I grew quite accustomed to living in the palace with my five husbands: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. It was a rather nice life. I spent one year at a time with one of my husbands, and another year with another husband. My purity was restored and I was able to have beautiful children.

I knew my husbands had a few enemies, the main one being their cousin Duryodhana. Once before, he had tried to take my husbands out by burning their house down. They had made a secret escape tunnel and were able to survive. Soon after that was when they arrived at my swayamvara.

They had disguised themselves as brahmins and Arjuna won the contest at the swayamvara four times over. The brothers always shared all of their alms and I was no different. After talking with my father, I was wedded to the Pandavas one by one.

Like I said, I had gotten very comfortable in our current situation. One day a messenger arrived at the palace. He told Yudhishthira that his cousin had invited him to Hastinapura so he might see the new palace Duryodhana had just built. My husbands knew it was a trap, but Yudhishthira could not deny his invitation.

We all readied ourselves and made the trip to Duryodhana’s new palace in Hastinapura. Once we arrived, King Dhritarashtra greeted us. I made my way to the queens' chamber to meet with Kunti and the other royal ladies. I felt anxious to leave my husbands, for they knew something about this visit I did not.

This next part is what I have been told from my husbands, so forgive me for any inaccuracies. The men gathered in a hall together and Duryodhana suggested they play dice and gamble with one another. However, instead of participating himself, Duryodhana had his uncle Shakuni play the game for him.

The bets started off small, maybe a few pearls and golden chariots. Slowly the bets held more and more value to the Pandavas. Eventually Yudhishthira bet the kingdom, then his brothers individually. He even bet himself and when he lost once again, he bet me. Everything the brothers had ever possessed was now gone.

I had heard a ruckus from down the hall, but I still did not know what was going on. One of Duryodhana’s men summoned me and I lashed out at him stating my rights if my husband bid me last. The messenger returned once again giving me no other option. I then felt the color drain from my face.

I meekly stood and accompanied him to the room where my husbands waited. Immediately, I saw the looks on their faces and knew our outcome was not good. They stood across the room from me and I was closer to Duryodhana, who loomed over us all.

I heard Duryodhana shouting, calling us all his slaves. My pulse quickened. I felt it beating in my throat and heard it in my ears. He told us all to strip and I swear my heart leaped out of my chest all together.

I looked to my husbands to see if they would stand up for me, but they all stood weeping and hiding their faces out of shame. I could not believe it. Slowly my husbands began to undress all the way down to their loincloth. Duryodhana looked to me and yelled once again, calling me all sorts of hideous names.

I locked my hands together and began praying. I thought of Vishnu and asked him to help me in my time of need by providing me guidance. Immediately after I finished my thought I could feel a shift in the room’s energy. I suddenly felt different, but I couldn’t place my finger on it.

I looked to my left and saw a curious shade. He winked at me and held a finger up to his lip as if to shush me. Duryodhana’s goon came up to me and began to disrobe me as I yelled in protest. However, to both of our surprise, I was wearing another sari under the one he had just removed.

Again and again he removed one sari after the next. I looked up at the shade I had seen before and he was chuckling to himself as he held his belly. I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh of my own. My husbands stood across from me and stared slack jawed at the whole ordeal.

After several minutes of being disrobed one garment after the next, there was a pile forming around my tormentor. He continued pulling and I continued to watch the shade across from me, who I had identified now as Vishnu himself. He mimed Dushasana’s pulling and gave an exasperated sigh as he pretended to wipe sweat off his brow.

Finally he could disrobe me no more and surrendered under the mountain of cloth. I looked to Vishnu and he nodded at me before disappearing into his surroundings.

It was after that when I knew my husbands and I would be safe from this horrible man’s harm soon.

Author’s Note:

I took inspiration from a story within the Mahabharata, which was about the Pandavas losing everything in a gambling match with their cousin. In this story, Draupadi was wagered off just like every other thing of value in Yudhishthira’s life.

Duryodhana, the Pandavas’ cousin, invited them all there in order to steal their kingdom and everything else they owned. He was planning on making them all his slaves and called for them to disrobe. The men did as he asked, but Draupadi would not falter. She prayed to the god Vishnu, and he granted her a never ending sari to keep her body from being exposed.

I wrote this story from Draupadi’s point of view and wanted to add a slightly more comedic affect to the whole ordeal.

Bibliography:

Laura Gibbs, Duryodhana Seeks to Disrobe Draupadi, Inspired by: The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version by R. K. Narayan. [Tiny Tales Version]