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No, loving a man does not lessen her. But to use stories which do not otherwise fit into the narrative and stick out like sore thumbs as a matter of fact, to prove that she loved him does lessen her
I know I have said this a gazillion times, but Panchali had much much more to her than her men. She ran the operations in the Empire and did the finances. Where do you think Bheem and Arjun got the money from to play around with during the Imperial campaign?😲 Not only that the speech she gives in the DS is the one Yudhi should have given. She is the one who frees the MIGHTY HEROES. Also she clearly says she refuses to blame Yudhi while she was in the DS, but tears a strip off him later. The convo she has with Yudhi in the beginning of Vana parva has him sweating bullets and the only way he could get out of it was by accusing her of talking like an atheist, probably a crime in those days!
When everyone else was busy calming down G in Kamyaka vana and later in Udyoga parva, it takes one short para from Panchali to get him around to HER way of thinking. She negotiated with Keechak and when that didn't work maneuvered his execution without any help in strategizing from any of the Patis. Bheem was putty in her hands and she used that.
She was an able administrator, knew the law and the shastras, knew ethics and ethical principles, knew her strategy and had the intestinal fortitude to order the execution of a country's CiC within its borders!
Then she proceeds to demonstrate her capacity for forgiveness when she lets Ashwi go.
When this woman gets reduced to a Mills and Boon heroine ordered around by Arjun and Krishna and angsting after Arjun, it does irritate me. Because I have seen no place in KMG where Panchali was not in command of the situation even when the 2 heroes were present in the same frame. They usually come around to her way of thinking, not the other way. That really bugged me about ⭐️Bharat in some parts when ⭐️Krishna had to talk her into things. Arrey, she had an awesomely forceful personality and usually Krishna acquiesced to her not the other way around. In fact, when there was a direct conflict in what Arjun and Panchali were aiming for in Kamyaka vana, Krishna promises to move mountains to bring about what SHE wanted and get this, Panchali gives Arjun an 'oblique look' and immediately Arjun says 'Whatever you want, honey'😆
When we use words like 'jealousy' and 'sulking' in reference to her or suggest that she was using her 'feminine wiles' or that she was petty, it is actually sexism cloaked in the language of romance.
In fact any day of the week, I would rather believe she did those things on purpose to keep Arjun hooked with her jealous act and the others always striving to catch up. No, I don't actually believe that, she was actually too straightforward for her own good. But I would rather believe that of her than see her treated like some pretty shell of a woman with a native cunning but otherwise having zilch for brains!.
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