The chief player, a leader of sorts, for the Kaurava brothers is the dude named Duryodhana. He is the oldest of the Kaurava brothers and he also has the most hatred for the Pandava brothers as well.
This section starts off with the Swayamvara of Draupadi. A swayamvara is a combination between a contest and a marriage. Princess Draupadi of the Panchala kingdom had entered marriageable age and they were holding a ball or a contest of sorts. Princes and noble-born from all over the country were invited to participate. The prince who excels at political discourse and efficacy and who also wins the contest set by the King (father of the princess) is the one who is allowed to approach Princess Draupadi and ask for her hand in marriage.
At this point in time, we realize that Duryodhana had previously challenged the Pandava prince brothers. The rules of the challenge were that since they were in exile with their mother for twelve years, if they can live in a public town for an entire year without being identified as THE Pandava princes, they can regain their half of the original kingdom.
Here we notice that two of the stories told before connect. The two friends who grew up together but then betrayed each other end up as key characters in this story. The father of Princess Draupadi, was named Drupada. Back in the day, Prince Drupada was best friends with a common boy Drona and he promised half his kingdom to Drona when he becomes King. Drupada later took back his promise when he grew up and realized that he couldn't give his kingdom to a common man who had not accomplished anything yet. Drona later became a really accomplished weapons master who was later hired to train the Kaurava and Pandava brothers. The Pandava brothers became the best weapon users in the region so King Drupada became a bit scared that Drona would rise up against him. Guru Drona then asked the Pandava brothers to go capture and defeat Drupada as their final examination in their weapons apprenticeship under him. The Pandava brothers succeeded and brought Drupada as a prisoner to Guru Drona. Drupada agreed to give Drona his half of the kingdom, but Drupada was still salty about the whole situation and he went to pray in the mountains. The gods gave him a prophecy that Drupada's son Dhristhadumnya will be the one to kill Guru Drona.
But Drupada was still scared that Drona would attack him and his kingdom, so he wished that his daughter, Princess Draupadi, would marry Arjuna. If his daughter was married to Arjuna (the best archer of the Pandava brothers), that would mean that the Pandava brothers would never be used to strike against him, because they would be considered family through marriage!
So, when Drupada learned that the Pandava brothers were in exile and that they were hiding, he tried to schedule the Swayamvara of his daughter on the last day of their exile so that they would be able to attend.
The challenge that the Princes had to complete was to string a great steel bow and strike an arrow at a rapidly moving target. The bow was so heavy that most princes couldn't even lift it. Only Karna and Arjuna could lift it. When Karna lifted it, and shot an arrow at the target, Draupadi rode in on an Elephant to greet him, and when Karna proposed to her, she rejected him on grounds of him not being of noble birth. Then, Arjuna who was dressed like a common Brahmin man, attempted the challenge and successfully lifted and strung the bow and even shot the target with five simultaneous arrows! The audience was in uproar and they protested when Draupadi accepted his marriage proposal. Karna challenged Arjuna for a one-on-one contest and Arjuna still won.
The five Pandava brothers took Draupadi back to their house to meet their mom, Queen Kunthi. The queen blessed Draupadi.
Here is where it gets wild: One of the previous stories described how the five Pandava brothers were all parts of the same soul, who were split at birth because of their overwhelming power and destiny. So the five Pandava brothers asked if Princess Draupadi would marry them all, seeing as they were all one person, and Draupadi agreed! But when they went and asked King Drupada, he was disgusted, but eventually agreed when the Krishna, the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, came down and told Drupada to agree.
So Draupadi married the five Pandava brothers and the Pandavas were invited back to their kingdom.
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This section was so wild. I was thrown for a loop almost every chapter, because the small individual vignettes told before were all re-introduced and woven so masterfully into the plotline. I had a mindblowing experience every time a new piece clicked into place! I'm so excited to read the last half of the book, because while some pieces were woven in, a few new pieces were introduced out-of-the-blue for the first time!!!
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