A few things about Draupadi, How true are they? - Page 11

Originally posted by: HearMeRoar

Another mistranslation. That scene actually says Panchali asked Arjuna to go to Subhadra out of love. The Sanskrit word used there is pranayaat. Love. Not jealousy.

I think people down the line decided Arjuna Panchali needed to be a ship and deliberately mistranslated it.

Yudhishitra might've said that (scholars dismiss it as later interpolation), but it was Arjuna who flared up at Yudhishtira about him sitting on Panchali's bed. Something clearly indicating jealousy and hardly suggesting Arjuna's feelings for her died with polyandry.

The"bed" episode aside, Panchali was the one woman for whom Arjuna sacrificed even his masculinity. Urvashi story was dismissed by BORI as interpolation. Arjuna could've disguised himself as anything else. He could've cleaned weapons for instance. The one and only reason he would've needed to pretend to be a woman was that he was needed inside the women's quarters. The only reason for that would be protection for Panchali. Not too many men will do so for any woman, even their wives. Bheem was another choice, but with his size, pretending to be trans would be tough. Plus, Arjuna had the dance and music capability which would've helped him gain a foothold that Bheem didn't have.

My point is not to say one couple was more in love than the other. I'm simply pointing out Arjuna exhibited his affection for Panchali more than any other woman in his life regardless of what later readers might assume about a cishet male's reaction.

So yeah, the favorite wife debate is pointless because each pairing has something to point to in support.

It is actually meaningless because none of the pairings were based on love.

The Brihannala disguise for me proves the awesome man Arjuna was. Actually, whether there was even any romance is immaterial after that point. Arjuna was simply great.

@Bold : Didn't the bed episode happen right before Karna Vadh? Yudhistir was displeased & said something along the line that Arjun isn't able to kill Karna because he was not that into the war? Yudhistir himself was the weaker warrior among the 5 & he was doubting Arjun's seriousness towards the war. In my opinion that's why Arjun reacted so vehemently. He was always proud about his skill as an warrior, no? So he taunts back Yudhistir about Panchali's bed. Because Yudhistir didn't do anything to be in Panchali's end, back then too it was Arjun who won her with his skill. I feel Arjun's taunt was a reminder of this, does he need to be in love with Panchali for this?

@Underlined : Okay. I didn't know that. But here too I don't see it much as an arguable point. It's a given that among the 5 brothers, Bheem & Arjun cared about Panchali the most. Since it wasn't possible for Bheem, Arjun took up the task of protecting her. IMO he always felt responsible for Panchali since it was him who won her at the swayamvar & because of him she got stuck among them. But that doesn't necessarily mean he had much romantic feelings. He had no problem in marrying various wives while in exile away from Panchali 😆

Anyway it's just my opinion. And I feel these things are not something set in stone as the original scripture doesn't delve that deep into the characters. It's open to readers interpretation. Not necessarily everyone will interpret the same way.

@ Orange : That I agree with 😳

My take on whole scenario after Arjun brings Subhadra home is that the scene was included to show how Arjun, who lived apart from Draupadi and his family for 12 years, still cared about them as Draupadi said something about new relationships weakening old ones.

Draupadi wasn't mad at Subhadra, She didn't have any condition about wives living in her home. Arjun visited Draupadi before he introduced his new wife to his mother was his way of showing that this relationship is important to him.

Arjun was the one who won Draupadi then She didn't see him for 12 years, They didn't consummate their marriage (I wonder who was with Draupadi in Arjun's year?), she was just testing him, isn't it likely that he lost interest in all those 12 years but Arjun made a point of her being his Principle wife and important to him, otherwise there was really no need to apologize for something which was a norm.

If he loved her, He wouldn't marry other women and if he loved Subhadra, he wouldn't sleep with Draupadi

They were in a period where marriages were political alliance, men were protector and women had to serve their husbands. Monogamy wasn't a concept there for Arjun to feel that he can't marry after Draupadi or not sleep after marrying Subhadra.

This feeling of "wrong" comes from our society where polygamy is illegal, Back then the concept wasn't there for him to feel it.

Originally posted by: NoraSM

That's what I am saying, the concept of the "One" is not something which can be observed in a polygamous relationship. What I am saying is that theories which are being given for psyche of men who had to share his wife, fit all of the Pandavas, no?

It's not that only Arjun had more than one wife or It was only Arjun who had to wait for 4 years to be with Draupadi?

All of the Pandavas shared her, all of them didn't do anything to protect her, all of them fought the war for her and killed people who insulted her, while reminding them of what they did to her

Author did not write that someone was someone's favorite wife, then why put down people who ship Arjun and Draupadi saying it was not in original Mahabharata and promote other couple, when none was in original Mahabharata 🙃 They shared sexual relationships with multiple women, why compare them?

Who wouldn't love a woman as strong and capable as Draupadi, who single handedly saved them when they were slaves of Duryodhana when it was their vow to protect her?

Because it makes zero sense to ship people in Mahabharata. I am not a shipper of Arjun Subhadra or Arjun Draupadi. But yes I consider people who look at Shaheer Sheikh and Pooja Sharma and ship Arjun and Draupadi as extremely shallow because this is an epic and I don't see any reason to ship one couple over other.

But I am not one to control anyone. They are free to do what they feel. But having read the epic, I can't see people conclude things about these characters based on Star Plus and BRC. Hence the protest.

Men and women both have favourites. What's wrong in analysing the same and coming up with one? If ArDians can claim so, so can we with any other wife of any other Pandav. So I don't see the problem with either thing here.

Originally posted by: .Lonewalker.

My reply in grey 😳

That is why I said, let's talk about men in general in case of this argument. Look the story is being narrated to Janamejaya by Vaishampayana at a Yagya. I don't see why he would elaborate on (or even know what was on Arjun's mind) on seeing a woman. I think Vyasa didn't have that in his priorities while narrating the story of the Kurukshetra war. XD

Hence, understandingly there was hardly anything that romantic or elaboration of romantic feelings. It is for us to analyse by virtue of the ACTIONS more than words. I just feel it's natural for Arjun to feel more attraction towards Krishna's sister for obvious reasons. I am simply against Arjun Draupadi shippers claiming their romance to be unparallel undying DDLJ of Dwapar Yug. That's all. I don't mind if someone says Subhadra was for political reasons. Yes it was, but I don't see how Krishna can throw his sister to Arjun and ALSO do so knowing Draupadi would be upset about this (since Krishna did care for his Sakhi). I don't see how this can happen unless Arjun was desirous and lusty of her.

By love, I mean first sight attraction here. Because we obviously cannot expect a Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani here where the boy gets a whole trip to fall in love with the girl. XD

Originally posted by: NoraSM

My take on whole scenario after Arjun brings Subhadra home is that the scene was included to show how Arjun, who lived apart from Draupadi and his family for 12 years, still cared about them as Draupadi said something about new relationships weakening old ones.

Draupadi wasn't mad at Subhadra, She didn't have any condition about wives living in her home. Arjun visited Draupadi before he introduced his new wife to his mother was his way of showing that this relationship is important to him.

Arjun was the one who won Draupadi then She didn't see him for 12 years, They didn't consummate their marriage (I wonder who was with Draupadi in Arjun's year?), she was just testing him, isn't it likely that he lost interest in all those 12 years but Arjun made a point of her being his Principle wife and important to him, otherwise there was really no need to apologize for something which was a norm.

If he loved her, He wouldn't marry other women and if he loved Subhadra, he wouldn't sleep with Draupadi

They were in a period where marriages were political alliance, men were protector and women had to serve their husbands. Monogamy wasn't a concept there for Arjun to feel that he can't marry after Draupadi or not sleep after marrying Subhadra.

This feeling of "wrong" comes from our society where polygamy is illegal, Back then the concept wasn't there for him to feel it.

@BOLD- This logic doesn't make sense xD Think again. In your logic, Draupadi if she loved Arjun should not have slept with anyone else. Are you saying Arjun didn't love either of them?

See, this is the age of polygyny and polyandry. Here, men can love two or more women at the same time. It doesn't make sense to say since Arjun slept with Draupadi he didn't love Subhadra and since he married others he didn't love Draupadi. He had feelings for both for obvious reasons.

Originally posted by: .Lonewalker.

@Bold :

Didn't the bed episode happen right before Karna Vadh? Yudhistir was displeased & said something along the line that Arjun isn't able to kill Karna because he was not that into the war? Yudhistir himself was the weaker warrior among the 5 & he was doubting Arjun's seriousness towards the war. In my opinion that's why Arjun reacted so vehemently. He was always proud about his skill as an warrior, no? So he taunts back Yudhistir about Panchali's bed. Because Yudhistir didn't do anything to be in Panchali's end, back then too it was Arjun who won her with his skill. I feel Arjun's taunt was a reminder of this, does he need to be in love with Panchali for this?

@Underlined : Okay. I didn't know that. But here too I don't see it much as an arguable point. It's a given that among the 5 brothers, Bheem & Arjun cared about Panchali the most. Since it wasn't possible for Bheem, Arjun took up the task of protecting her. IMO he always felt responsible for Panchali since it was him who won her at the swayamvar & because of him she got stuck among them. But that doesn't necessarily mean he had much romantic feelings. He had no problem in marrying various wives while in exile away from Panchali 😆

Anyway it's just my opinion. And I feel these things are not something set in stone as the original scripture doesn't delve that deep into the characters. It's open to readers interpretation. Not necessarily everyone will interpret the same way.

@ Orange : That I agree with 😳

@ red - Arjuna could have cited numerous other instances wherein Yudhisthira was NOT a warrior and got things for granted (e.g. Chakravarti title was based on military efforts of other four brothers). But the first thing he says is about Yudi n Drau. I feel there are 2-3 issues underlined in this exchange: Arjuna's latent bitterness about Drau being taken away as his sole wife and impact of that on Arjuna/Drau relationship, the Arjuna-Yudi dynamics, his vanity (Yudi's taunts), his insecurity etc.

For me it proved that Arjuna is still a human character (his silence during sharing of Draupadi scene is strange to digest).

One question is: If Draupadi had not been married to all five bros, and had only been married to Arjuna alone, would he have married multiple other women?

Originally posted by: CaptainSpark

Because it makes zero sense to ship people in Mahabharata. I am not a shipper of Arjun Subhadra or Arjun Draupadi. But yes I consider people who look at Shaheer Sheikh and Pooja Sharma and ship Arjun and Draupadi as extremely shallow because this is an epic and I don't see any reason to ship one couple over other.

But I am not one to control anyone. They are free to do what they feel. But having read the epic, I can't see people conclude things about these characters based on Star Plus and BRC. Hence the protest.

Men and women both have favourites. What's wrong in analysing the same and coming up with one? If ArDians can claim so, so can we with any other wife of any other Pandav. So I don't see the problem with either thing here.

@Bold. I didn't mind her as much, but Shaheer Sheikh... boy... he almost made me dislike Arjuna.

Originally posted by: CaptainSpark

@BOLD- This logic doesn't make sense xD Think again. In your logic, Draupadi if she loved Arjun should not have slept with anyone else. Are you saying Arjun didn't love either of them?

See, this is the age of polygyny and polyandry. Here, men can love two or more women at the same time. It doesn't make sense to say since Arjun slept with Draupadi he didn't love Subhadra and since he married others he didn't love Draupadi. He had feelings for both for obvious reasons.

That's not my logic, You wrote in one of your posts -

"If Arjun was so in love with Draupadi, he would not have gone around marrying other women. Yes, maybe all were not advanced by him, but he was definitely interested. "

Arjun marrying other women doesn't mean he didn't love Draupadi, Just like Arjun sleeping with Draupadi after marrying Subhadra doesn't mean that he didn't love Subhadra.

In his time polygamy was way of life, his father had two wives, Krushna had multiple wives, his brothers had multiple wives. The concept of monogamous relationship is prevalent now because polygamy is illegal in India, We think we should feel for only one person, we should love only one person because that's what we have seen in our lives, Arjun didn't have this upbringing to think about "The One"

I was replying to your comment on Arjun not loving Draupadi as he married other women

Originally posted by: HearMeRoar

@Bold. I didn't mind her as much, but Shaheer Sheikh... boy... he almost made me dislike Arjuna.

I was quite young, just a dumb teenager when Star Plus MB came. So I didn't know much about acting and loved him. Was a stupid fan. I absolutely detest him now. Maturity happened. Gosh, he ruined my favourite character xD

Unfortunately I don't like either BRC or Star Plus actor. Ugh. I liked the young Arjun from Star Plus more 😆

Originally posted by: HearMeRoar

@Bold. I didn't mind her as much, but Shaheer Sheikh... boy... he almost made me dislike Arjuna.

Pooja was phenomenal ❤️

Exactly both the actor and the character stararjuna was such a cry baby. He was anything but mahanayak