Draupadi Seeks Revenge

Queen Draupadi could not believe what Jatu had requested she do in order to take back her daughter. He was unjust and for him to want to be King seemed like an awful situation to put her people through. Not only did he want to be King but to also marry Draupadi and have a child that would take the place of the rightful heir to the throne, Tanaka. As any mother would do in order to bring her child home she felt that she had no choice but to agree.

Jatu and Tanaka returned back to the palace where Draupadi was waiting with a priest to marry her to her new husband. She wanted it over and done with and no scene to be made.

“No, no, no, my beautiful Queen. This is not how a future King marries. We will have a grand ceremony followed by a parade through the streets!” exclaimed Jatu.

Draupadi was exhausted by Jatu and his requests but could not afford to lose her daughter again so she went with it.

The ceremony went off without a hitch in Jatu’s eyes and although Draupadi was not wanting to be in her situation she was relieved Jatu seemed pleased. She prayed this would end the requests he had of her until she remmbered the second part of the deal.

A couple weeks had passed and Jatu came to Draupadi one afternoon to let her know tonight was the night! Draupadi was stopped dead in her tracks as it was one thing to marry this man but to be with him intimately and bear his child was another. She had to come up with something in order to get out of this!

Draupadi went to her father, Drupada, and the two came up with a plan…

Drupada had been watching from a distance his daughter struggle with her marriage to Jatu and hated to see her unhappy. Without any hesitation he agreed to help Draupadi when she asked for a way out of this mess. The two created an extravagant plan!

Jatu was a heftier fella and had quite the appetite! After, hearing of Draupadi’s marriage to Jatu other royals and people who once dined with the Queen at balls and banquets refused to. Jatu, obviously, had very few manners and to have to watch him eat made you not want to touch your food at all.

Drupada had also witnessed this extraordinary stomach of his son-in-law and knew he could not turn down any food. Drupada and Draupadi then went to the kingdoms witch and purchased the best poison money could buy. That evening before dinner was served to Draupadi and Jatu, Drupada went to the kitchen and placed a few drops on top of Jatu’s food.

Drupada hid behind a curtain behind Jatu and watched as the servants walked in with the supper. He knew that the one with poison gave the food a slight shine to it.

Right when things felt like they could not be going any better, the servants placed the wrong food in front of Draupadi and Jatu! Drupada began to wave frantically to try and get Draupadi’s attention before she ate any! The queen’s father felt his eyes become heavy as tears began to form. He was about to accidentally lose his daughter!

“Hold on!” Jatu shouted. “Your plate is bigger than mine! Switch with me, now.”

Draupadi hesitated and slowly got up to switch the plates as her husband had demanded. Drupada heard the King’s orders and began to nod his head yes finally getting Draupadi’s attention. So, she did as her husband and father said.

The King was almost done with his plate when “SPLAT!” he collapsed and shattered his plate as his head fell down on it.

Drupada came out from behind the curtain and the father-daughter duo met with a high five. Draupadi ordered her guards in and they took Jatu off.

“Free at last!” Draupadi exclaimed. She was so relieved and could finally go back to her happy life, just her and her daughter.

Author’s Note: I am continuing my story about Queen Draupadi and the adventure she is enduring in order to get her daughter, Tanaka, back. This is far from the original story of Draupadi as she really on her own here.

I am choosing to bring in Drupada, Draupadi’s father because she can not handle things on her own and she knows she needs some help to execute her plan. If she were to try and do things herself Jatu might pick up on the fact something is going on and not fall into the trap. Draupadi is such a strong and powerful woman that she knows when to call on a back-up and when to make it happen completely solo.

In the poisoning scene I drew inspiration from Game of Thrones. A few time in the epics have we seen a food poisoning but man do they create great TV for the Game of Thrones storylines! SPOILER ALERT- Specifically channeling the part in Game of Thrones when Arya poisons Walder Frey. The man had done her and family wrong and she was seeking revenge. Frey had taken captive her mother and brother and killed them. Draupadi was done wrong by Jatu and although death may had been a little harsh she was also getting her revenge. He had taken her life from her and being the strong woman she is, like Arya, she was not going to take it.

I chose not to include Tanaka too much in this ending due to the death and how young she is. If she was older I could have seen her helping her mother execute this plan. As such a little girl and being kidnapped by her now stepfather, she had been put through enough. I think it may be interesting to continue writing about Draupadi and how this execution could play out in her kingdom as well as where Jatu originally came from.