By: C. A. Kincaid
Prince Vidura (Vyasa's son by the maid, and brother of Pandu and Dhritarashtra) realizes the evil intentions Duryodhana has for the Pandavas and their mother, so he warns the Pandavas. Vidura sends a miner to dig a hole from the fire-ready palace to the forest outside so that they are not burned alive by Duryodhana's ghastly plan. A woman and her five sons had been begging at the palace, so when their burned remains were found, it was assumed that Kunti and her sons were dead which, of course, pleased King Dhritarashtra and Prince Duryodhana.
Bhima and Hidimbi
By: Donald A. Mackenzie
Bhima slays a rakshasa in the forest by breaking his back over his knee. Basically, don't mess with Bhima because he's a cutthroat dude. After this, Bhima ends up taking the rakshasa's sister as his wife. They are happy together and she eventually bears a son, Ghatotkacha. He is born full grown (as are all rakshasas), and when Bhima returns to his mother and brothers, the rakshasa and her son go into the forest, promising to come help the Pandavas whenever called upon.
The Story of Nalayani
By: V Venkatachellam Iyer
When her father is concerned about Draupadi having five husbands, she explains that it was ordained by Shiva in her past life. In her past life, she was a woman named Nalayani, whose husband decided to devote himself to meditation and abandon her. She was not thrilled with this decision, and her husband the rishi said that in her next life she would marry five famous men to satisfy her needs. This is echoed by Shiva when she asks five times over for a husband. When Shiva says that she will indeed have five husbands, she's taken aback and compares it to prostitution, but Shiva defends his decision. When Nalayani realizes that she's got exactly what she wants, she takes it a step further and asks Shiva to grant her virginity back after each husband. This all seems quite surprising with the way most of the women are written in the epics, but it is definitely an extreme not explored yet!
Wife of the Five Pandavas
By: Donald A. Mackenzie
So Arjuna wins Draupadi as his bride, but when they tell their mother they have gotten a gift, she declares that they share it as brothers. The brothers are horrified and reveal to their mother that they are speaking of Draupadi, and she is shocked that she said such a thing, but says now that they must follow what she said. Rather than just brushing off what their mother said, they decide now that a decision must be made. They end up speaking to Vyasa, who says that she should be the wife of all five, for the gods had already declared it. Weddings occur for five days and the Pandavas are showered in gifts. This still is just rather shocking for me - first, a woman having five husbands is practically unheard of, and second that her five husbands are brothers... this is something else.
(Draupadi and her Pandava husbands; Image Source)
Arjuna and Ulupi
By: Donald A. Mackenzie
Here we go again with these people following their word exactly, with no room for interpretation. We saw it in the Ramayana and now we're seeing it time and time again in the Mahabharata. The brothers all agreed that they should never enter when one of them is with their wife, and if they do, that they should face a 12 year exile. Arjuna is forced to enter the room where Yudhishthira is with Draupadi to get weapons and go stop robbers who stole a brahmin's cattle. Afterwards, he declares that he must exile himself. Yudhishthira says this is unnecessary, as he was just getting weapons to better the kingdom, but of course Arjuna insists that he just can't live with himself if he doesn't follow his word, so he goes into exile. During this time, he encounters the daughter of the king of serpents and they fall in love. She gives him the power of invisibility in the water and they have a child, Iravat.
Arjuna and Subhadra
By: Donald A. Mackenzie
I know these were set a long time ago, but man "men applaud the kshatriyas who win brides by abducting them" is some backwards stuff. Krishna's sister, Subhadra, has the intentions of choosing Duryodhana to be her husband, but Krishna has other ideas and tells Arjuna to abduct her for his own. Not long after, Arjuna's exile is finished and he returns to his home with Subhadra. Draupadi is quite jealous when he comes to her, saying "why come hither? Where is the sister of Krishna?" This seems like a bit of a low blow for someone who is the wife of five brothers. The women make peace and sons are borne to each of the Pandavas by Draupadi, and another son to Arjuna by Subhadra.
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