When we left off previously, the Pandava brothers had married Draupadi and brought her to meet their mother Queen Kunthi. After this point, their exile period ends and they return to their thrones. There is a lot of character development and we learn that Draupadi is really sassy? Sassy, beautiful, arrogant, and very proficient at political and social interactions. All over, she is the very definition of #goals.
Since the exile, all of the Pandava brothers have been wary of the Kaurava brothers. As such, Yudhisthra, the old Pandava brother, made a resolution to himself that he will do his best to be nice and accommodating to the Kauravas because he doesn't want to get angry and cause a rift between the Pandava and Kaurava sides of the royal family. However, Duryodhana of the Kaurava brothers, was really mad that his plan to besmirch the name of the Pandavas by exiling them had failed. So he asked Sakuni, the evil and corrupt advisor to the King, to help him figure out a way to get rid of the Pandavas and stop them from being able to inherit the throne ever again.
One thing about Sakuni, he is the best gambler in India at the time. He is the most quick-thinking person and he takes advantage of anything he can to win. And he is one the King's most trusted advisors because he had personally increased their kingdom's territory just with his witty, silver-tongued gambling.
So, Sakuni took Duryodhana's idea to heart and suggested a "friendly game of dice" between the Kauravas and Pandavas. And Yudhisthra, having taken that vow to be amiable, was like... ok.
So they all gathered and Duryodhana feigned a hand injury and asked Sakuni to play in his stead. And Yudhisthra played for the Pandavas. And the game of dice is kind of like Poker here, people bet their possessions and titles and play. Normally, the royalty just bets low-stakes items like a small property, or like a cow, or a piece of jewelry or something.
Sakuni riled up Yudhisthra a lot and tricked him into gambling away everything he had. Even his newly regained titles, the titles of his brothers. He even somehow gambled away Draupadi.
This brought about the most wild, catalyzing scene in the book. Draupadi was at home in the Pandava castle when the Kaurava's messenger came to escort her to the main castle. When the messenger told her that she had been gambled away to be a mere maid for Duryodhana, she asked him this really awesome question, "Which prince would pledge his wife? Had he nothing else to pawn? ... O Charioteer, return. Ask of he who played the game whether in it he first lost himself, or his wife" (110). This has to be the most awesome line ever.
Even though Draupadi delivers this awesome line which establishes her independence and personal power, she was still taken to the dice game. There, Duryodhana asked her to disrobe and take off her royal clothing and put on the maid's clothing. Draupadi refused. In response Duryodhana just started to pull her sari off of her?!! Draupadi begged and pleaded for someone to come to her rescue and to save her honor. But only Lord Krishna, the 8th avatar of Lord Vishnu of the holy trinity of gods, came to her aid. He made her sari never-ending, so that the more Duryodhana pulled off of her, the more the sari kept coiling around, keeping her fully clothed.
Eventually Duryodhana stopped, and Draupadi cursed the Kauravas, and called for the utter downfall of that entire section of the clan.
-------
Super wild section!
No comments:
Post a Comment