Behind Her Birth

Long, long ago in the times of ancient India there lived a young women with, whose personality was more fiery and sharp compared to the sweet and patient woman around her. But now she walked barefooted through the freezing cold Himalayan slopes. White and more white is all she could see. She could barely feel her feet as they were frozen from the snow. The soles of her feet were so numb that she could not even feel the sharp rock stabbing at her feet. The cold air would breeze through her causing her to shiver and whimper. She finally rose her head to look for the Pandavas. Sadly she had lost them and now she was all alone. She did not know if she was still alive. Had the Himalayan weather frozen her to death already? How can the fiercest woman of Mahabharata end up like this? In order to understand, we will need to start from the very beginning.

“AAAGHHGHHGH!!” king Drupada of Panchala screamed from the palace chambers. For hours he had been screaming and throwing things. His angry face had started to resemble that of a ghost pepper. He was filled with anger and humiliation. He had just lost half of his Kingdom. The Pandava prince Arjuna had defeated him on behalf of Drona’s orders and therefore taken half of his kingdom, land and pride with them.

Drona and king Drupada had a rough past and relationship. They used be good friends in the past and Drupada had promised Drona that he would gift him half of his kingdom once he became king. However, when he became king and Drona came to him as a poor brahmin for his half but Drupada refused when he saw they belonged to different social classes. Drona became the fighting trainer of the Kauravas and Pandavas. It is where he asked Arjuna to capture Drupada and bring him to his feet.

Arjuna had tied him up and taken him to Drona where he had to give up half of his Kingdom in return for his freedom. “That dumb brahmin how dare he humiliate me like this!” “This will not be the end of it. Drona will pay for what he has done to me,” King Drupada whispered to himself. He hated Drona with all his passion and now more than ever he wanted revenge. He wished to destroy Drona and make him feel as pitiful as he was feeling right now. He knew he was not strong enough to defeat Drona all by himself. In order to become stronger and have a successful vengeance he needed a son.

King Drupada, performed a Putrakameshti Yajna ritual in order to beget a son. He started the fire and began the sacrifices. He put in offerings in the fire and perform the ritual worship. He waited, as suddenly the flames began to grow stronger and fiercer. The fire rose as high as ten feet and the heat of flames almost felt as if it was burning their own flesh. At last the flames shined brightly and a male body rose from the fire. A few seconds later the flames got more active than ever before and through flaming flames out rose the most beautiful woman of ancient India. She had beautiful long dark black hair, dark eyes and a perfect figure. By just looking at her she emitted a dominating aurora ---- she was named Draupadi.

In the moment she rose from the fire a thought came to king Drupada, "She will be my solution. A beautiful daughter like her will be the perfect way to lure Arjuna, she shall be his wife".

She will bring great change to ancient India a heavenly voice stated.