtra and pale (jaundiced?) Pandu. The latter rules, as the former is disqualified because of his blindness. Dhritarashtra m. Gandhari (Bhishma had terrorised her father into giving her in marriage, whereupon she blinds herself by tying a cloth over her eyes permanently) 100 sons called the Kauravas (Duryodhana, Duhshasana etc.), one daughter Duhshala, and another son Yuyutsut from a Vaishya maidservant when Gandhari was pregnant. Gandharis brother Shakuni becomes their advisor. Shura of the Yadavas of Mathura Pritha, whom he gifts away in childhood to his childless friend Kuntibhoja who renames her Kunti. The sage Durvasa gives her an incantation (mantra) whereby she can summon anyone, even a god, for begetting a son. To experiment, she invokes Surya Karna, whom she sets afloat in a basket in the river, as she is unmarried (see Part II). Karna is rescued by a childless charioteer Adhirath and his wife Radha. Duryodhana makes Karna ruler of Anga and his fast friend. A son of Shura is Vasudeva, whose sons Balarama and Krishna are Prithas nephews. In a svayamvara Kunti m. Pandu. Immediately, Bhishma pays heavy bride-price and brings Madri as Pandus second wife. Pandu is childless, being cursed to die if he ever engages in coitus. In grief, he exiles himself with his wives in the Himalayas. Dhritarashtra rules. At his insistence, Kunti uses the mantra to summon Dharma Yudhishthira; Vayu Bhima; Indra Arjuna. At Pandus plea, Kunti teaches the mantra to Madri who invokes the twin Ashvinikumaras Nakula and Sahadeva. These are the five Pandavas. Pandu forces himself on Madri and dies in coitus. Entrusting her sons to Kunti, Madri dies too. Kunti returns to Hastinapura with the five Pandavas. Jealous of their cousins claim to the throne, the Kauravas conspire with Shakuni and Karna to kill them. The Pandavas flee into a forest where a rakshasi Hidimba m. Bhima Ghatotkacha. The Pandavas reach the kingdom of Panchala where Arjuna wins the hand of its king Yajnasena-Prishat-Drupadas miraculously born daughter Yajnaseni (emerging from the sacrificial altar)Krishnaa (dark)-Parshati (daughter of Prishat)-Panchali (of Panchala)Draupadi (daughter of Drupada). She becomes the common wife of the five brothers. Dhritarashtra asks the Pandavas to make their home in the forest of Khandavaprastha. Balarama and Krishna assist the Pandavas in building their capital Indraprastha by clearing the forest of Khandava. Arjuna m. Subhadra, sister of Balarama and Krishna Abhimanyu who m. Uttara daughter of king Virata Parikshit who becomes king of Hastinapura at the end of the epic.

* an a signifies parent of; an m. signifies married; a indicates alternative names for the same character; the main name of the character is given in bold.

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He smiled. Kunti, what can I give you? She smiled, A son. (I.123.4) There is no coy coquetry here, no bashfulness. A need is voiced to someone who is known and it is fulfilled. In the epic, Dharma is Viduras other name. He is Kuntis devara, younger brother-in-law, who is scripturally designated as the proper person to approach when levirate (niyoga) is required. We notice the difference when Kunti summons Vayu (I.123.15). Here she is described as smiling shyly, for he is a stranger. Does this not remind us of another woman whose smile was also so mature and meaningful: the adolescent Kali-Matsyagandha, Kuntis grandmother-in-law, smiling at the obsessed Parashara? 4 Not content with a virtuous son (Yudhishthira born of Dharma) and a strong one (Bhima born of Vayu), Pandu now wants a paragon. And so, it is the king of the gods, Indra, who fathers Arjuna on Kunti. Thereafter, however, Kunti has the last word where Pandus desires are concerned. Hungry for sons, much like his grandmother Satyavati, Pandu urges Kunti to give him yet more sons. Perhaps he might have been anxious, having heard of Gandharis miraculously obtaining hundred sons. Kunti bluntly refuses, quoting scripture at him, just as he had quoted Shvetaketu to her:

Surya appears at Kuntis call

Kunti shows remarkable control here. She refuses to be turned into a mindless womb seeded according to her husbands whim to satisfy his inveterate craving for male heirs.
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The wise do not sanction a fourth conception, even in crisis. The woman who has intercourse with four men has loose morals; the woman who has intercourse with five is a prostitute. (I.123.83) Kunti shows remarkable control here. She refuses to be turned into a mindless womb seeded according to her husbands whim to satisfy his inveterate craving for male heirs. However, while her mastery of scripture is admirable, the words subtly give her away. Arjuna is actually her fourth conception. She has had sexual intercourse with four different males (Surya, Dharma, Vayu, Indra). Out of her own mouth Kunti appears to condemn herself unawares as falling in the loose morals category. If she had truly summoned gods, Pandu would have seized upon this flaw in her argument (The woman who has intercourse/with four men has loose morals) and commanded her to have more sons of godly origin. The fact that he accepts her argument shows that the fathers of Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna were not gods.5 Moreover, Kuntis last words (the woman who has intercourse/with five is a prostitute) bristle with tragic irony, for that is precisely the category into which she

thrusts her daughter-in-law. In the dice-game it is Karna, her first-born, who, because of this very pronouncement, declares her daughter-in-law Draupadi to be a whore. It is significant that all this occurs in the Himalayas where even today in the Garhwal region polyandry is practised. Pandu, as we have seen above, had sought to persuade Kunti pointing out that she would only be adopting the custom of the northern Kurus. Later, when proposing that Draupadi marry all the Pandavas, Yudhishthira assures the shocked Drupada that it is the custom of their ancestors for brothers to have a common wife. Kuntis determination to protect her interests, Satyavati-like, is brought to the fore when she flatly refuses Pandus request to help Madri have more children. It is a revealing commentary on how Pandu discriminates between his wives, for he does not prescribe to Madri whom she should approach and leaves the choice to her. Then, despite the bravado he displays before Madri (I know that if I ask Kunti/she will not refuse me), Pandu slinks away before Kuntis fury She deceived me, said Kunti. With one mantra I gave her, she managed to get two sons. I am afraid she will get more sons than I. Scheming woman! What a fool I was! Had I known, I too would have summoned the Ashvins, and obtained twins. Dont come to me again, my lord, saying, Give her the mantra. I.124.26-28 The jealousy is clear, because Madri has consistently outmanoeuvred her. As Kunti herself admits to Madri, finding her in the arms of the dead Pandu, 27

Princess of Vahlika! You are fortunate indeed I never had the chance to see his face radiant in intercourse. I.125.23 Despite the mutual rivalry between the two women, Madris tribute to Kunti brings out the beauty of character that makes Kunti a true leader. Could I bring up your children/ as if they were mine? (125.42) Madri asks, lacking that firmness of will that rises above the egos petty bounds (Kunti always takes special care of the Madreyas, particularly the youngest, Sahadeva). Madri continues, You are blessed. There is none like you you are my light, my guide, most respect-worthy, Greater in status, purer in virtue. I.125.66-68 How true a thumbnail portrait of Kunti! Even as an adolescent girl her adoptive father Kuntibhoja found her exceptionally intelligent, pure in character and conduct, disciplined, sensitive. Since infancy, everyone Brahmins, elders, friends, kith and kin,was drawn to her by the unfailing and sincere respect she displayed and her devoted service. None in the city and the inner apartments was annoyed with her and even her treatment of servants was praiseworthy (IV.303.21). As a widow, she brings up five children in a hostile court, bereft of relatives and allies. Neither Kuntibhoja nor the Vrishnis come forward to provide shelter or support. A widowed daughter is an unwelcome proposition. In the Bhagavata Purana (X.49.8-13) she upbraids Akrura, when he visits her in Hastinapura, that her parents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews no longer think of her; that Krishna and Balarama do not consider her children as their aunts offspring, although like a deer surrounded by terrible wolves she No.143

lives among enemies, immersed in a sea of sorrows, with her utterly helpless fatherless children. Again, when the Yadavas visit Kurukshetra during a full solar eclipse (X.19-20), Kunti complains that she is truly most wretched in the world because, despite her kin being powerful, none made a single enquiry about her welfare when she was in danger. It is interesting to note the connection between her and her daughter-in-law Draupadi who, later, upbraids Krishna in almost similar terms. Hemmed in by adverse forces, Kunti swiftly turns to her grandmotherin-law Satyavatis favourite grandson by a servant-maid: Vidura. He proves to be her fast friend and more. He saves them from being burnt alive and it is in his home that Kunti takes shelter when her sons are exiled. He even accompanies her at the very end into the forest. No wonder Iravati Karve6 surmised that Dharma, the first god summoned by Kunti, was none other than Vidura, known as Dharmas incarnation in the epic. As we recall, it is the younger brother (stepbrother in this case), devara, who is the first appropriate person to turn to for levirate, niyoga. Hence that welcoming smile with which she greets Dharma in I.123.4. Once Bhishma has provided a roof over her head, it is Kunti who guards her sons. The insecurity is of such dimensions that she dare not inform anyone but Vidura, not even Bhishma, of Duryodhanas attempt to poison Bhima and the strangling of his charioteer. It is she who alerts Yudhishthira to mull-out the secret message in Viduras parting words couched in mlechchha dialect warning him against an attempt to burn them alive in Varanavata. Yudhishthira makes out the inflammable nature of the dwelling built for them and plays for time while Viduras sapper digs a tunnel underneath the floor for escape. Once it is ready, what an implacable will we find revealed in what follows! It is Kunti

who gets a Nishada woman and her five sons drunk in the festivities the Pandavas arrange in the House-of-Lac so that when it is gutted, people find the bones of six persons and no evidence is left of the Pandavas escape. As P.Lal, transcreator of the epic puts it, Instigating Macbeth-Bhima (to set fire to the house), was Kunti, bringer-forth of men-children only.7 No half-measures for Kunti where the security of her sons is at stake. If Duryodhana can plot fiendishly to burn them alive, she can sacrifice six lives to foil him, as earlier she had cast away her newborn son to save her reputation. With this ruthless holocaust of six Nishadas we realise that the Nishada dynasty Satyavati sought to establish continues only through Dhritarashtra and his sons, lasting for just two generations. It is replaced by the dynasty Kunti founds through her son Arjuna.8 Fleeing into a terrible forest, the Pandavas spirits droop. With unerring instinct Kunti rallies her sons: Hai! I am Kunti, mother of five sons, and I thirst for water sitting in their midst! (I.153.13) The response is immediate. Then, after Bhima has killed the ogre Hidimb he is about to despatch his sister Hidimba who has fallen in love with him. While Yudhishthira only prevents Bhima from killing the infatuated woman, Kunti, with remarkable foresight, seizes upon this fortuitous occurrence to cement an alliance for the friendless five: I can see no way of taking fit revenge for the terrible injustices that Duryodhana has done us. A grave problem faces us. You know Hidimba loves you Have a son by her. I wish it. He will work for our welfare. My son, I do not want a no from you. I want your promise now, in front of both of us. I.157.47-49 28

Ghatotkacha, the fruit of this union, is of inestimable value to them in exile and above all as Arjunas saviour from Karnas infallible weapon at the cost of his own life. Again, it is Kunti who instructs her first grandchild in order to ensure his loyalty: You are one of the Kurus. To me you are like Bhima himself. You are the eldest son of the Pandavas, Therefore, you should help them.I.157.74 Thus, the Kaunteya dynasty is slowly but surely structured into an entity with multiracial affinities. Earlier, because of Kunti, Bhima was befriended by the Naga chief Aryaka, her father s maternal grandfather. Now, an alliance with the forest-dwelling Rakshasas is established. Later, Arjuna will forge marital alliances with the Naga princess Ulupi and others. Kunti teaches her sons a lesson in attending to the welfare of the common man even at the risk of their lives. In Ekachakra, they take shelter with an impoverished Brahmin and discover him in anguish, as it is his turn to become that days meal for the ogre Baka. Overruling Yudhishthiras frantic remonstrances, she deputes Bhima to meet the ogre instead. In the exchange between mother and son, Kunti, as earlier with Pandu, emerges totally triumphant. Yudhishthira exclaims, Mother, what right had you to expose him like this? have you lost your reason? have our sufferings unbalanced you?I.164.11 Never again will he upbraid his mother in such strong terms, save once after the war when she reveals that Karna was his elder brother. Yudhishthiras outburst only shows his failure to appreciate the No.143

Kaunteya dynasty is slowly but surely structured into an entity with multiracial affinities.
profound wisdom and practical sense underlying Kuntis decision, apparently rash and fraught with life-risk to their sole protector. After pointing out that they ought to repay the kindness of their host, for He indeed is a man whose gratitude/exceeds the favour he receives, she reminds Yudhishthira of Bhimas extraordinary strength and then teaches him a lesson in kingship: It is a kings duty to protect even the Shudra if the Shudra seeks protectionI.164.15, 28 It is precisely in failing to extend this protection to the Pandavas that Bhishmas greatest failure lay as a Kshatriya. Kunti now pulls up her son masterfully and then explains the reasons for the decision: I am not foolish: dont think me ignorant; Im not being selfish. I know exactly what I am doing. This is an act of dharma. Yudhishthira, two benefits will follow from this act one, well repay a Brahmin, two, well gain moral merit a Kshatriya who helps a Brahmin gets the highest heaven in his after-life. I.164.20-22 Thus the people of Ekachakra are freed from a terrible menace by unknown benefactors. Kuntis maturity and foresight, the ability to observe life closely and use the learning from experiences to arrive at swift decisions benefiting her children, set her apart from and

above all characters in the epic, except perhaps Krishna. Kuntis decision to proceed to Panchala is another step aiming at winning its princess Draupadi to forge a princely alliance with the traditional enemy of Hastinapura and challenge the Kauravas. In Panchala she chooses to stay in the hut of a potter, even lower down in the caste and economic hierarchy than in Ekachakra. Thus, she brings up her sons from virtually the lowest economic rung of society to become rulers, in the process turning necessity to glorious gain. The enforced exile brings her sons into intimate contact with the common people, so that they develop the feeling for the felt needs of the vast majority that equips them to become true rajas, those who discharge the duty of pleasing their subjects. Kuntis foresight perceives that any split among the united five will frustrate the goal of mastering Hastinapura. Moreover, in Ekachakra (I.168.15) Vyasa had already briefed them that Draupadi was fated to have five husbands and urged that they proceed to Panchala to win her as their common wife. Hence she plays that grim charade of pretending not to know what Bhima and Arjuna mean when they ask her to see what they have brought home from the visit to the svayamvara. In I.190.29 we find Yudhishthira and the two Madreyas slipping out of the svayamvara hall after Draupadi has been won by Arjuna. Therefore, though the text does not explicitly say so, these three are already with their mother when Draupadi arrives with Arjuna and Bhima. Kunti knows that the only way to forge an unbreakable bond among the five is not to allow them to get engrossed in different wives. Up to then, their lives had been governed by her and revolved 29

five husbands, she effectively ensures that her daughter-in-law will never be able to point an accusing finger at her for having had sexual relations with four persons (Surya, Dharma, Vayu and Indra) other than her spouse.10 As usual, Kunti ensures that she has her way, this time with the help of Vyasa, her real father-in-law. Kuntis ambition for her children is finally voiced openly when she formally only around her. If that unified blesses Draupadi after the marriage focus is to persist, only a single ceremony: woman can replace her, not five. It May you be queen of is as though she were bringing into the kingdom of the Kurus practice the Atharva Vedic 9 with your dharma-loving husband injunction : in the capital of Kurujangala. May your drink be the same, I.209.9 may your food be common. Her nephew Krishna comes I bind you together with one forward with Yadava wealth to build common bond. up the Pandavas. The soundness of United, gather round Kuntis strategy is proved when the the sacrificial fire Kauravas plan to destroy the unity like the spokes of a chariot-wheel of the Pandavas by despatching round the nave. [III.30.6] lovely hetaerae to seduce them. Significantly, Draupadi is virtually born from the sacrificial fire-altar, Karna points out that being wedded yajna vedi, and is therefore named to a common wife of extraordinary Yajnaseni. Hence, Kunti deliberately beauty, this ploy is doomed. asks that whatever has been brought Hereafter, Kunti retreats into the be shared as usual. After discovering background, giving up pride of her mistake, her only worry is place to Draupadi. that something Proof of her must be done so that astonishing her directive does detachment is seen not become untrue in the Pandavas not (I.193.4-5). consulting her when Yu d h i s h t h i r a s invited to the dicespeech to Drupada game, which is so amply clarifies very unusual in the that the decision context of her overis Kuntis though arching influence the brothers have over them till the eagerly acquiesced, marriage. This first each having instance of her D r a u p a d i removing herself in his heart (I.193.12). from the decisionIt is also a making role leads to magnificent tribute disaster. to the total After this, she respect and implicit Draupadi marries Pandavas, Painting by Nandalal Bose emerges from the obedience paid by

Kuntis maturity and foresight, the ability to observe life closely and use the learning from experiences to arrive at swift decisions benefiting her children, set her apart...

the brothers to Kunti that is unparalleled in the epic. For example, despite all the paeans to Gandharis virtues, her complete failure as a mother to command any respect from Duryodhana only serves to highlight the qualities that make Kunti preeminent among all women in the Mahabharata: My mothers will is my will because I think she is right Isnt it said that obedience to gurus is a supreme virtue? What greater guru than ones mother? To me this is the highest dharma.I.197.29; 198.17 It is instructive to see how desperate Kunti is that her stratagem is not foiled. As Yudhishthira finishes, she immediately appeals to Vyasa: What dharma-firm Yudhishthira says is right. I fear my words will become as pointless as lies. And if that happens, will I not be tainted with untruth? I.198.18 Perhaps, subconsciously, she is also protecting herself. By manoeuvring Draupadi into having

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When her sons are exiled, she decides to stay back in Hastinapura as a silent but constant and visible reproach to Dhritarashtra about her sons violated rights.
shadows thrice to intervene decisively. When her sons are exiled, she decides to stay back in Hastinapura as a silent but constant and visible reproach to Dhritarashtra about her sons violated rights. Later, in Udyoga Parva, she tells Krishna, who has come on a peace-embassy, to urge Yudhishthira to fight for their rights as Kshatriyas must. She reprimands him for abandoning his duty as king and mistakenly believing that espousing peace is the proper dharma. To inspire him she repeats a tactic used in the Varanavata exile in the forest: Can anything be more humiliating than that your mother, friendless and alone, should have to eat others food? Strong-armed one, recover the ancestral paternal kingdom use gentleness, dissension, gifts, force or negotiation. Follow the dharma of rajas, redeem your family honour. Do not, with your brothers, watch your merits waste away. V.132.32-34 To inspire him further, she assumes the person of Vidula, narrating the tale of how she berated her son Sanjaya who was reluctant to face battle after defeat: Flare up, even if briefly, like tinduka-wood Do not smoulder away in billowing fireless smoke.11 No.143

To these twin spurs to prick them on, Kunti now adds the climactic motivation: the insult to her daughterin-law, mincing no words in upbraiding the five to arouse their hibernating manhood: The princess of Panchala followed all dharmas, yet in your presence they mocked her how can you ever forgive this insult? The kingdom lost did not hurt me, the defeat at dice did not hurt me; the exile of my sons did not hurt me so much as the humiliation of Draupadi weeping in the sabha as they mocked her. Nothing more painful than that insult.V.137.16-18 After this, in order to secure the safety of her sons, she takes the conscious decision to undergo the trauma of acknowledging her shame to her first-born. Not knowing that Krishna has already failed after approaching Karna with the same secret, baiting his offer with the prospect of Draupadi becoming his wife, The Vrishni lady, the Kaurava wife waited; she wilted in the suns heat like a faded lotus garland. She sheltered in the shade of Karnas dress.V.144.29 Though Karna rejects her as she had discarded him after birth, in that apparent failure lies Kuntis victory. For, she obtains his promise not to kill any Pandava but Arjuna. Moreover, she effectively weakens him from within. While he knows that he is battling his mothers sons, they are only aware that he is the detestable charioteers son who must be slain for his crimes against Draupadi and Abhimanyu. As for the criticism that Kunti remained silent about his birth so long, this ignores the fact of Karnas

unquestioning submission to Duryodhana. As Karna tells Krishna, if the kingdom were to be given to him by Yudhishthira, he would offer it to Duryodhana. Kuntis remarkable perspicacity sensed that Karna would not provide her sons the leadership needed to win back their heritage. Instead, he would lead them into serving Duryodhana. That is why she heroically steeled herself and silently bore the anguish in her heart, choosing the greater good of motivating her sons to win their kingdom over the evil of not acknowledging her first-born.12 Kunti has that rare capacity to surprise us that distinguishes the kanyas. When all that she had worked for has been achieved, she astonishes everyone by retiring to the forest with, of all persons, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, to spend her last days serving those who were responsible for her sufferings. Kuntis reply to her bewildered sons anguished questions is that she had inspired them to fight so that they did not suffer oppression; and that having glutted herself with joy during her husbands rule, she has no wish to

Kunti has that rare capacity to surprise us that distinguishes the kanyas. When all that she had worked for has been achieved, she astonishes everyone by retiring to the forest with, of all persons, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, to spend her last days serving those who were responsible for her sufferings
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enjoy a kingdom won Harding, belongs to by her sons. How herself while she is virgineffortlessly she unwed and may not be transcends the symbiotic compelled either to bonds of maternity! maintain chastity or to Seated calmly, she yield to an unwanted accepts death as a forest embraceThis liberty of fire engulfs her. 13 It is action involves the right to profoundly significant refuse intimacies as well as that the epic declares her to accept themIt may be the incarnation of used of a woman who has siddhi, consummation. had much sexual She is indeed the experience; it may be even consummation of applied to a prostitute. Its womanhood and the real significance is to be archetype of the modern found in its use as Unique Panchakanya temple in eastern Nepal phenomenon that is of contrasted with such concern all over the world hostile world, she establishes her married.16 today: the Single Mother. sons and ultimately sublimates the How precisely this delineates Why Kunti Remains Kanya ego, transcending the self to give up the unique quality of the kanyas! It is in the account of Kuntis life her life reconciled, made whole, calm Kanya has neither the pejorative that we find a clue about why she is of mind, all passion spent. connotations of spinster nor the Originally, virgin or kanya celebrated as a kanya. It is Surya who tells the adolescent Kunti while connoted precisely the opposite of Kanya has neither the responding to her summons, that the what it has come to mean. Ishtar and pejorative connotations word kanya comes from kan Aphrodite, the goddesses of love in of spinster nor the meaning to be satisfied, or pleased, ancient Mesopotamia and Greece, naivet that is associated to shine, be liked, or wished for, to were called virgins. The later strive after, desire, wish denoting patriarchal cultures denounced them with maiden one who is radiant, desired by all, as immoral and wanton. The boon of satisfied and pleased with herself. virginity is not just a physical naivet that is associated with Because the kanya is empowered to condition but refers to an inner state maiden. The concept becomes choose her partner, says Surya, she of the psyche that remains clearer if we study Madri, Ambika, is independent (IV.303.10; 304.13). untrammelled by any slavish Ambalika, Gandhari and Subhadra While giving her the boon, Durvasa dependence on another, on a who present the exact opposite: the had explained that anyone she particular man. She is one-in- married woman who is dependent summoned, whether he wished it or herself, an integrated personality on what others think and therefore not, would be bound to satisfy her who, in the words of Dr M. Esther does what she may not actually desires (IV.305.98). approve of. She is not one-inKunti is the pre-eminent example herself, but acts as a female The boon of virginity is not in our mythology of the kanya, a counterpart or syzygy to some just a physical condition personality that has successfully male. 17 Ambika and Ambalika but refers to an inner state integrated the animus with its silently accept their mother-in-laws rationality and heroic predilections to of the psyche that remains command to receive the repulsive master external adversity. 14 Vyasa. Madri commits sati. untrammelled by any Simultaneously, keeping her libido Gandhari blinds herself so that she slavish dependence on under control, she has not more than does not exceed her husband. another, on a particular one son from each of the four Subhadra is just a shadow like her man. She is one-inrelationships and does not choose to daughter-in-law Uttara. On the use Pandus hankering after more other hand, continues Dr. Harding, herself, belongs to sons to enter into more sexual The woman who is psychologically herself while she is... relations.15 Making her own way in a virgin is not dependant in this way. No.143 32

She is what she is because that is what she is. The woman who is virgin, one-in-herself, does what she doesnot because of any desire to please, not to be liked, or to be approved, even by herself; not because of any desire to gain power over another to catch his interest or love, but because what she does is trueshe is not influenced by the considerations that make the nonvirgin woman, whether married or not, trim her sails and adapt herself to expediency dependent on what other people think. Her actions may, indeed, be unconventional.18 Does not this describe Ahalya, Tara, Satyavati and Kunti? In the next part of this series, we will examine if it applies to Draupadi as well.

6 Iravati Karve: Yugantathe end of an Era (Deshmukh Prakashan, Bombay, 1969). 7 P. Lal: Introduction to Fascicule 19 of Mahabharata (Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1970). 8 A brilliant insight offered by Dr. Chitra Chaturvedi in her speech on Kunti in the seminar on Pancha Kanya of Indian Epics held on 27 December 2003 by the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata. 9 A.C. Bose: The Call of the Vedas (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1988, p. 262). 1 0 In the Bengali tele-serial Draupadi (1999), this is precisely what Draupadi does, brilliantly portrayed by Roopa Ganguli. Also, see Dr Nrisimha Prasad Bhaduris excellent study, Karna Kunti Kaunteya (Ananda, Calcutta, 1998). 11 Ibid. V.133.14. See Sri Aurobindos superb transcreation of Vidulas exhortation to her son Sanjaya. 1 2 Pradip Bhattacharya: Epic Women: East and WestSome Observations,

Journal of the Asiatic Society, XXXVII.3, 1995, p. 81. 1 3 Shaoli Mitra, in Katha Amrita Saman, M.C. Sarkar, Calcutta, 1991, p. 121, has Kunti persuade Gandhari and Dhritarashtra to walk towards the flames, welcoming release from this life filled with rejection and loss. 1 4 Charles Breaux explains the role of the animus thus: A womans conscious self is attuned to instincts, emotions, and intuitionsA woman, therefore, needs to learn how to focus her awareness. The animus helps her to clarify her purpose and meaning in life. Journey into Consciousness (Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1998) p. 68 following Irene Claremont de Castillego, Knowing Woman (Harper & Row, New York, 1973, p.77). 1 5 I am indebted for this insight to Smt. Suprobhat Bhattacharya. 1 6 M. Esther Harding: Womans Mysteries, Rider, 1971, p.103. 1 7 ibid. p. 125. 1 8 ibid. p. 126.

Endnotes
1 Pradip Bhattacharya: Themes & Structure in the Mahabharata, Dasgupta & Co., Calcutta, 1989; Asim Chattopadhyay: Karuna tomaye Kunti, Modern Column, Calcutta, 1991. Also, see Dr Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduris excellent study, Karna Kunti Kaunteya (Ananda, Calcutta, 1998). 2 Mahabharata I.120-124. The translations are from P.Lals verse-by-verse transcreation of the epic, Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1968 ff. 3 It is curious that Pandu omits the far more apt instance of his own ancestress Madhavi, who was given away by her father the emperor Yayati to four kings and one sage to produce sons, and of Marisha wife of the ten Prachetas sages. 4 See Part II, issue 142. Dr. Nrisimha Prasad Bhaduri op.cit. points out an interesting parallel in the Nala-Damayanti story where Damayanti is claimed by four godsIndra, Agni, Varuna and Yama, guardians of the four quarters. Nala is the fifth, the human, who becomes her husband after urging her to accept them first. Kunti shares two of these gods Indra and Yama/Dharmaas her sexual partners, while her daughter-in-law, Draupadi, has them as her husbands (Vayu and the Ashvinikumaras replace Agni and Varuna). 5 As Dr. N.P. Bhaduri points out (op.cit.), in the Brahmavaivarta Purana (4.115.72) this is precisely what Bana says berating Krishnas grandson Aniruddhas clan (the Yadavas) referring to Kunti having been a lover four times over Kunti caturnam kamini bhuvi.

Women Bhakt Poets

No one can stop you - Mira set out in ecstasy. Modesty, shame, family honour - all these I threw off my head Flinging away praise and blame, I took the narrow path of knowledge. Tall the towers, red the windows - a formless bed is spread, Auspicious the five coloured necklace, made of flowers and buds, Beautiful armlets and bracelets, vermillion in my hair parting, The tray of remembrance in my hand - a beauty more true. Mira sleeps on the bed of happiness - auspicious the hour today. Rana, you go to your house - you and I annnot pull together. No one can stop you - Mira set out in ecstasy.

Mirabai
Available in an attractive hardbound edition. Contains accounts of the life and poetry of some of the most outstanding women in Indian history from the 6th to the 17th century - Mirabai, Andal, Avvaiyar, Muktabai, Janabai, Bahinabai, Lal Ded, Toral, Loyal. Many of these poems had never been translated into English before. 120 pages, profusely illustrated Price: Rs 100 (+Rs 15 postage) Overseas Price: US$ 5 Send your orders to : MANUSHI C1/3 Sangam Estate, No.1 Under Hill Road, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054.
33

No.143

Part IV: Five Holy Virgins, Five Sacred Myths

She Who Must Be Obeyed

Draupadi : The Ill-Fated One
Pradip Bhattacharya
Draupadis emergence by Aditi

In the first two parts of this quest we explored three of the five kanyas, Ahalya, Tara, and Mandodari of the Ramayana, seeking to understand what makes them so special and, while en-route Pritha-Kunti, discovered in the Mahabharata her grandmother-in-law Satyavati, another remarkable woman sharing features that characterise the kanya. In the third instalment, we saw the remarkable character of Kunti, the first recorded instance of a redoubtable Single Mother. Now we meet the last of the five virgins, the heroine of the Mahabharata: Draupadi. To help us through the thickly interwoven maze of relationships, let us lay out the broad linkages: The sage Parashara forces himself on the fisher-girl, Matsyagandha-Satyavati, who is ferrying him across the Yamuna Krishna (dark) Dvaipayana (bornon-an-island) Vyasa. Shantanu, king of Hastinapura, marries Ganga DevavrataBhishma, who abjures the throne and vows celibacy so that Satyavati agrees to marry his father. Shantanu marries Satyavati Chitrangada (killed in a duel) and Vichitravirya who becomes king in adolescence, with Bhishma as regent. Vichitravirya marries Ambika and Ambalika, princesses of Kashi (Benares) whom Bhishma abducts for this purpose. The youth dies without progeny. Bhishma refuses to break his vow and practices levirate on the widows as requested by the Queen-mother, Satyavati. She summons her illegitimate son Vyasa who has become a sage by now. Reluctantly he agrees to impregnate the two widows
signifies leading to the birth of

blind Dhritarashtra born from Ambika who shut her eyes in aversion during intercourse and pale (jaundiced) Pandu from Ambalika who became pale from shock at Vyasas ugliness. Satyavati, therefore, insists that Ambika make good her lapse but the princess sends in her maid to Vyasa instead Vidura the veritable soul of righteousness. The younger Pandu rules as Dhritarashtra is disqualified because of his blindness. Vidura becomes the conscience-keeper of the ruler. Dhritarashtra marries Gandhari (whose father Bhishma terrorised into giving her in marriage. She blinds herself by tying a cloth over her eyes permanently) 100 sons called Kauravas (Duryodhana, Duhshasana, etc.), one daughter Duhshala, and another son Yuyutsut from a Vaishya maidservant during Gandharis pregnancy. Gandharis brother, scheming Shakuni, becomes their advisor.

Shura of the Yadavas of Mathura Pritha, whom he gifts away in childhood to his childless friend Kuntibhoja who renames her Kunti. The sage Durvasa gives her an incantation (mantra) whereby she can summon anyone, even a god, for begetting a son. To experiment, she invokes the sun god Surya Karna, born with celestial earrings and armour, whom she sets afloat in a basket in the river Ashvanadi, as she is unmarried (see Part II). Karna is rescued by a childless charioteer Adhirath and his wife Radha, after whom he is called Radheya. Duryodhana makes Karna ruler of Anga and his fast friend. A son of Shura is Vasudeva, whose sons Balarama from Rohini and Krishna from Devaki, are Prithas nephews. In a svayamvara Kunti marries Pandu. Immediately, Bhishma pays heavy bride-price and brings Madri as Pandus second wife. Pandu is childless, being 19

No.144

cursed to die in coitus. In grief, he exiles himself with his wives in the Himalayas. Dhritarashtra rules. At Pandus insistence, Kunti uses the mantra to summon Dharma Yu d h i s h t h i r a ; Vayu Bhima; Indra Arjuna. At Pandus plea, Kunti teaches the mantra to Madri who invokes the twin Ashvinikumaras Nakula and Sahadeva. These are the five Pandavas. Pandu forces himself on Madri and dies in coitus. Entrusting her sons to Kunti, Madri dies, too. Kunti returns to Hastinapura with the five Pandavas.

Jealous of their cousins claim to the throne, the Kauravas conspire with Shakuni and Karna to kill them. The Pandavas flee into a forest where a rakshasi Hidimba marries Bhima Ghatotkacha. Advised by their grandfather Vyasa, the Pandavas reach the Panchala kingdom where Arjuna wins the hand of its king Yajnasena-Drupadas miraculously born daughter Yajnaseni (emerging from the sacrificial altar)-Krishnaa (dark)Panchali-Draupadi. She becomes the common wife of the five brothers at Kuntis command and is Krishnas special friend, sakhi. to them for restoring his confidence after his humiliating defeat by Gandharvas and rescue by the exiled Pandavas. Yajnasenis complexion resembles the blue and red (nilalohita) kritya of the Rig and Atharva Vedas. Like Janamejayas serpent-holocaust ritual performed by priests in black robes, the rite performed for Drupada draws on nonshrauta (sacred) tradition, a departure from the auspicious vedic sacrifice and partakes of the nature of abhichara (black-magic), deathdealing, because of which Upayaja, whom Drupada approaches first, refuses to perform it. Here, too, there is a resemblance with Kunti because Durvasas boon to her is described as abhicharasamyuktamvaram mantragramam (I.113.34), invocations linked by black magic. In particular, it is linked to Yudhishthiras birth. Pandu specifically urges Kunti to summon Dharma with abhichara rites, upacharabhicharabhyam dharmam aradhayasva (I.39, 42).1

Dhritarashtra asks the Pandavas to make their home in the forest of Khandavaprastha. Krishna assists the Pandavas in building their capital Indraprastha by clearing the forest. The Kauravas deprive the Pandavas of their kingdom in a game of dice, in which Draupadi is staked and lost by Yudhishthira. The Pandavas are sent into exile for 13 years. Arjuna marries Subhadra, sister of Balarama-Krishna Abhimanyu who married Uttara daughter of king Virata in whose court the Pandavas take shelter in exile Parikshit who becomes king of Hastinapura at the end of the epic. by a skiey heavenly announcement that this lovely, dark (hence, one of her names is Krishnaa) lady will destroy all Kshatriyas. She appears, therefore, to fulfil not Drupadas purpose but that of the gods, responding to the Earths anguished prayer to lighten her burden of oppressive Kshatriyas. Despite being aware of this announcementor being conscious of itthe godsengendered Pandavas wed her and destroy the Kauravas, whose birth is entirely human. Her marriage to the son of Yama-Dharma, Yudhishthira, reinforces her ominous links with death. Even her very first appearance is as Shri in the Adi Parva (I.196), in the context of a twelve-year sacrifice Yama, the god of death, performs on the banks of the Ganga, during which there is no death in the world. Shri is a mysterious femme fatale weeping tears that turn into golden lotuses in the Ganga, luring the intrigued Indra into the presence of Shiva playing dice with his consort. Indra, not recognising Shiva, berates him for not showing respect and is despatched into a nether-world-like cave to join four other arrogant Indras (Vishvabhuk, Bhutadhama, Shibi, 20

Yajnaseni-Krishnaa-Panchali
If Kuntis is a death-in-flames, her daughter-in-law Draupadi is fire-altar born. Like Ahalya fashioned by Brahma, ocean-born Tara, Mandodari created by Vishnu or Parvati, and treeengendered Marisha (wife of the ten Prachetas), she is ayonija-sambhava, not of woman born. Like Athena springing cap a pie from Zeus head and Durga taking shape from the combined fury of the gods, Yajnaseni emerges in the bloom of youth from Yajnasena-Drupadas yajna vedi, sacrificial fire-altar, which is repeatedly cited as a simile for her hour-glass figure. Her manifestation does not require the matrix of a human womb and ignores the absence of Drupadas queen who does not respond to the priests summons, as her make-up is unfinished. It is significant that Draupadi emerges gratuitously at the end of a sacrificial rite performed to wreak vengeancethat, too, on the Brahmin Dronalike the kritya (a woman created by sorcery to slay an enemy) sent by the prince of Kashi against Krishna to avenge his fathers death and the kritya invoked by demons to bring suicidal Duryodhana No.144

Born to Destroy
Draupadis emergence is an unintended bonus for Drupada who performed the rite for obtaining a son to kill Drona. Her birth is accompanied

Shanti, and Tejasvi), all sentenced to be reborn on earth as the Pandavas accompanied by the cherchez la femme Shri as Draupadi.2

An Amorous Lover
Dark like her great grandmotherin-law Gandhakali and gifted with blue-lotus fragrance wafting for a full krosha like Yojanagandha, she knowslike her mother-in-law Kunti and great grandmother-in-law Satyavatimore than one man. Like Kunti she is also described as an amorous lover: Draupadi bhratripati ca pancanam kamini tatha. 3 Dr. Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri records an account narrated by Pandit Anantalal Thakur in which Duryodhanas wife Bhanumati sneers at Draupadi asking how she manages five husbands, kena vrittena Draupadi pandavan adhitishthasi. Draupadi swiftly responds that among her in-laws the number of husbands has always been rather excessive, pativriddhi kule mama4a right royal riposte that encompasses in a fell swoop her mother-in-law Kunti, grandmothersin-law Ambika and Ambalika (who are Bhanumatis, too), and greatgrandmother-in-law Satyavati. The story shows how popular memory has treasured Draupadi for her acute intelligence and forceful personality that took nothing lying down. Yet, hers is an immeasurably greater predicament compared to those women of her husbands family. Where theirs were momentary encounters, Draupadi has to live out

Lovely and Enchanting

Panchali, as she is called when she appears from the altar, is pregnant with double meaning: of Panchala and puppet. This presages how she lives her entire life, acting out not just her fathers vengeful obsession but as an instrument of the gods to bring death back to the world. She is the only kanya whose appearance is described in detail and it is, therefore, worth noting: eye-ravishing Panchali, black-and-smiling-eyed Dark-skinned Panchali, Lotus-eyed lady, Wavy-haired Panchali Hair like dark blue clouds, Shining coppery carved nails, Soft eye-lashes, Swelling breasts and Shapely thighs Blue lotus Fragrance for a full krosha Flowed from her body (I.169.44-46) Vyasa categorically states that the creator had so fashioned her that her loveliness surpassed that of all women (reminiscent of Valmiki about Ahalya) and enchanted everyone. The kings in the svayamvara hall are described as so tormented by the arrows of desire (kandarpabanabhinipiditangah) that even friends hated each other (I.186.5). When the brothers look upon her in the potters hut, they all lose their hearts to her. Noticing this, Yudhishthira recalls Vyasas prophecy and announces that she will be their common wife (I.190.12-14). No.144

her entire life parcelled out among five men within the sacrament of marriage.5 She shares with Satyavati and Kunti an imperishable, ever-renewable virginity: The divine rishi, narrating this wondrous, miraculous and excellent event said, Lovely-waisted and noble-minded indeed, she became virgin anew after each marriage (I.197.14) Is there a link with the Vedic marital hymns where the bride is first offered to Soma, Gandharva, and Agni and only then to the human bridegroom as her fourth husband? Somah prathamo vivide gandharvo vivida uttarah/ Tritiyo agnishte patisturiyaste manyushyajah// (Soma obtained her first of all; next the Gandharva was her lord./ Agni was thy third husband:/ now one born of woman is thy fourth./ Soma to the Gandharva, and to Agni the Gandharva gave:/ And Agni hath bestowed on me riches and sons and this my spouse. ) 6

She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed

According to the Villipputturs Tamil version of the epic, Draupadi bathes in fire after each marriage, emerging chaste like the pole star.7 This emergence from fire reinforces the kritya image and reminds us of Rider Haggards She-who-must-be-obeyed, renewing her youth by bathing in fire, an Anima archetype. The South Indian cult of Draupadi sculpts her holding a closed lotus bud symbolising virginity, as opposed to the open lotus of fertility Subhadra holds. Icons of Draupadi also hold in one hand a parrot, the Arjuna, Bhima bring Draupadi home, vehicle of Kama the god of Dhrishtadyumna watches erotic desire. 21

The parrot symbolizing the principle of desire, writes Archna Sahni, is poised atop the bud to tease it open, so as to begin creation. Draupadi, carrying the two interdependent and interactive symbols of desire and creation is none other than the goddess as the genetrix of all things.8 Thus, she is Shakti, who is at once virgin and erotic. She transforms herself into stone, like Ahalya, when touched by the demon Kempirnacuran by invoking her chastity in an act of truth. 9 She resembles Madhavi, ancestress of the Kurus, in retaining her virginity despite being many-husbanded. 10 Kunti herself describes Draupadi to Krishna as sarvadharmopacayinam11 (fosterer of all virtues), using the identical term by which Yayati describes his daughter Madhavi while bestowing her upon Galava.12 The conjunction of both occurrences of this epithet in the same parva is surely deliberate on the part of the seer-poet for drawing our attention to these correspondences. Madhavi regains virginity every time after giving birth to a son each to the kings Haryashva of Ayodhya, Divodasa of Varanasi, Ushinara of the North-West, and to the sage Vishvamitra. After this, Yayati holds a bridegroom-choice ceremony for her; but at that point she chooses to retire to the forest and become an ascetic. When her father falls from heaven because of his pride, she reappears to join her sons in gifting their joint merit to Yayati so that he rises back to the realm of the gods. Sharadandayani, whom Pandu mentions when persuading Kunti to have children by others, stood at night at crossroads and chose a passer-by from whom she had three sons. However, neither Madhavi nor Sharadandayani nor Kunti had to live out their lives adjusting repeatedly to a different husband from among five No.144

No husband have I, nor son nor brother, nor father; and O Madhusudana, even you are not mine! She exhorts that he is bound fourfold to protect her13: For four reasons, Krishna, you are bound to protect me ever: Im related, Im renowned, Im your sakhi and all revere you. (III.10.125, 127) The special relationship she enjoys with Krishna is seen not only in such dramatic confrontations but also in unexpectedly delicate, understated interactions. When Krishna tells Yudhishthira that Arjuna has one defect in his body that condemns him to misfortune, Krishnaa Draupadi glanced askance at Krishna in annoyance and Krishnas reaction is one of approval at her display of love (III.14.89).

Arjuna and Draupadi with lotus bud and parrot

brothers at specified intervals. Possibly, the only comparison can be with two women Yudhishthira mentions, both non-Kshatriyas: Marisha/Varkshi mother of Daksha married to the ten Prachetas rishis and Jatila spouse of seven sages, of whose lives we know nothing else.

Relation with Krishna

Her relationship with Krishna and with Arjuna is complicated. She is the incarnation of Shri, the spouse of Vishnu who is incarnated as Krishna. That is the secret of the unique intimate relationship between Krishnaa and Krishna which is one of the most enchanting features of the epic. On the other hand, she is wed to Arjuna, the partial incarnation of Indra. The Markandeya Purana (V.2526) seeks to solve this awkward situation of Vishnus spouse becoming Indras by indulging in some rewriting to declare that it was Indras wife Shachi who emerged from the sacrificial flames (instead of the epics altar) as Krishnaa, and she is wedded only to Indra who had divided himself into five. In Pauranic accounts, Shri leaves the demons and goes over to the gods to become Indras good fortune and prosperity. Draupadis insistence on accompanying the Pandavas into exile is, therefore, doubly significant: 22

A Mind of Her Own

A true virgin, Panchali has a mind of her very own. Both Krishna and Krishnaa appear for the first time together in the svayamvara sabha and make decisive interventions. It is Draupadis wholly unexpected refusal to accept Karna as a suitor (significantly, here Vyasa does not call her Panchali) that alters the entire complexion of that assembly and, indeed, the course of the epic itself. The affront to Karna sows the seeds of the assault on her in the dicegame. It is her sakha-to-be, Krishna, who steps in to put an end to the skirmish between the furious kings and the disguised Pandavas. She alone enjoys the unique relationship of sakhi with her sakha Krishna, an equality of status that empowers her to upbraid him much as his aunt Kunti does in the Bhagavata Purana:

their Shri has not abandoned them. Throughout the exile she constantly badgers Yudhishthira, desperately and tirelessly labouring to arouse in him a desire to win back what she symbolises and he has gambled away. Panchali, like Helen of Troy, is fully conscious of her sexual power. Satyabhama explicitly begs her to share her secrets of female sexuality by which her husbands are at her beck and call (III.222.7). She uses it in getting her way with Bhima in Viratas kitchen (IV.20) and with Krishna in turning the peace-embassy into a declaration of war (V.82). The captivating pose she strikes when alone in Kamyaka forest, enchanting Jayadratha, is a telling instance of this. Leaning against a kadamba tree, holding on to a branch with an upraised hand, her upper garment displaced, she flashes like lightning against clouds or like the flame of a lamp quivering in the nightbreeze (IV.264.1). Though as lovely as Sita left alone in the wilderness, no Ravana would have succeeded in spiriting Draupadi away. When Jayadratha seizes her, she repulses him so hard that he falls to the ground. Retaining full control of her faculties, she mounts his chariot on finding him bent on forcing her, calmly asking the family priest to report to her husbands. There is no Sita-like lamentation here, no shrill outcries for succour. As her husbands close on Jayadratha, she taunts him with an elaborate description of the prowess of each and the inevitable trouncing that will follow.

Draupadi going to Kichaka: Painting by Ravi Varma

Kamyaka forest when she finds a wonderfully fragrant golden flower saugandhika, she gives it to Yudhishthira and calls Bhima by the name usually reserved for Arjuna, using a ploy common to women for getting what they want from their men: If you truly love me, Partha, then bring me many more such. (III.146.7) Bhima, of course, obliges her with a vengeance, despatching hordes of Krodhavasha Rakshasas guarding the lake where these flowers grow. Just before this, we have seen how delicate she is. Unused to walking on hilly terrain, after covering just a krosha on Gandhamadana mountain en route Badari ashram, Draupadi trembles and falls: Trying to support herself on her elephant-trunk-graceful thighs, she slipped and fell like a plantain tree. (III.144.4) Again, it is Bhima who comes to her rescue, summoning Ghatotkacha to carry her. What is of interest is the reaction of the Pandavas here, deeply concerned and lavishing personal care on her, which is so different from their total indifference to her collapse in their final journey. It is Nakula who

rushes to help and calls out to Yudhishthira who, taking her head on his lap, grieves: The soft hands, face and lotus-feet of this lady, deserving the finest cosmetics, are dark-blue todayall my fault! my obsession with dice is the cause of all this! I am reduced to seeing her in an animal-infested forest! Saying, O auspicious one, Kalyani, You will find happiness with Pandavas King Drupada bestowed on us his large-eyed daughter. And now, broken down with the rigours of sorrow and travelall my fault!she lies unhappy on the ground. The twins, with bowstring-scarred hands, began massaging gently her red-soled feet graced by all the auspicious signs. (III.144.11-14, 20) Draupadi makes a similar request when they come across multicoloured flowers lying on the banks of Ashvaratha River. Seeking Bhima out when he is alone, shrewdly she first praises Arjunas prowess in the burning of Khandava forest and urges Bhima that he, too, is like Indra in might and should free the mountain peak of rakshasas because, Bhima, I have wanted this for a long time. I want to be on the summit, protected by you. Foe-chastising, mighty-armed Bhima seemed to come under a spell; he stood like a proud, whip-tormented bull. (III.160.26-27) Voicing what she fancies, she appeals to his masculine ego by wanting his protection and comparing him to his younger brother. His amour propre wounded and his manhood appealed to, Bhima rushes to decimate 23

Art and Craft of Sexual Power

The manner in which Draupadi manipulates Bhima to get what she wants is a fascinating lesson in the art and craft of sexual power. She does not turn to Arjuna, knowing him to be a true disciple of Yudhishthira as seen in the dice-game. Then Bhima alone had roared out his outrage. In No.144

rakshasas and their leader Maniman on Gandhamadanas peak, winning Kuberas approval for what he has done for Krishnaa depending on his own prowess.

Never Forgets or Forgives

After the terrible trauma of her humiliation in the Kaurava court, Draupadis most trying ordeal is when Sudeshna, Viratas queen, despatches her to meet her brother Kichaka who is maddened by her beauty. It is Bhima, again, to whom Draupadi turns for revenge when Kichaka, whom she has shaken off as she had done Jayadratha and rushed for protection into Viratas court, has kicked her in the presence of the king and the disguised Yudhishthira. Her eldest husband, instead of coming to her rescue, reprimands her for making a scene and disturbing the kings dicegame and commands her to repair to the womens apartments. Furious, Panchali (as Vyasa refers to her more than once in this sequence) seeks out Bhima in the dark of the night in Viratas palace, as a maidservant (befittingly her disguise is that of Sairandhri) would steal out on an assignation. Finding him asleep in the kitchen, she snuggles up to him like a woman aroused (clearly it is planned seduction), as a wild shecrane presses close to its mate and a three-year old cow in season rubs against a bull. She twines herself round him as a creeper entwines a massive shala tree on Gomatis banks, as a lioness clasps the sleeping king of beasts in a dense forest, as a sheelephant embraces a huge tusker. As Bhima awakens in her arms, Draupadi administers the coup-de-grace by addressing him in dulcet vina-like tones pitched at the Gandhara note, the third in the octave. To rouse his anger, she narrates all her misfortunes, even how she, a princess, has now to carry water for No.144

the queens toilet and particularly mentions how she swoons when he wrestles with wild beasts, having to bear barbed comments from maids. She laments over mighty Arjuna, consumer of Khandava, hiding in the inner apartments in female attire instead of protecting her and exclaims what can be more painful than her wasting away despite her husbands being alive. Finally, in an ineffable feminine touch, she extends to him her palms chapped with grinding unguents for the queen. His reaction is all that she had planned for so consummately: Wolf-waisted foe-crushing Bhima covered His face with the Delicate,chapped hands of his wife, And burst into tears. (IV.20.30) Kichakas death is sealed. When Bhima has pounded him into a misshapen lump, Panchali recklessly flaunts the horror before his kin, revelling in her revenge. They abduct her to burn her with his corpse and she has, once again, to be saved by Bhima. There is a piquant touch added in a Kannada folk myth. To grant Draupadis prayer that Bhima should never forget her sorrow, Krishna creates onions and throws them into Viratas kitchen, so that whenever

Bhima peels one, his eyes burn and he recalls Draupadi.15 Even after the war, when Ashvatthama has slain all her sons in a night-raid, it is to Bhima that she turns for wreaking revenge.

Ill-fated from Birth

Catching these nuances, in her splendid recreation of Draupadis last moments in Yuganta, Iravati Karve has her whisper to Bhima, Aryaputra, in the next birth, be the eldest! There is, undoubtedly, a special relationship between them, which Bhatta Narayana dramatized in his play Venisamhara (6.40-41): With this very hand smeared with Suyodhanas blood I will bind up Panchalis black tresses, pulled apart by Duhshasana. My queen, daughter of the Panchala king Look at me, and cease this fearful trembling. Touch this blood, clotted on my hands all that remains of the beast Duhshasana who dragged you into the council of kings and, beloved, touch this blood as well, still liquid and smeared on all my body, of the Kuru king whose thigh my mace crushed to extinguish the fire of your disgrace.16 As women, both Kunti and Draupadi are singularly ill fated. Like her mother-in-law, Draupadi never enjoys possession of her first love. Kunti had chosen Pandu above all kings in the svayamvara ceremony and lost him to the voluptuous Madri. How deeply this pained her is voiced frankly as she finds Pandu lying dead in her co-wifes arms (I.125.23). Similarly, before Arjunas turn came to be with Draupadi, he chose exile. Her anguish at losing him to Ulupi, Chitrangada and Subhadra in succession is expressed with moving abhimana, hurt self-image: 24

Kichaka insults Draupadi in court14 : Painting by Ravi Varma

Go son of Kunti, where she of the Satvatas is! A second knot loosens the first, however tightly re-tied. (I.220.17) During their exile, when he has left to acquire weapons from the gods, she voices how much she misses him in plangent verses: Arjuna with two hands was like Kartavirya-Arjuna with many; without that excellent Pandava, this forest has no charm. Wherever I look, I see only an empty earth. This forest, with its flowering trees, its pleasing sights, gives me no pleasure at all, for Arjuna is absent; his skin is the colour of dark blue clouds, his strength an elephants. Without that lotus-eyed hero, how insipid is the Kamyaka forest! I think of the thunderroaring twang of the bow of ambidextrous Arjuna, and my peace is gone. (III.80.12-15) As we have seen, she always gets Bhima to do what she wants by bringing in comparisons with Arjunas prowess.

her hand. The very first night in the potters hutwhere the disguised Pandavas have taken shelter in Panchalasees mother-in-law and daughter-in-law paralleling each other in their sleeping postures. Kunti lies horizontally at the Pandavas heads, while Yajnaseni lays herself down similarly at their feet, silently. Does Vyasas story of her asking for many husbands in an earlier birth represent a psychological truth about Krishnaa the kanya?18 Later, the manner in which she is described by her husband Yudhishthira, as he stakes her like chattel at dice, wipes out her very individuality as a human being. We are reminded that when she emerged from the fire-altar she was called Panchali, also meaning puppet: Neither short nor tall, neither dark nor pale, with wavy dark-blue hair, eyes like autumn-lotus leaves, fragrant like the lotus extraordinarily accomplished, soft-spoken and gentle She is the last to sleep, the first to wake

even earlier than the early-rising cowherds and shepherds. Her sweat-bathed face is lovely, like the lotus, like the jasmine; slim-waisted like the middle of the sacred vedi, long-haired, pink-lipped, and smooth-skinned. (II.65.33-37)

From Passive to Aggressive

It is then that, all of a sudden, we find a complete reversal from meek passivity to an extraordinarily articulate and forceful expression of a personality that towers above all the men in the royal court. Fire-altar-born Yajnaseni shocks everyone by challenging the Kuru elders very concept of dharma in a crisis where the modern woman would collapse in hysterics. Her questions show her to be intellectually far superior to all the courtiers. Instead of meekly obeying her husbands summons, as expected from her conduct so far, she sends back a query which remains unanswered till the end of the epic: can a gambler, having lost himself, stake his wife at all? She has a brilliant mind, is utterly one-in-herself in Esther Hardings phrase for the

Puppet like Submission

As Draupadi replaces Kunti as the central female interest in the epic with the Sabha Parva, there appears to be a sudden decline in the status of women.17 This begins with her silent consent to the shocking dispensation of becoming the common wife of five brothers. Her father and brother protest, but she does not utter a word throughout the multiple exchanges between them, Kunti, Yudhishthira, and Vyasa. This is significant because, immediately before this, she had astonished everyone by publicly refusing to accept Karna as a suitor despite Drupadas announcement that anyone passing the test would win No.144

Draupadi and dice by M.F. Hussain

25

virgin, and does not hesitate to berate the Kuru elders for countenancing wickedness. As Karna directs her to be dragged away to the servants quarters, she cries out to her silent husbands. Finding no response, with quicksilver presence of mind she seizes upon a social ritual to wrest some moments of respite from pillaging hands. Her speech drips with sarcasm. The elders whom she ceremoniously salutes, deliberately using the word duty, have remained silent in the face of Viduras exhortation to do their duty and protect the royal daughterin-law. Significantly, it is only Vikarna, one of the junior Kauravas, and a servant-maids son Vidura who voice their outrage. The epic says that it was Dharma (Viduras other name) who protected Draupadi when she was sought to be stripped. Let us attend to Draupadis choice of words: One duty remains, which I must now do. Dragged by this mighty hero, I nearly forgot. I was so confused. Sirs, I bow to all of you, all my elders and superiors. Forgive me for not doing so earlier. It was not all my fault, gentlemen of the sabha. (II.67.30) It is a mighty hero who is dragging into public view his singlecloth-clad menstruating sister-in-law by her hair. She has nearly forgot her duty, while the elders are wholly oblivious of theirs, despite being reminded by a servant-maids son. It is surely not her fault that she is being outraged and it is certainly not she who is so confused, but rather the Kuru elders, of whom Bhishma says, Our elders, learned in dharma, Drona and others, sit No.144

Disrobing Draupadi,Basholi 18th c.19

Here with lowered eyes like dead men with life-breaths gone. (II.69.20)

Rescuer of Husbands
When the repentant Dhritrarashtra offers her boons, Yajnaseni takes advantage of this to win back freedom for her enslaved husbands. Karna pays her a remarkable tribute, saying that none of the worlds renowned beautiful women had accomplished such a feat: like a boat she has rescued her husbands who were drowning in a sea of sorrows (II.72.1-3). Later, (Udyoga Parva 29.41-42), Krishna reiterates her remarkable deed saying: That day Krishnaa did a deed exceedingly pure and difficult. Herself and the Pandavas she lifted up as in a ship from the swell of the terrible sea. With striking dignity, she refuses to take the third boon Dhritarashtra offers. For, with her husbands free and in possession of their weapons from his two boons, she does not need any gift from anyone. Can we even imagine any woman married off to five brothers, though won by one, and made to spend a year with each in turn, regardless of her own feelings, so that none has more of her than the others? Be staked at dice by her

husband like an insensate object? Suffer molestation in public, with her husbands sitting mute? Face abduction in the forest and see her husband forgive Jayadratha the abductor? Be molested again in Viratas court, be reprimanded by her husband for making a scene, and be carried off to be burnt alive? With war imminent, witness her husbands ask Krishna to sue for peace? Finally, find all her kith and kin and sons slainand still remain sane? And not just sane, but in such command of her intellectual faculties as to succeed in persuading Yudhishthira to rule instead of taking to the forest after the war? An illuminating contrast can be seen in Shaivya (also called Taramati), wife of king Harishchandra. 20 She does not utter a word when Vishvamitra drives her out of her kingdom, belabouring her with a stick because she is too exhausted to move swiftly (VII.29). She herself suggests to Harishchandra that, since she has fulfilled her function by presenting him with a son, he should sell her to pay Vishvamitra what he requires (VIII.30-31). When the Brahmin to whom she is sold drags her by the hair, she remains silent (VIII.56). This is precisely the paradigm of the patrivrata, chaste wife, who utterly wipes out her own self and lives only in, through, and for her husband.

Crafts Her Own Morality

The kanyas personality, on the other hand, blazes forth, quite independent of her spouse and her offspring. She seeks to fulfil herself regardless of social and family norms. Draupadi does not rest until the revenge her father sought is complete and the insult she suffered is wiped out in blood. Through the thirteen years of exile, she never allows her 26

husbands and her sakha to forget how she was outraged and how they were deceitfully deprived of their kingdom. The marital relationship between Draupadi and the Pandavas is constantly that of a mahout goading a somnolent elephant into the fray. Krishnaas urging Yudhishthira in the forest that karma and individual enterprise, purushartha, are indispensable to preserve society and ones integrity anticipates her sakha Krishnas discourse to Arjuna on the battlefield. She is the only one among the Pandavas and Kauravas who assumes an atheistic, nastika, stance in a violent outburst, like one who does not believe in scriptural norms of morality. This calls forth Yudhishthiras plea that she abandon criticising the dharma observed by the strictly scripturalas he is doing in accepting the exile for 13 years, sticking to the conditions of the dicegamefor that is nastika heresy. She gives this back in full measure after the war when he wishes to become a hermit, saying that were his brothers not as crazy as he, they would have tied him up as an atheist non-believing in raja-dharma and ruled the kingdom themselves (XII.14.33). The healthy respect in which her husbands hold her has been well brought out in Rajshekhar Basus delightful take-off Panchali Beloved of the Five.21 In exile she says (III.32, III.30.23) that creatures are like wooden dolls (darumayi yosha) in the hands of a whimsical creator, recalling the significance of her own name Panchali, anticipating King Lears heart-wrenching, As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods/They kill us for their sport, and Thomas Hardys, the President of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess. This, she says, is part of the political science she learned No.144

listening to a learned Brahmin discoursing to her father and brothers (III.30.60-61). The complete account of income and expenditure of her husbands was in her grasp, and she alone knew the extent of their wealth. She kept track of what each of the many maidservants attending on her husband was doing. It is she who used to make all the arrangements for Yudhishthiras tours, keeping count of the large retinue of horses and elephants and their quartering, laying aside her own comfort (III.233.458). It is not without justification that she is called a pandita, scholar (III.28.2).22 A particularly piquant revelation is that she takes particular care never to surpass her mother-in-law in ornaments, dress, and even the food taken, besides controlling herself to avoid all criticism of Kunti (III.233. 38, 41). When she finds her husbands, except Sahadeva, and even her sakha Krishna in favour of suing for peace, she brings to bear all her feminine armoury to turn the course of events inexorably towards war. Pouring out a litany of her injuries, she takes up her serpentlike thick glossy hair and, with eyes streaming with tears that wet her breasts, urges Krishna to recall these tresses when he sues for peace.23 At this point, Shaonli Mitras Draupadi24 asks Krishna whether, if she agrees to forgive the Kauravas as he wishes, he will guarantee that in future no woman will be outraged as she has been. Krishna remains silent. The epic recounts that after Dvaraka was submerged, the mighty archer Arjuna failed to protect the Yadava women from being abducted by staff-wielding Abhirs. In the epic, sobbing with rage and hurt, she declares that her five sons led by Abhimanyu and her old father and

brothers will avenge her if her husbands will not. Krishnas response is all that she has been aiming at: Consider those you disfavour As already dead! The Himavant hills may move, the Earth shatter In a hundred pieces, heaven collapse; My promise stands You will see your enemies killed. (V.82.45, 48) The course of the epic is determined by the dark five and Kunti, of whom three are kanyas: Kali-Satyavati, Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa, Vasudeva Krishna, Arjuna, Draupadi-Krishnaa, and Kunti. While Yamunas black waters link the first three, Arjuna is a second Krishna while Satyavati, Kunti, and Draupadi are prototypes of one another. It is Draupadi, Krishna, and Arjuna who jointly persuade Yudhishthira not to pursue his decision to renounce the throne after the war, with Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa adding his voice to clinch the case. There is also a thematic motif of Ganga opposed to Yamuna. Hastinapura ruled by the Kauravas is on the Ganga, while Indraprastha established by the Pandavas is on the Yamuna. It is Krishna, Krishnaa, Arjuna, and Vyasa, all linked with the Yamuna, who are opposed by Bhishma, son of Ganga.

Relations with Other Women

What do other women have to say about Draupadi? Krishnas favourite wife Satyabhama circumambulates Draupadi in admiration and in gratitude (III.224). Draupadis only rival is Krishnas favourite sister Subhadra. Yet, when meeting Draupadi for the first time, she is sent by Arjuna dressed as a gopika (cowgirl) to gain her favour. Vyasa himself describes her in Vana 27

Parva as priya ca darshaniya ca pandita ca pativrata, beautiful, learned, devoted to her husbands and beloved of them (III.27.2). Like a mother, she first feeds her husbands and all Brahmins and only then assuages her hunger with what is left over (III.50.10). Kunti asks Krishna to convey to that auspicious and renowned Krishnaa, O Krishna, that what irked me most was not losing the kingdom or the exile of my sons, but the humiliation of that great dark woman weeping in the assembly hall as they mocked her. Nothing more painful than that insult. She urges him to tell Arjuna from her side to follow Draupadis path (V.137.17-19). As with Kunti, the power and nobility that radiates from Draupadi places her far above the other female characters and most of the male. When Jatasura abducts Draupadi along with the twins and her eldest husband Yudhishthira, his warning to the rakshasa contains a significant revelation of her destructiveness: In touching this woman you have drunk a jar of well-stirred poison. (III.157.26) While she is like a boat to her husbands, saving them from drowning in the sea of distress, to the wicked she is death itself. Her impact is borne witness to by none other than Duryodhana in his speech to Kripa after Karnas death: Krishnaa-Draupadi, anguished Krishnaa, engages in fierce ascesis to destroy me and ensure her husbands success; ever she lies on the ground. Even Vasudevas sister, discarding status and pride, became as Krishnaas maid, ever obeying her. (IX.4.18-19) No.144

In keeping with her deadly role, she is left childless after the war, her sakha having taken no steps to protect her five sons from assassination. Indeed, the dark, fiery, virgin, Draupadi is the counterpoint of the fair, traditional wife, very auspicious Subhadra who becomes subordinate to the overwhelming destructive nature of her senior co-wife.25

husbands to satisfy her sexual craving. Thereupon, she practised severe penance and pleased Shiva, obtaining the boon of regaining virginity after being with each husband. 26 By asserting her womanhood and refusing to accept a life of blind subservience to her husband, Nalayani the sati was transformed into Yajnaseni the kanya.

Sati who Turns Kanya

Draupadi is the only instance in epic mythology of a sati becoming a kanya. Addressing Krishna in anguish when they meet in the forest, she exclaims accusingly, O Krishna, despite being a sati admired of women, I was, in the very presence of Pandus sons, O Madhusudana, dragged by my hair

Her Earlier Incarnations

According to the Brahmavaivarta Purana, 27 she is the reincarnation of the shadow-Sita who was Vedavati reborn after molestation at Ravanas hands and would become the Lakshmi of the fourteen Mahendras in Svarga, of whom five incarnated as the Pandavas. Because she existed in the three yugas (in Satya as Vedavati, in Treta as Sita and in Dvapara as Draupadi), she is known as trihayani and being vaishnavi krishnabhakta is named Krishnaa. Draupadis astonishing intellectual acumen also has its roots in Vedavati, who was so named because the Vedas were ever present on the tip of her tongue (ibid.14.64): satatam murttimantashca vedashcatvar eva ca/ santi yasyashca jihvagre sa ca vedavati smrita// Significantly, this text states (14.57) that after the fire ordeal, the lovely and youthful shadow-Sita was advised by Rama and Agni to worship Shiva. While doing so, kamatura pativyagra prarthayanti punah punah, tormented by sexual desire and eager for a husband, she prayed again and again, asking the three-eyed god five times for a husband. As far back as 1887, the great Bengali litterateur Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay 28

Draupadi, Pandavas, Ashvatthama

(III.12.121). The Southern recension of the epic states that in an earlier birth as Nalayani (also named Indrasena) she was married to Maudgalya, an irascible sage afflicted with leprosy. She was so utterly devoted to her abusive husband that when a finger of his dropped into their meal, she took it out and calmly ate the rice without revulsion. Pleased by this, Maudgalya offered her a boon, and she asked him to make love to her in five lovely forms. As she was insatiable, Maudgalya got fed up and reverted to ascesis. When she remonstrated and insisted that he continue their love life, he cursed her to be reborn and have five

drew an illuminating distinction between Sita and Draupadi, 28 noting that while the former is chiefly a wife in whom the softer feminine qualities are expressed, the latter is pre-eminently a tremendously forceful queen in whom womans steel will, pride, and brilliant intellect are most evident, a befitting consort indeed of mighty Bhimasena. He also pointed out that Draupadi represents womans selflessness in performing all household duties flawlessly but detachedly. In her, he sees exemplified the Gitas prescription for controlling the senses by the higher self. Since a wife is supposed to present her husband with a son, she gives one to each of the Pandavas, but no more, and in that exemplifies the conquest over the senses, as in the case of Kunti. Once this duty is over, there is no evidence of any sexual relationship between her and the Pandavas, each of whom has a wife of his own. However, Draupadi can call no man her own and that is why she, like Kunti, stands apart from other married women. Despite having five husbands, Draupadi is the acme of chastity, priya ca darshiniya ca pandita ca patrivrata (III.27.2), beloved, lovely, scholarly and faithful to her husbands. Akin to sakha Krishna, like the lotus bud and the parrot her icon holds, she is of this world of senses, yet never immersed in it. The bloom of her unique personality spreads its fragrance far and wide, soaring above the worldly mire in which it is rooted.

solicitude as directed by Kunti, nor her favourite Arjunatarries by her side when she falls and lies dying on the Himalayan slopes, nathavati anathavat 29 (husbanded, yet unprotected). Indeed, only Bhima speaks. That, too, is a question addressed to Yudhishthira, not a word of sympathy for her. The crowning insult is the answer Yudhishthira provides: she has fallen because she was partial to Arjuna. That is when we realise that this remarkable virgin never asked anything for herself, while her mother-in-law Kunti and greatgrandmother-in-law Satyavati both sought the status of virgo intacta and the royal throne for their sons. Born gratuitously, thrust abruptly into a polyandrous marriage, Krishnaa seems to have had a profound awareness of being an instrument in bringing about the extinction of an effete epoch, so that a new age could take birth. And, being so aware, Yajnaseni offered up her entire being as a flaming sacrifice in that holocaust of which Krishna was the presiding deity. Yet, did all that happened in eighteen days fulfil her hopes of being the cause of a righteous war, dharma yuddha? 30

Kanathos as virgin anew. As Hera is also her daughter Hebe and Demeter is also Kore-Persephone, so is Satyavati also Kunti and Kunti also Draupadi. Like DemeterNemesis and the awful Persephone queen of Hades, who arouse both admiration and fear, Draupadi is Krishnaa, the dark goddess, the virgin Vira-Shakti whose cult still exists in southern India, a manifestation of the goddess Kali, supping full of horrors on the battlefield at night, the primal uncontrolled, chaotic persona of Prakriti. Similarly, in the northern hills, the Pandavalila of Garhwal celebrates her as an incarnation of the same goddess with an intriguing reference to her eight avataras: Draupadi took eight incarnations; The Kali of Kailash did the Kurukshetra war.31 The later story of Barbareek, son of Ghatotkacha, adds a significant dimension to the epic account. When his decapitated head that has witnessed the entire war is asked who really slew the Kauravas, he answers that he saw only the Sudarshan discus flashing everywhere and Draupadi roaming the battlefield drinking the blood of the enemies.32 Draupadi, like the Kore Helen, appears with the skiey announcement that she will be the destruction of warriors. Like Deirdre, the sorrowful one, she is the cause of wholesale destruction of warriors and is a mother left without any children. Draupadi, like Demeter and Helen, is always subjected to violence: her svayamvara ends in strife; a fivefold marriage is imposed upon her; she is outraged in the royal court twice over; Jayadratha and Kichaka 29

Instrument of Higher Design

This feature of transcending the lower self, of becoming an instrument of a higher design, is what seems to constitute a common trait in these ever-to-be-remembered maidens. Remembering them daily, learning from them how to sublimate our narrow ego to reach the Higher Self, we transcend sin. These maidens provide a parallel to the three forms of the ancient Arcadian goddess, Hera: maiden, fulfilled woman and woman of sorrows. Hera, too, would emerge from her bath in the spring

Left to Die Alone

Ultimately, the fact that Draupadi stands quite apart from her five husbands is brought tellingly home when not one of themnot even Sahadeva of whom she took care with maternal No.144

attempt to rape her; and the Upakichakas seek to burn her alive. Like vengeful Demeter-Erinys and Helen, Draupadi seems to attract rape and wreaks vengeance thereafter. Again, like the vengeful Amba who pursues Bhishma through death itself, whose suicide in flames represents the inner anguish consuming her and who takes rebirth to exact blood-price for her outraged femininity, Draupadi is veritably a virgin goddess of war like Artemis and Athene.

9 Hiltebeitel ibid. p.220, 290. Greek mythology is replete with instances of metamorphoses undergone by virgins to protect themselves against rapists (Daphne, Chloe etc.). 1 0 Three outstanding artistic creations on the predicament of Madhavi are Subodh Ghoses remarkably insightful Bengali retelling Galav and Madhavi in Bharat Prem Katha (translated by Pradip Bhattacharya, RUPA, Calcutta, 1990), Bhisham Sahnis play Madhavi (translated by Ashok Bhalla, Seagull, Calcutta, 2002) and Dr. Chitra Chaturvedis Hindi novel Tanaya (Lokbharti Prakashan, Allahabad, 1989). 11 Mahabharata, V.137.16. 1 2 Ibid. V.115.11. A. Hiltebeitel: The Ritual of Battle, Cornell University Press, 1976, p. 222-4. 1 3 Dr. N.P. Bhaduri op. cit. 1 4 The painting of Draupadi insulted in Viratas court is by Raja Ravi Varma, www.cyberkerala.com 1 5 A.K. Ramanujam: On Folk Mythologies and Folk Puranas, Purana Perennis ed. W. Doniger, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1993, p. 104. 1 6 D.L. Gitomer: Rakshasa Bhima: Wolfbelly among ogres and Brahmans, Essays on the Mahabharata ed. A. Sharma, Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1991, p. 322. 1 7 Pradip Bhattacharya: Epic Women: East and Westsome observations, Journal of the Asiatic Society, XXXVII.3, 1995, pp. 67-83. 1 8 Dr S.D. Singh describes this as the significant but eloquent silence of Draupadi. She is neither appalled nor outraged by the prospect of Pandava polyandryShe is exceedingly trustful and as willing as a woman could be, if her deportment serves as any guide. Polyandry in Ancient India (Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1978) p. 9293. This is a detail from an 18th century Kangra painting taken from w w w. a s i a . s i . e d u / d e v i / f u l l d e v i / deviCat81.htm 1 9 Ibid. The Disrobing of Draupadi attributed to Nainsukh (1710-1778). India, Punjab Hills, Basholi, ca. 1765. 2 0 Markandeya Purana VII-VIII, Nababharat Publishers, Calcutta. 2 1 Parashurams Panchapriya Panchali, translated into English by Major General S.K. Sen, VSM at www.boloji.com and in A

Pauranik Score (Indialog Publications, New Delhi, forthcoming). 2 2 Hiltebeitel: Rethinking Mahabharata p. 268. the

2 3 Draupadi leaving her tresses unbound, as a symbol of her insult, is the exact opposite of what Sita does. She leaves her hair braided in a single plait. Sarama assures her that soon Rama will loosen her bound hair (Ramayana, Yuddha kanda 33.34). 2 4 Shaonli Mitra: Nathaboti Anathabot, M.C. Sirkar & Sons, Calcutta, 1990, p.63 2 5 Alf Hiltebeitel: Two Krsnas, three Krsnas, four Krsnas, more Krsnas, Journal of South Asian Literature, XX.1, 1985, pp.71-77. 2 6 Vettam Mani: Puranic Encyclopaedia, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1975, p. 549. He does not provide the reference to the source of this story. Also M.V. Subramaniam: The Mahabharata Story: Vyasa & Variations, Higginbothams, Madras, 1967, p. 46-47. The Jaina Nayadhammakahao picks this up and tells of suitorless Sukumarika reborn as a celestial courtesan because of her passion who is born as Draupadi (B.N. Sumitra Bais The Jaina Mahabharata in Essays on the Mahabharata ed. A. Sharma, Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1991, p.253). 2 7 Prakriti khanda, 14.54 and Krishna Janma khanda 116.22-23. 2 8 Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay: Draupadi in Bibidha Prabandha Part 1, 1887. 2 9 A term used by Dhritarashtra to describe Draupadi in his lament in 1.157 and by Kunti in 5.90.87. Shaonli Mitra created a riveting one-woman performance of this name in Bengali to depict the agony of Draupadi, op.cit. 3 0 Shaonli Mitra op.cit. p.65. 3 1 Hiltebeitel, op.cit. p. 291 and vol. 2, 1991, p. 400. William Sax, Ritual and performance in the Pandavalila of Garhwal in Essays on the Mahabharata ed. by A. Sharma, Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1991, p.290. 3 2 The Khatu Shyamji temple in Sikar district of Rajasthan is dedicated to Barbareek whose head is supposed to be buried here. The story forms part of two teleserials: B.R. Chopras Mahabharat Katha and another named Khatu Shyam. http://www.khatushyamji.com/legend.htm, h t t p : / / w w w. s h r i k h a t u s h y a m j i . c o m / shri_shyam_katha_ii.php3?lang=e

Endnotes
1 C. Minkowski: Snakes, Sattras and the Mahabharata in Essays on the Mahabharata ed. A. Sharma, Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1991, p. 391 and A. Hiltebeitel:Rethinking the Mahabharata (University of Chicago Press, 2001), p. 188. 2 3 Hiltebeitel ibid. pp. 190-191. Brahmavaivarta Purana 4.115.73. Bhaduri: annual

4 Dr. Nrisingha Prasad Draupadi, Barttaman, number1396, p.26.

5 Pratibha Ray portrays this at length in her novel Yajnaseni: the story of Draupadi (Rupa, New Delhi, 1995, translated by Pradip Bhattacharya) and Roopa Ganguli conveyed the anguish dramatically in the Bengali teleserial Draupadi. 6 The Hymns of the Rigveda 10.58.4041, translated by R.T.H. Griffith, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1973. Repeated in the Atharva Veda XIV.2.3. Sayana explains that till sexual desire arises in the girl, Soma enjoys her. When it has arisen, Gandharva has her and transfers her at marriage to Agni from whom man takes her to produce wealth and sons cf. S.D. Singh, Polyandry in Ancient India (Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1978). The painting is by Nandalal Bose, www.kamat.com/kalranga/ mythology/mahabharat/draupadi.htm 7 Alf Hiltebeitel: The Cult of Draupadi, Vol. I, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1988 p. 438. 8 Archna Sahni, personal communication and Unpeeling the layers of Draupadi in the National Symposium on the Pancha Kanya of Indian Epics, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata (forthcoming).

No.144

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common feature shared by all the five panchkanyas is motherlessness. The births of Ahalya, Tara, Mandodari and Draupadi are unnatural; none have a mother. Satyavati is born of an apsara Adrika who is turned into a fish by a curse. In emerging from the elements, Tara, Ahalya, Mandodari and Draupadi resemble the ocean-born apsaras. We know nothing of Pritha-Kuntis mother. Motherless Gandhakali-Satyavati and Pritha are given away by their fathers Uparichara Vasu and Shura in childhood. Kunti finds no fostermother and her only succour is an old midwife. MatsyagandhaSatyavati does not even have that. As adolescents, both are left by their foster-fathers, the Dasa chief and Kuntibhoja, to the mercies of two eccentric sages and become unwed mothers with no option but to discard their first-borns. If Draupadi had hoped to find her missing mother in her mother-in-law, she is tragically deceived, as Kunti thrusts her into a polyandrous marriage that exposes her to salacious gossip reaching a horrendous climax in Karna declaring her a whore whose being clothed or naked is immaterial. As if that were not enough, Kunti urges her to take special care of her fifth husband, Sahadeva, as a mother! No other woman has had to face this peculiar predicament of dealing with five husbands now as spouse, then as elder or younger brother-in-law (to be treated like a father or as a son respectively) in an endless cycle. Draupadis motherlessness seems to be carried forward into her own lack of maternal feelings. Her five sons are not even nurtured by her. She sends them to Panchala and follows her husbands into exile to ensure that the wounds of injustice and insult inflicted upon them and herself remain ever fresh. No.145

Part V: Five Holy Virgins, Five Sacred Myths

Living by Their Own Norms

Unique Powers of the Panchkanyas
Pradip Bhattacharya
In the earlier instalments we have, first, considered the three kanyas of the RamayanaAhalya, Tara and Mandodarifollowed, in the second instalment, by Satyavati who shares many features that distinguish her grand daughter-in-law Kunti whose remarkable character and deeds were examined in the third part. In the last issue we looked at Kuntis daughter-in-law, Draupadi. In this concluding piece we seek to find answers to the question with which we began: why are these five women termed Kanyas (virgins) and what is the secret of their being celebrated as having redemptive qualities.
Indeed, scholars beginning with Bankimchandra over a hundred years ago, have questioned the very fact of her maternity since, unlike the other Pandava progeny Hidmimbas Ghatotkacha, Subhadras Abhimanyu, Ulupis Iravan and Chitrangadas Babhruvahana Draupadis five sons are nothing more than names and might have been interpolated. The South Indian Draupadi cult specifically states that her sons were not products of coitus but were born from drops of blood that fell when, in her terrifying Kali form, her nails pierced Bhimas hand.1 Draupadi is a sterile Shri, like Jyeshtha or Alakshmi. Her solitariness as a kanya is stressed explicitly after the war when Yudhishthira tells Gandhari that the Panchalas are exterminated, leaving only a kanya as their remainder: pancalah subhrisham kshinah kanyamatra vasheshitah.2 Ahalya and Satyavati are also not known for maternal qualities. Valmiki has not a word to say about the mother-son relationship between Ahalya and Shatananda. Ahalyas son abandons her and lives comfortably in Janakas court, expressing relief that she is finally acceptable in society following Ramas visit. Vyasa is abandoned by 30

Ahalya with Ram

both parents and attributes his survival to chance (see issue 143). These kanyas remain quintessentially virgins and, except for Kunti, hardly ever assume the persona of mother. This feature of being rejectedand-rejecting-in-turn that is a recurring leit motif with the kanya is not just of antiquary interest. It recurs in one of the most significant explorations of the Bengali womans struggle to step into the modern age by experimenting with new ways of motherhood: Ashapurna Debis trilogy Pratham Pratisruti, Subarnalata and Bakul Katha. The heroine, significantly named Satyabati, is abandoned by her father who gives her away in childmarriage at the age of eight. When she gives birth to her son, she simultaneously receives news of her mothers death. She struggles to educate her children in a new urban milieu of a nuclear family. In her absence, her daughter Subarna is also married off at the age of eight. Thereupon Satyabati physically turns away from the wedding, abandoning her daughter on the threshold of motherhood, repeating the desertion she herself had experienced. The pattern repeats itself when Subarna, receiving news of her mothers death, finds herself unable to think of her own daughter. It is a patriarchal societys tradition of enforced motherlessness that the novels seek to challenge at the cost of the heroines being regarded as aberrant mothers. Ashapurna Debi questions the traditional concept of motherhood which confines woman to the role of a biological parent with no hand in shaping the future of the girl child. This is precisely what we notice in the case of the five kanyas.3

Sivadas of Kalamandalam enacting the role of Draupadi and is a social outcast. Kunti loses her parents and then her husband twice over (first to Madri and then when he dies in Madris arms). Satyavati is abandoned by Parashara after he has enjoyed her, loses her husband Shantanu, both royal sons and one grandson (Pandu), while another is blind and the third cannot be king because her daughter-in-law Ambika deceived her and sent in her low-caste maid to Vyasa. The kingdom, for which she manoeuvred Devavrata into becoming Bhishma, slips through her fingers like sand. Seeing her great grandchildren at each others throats, she realises the grim truth of Vyasas warning, the green years of the earth are gone and leaves for the forest, so as not to witness the suicide of her race (I.128.6, 9). Strangely, her son Vyasa tells us nothing of her end. Mandodari loses husband, sons, kith and kin in the great war with Rama. Tara loses her husband Bali to Ramas arrow shot from hiding. Both have to marry their younger brothersin-law who are responsible for their husbands deaths (see issue 141). Draupadi finds her five husbands discarding her repeatedly. Each takes

at least one more wife. She never has Arjuna for herself, as he marries Ulupi, Chitrangada and has Subhadra as his favourite. Yudhishthira pledges her like chattel at dice. Finally, they leave her to die alone on the mountainside at the mercy of wild beasts, like a pauper, utterly rikta, drained in every sense.4 In her long poem Kurukshetra Amreeta Syam conveys the angst of Panchali, born unasked for, bereft of father, brothers, sons and her beloved sakha Krishna: Draupadi has five husbandsbut she has none She had five sonsand was never a mother The Pandavas have given Draupadi No joy, no sense of victory No honour as wife No respect as mother Only the status of a Queen But they have all gone And Im left with a lifeless jewel And an empty crown my baffled motherhood Wrings its hands and strives to weep.5

The Unique Ahalya

Among the five, Ahalya remains unique because of the nature of her daring and its consequence. Her single transgression, for having done what her femininity demanded, calls down an awful curse. Because of her unflinching acceptance of the sentence, both Vishvamitra and Valmiki glorify her. Chandra Rajan, another sensitive poet of today, catches the psychological nuances: Gautama cursed his impotence and raged she stood petrified uncomprehending in stony silence withdrawn into the secret cave of her inviolate inner self she had her shelter sanctuary 31

Theme of Loss
The theme of loss is common to all the five kanyas. Ahalya has no parents, loses both husband and son No.145

benediction within, perfect, inviolate in the one-ness of spirit with rock rain and wind with flowing tree and ripening fruit and seed that falls silently in its time into the rich dark earth.6 A very different evocation of Ahalya was done by Rabindranath Tagore in a lovely poem7: What were your dreams, Ahalya, when you passed Long years as stone, rooted in earth, prayer And ritual gone, sacred fire extinct In the dark, abandoned forestashram? Today you shine Like a newly woken princess, calm and pure. You stare amazed at the dawn world. You gaze; your heart swings back from the far past, Traces its lost steps. In a sudden rush, All round, your former knowledge of life returns Like first Created dawn, you slowly rise from the blue Sea of forgetfulness. You stare entranced; The world, too, is speechless; face to face Beside a sea of mystery none can cross You know afresh what you have always known.

Symbols of Reselience
None of these maidens breaks down in the face of personal tragedy. Each continues to live out her life with head held high. This is one of the characteristics that set the kanya apart from other women. There is an aspect of exploitation that we notice in the No.145

A telling example of patriarchal rewriting occurs in Kashiram Das early 18th century version of the epic in Bengali rhyme.16 During the forest exile Draupadi prides herself on her fame as a sati exceeding that of any ruler. Krishna crushes her pride by creating an unseasonal mango that she craves for and has Arjuna pluck for her. Krishna warns that this is the only food of a terrible ascetic, whose anger will turn all of them into ashes, and that only if they confess their secret desires will the mango be refixed to its branch. The mango almost touches the tree as the brothers state what obsesses each of them, but falls down when Draupadi states that revenge is her sole desire. Arjuna threatens to kill her, and then she has to confess that having Karna as her sixth husband has been her secret wish. Bhimaher invariable rescuerupbraids her unmercifully for her evil nature. Here we have evidence of a male backlash expressed through inventive myth-making. This attitude is well reflected in a report in the newspaper The Hindu of a Tara in stone carving from Kurudmale temple discourse by a lady, Jaya 32

ways the kanyas are treated. Sugriva hides behind Tara and uses her to calm the raging Lakshmana. Kuntibhoja uses Kunti to please Durvasa. Draupadi is used first by Drupada to take revenge on Drona by securing the alliance of the Pandavas, and then by Kunti and the Pandavas to win their kingdom thrice over (through marriage; in the first dice game; and as their incessant goad on the path to victory). 8 Unknown to her, even sakha Krishna throws her in as the ultimate temptation in Karnas way, assuring him that Draupadi will come to him in the sixth part of the day, shashthe ca tam tatha kale draupadyupagamisyati. 9 This is followed by Kunti urging Karna to enjoy (bhunkshva) Yudhishthiras Shri (another name for Draupadi) that was acquired by Arjuna.10 There is an unmistakable harking back to Kuntis command to her sons to enjoy (bhunkteti) what they had brought together when Bhima and Arjuna had announced their arrival with Draupadi as alms. No wonder Draupadi laments that she has none to call her own, when even her sakha unhesitatingly uses her as bait! We cannot but agree with Naomi Wolfs condemnation of masculine cultures efforts to punish the slut in one way or another, the sexually independent woman who crosses the ambiguous lakshmana-rekha separating good from bad.11 Vimla Patil, editor of Femina, writes, Most Indian women would

agree that, like this passionate heroine of the Mahabharata, millions of women are publicly humiliated and even raped as a punishment for challenging the male will or for talking back at a man. Many men are known to use violence against wives merely because they backanswer! 15 Draupadi made the unforgivable mistake of publicly refusing to accept Karna as a suitor and of laughing at Duryodhana (as he laments to his father Dhritarashtra) when he made a fool of himself in Indraprasthas magical palace, capping this with refusing to obey Duryodhanas summons to appear in the dice-game assembly unless her question was answered. She had to be taught a lesson.

Patriarchal Myth Making

Srinivasan, echoing the patriarchal response12: It is indeed extremely difficult to control the mind as reflected in all scriptural texts. Even sensory organs may be kept quiet for some time, but not the mind. It is in this background that the Ahalya episode in the Ramayana should be viewed. Born in a family of culture and having married a sage of distinction, her mind faltered for a moment and she committed a grave sin and incurred a curse. Why should she commit this mistake? There lie the lessons for others. However on expressing her regret over the fault, the curse was lifted when the dust particles from the feet of Rama fell on her. The message from her life gives us great hope to secure His grace if only we hold on to the feet of the Lord What Ahalya did was unpardonable and Sage Gautama, naturally enraged at her misconduct, condemned her. (Emphasis in the original)

reality, I think, so they did not dare to say anything against her or burn the Mahabharata or write nastily about her. For the marginalized would have protested in a big wayEven after becoming legends, it is Draupadi who remains a threat to the political animal and so he will not touch even the fringe of her pallu, as he knows what happened when Duhshasana rose to disrobe Draupadi! Not so Sita. Either the legend will not fight back or it is so compassionate the political animal can get away with its desecration and be forgiven too.19

Contrast with Sita

Kichaka and Draupadi: Ravi Varma protectors of the protagonists, giving a new currency to the Sanskrit epic lore.13 Intriguingly, where the so-called Dravidian political backlash against Aryan hegemony targeted traditional icons like Rama and Sita and even burnt copies of the Ramayana, not a word was said or written against Draupadi and her temples. Analysing the reasons, the eminent scholar Dr. Prema Nandakumar draws a perceptive distinction between the two great epic heroines: Sita is the patient compassionate mother whose fire remains veiled by her soft approach, but Draupadi is quite different. Whereas Sita is generally associated with the upper caste (Aryan) hegemony, Draupadi has always been the goddess of the common people. A recent parallel would be the way Meeras bhajans are sung by the marginalized and lower castes in Rajasthan. The Dropadai Amman Festivals are quite well known and there are night-long dramas (therukoothu) on the Mahabharata. The political leaders knew this social Curiously, it is women scholars who cannot seem to agree on this. This insight from a Tamil scholar is contradicted by Dr. Nabaneeta Dev Sen from Bengal. Studying the folk songs of Telugu, Tamil, Maithili and Bengali on Sita, she states, No, a revengeful woman cannot winDraupadi is too dramatic to be a role model for the weak and the exploited. Women cannot identify with Draupadi, with all her five husbands, and with Lord Krishna for a personal friend. With her unconventional lifestyle and thirst for vengeance, Draupadi inspires awe. Sita is a figure closer homeshe is not part of the eliteshe laments but does not challenge Rama in the songsSita is the one with infinite forbearance and thus a winner even when she loses.20 Dev Sen appears to be ignorant of the popularity of the Mahabharata street plays, theru-koothu, and the Draupadi Cult celebrated exclusively by villagers. And, as Dr. Prema Nandakumar points out apropos Draupadi being too dramatic: any woman whom a huge hulk of a fellow tries to disrobe in public while the entire Pandava-Kaurava heroes look on (perhaps 33

Cults of Draupadi
There is, however, a feature that sets Draupadi quite apart from her fellow kanyas. Between the 12th and 15th centuries she became the central figure in a number of bardic epics. Draupadi is the only kanya to whom a living cult is dedicated, with temples dotting the GingeePondicherry area of Tamil Nadu and street plays held annually celebrating her greatness. By reincarnating as Bela in the Rajasthani Alha, and subsequently as Yakajoti, the Rani of Raja Desing in the south, she completes her cycle of seven births as sati. In Yakajotis story, Hiltebeitel points out, we encounter war cries invoking Allah, Hari and Govinda along with wedding chants calling on Allah and Radha, showing the Hindu-Islamic syncretism that had developed by then. These oral epics celebrate Dalit and Muslim No.145

leeringly?) doing nothing will scream throughout her life and will not speak in ambassadorial accents across the table. The real truth about the matter is that we are both (Sita and Draupadi), we need both, we identify with both as the circumstances demand of us.21 Draupadi is also the only kanya to have become a symbol of the oppressed and grossly humiliated Indian nation. While watching a night long street play in the Draupadi Amman Festival,the great Tamil poet Subramania Bharati was struck by the powerful appeal she had for common folk and penned an epyllion, Draupadi Sapatham (Draupadis Vow) depicting her as the wronged princess, the nation-in-shackles, a symbol of perfect surrender to the Divine and the representative of womanhood subjugated for millennia.22 An outstanding instance of how Draupadis character speaks powerfully to oppressed womanhood today is vividly brought alive in Mahasweta Devis remarkable short story, Dopdi in which this name is given to a tribal woman who refuses to succumb despite gang-rape and torture.

Ganga with Shantanu virgin, wife and motheris found in what an Abyssinian woman told Frobenius. In her words we find the reason for our kanyas remaining such an enigma to men throughout the ages: How can a man know what a womans life is?He is the same before he has sought out a woman for the first time and afterwards. But the day when a woman enjoys her first love cuts her in twoThe man spends a night by a woman and goes away. His life and body are always the sameHe does not know the difference before love and after love, before motherhood and after motherhoodOnly a woman can know that and speak of that. That is

why we wont be told what to do by our husbands. A woman can only do one thingShe must always be as her nature is. She must always be maiden and always be mother. Before every love she is a maiden, after every love she is a mother.24 (emphasis mine) We have only to recall the encounters of Surya, Dharma, Vayu, Indra and Pandu with Kunti, of Parashara and Shantanu with Gandhakali, of Draupadi with her husbands, of Ulupi with Arjuna, of Indra with Ahalya, to realise the profundity of this utterance.

Autonomy Inspires Awe

C.G. Jung, while discussing the phenomenon of the maiden describes her as not altogether human in the usual sense; she is either of unknown or peculiar origin, or she looks strange or undergoes strange experiences.25 This fits the kanyas as a group. So long as a woman is content to be just a mans woman, she is devoid of individuality and acts as a willing vessel for masculine projections. On the other hand, the maiden uses the Anima of man to gain her natural ends (Bernard Shaw called it the Life Force). Amply do we see in the cases of these maidens that, The Anima lives beyond all categories, and can therefore

The Cross of Lonliness

The kanya, despite having husband and children, remains alone to the last. This is the loneliness at the top that great leaders bear as their cross. The absence of a mothers nurturing, love, a mother who models and hands down tradition, leaves the kanya free to experiment, unbound by shackles of taught norms, to mould herself according to her inner light, to express and fulfil her femininity, achieving selfactualisation on her own terms. One is tempted to use a modern clich to describe her: a woman of substance.23 An invaluable insight into what is so very special in being a woman No.145

Draupadi being kicked by Kichaka in Viratas court : painting by Ravi Varma 34

dispense with blame as well as with praise.14 The Anima is characterised by a secret knowledge, a hidden wisdomsomething like a hidden purpose, a superior knowledge of life laws15 which we see in this group of epic women. That is why Shantanu, Bhishma, Dhritarashtra, Pandu, the Kaunteyas, Sugriva can never quite come to grips with Satyavati, Kunti, Draupadi and Tara and are ever in awe of them. Each kanyas unique feature is that she, as much as the sati, has the power to pronounce a curse. Devayani curses Kacha that he will be unable to use the mantra he has learnt from her father Shukracharya by her favour. Urvashi curses Arjuna to lose his virility because he refuses to respond to her advances. Rambha, another apsara, curses Ravana with death should he rape any female in future. Vedavati curses Ravana that she will be the cause of his death. Amba turns herself into Bhishmas nemesis. Ganga, turned down by Pratipa, enchants his son Shantanu: He stood there, Entranced, All his body In horripilation. With both eyes He drank in her beauty And wanted To drink more.17 Jung pinpoints the desymbolised world we live in now, in which man struggles to relate to his Anima outside himself by projecting her on numerous women although, paradoxically, she is the psyche within that he must commune with. That, perhaps, is the message hidden behind the hint to keep ever fresh the memory of the five maidens so that we become conscious of the Animaprojection. No.145

Sati Versus Shakti

In this context, the mystic and poet Nolini Kanta Guptas study of these maidens tallies quite remarkably with the Jungian insight into the meaning of being a virgin. He points out, In these five maidens we get a hint or a shade of the truth that woman is not merely sati but predominantly and fundamentally she is Shakti.18 He notes how the epics had to labour at establishing their greatness in the teeth of the prejudice that woman must never be independent, but always be a sati, known for her absolute, unquestioning devotion to her husband. This he describes as the subjugation of Prakriti to Purusha, typical of the Middle Ages. The most ancient relationship, he says, was the converse: Shiva under the feet of his goddess-consort. In the Mahabharata we find confirmation of this paradigm shift. In the course of his pilgrimage, Balarama comes to the Plaksha Prasravana teertha where a brahmacharini, a celibate female ascetic, obtained the highest heaven and the supreme yoga as well as the fruit of a horse sacrifice.

However, Balarama also visits the Vriddhakanya teertha celebrated for an old spinster who had to learn that, unless she married she could not, as a mere brahmacharini, attain heaven!19

The Age of Freedom

In Mahabharata, we find evidence of the freedom enjoyed by women in the past. In the Adi Parva Pandu tells Kunti: in the past, women were not restricted to the house, dependent on family members; they moved about freely, they enjoyed themselves freely. They slept with any men they liked from the age of puberty; they were unfaithful to their husbands, and yet not held sinful the greatest rishis have praised this tradition-based custom; the northern Kurus still practise it the new custom is very recent.20 Pandu narrates the story of Uddalaka explaining to his outraged son Shvetaketu, when a Brahmin takes his mother away in their presence, This is the Sanatana Dharma. All women of the four castes are free to have relations with any man. And the men, well, they are like bulls.21 Ulupi and Urvashis behaviour with Arjuna and Gangas with Pratipa and Shantanuall approaching the men with frank sexual demandsare instances of the type of freedom characterising the kanyas nature. In these kanyas, we find the validation of Naomi Wolfs celebration of women as sexually powerful magical beings.22 By the time of Pandu, however, the Aryans settled around the SarasvatiYamuna region had started looking down upon their Northern brethren and even classed themsuch as the 35

Draupdi with Sairandhri

Madraswith Mlecchas, nonAryans. When Karna lashes back at Shalya for abusing him, he criticises the loose morals of Madra women because they enjoy themselves with fish, beef and wine, express their emotions uninhibitedly and mix freely with men.23

Mode of Elements
One interpretation of why the epithet kanya is applied to these women is because they were not engendered in the usual way but were created from various elements which compose the universe thereby establishing that their sanctity and chastity is not bound by physical bodiesAhalya, Sita, Draupadi, Tara and Mandodari are the epitome of chastity and purity but were punished for no fault of theirs. Given the precarious situations they were in, these women still came out unscathed and set examples of being ideal women.24 Vimla Patil, former editor of Femina, links each kanya to one of the elements: Are you an earth woman? Do you feel an affinity to the element of fire because of your passionate nature? Do you flow serenely through life like water? Is your spirit free and elusive like the wind? Or do you dream of being light as air and vast like space? As an Indian woman, it is likely that you have a little of all these elements in you and that you combine all qualities of the five elements. If this is so, you should not be surprised, forall Indian women carry the legacy of their icons, the most celebrated panchkanyas of mythology In fact, the five women have such a powerful hold over the hearts of millions of Indians that they are called the panchkanyas (five women) whose very names ensure salvation and freedom from all evil. It is not uncommon for devout Hindus to recite their names each No.145

Queen Draupadi by Aditi morning in a Sanskrit shloka to remind them of the power they symbolised because of their spiritual strengthin truth, every Indian woman has shades of all the panchkanyas within her soul!25 This is a modern restatement of a traditional belief that is part of the Mahari dance tradition in which the Oriya verse goes:26 Pancha bhuta khiti op tejo maruta byomo Pancha sati nirjyasa gyani bodho gomyo Ahalya Draupadi Kunti Tara Mandodari totha Pancha kanya... Five elements, earth, water, fire, wind, ether Are in essence the five satis. This the wise know Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari Five virgins Ahalya personifies water, Draupadi represents fire, Kunti symbolises mother earth, Tara personifies wind and Mandodari ether. However, Dr.Ratna Roy, leading exponent of the Panchakanya Mahari dance, feels that this equation of each element representing one of these women cannot be substantiated. For her the emphasis is on the purity of these women because they did not break any humanistic codes, only the

strictures of their orthodox patriarchal society that undermines women such as the Maharis.27 On the other hand, for Vimla Patil Draupadis personality personifies fire, while Sita (whom she incongruously includes in the group instead of Kunti) is the daughter of the earth. Ahalya for her forbearance is likened to the freshness and active nature of the wind; Tara (all the three women of that name, that is, Harishchandras queen, Valis wife and Brihaspatis wife who is Chandras beloved) is associated with space and has the quality of intelligence, compassion and largeheartedness; Mandodari with the element of water, turbulent on the surface yet deep and silent in her spiritual quest. Pointing out that the Pancha Kanya are living role models for Indian women, she writes, Like their icons, they have dual personalities. They are bound by the strictest norms of society, on the one hand; yet, on the other hand, they are left free to prolifically use the chinks in the armour of social and traditional laws made by a staunchly male-oriented pecking order. Within the scope of social boundaries, they can still express their personalities and design their own life-graphsThe life-graph of each of these women is somehow replicated in the lives of millions of Indian women even today... The panchkanya theme has inspired Indian women for eons Most Indian women believe that they tolerate and accept the worst kind of injustice like Sita and remain steadfast in their duty and devotion to their husbands and families. Yet, surprisingly, like Draupadi, they also hide storms of anguish anger and revenge in their hearts. They believe that the curse of a virtuous, strong woman can ruin the most powerful of men. Like Mandodari, they live a life of duality, with the turbulence 36

of varied experiences on the surface and a deep, silent core in their souls, where wisdom originates. Like Mandodari, they have an inherent gift of distinguishing between right and wrong. In a crisis, they know how to insist on doing what they consider right. Like Ahilya, (sic.) they have a dormant power buried deep down in their psyches. They have the strength to move like the wind and the compassion to forgive wrongs done to them. Like Tara, they seek a special lustre of their own. They seek a sacred place which is their rightin the vastness of space. From this niche, they spread their compassion and tenderness. It is for every woman to study the life-graphs and personalities of the panchkanyas and decide which element they empathise with.28

Attempts at Sanitisation
Nolini Kanta Gupta makes an extremely perceptive comment on how the patriarchal system has sought to sanitise the kanyas dangerous independence by projecting them as satis instead: We moderns also, instead of looking upon the five maidens as maidens, have tried with some manipulation to remember them as sati. We cannot easily admit that there was or could be any other standard of womans greatness beside chastityTheir souls did neither accept the human idea of that time or thereafter as unique, nor admit the dharma-adharma of human ethics as the absolute provision of life. Their beings were glorified with a greater and higher capacity. Matrimonial sincerity or adultery became irrelevant in that gloryWoman will take resort to man not for chastity but for the touch and manifestation of the gods, to have offspring born under divine influence a person used to follow the law of ones own being, ones own path of truth and establish a freer and No.145

wider relation with another.29 It is the ability to distinguish the masculine power of logos, the power of words, of thought, of will and of acting in the outside world, that makes the kanyas so significant to women today. From their lives we can learn how to integrate successfully the masculine in the feminine, without one overwhelming the other. Each of them is a telling example of this, perhaps Kunti most of all. We have seen it in her ability to take the toughest decisions, her using the story of Vidula, her building a special relationship with Vidura and, above all, in her farewell, calm of mind, all passion spent for, The Animus powermakes possible the development of a spiritual attitude which sets us free from the limitation and imprisonment of narrowly personal standpoint.30 Emma Jung sums up the crucial importance of integrating the feminine and the masculine that the five kanyas represent uniquely: In our time, when such threatening forces of cleavage are at work, splitting peoples, individuals, and atoms, it is doubly necessary that those which unite and hold together should become effective; for life is founded on the harmonious interplay of masculine and feminine forces, within the individual human being as well as without.31 That is why the exhortation to recall the five virgin maidens is so relevant now. The past does indeed hold the future in its womb.

Endnotes
A. Hiltebeitel Cult of Draupadi, University of Chicago Press, 1988, vol. I, p. 293. 2 Mahabharata, 15.44.32. 3 Indira Chowdhury: Rethinking Motherhood, Reclaiming a Politics, Economic & Political Weekly, XXXIII.44, 31.10.1998, pp. WS-47 to 52. 4 Shaonli Mitra has Bhima come up to her at the end and ask, Are you in much pain, Panchali? She answers, In the next birth, be mine alone, Bhima, so that I may rest a little, my head in your lap. Nathaboti Anathabot M.C. Sirkar & Sons, Calcutta, 1990, p.69.
1

5 Amreeta Syam: Kurukshetra (Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1991, pp. 38-9). Other notable interpretations of Draupadis lot are Dr. Pratibha Rays Oriya novel Yajnaseni(Englished by Pradip Bhattacharya, Rupa, 1995), Dr. Chitra Chaturvedis Hindi novel Mahabharati (Jnanpith Prakashan, 1986) and Dr. Dipak Chandras Bengali novel Draupadi Chirontoni (Dey Books, Kolkata). 6 Chandra Rajan: Re-visions (Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1987, p. 12). 7 Ahalya http://www.kundu.u-net.com/ radice1.htm by Rabindranath Tagore translated by William Radice. 8 The Bengali tele-serial Draupadi dwells upon this issue. 9 Udyoga Parva, 134.16 (pointed out by Dr. Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri in Draupadi, Barttaman, annual number1396 B.S.). 10 ibid. 135.8. 11 Naomi Wolf, best-selling feminist author and advisor to the American President and Vice-President, in Promiscuities quoted in TIME, 8.11.1999, p. 25. 12 The Hindu(www.hinduonnet.com/2002/ 09/30/stories/2002093003240900.htm) Sept. 30, 2003. 13 Alf Hiltebeitel: Rethinking Indias Oral and Classical Epics University of Chicago Press, 1999. 14 C.G. Jung: The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Routledge, p. 2829. 15 ibid. p. 31. 16 http://www.iskcon.org/gallery/002/ 006.htm painting by Puskar Das (Matthew Goldman) 17 Ibid. 1.97.28. 18 Mother India, June 1995, pp. 439-443. 19 Mahabharata IX.53.4-8 and 50.51-24 quoted in A. Hiltebeitel, Rethinking the Mahabharata, University of Chicago Press, 2001, p.145. 20 Mahabharata 1.122.4-8. 21 Ibid.1.122.13-14. 22 Gupta op.cit. 23 Mahabharata, Karna Parva, 26-28, 37 42: Women mix freely with men known and unknownThey eat fish, beef, drink wine, cry, laugh, sing and talk wildly and indulge in promiscuity. 24 Deccan Herald, 27.4.2003, Panchakanya ballet today referring to danseuse Vani Ganapathys performance. 25 The Tribune online edition 27.10.2002, www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20021027/ herworld.htm#1 26 Dr. Ratna Roy, personal communication. 27 Personal communication. Also see www.olywa.net/ratna-david panchakanya.htm 28 Vimla Patil op.cit. 29 Gupta op.cit. 30 Ibid. p.40. 31 ibid.

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