Draupadi

Theatrical Musical under Malhaar on 23-24th May 2014
As the production was divided into five acts, below is the poetry of being her, by act :

Act 1 : Birth

From the kund of conspiracy,
Was born this baton of change
A mere catalyst as nature would have it,
But with a mind, a soul, a desire in place.
Emerging to a destiny,
More often one of faith,
Through her faith she fought her battles,
With her faith she measured her gains.
For embers burning in full might,
And darkness shun across in the bright,
Her birth, one of thousand sacrifices,
Burnt out the dark for a long long night..

Back story :

Yajnaseni emerges in the bloom of youth from Yajnasena-Drupada’s yajna vedi, sacrificial fire-altar, which is repeatedly cited as a simile for her hour-glass figure. Her manifestation does not require the matrix of a human womb and ignores the absence of Drupada’s queen.

Draupadi emerges out of a rite performed on non-shrauta (sacred) tradition, and partakes of the nature of abhichara (black-magic), mainly as an unintended bonus for Drupada who performed the rite for obtaining a son to kill Drona. It is significant that she emerges as a kritya(a woman created by sorcery to slay an enemy) with a skiey heavenly announcement that this lovely, dark lady will destroy all Kshatriyas. She appears, therefore, to fulfill not Drupada’s purpose but that of the gods, responding to the Earth’s anguished prayer to lighten her burden of oppressive Kshatriyas.

“Panchali,” as she is called, is pregnant with double meaning: “of Panchala” and “puppet.” Her other names include Krsna Draupadi, for her color some say, for her faith as say others, while some others believe she was the reincarnation of Shri, Lord Vishnus wife. This presages how she lives her entire life, acting out not just her father’s vengeful obsession but as an instrument of the gods, Krishna here, her sakha, to bring back death to the world.

------------------------------------------

Act 2 : Swayamvar

In a time when ‘her’ future,

was only a sell,

between ‘his’ ambition,
Or perhaps an alliance,
Or anothers ego

Or someone elses’ expel..

She stood ready a timeless beauty

Unknowing of this cruel game,

dreaming of a new reality,
Ah, that blissfully illusionary dame.

“I look up at Him,
As my contest begins
He guides me through

And ensures I choose 'right',

I forego a future that could have been,
Knowing little how my life, holds a divide
Soon I'm strewn into parts five,
Holding my mettle, striving to survive…

I'm meant to obey, but not all on their terms,
I'm meant to fulfill, but just to that I shall not succumb.
I build my household, my rules, my truth,
Cause I'm told I behold within me the Greater Good.”

Backstory :
Her Swayamvar was a contest set to identify Arjun, to ensure the rumor that the Pandavs had perished at war was not true. Her father choreographed a contest which by its nature had only two true contenders, Karna and Arjun.

Krishna, knowing well, that Karna could easily win Draupadi and thus change the course of history to be, instructed her at the last minute to prohibit him from contesting. Reason given that the contest is between the Kshatriyas, the upper caste, and a soot-putra, the son of a charioteer cannot hope for a princess's hand. This incident paved way for the epic as we know it and The Pandavs disguised as Brahmins, came, contested and won, as planned. It seemed a perfect ending till her mother in laws ignorance had her divided into 5 households, one for each brother.

Having pledged to fulfill her duties equally, gifted with an ever-renewing virginity, absolutely unbiased, with an acutely intelligent and forceful personality, Draupadi, took on as her image of a kritya, which by nature is ‘one-who-must-be-obeyed.’ Her faith as her guide, she soon won accolades and Kunti herself described Draupadi to Krishna as sarvadharmopacayinam (fosterer of all virtues), the reigning queen of five households unparalleled and the bearer of their heirs.

------------------------------------------

Act 3 : Cheerharan

No one need entail
A woman's plight when at stake,
I was punished for my crime,
Of having devoted... now defamed.
For those who thought me their prize,
Who were they to put up my price,
Were they bearers of their own dignity
When they thought putting me up an entity


The stalwarts of integrity
Stand heads hung in shame
The pioneers of justice
Strung far and wide their names
Where are their answers
To My questions so simple
Where is their truth
To my dilemmas so trivial.
Being from their own blood,
They dare not defy
They better uplift a mans word
As a denial can go awry

To those who cannot but meet my eyes,
Whose muse I am but responsibility denied,
The question is not of who my rescue shall be
It is about your owning up to a reality.

‘You never owned me beyond owning yourself

You severed a righteousness today, 
As you ready to see me bare..
You who are known as a pillar of the dharma
Whose meaning entails justice, and duty beyond karma
You have failed in me, generations to come..
As when truth gets spoken, your legacy shall return
And crippled those fools might fight their case
But your silence today will trail them fall on their face’

For me, I worry not of a body ashamed,
Nor do I weaken in morality so vain
I know my standing as my Faith shall hold armour
But to resort to that, is that my final honour?

Backstory :

As she is being dragged by her hair wrapped in a single piece of cloth into a court full of men, Draupadi learns she has been staked by her husbands at a greedy game of dice.
Defying the elders and breaking the boundaries of tradition, she questions the understanding of Dharma to all present including the elders of the house, and how Yudhistir could put her at stake having already lost himself. Dually also questioning if duty allows a man to stake his woman when he is infact her protector by definition.
As she sees the respectables all tightlipped over this injustice, she finally calls upon her Krishna, to protect her dignity and reinforce her faith.

------------------------------------------

Act 4 : Kurukshetra

Revenge is my honour

Revenge is my Faith

Revenge is my being now

Shall nothing avenge their death

A time when a naked thigh wanted me sit

And the bearers of wisdom, heard nothing of it

When the first lady of this household was defamed 
Was called a prostitute by a charioteers’ name

When the virtuous of the court stood by

Hearing the pearls of insult unclaimed.

My dignity being lost lowered no ones esteem

Everyone in that court seemed a higher being

The laughs at those wins over an unfair game

The elders of this house never once ashamed

When their son put up the pride of their clan

Not a woman nor a man questioned this demand.

To a woman these men

Make her virtue her worth

Then guarding her honour

Isnt that a first.

'Let peace instead be pursued', they said

'As that earns better good than her pleas

Who cares much over spilt milk

We have here bigger business to weave.'

But O the righteous one!

And Krishna, You my faith!

I shall not weep or plead any more

If war be what brings their blood to my plate

And let history write this as my win,

Let me be the cause of losing all my kin,

As for a man it would be much to ask

To take on the burden, of destruction so vast.

And so I shall shoulder this pain

But you tell the world that my arrogance reigned..

Backstory :
Having lost all at the game of dice and been exiled for 14 years, both Krishna and righteous Yudhistir take on their return as a time to call peace for the common good of both clans. At his point Draupadi coaxes and reminds them of the injustice done to her and the First Lady of the house cannot be humiliated as it were. She knows peace is the right means, but only if Krishna promises this would be done to no woman ever again. An obvious silence follows and the resultant war ensues..

------------------------------------------

Act 5 : The end - Nirvana

An abandoned wife
An abandoned lover
An abandoned daughter
An abandoned mother

My identity You had created
To end all evil as You said
But in the bargain
Was it your plan
To create these monsters
Holding an upper hand?

Today you are gone before me my sakha
Leaving me alone to decide my fate
As the last moments come
I'll stand on the crossroad
And look back at what's left on my slate
What was, what will be I shall never know
But what I lived

My tangible treasure

Is a look back to an empty burrow.

My household strewn,

No kith or kin to despair

Husbanded, yet unprotected

My final moments for, I prepare.

We destroyed adharm together

And You will be written down Lord

Whereas I shall be the sorceress

Recorded not even as the pawn.

So when You offer so kindly,

For me to be liberated with You

As my deeds, my five husbands dint see,

And left me on the foothills a strew..

I instead ask of You a favor,

Please rid me off this desire to be free,

Id rather pain in this existence

And breathe in every woman’s fight for humanity.

Backstory :

It is said that when their final time came, all six took off to the hills on their journey to liberation. As time progressed each one fell off and barring Yudhistir no one made it to heaven, all possessing vices of one nature or another. The first one to fall was Draupadi, and at such time none of her husbands bothered so much as a look, except Bheem, who only enquired with Yudhistir why she shouldn't be accepted by the heavens. On which he replied since she did not love all of us equally and preferred Arjun over the rest, hence she meets her fate. Krishna later pulls her up and offers liberation but she prefers to linger on between the two worlds to tell her story over and over again.