Drupada even promised a sage named Upayaja a herd of a million cattle if he would help him acquire a child. This sage introduced him to his brother, Yaja, who was familiar with performing this sacrificial rite, and the brothers agreed to do the ritual for King Drupada together. They told Drupada that in order for this ritual to work, they must all fast for six days before the ritual to ensure it would have the desired effect.

On the sixth day of the next month, the king and sages gathered in a sacred area of Drupada’s garden outside of the palace. The sages explained to Drupada that they would be calling on a very powerful goddess of fertility and protection which just so happened to be me, Shashthi. Yaja and Upayaja eagerly started gathering wood that would become a large bonfire. They also had a figure of my cat with a picture of myself hanging by a sacred thread around its neck.

As I watched the men prepare to summon me, I thought to myself, “Wow, they have really done their research… impressive!”

As Yaja lit the fire, Upayaja called on Drupada to bring his wife down for the ritual as she would be essential in consummating the sacred ceremony and receiving the child. Once everyone was in place, the ritual began. The summoning lasted for a few hours, and I began crafting the King and Queen’s children by hand. Since they had worshipped me and prepared so well to receive my gift, I decided to bless them with two children instead of one. The ritual continued for six days as I carefully crafted the royal children, and once I was ready to deliver the children, I told the sages to ready the Queen to receive them.

Yaja and Upayaja excitedly told Drupada and the Queen that I, Shashthi, was ready to give them the gift they had waited so long for. Immediately, the Queen stood up and said that she was not ready to receive a child in the condition she was in. She felt exhausted and dirty from the six days of performing the ritual, and wanted to be clean to accept the children. She quickly ran into the palace and asked the sages to wait for her to freshen up.

I decided I did not want to wait for the Queen to return to receive the children. She was not worthy of witnessing this great miracle because she left during the most crucial part of this ceremony. However, Drupada was faithful and devoted throughout the ritual, and I could tell how deeply he desired these precious gifts that I had crafted. He would be greatly rewarded.

All of a sudden, out of the flames of the sacred bonfire flew a son. He was dressed head to toe in armor and wore a crown filled with jewels, while also holding a bow and arrow in his hands. Drupada’s eyes filled with tears as all of his prayers had been answered. The men looked back at the fire to see it had been extinguished, but to their surprise, the ashes from the bonfire began swirling around them. Without warning, a daughter arose from the ashes before them. Her beauty brought the men to their knees with her smooth dark skin, long luscious black curls, and eyes that pierced the soul.

I looked down at the beautiful humans I had just created in awe of them as well as myself for this enormous accomplishment. My voice thundered down from the dark night sky, “These children are a gift to you, Drupada, for your selfless devotion to me. Your son is Prince Dhrishtadyumna, he has come to destroy Drona and bring fame and good fortune to the kingdom of Panchala. Your daughter is Princess Draupadi, she will accomplish feats of the gods and become the ruler of all women.”

By this time, the king and the sages were doubled over in worship to the god-like children and to me for my fruitful blessings. Drupada said a prayer to me, sprang to his feet and ran to his children. They all excitedly embraced each other, happy to finally be in each other’s arms.

As Drupada hugged his new children, the Queen emerged from the palace in a state of confusion. “Who are these people you are hugging? I am ready to receive our children now,” the Queen stated.

“Why, these are our children!” Drupada happily replied. “By the time you left the ritual, it was too late to put everything on hold. They emerged just like this, fully clothed and fully grown!”

The Queen’s eyes widened and she immediately joined her husband in welcoming their new children into their lives.

Drupada, the Queen, and the children as well as the sages continued to worship me for the remainder of their lives. I showed them great gratitude for this by fulfilling the children’s prophecies, bringing tremendous honor to the family along with power and wealth.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

This story is based off of the Birth of Draupadi from the PDE: Mahabharata. This story was one that really stuck out to me in the Mahabharata because of the ritualistic and supernatural elements of the births of Draupadi and Dhrishtadyumna. In the original story, it isn’t clear which gods and/or goddesses were summoned by Upajaya and Yaja during the ritual, so I decided Shashthi would be the perfect goddess to create Drupada’s children. I included key elements in worshipping Shashthi like fasting for six days and performing the ritual on the sixth day of the month as well as the rituals duration being six days. I also tried to integrate the traditional offerings that Shashthi had requested the woman do in the introduction of my storybook in order to guarantee a healthy child by including the cat figurine with a picture of Shashthi tied around it. Additionally, there is no explanation as to what happened when the queen saw the children had been born without her participation, or why the children were born as full-grown adults. I decided to add in what could’ve been the Queen’s reaction to her new kids. In the original, the story continued to describe a celebration where people, sages, and brahmins traveled from far and wide to welcome the supernatural children and to possibly catch Draupadi’s eye as potential suitors. I decided to end the story after the miraculous birth instead of include the party, so that I could really expand on the story of the children’s ritual birth.