DRAUPADI DIVIDED AMONG FIVE PANDAVAS

Draupadi chooses Arjuna in her Swayamvara and gets divided as per her boon

Duryodhana along with other Kauravas had arranged for a death trap of Pandavas by sending purochana who set fire to the Laksha griha in Varnavrat, with the help of Vidura Pandavas got escaped from there. Vidura had sent Khanaka who dug a tunnel and all of them safely got out of the house. Under the guidance of Vidura, they went to the forest and everyone at Hastinapur assumed they were dead. Only Bhishma later came to know about them being alive but Vidura out of loyalty kept their whereabouts a secret. Later all the Pandavas went to Ekchakranagari and Stayed there with a Brahmin family as per Vyasa Dev's advice. Drupada; the king of Panchala was blessed with a fierce son Dhrishtadyumna and a beautiful daughter Draupadi, who was born out of a yajna fire made by sage Yaja. Drupada had arranged a big festival In his kingdom where Dhrishtadyumna announced Draupadi's swayamvara.

Vyasa visited Pandavas and explained to them about Draupadi's previous birth where she was blessed by Lord Shiva to get five husbands. 

(Please check the below video👇 in Hindi)

The book says, at her previous birth she was a beautiful daughter of a sage. She never found a husband for her So she commenced praying to Lord Shiva. When Shiva appeared in front of her and asked for a boon, she asked for a husband having all the appropriate characteristics and she repeated this sentence five times. Since she had been five times constantly asked, lord Shiva blessed her to be born in Panchala as the daughter of Drupada and become the wife of five husbands having all the qualities. After explaining this Vyasa recommended Pandavas go to Panchala to Draupadi's swayamvara.

At the centre of the king's court, a pole was erected over which there was a revolving wheel. On the wheel, there was a timber fish. At the backside of the pole, there was a pan of water. The one, who could shoot an arrow at the eye of the fish whilst finding its reflection in the water below, could marry Draupadi. This was the condition of the swayamvara. Princes from all over assembled for the swayamvara. The Pandavas who were at that time living as Brahmins were also present. Duryodhana, Karna, and Shri Krishna were also present. As the Swayamvara began, many brave princes tried to win the hand of Draupadi but failed to perform the difficult task of shooting the fish's eye. Draupadi stopped Karna from doing the task as she didn't want to marry a charioteer's son. Later vigorous Arjuna Went there and shot the eye efficiently. Draupadi was glad and she put the garland on his neck and chose him. All the kings were astonished and furious by seeing a Brahmin like Arjun doing such. They felt humiliated and tried to attack Drupada aggressively. Arjuna and Bhima stopped them and defeated Karna and Shalya there.

Lord Krishna could determine from their tremendous power that both Arjuna and Bhima were only disguised as Brahmins. However, in order to put an end to the fight, he convinced the kings and others that those two Brahmins won Draupadi and proved to be unexceptionable here at the festival.

Then all the kings left for their kingdoms. While Pandava along with Draupadi went to their mother Kunti. Kunti was worried about his sons not returning to the hut as they had long gone for begging. When Arjuna and Bhima reached they told their mother that they brought Alms. Kunti being inside the hut without looking at her daughter-in-law advised both of them to distribute their alms among all the brothers. Later she regretted considering Draupadi as alm and advised all of the Pandavas to share her amongst themselves.

Lord Krishna and Balarama reached there and they identified all the Bharata dynasty Pandavas. Lord Krishna and Balarama offered their pranam to their father Vasudeva's sister Kunti and both of them had been pleased to locate Pandavas alive. Courteous Draupadi stayed with all the Pandavas along with Kunti there.

Dhrishtadyumna secretly heard all their conversations and informed his father Drupada about it. Drupada later invited them to their kingdom and came to understand Pandavas' preceding birth from Vyasa which I will explain in my next post.

Ref: Mahabharata book

Read about the previous birth of Pandavas..