When the nations of the earth were sent forth one after the other, a special word was given by God to each, the word which each was to say to the world, the peculiar word from the Eternal which each one was to speak.To Egypt in old days, the word was Religion; to Persia the word was Purity; to Chaldea the word was Science; to Greece the word was Beauty; to Rome the word was Law; and to India, the eldest-born of His children, to India He gave a word that summed up the whole in one, the word Dharma. That is the word of India to the world. – Annie Beasant
In the Mahabharata, there is a prasanga of Draupadi
Vastaharan mentioned in the Sabha Parva.
Many readers/viewers have interpreted Draupadi as a victim of
the episode.
It's a complete myth that Draupadi was a victim.
During the infamous game of dice, when she was dragged into
the assembly hall, she did not merely weep; she cross-examined the greatest
elders of the Kuru dynasty—Bhishma, Drona, and Dhritarashtra—on the precise
legal and moral definitions of Dharma. Her inherent duty was to speak truth to
power and refuse to let Adharma (unrighteousness) go unchallenged.
Draupadi’s interrogation of the court can be broken down into these specific points:
Draupadi’s main question, which silenced the hall of kings
and scholars, was:
"Whom did you lose first, yourself or me?"
She argued that if Yudhishthira had already gambled and
lost himself, he was no longer a free man. As a slave, he would have no legal
right to stake another person—specifically his wife—because he no longer
"owned" his own personhood or property.
The Morality of the Game: She questioned whether a
game of dice, fueled by deceit (Shakuni’s trickery) and intoxication of the
ego, could ever result in a legally binding "win."
The Silence of the Elders: She directly addressed
Bhishma, Drona, and Vidura, asking: "Where is the Dharma of the
Kshatriyas? Where is the righteousness of the ancestors?" She forced them
to confront the fact that their silence was a form of participation.
The Definition of Slavery: She asked if a woman is
merely an object to be staked, or if her identity is independent of her
husband’s fortune.
Application in Modern Times
In India there was a family health survey which was
conducted for married women from the age group 18-49 years.
The report stated that 22% of women live with toxic
husbands.
Definition for Toxic husbands:
- Doubt their wife.
- Paying attention to make sure women don't deal with money
- Trust deficit to give them any money
- Making friends with their home members and themselves
- Dislike them to speak to even female friends
- Physical violence
The report stated the following solutions.
2. Protest, oppose, object like Draupadi if your rights are compromised.
The report clearly demonstrates that a woman not knowing how
to defend or protest for her rights and keeping silent is bound to be at the
receiving end of the spectrum. Here remember Draupadi shows the way, she did
not remain silent in the Sabha of Kings (Dhritarashtra) , learned men and
Guru's (Bhishma, Vidhura, Dronacharya) and her husband's (Yudhishthir, Bhima,
Arjuna etc).
Remember Draupadi was not a victim, she would have, had she
remained silent and she not only got her self-respect but also freed her husband’s
from a boon offered later by Dhritarashtra.
Also, an attribute of Draupadi was Unshakable Devotion or
Bhakti
It is said that she surrendered to Lord Krishna after
seeking help unsuccessfully from her husband's and the elderly men in the court
when she was being disrobed, who restored her self-confidence but it was she
who fought for her rights, dignity and self-respect.
What is
freedom?
1. Universal Dharma (Moral-Side/General/Ethics’):
What is ahitam (harmful/unfavourable) to you, don't do to others. (Even many
western thinkers like STOICS says that we don't have the freedom to control
others, we can only control our thoughts and actions)
2. Sva-Dharmam: (Bhagavat Gita)
- What if you are unable to manifest/express/revel from inside you, will destroy you, is your Sva-Dharmam
- What you are unable to bring out from within and would make you, subservient, sorrowful and dependent (lack of freedom)
- Also, to bring out, what is not within you, will also result in sorrow. (para-dharma)
As per the Mahabharata anybody following Dharma and Sva-Dharma are considered to be free.
Eg of Sva-Dharma: If Sachin Tendulkar/Lata Mangeshkar
was not a batsmen or singer then he/she would perennially be in a
dependent/unhappy state, not in a state of freedom. Or if you make Sachin
Tendulkar to sing and Lata Mangeshkar to play cricket, the result would also
have been distinct.
P.S. The above article has been inspired from the Amritapuri Dialogues on Mahabharata
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