The caste system plays an important role in the Mahabharata as well. Dronacharya is a Brahmin who is so poor that he has to become a soldier to earn money. By doing this, he starts following Kshatriya dharma. This begs the question: have the bounds of caste been transgressed? When a child is adopted, what will be his varna—that of his birth parents or adoptive parents? All these issues come up in the Mahabharata. The orderly theoretical structure comes under question when confronted with practical situations. What is Krishna’s varna? He is born in the Yadava Vansh but has been raised by cowherds. Karna has been raised by Suta parents but he wants to become a soldier, a rathi, not a sarathi—he wants to be a warrior, although his adoptive father is a charioteer. His desire goes against his varna. This question too is raised.
Karna wants to learn from the great sage Parashurama who teaches only Brahmins, not Kshatriyas. When asked by Parashurama whether he’s a Kshatriya, Karna replies in the negative. One day, just to avoid disturbing his sleeping guru, Karna bears the pain of a scorpion bite without a murmur. Parashurama discovers Karna’s deception, because he knows no Brahmin would have that level of endurance. He curses him, saying that Karna will forget everything he has learnt from him just when he needs it most.
Here, it’s almost as if he’s talking about a psychological varna; Parashurama is speaking of the qualities of a Kshatriya. Is it the sociological or the psychological varna that Parashurama is referring to here—it is not clear. The question becomes complex here—is Karna cursed because he deceived his guru or because he pretended to possess a Brahmin’s qualities? Varna, rules, jati are issues that arise here, and in Karna’s story they play a big role.
Does the caste system exist only in Hinduism in India or does it exist in other religions in other countries as well?
First you have to ask whether the caste system is associated with religion or sanskriti (culture). Both are not the same. Caste is also seen in other religions in India. Here, even converts to Christianity and Islam still follow the caste system. It’s also seen in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. So it exists as a culture in the Indian subcontinent. As for the rest of the world, matters of aukaat or status exist everywhere else. But the concept of shuddhikaran is very specific to South Asia. The idea of which jobs are clean or unclean is unique to the subcontinent.
I always say that there’s not much difference between caste system and visa. Remove shuddhikaran from this and there are similarities. There’s a roti-and-beti system in one; there’s a visa system in the other. Before granting a visa, they check whether you have money; poor people usually don’t get entry. If not money, they will ask whether you have any useful skills; for instance, if they’re looking for a plumber, and you know the job then you’ll be allowed to go there, not otherwise. Without the requisite money or skill you are denied entry into a foreign country—this too is a kind of caste system.
23
Sita and Draupadi
It is said that the wars in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were caused by the two women—Sita and Draupadi. What are your thoughts on this?
This statement could have only been made by a man. In the Puranas and the Vedas, it’s said that the cause of everything is karma, action, which is neither male nor female. In our stories, it is usually the male characters that play a more active role, while the female characters play a passive role. Thus kaaran (cause) is women and kriya (action) is by men. It’s not exactly correct because anyone can do kriya and there can be any kaaran.
Both Sita and Draupadi had a svayamvara. Did the women in those times actually have the right to choose their own husband?
According to the Puranas, in a svayamvara, a woman can choose her husband. Like Indumati chose Aja, Rama’s grandfather, or Savitri selected Satyavan. In the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, however, it is a svayamvara only in name, because the decision, the choice is not made by the women. The women are won as trophies in an archery contest. In Tulsidas’ Ramayana, Rama and Sita meet in a garden and fall in love before the svayamvara. But that is a poetic rendition as the original story is not so satisfying. In the Valmiki Ramayana, Rama comes to Mithila, and Vishwamitra asks Janaka to give the young men a chance to lift the bow. Janaka agrees and offers his daughter’s hand to whoever is able to do it. Rama lifts the bow, and breaks it too, and so Sita is married to him. It is not really an arranged marriage nor is it a svayamvara. Basically, she’s awarded as a prize for winning the competition.
Rama and Sita’s story is always told as a love story but Draupadi does not seem to have the same relationship with the Pandavas . . .
No, she doesn’t really. Draupadi too has a svayamvara. Here, an archer has to shoot the eye of a moving fish by looking at its reflection in the water below. Her father, King Dhrupad, knows that Arjuna is the greatest archer in Bharatvarsha, and will definitely win the competition, and Draupadi will enter the Kuru Vansh as a bride; Dhrupad intends to eventually destroy the Kurus. However, matters don’t go according to plan. The Kauravas burn the lac house they’d given the Pandavas, who are believed to be dead. Although Dhrupad’s plan has been thwarted by this event, he holds the svayamvara anyway, since his daughter has to be married. He is unaware that the Pandavas have survived and are hiding in the forest as Brahmins. At the svayamvara, when Karna comes forward, Draupadi and her brother Drishtadyumna both reject him as a Sutaputra (son of a Suta, charioteer), who is therefore not qualified to participate. No Kshatriya present there is able to meet the target. Then Brahmins are invited. Among them is Arjuna in disguise, and he wins the contest.
He takes Draupadi to his mother and says, ‘Look what I won in the archery contest.’ Without turning around to see, Kunti tells him to share it with his brothers. How are they supposed to share a woman? Who will be the first husband, who the second? Who has a right over her? All these issues come up in the Mahabharata, which Vyasa handles very delicately. Narada arrives and tells the Pandavas a story about two rakshasa brothers. Indra wanted to divide them, because together they were a threat to him. He sent the apsara Tilottama, who told them that she loved them both and did not know whom to choose. The two rakshasa brothers started arguing and, to Indra’s satisfaction, ended up killing each other. This was their first argument ever, and it was over a woman. The Pandavas understood the moral behind the story, where Tilottama was a metaphor for Draupadi. So a decision was taken that Draupadi would stay with each husband for a year, then walk through fire, become a kumari (virgin) again, and go to the next Pandava. Arjuna realizes that although she is his wife, he will get access to her only after five years, due to the rotation method.
You feel a little bad because there is logistical planning being done between husband and wife. But the idea here is to know who the father of Draupadi’s child is. That can only be ascertained if she stays faithful to one husband for a year.
Tell us about Sita’s and Draupadi’s births.
They both have unique births; they are ayonija, a word that’s used a lot in the Puranas. It means one not born from a yoni, womb; so, we all are yonijas. Janaka, the king of Mithila, is ploughing a field when he finds a pot with a baby girl in it. This girl is Sita. Seet means furrow, the lines that are created on ploughing a field; thence her name.
Draupadi is born from a yagna kund. Her father, Dhrupad, the king of Panchal, is burning in the fire of revenge. He has a disagreement with his friend Drona over a promise he’d made to him when they were children, which was to grant him half his kingdom. Drona later uses his Kaurava and Pandava pupils to subdue and capture Dhrupad, but returns Dhrupad half his kingdom. Once freed, Dhrupad goes to the rishis Yaja and Upayaja and pleads with them for the boon of a son who will destroy Drona. The rishis tell him that what he wants can be a boon or a curse, shuddh or ashuddh (pure or impure). Dhrupad is insistent and the yagna is conducted. Dhrupad gets his son, as well as a daughter. Since she’s born from a yagna, Draupadi is also called Yagnaseni.
Both Sita and Draupadi are in a way adopted. They don’t have birth mo
thers, only adoptive mothers, who are the wives of their respective fathers.
Does Draupadi have any childhood stories?
Both she and her brother emerge from the fire as full-grown adults. Dhrupad is so angry that he literally produces his children only for revenge. They aren’t born of love; they’re born to destroy the Kuru Vansh and Dronacharya. Draupadi is born out of an actual fire and the fire of revenge so she is associated with fire. She is a fiery woman, not particularly nurturing because she has never experienced mamata, vatsalya, or received parental love. She is an object for revenge. The relationship of Dhrupad and Draupadi is very different from that of Sita and Janaka, who share the love of father and daughter.
Sita has several names—Janaki (Janaka’s daughter), Maithili (princess of Mithila), but also a personal name, which is Sita. Draupadi does not have a personal name. Draupadi is Dhrupad’s daughter, Panchali is princess of Panchal, Yagnaseni, daughter of the yagnasen, the priest who conducted the yagna. It is as though she does not have a personality.
Draupadi has to go through fire every year before going to her next husband. Likewise, Sita has to face an agnipariksha, trial by fire. What is the concept here?
Fire is supposed to cleanse anything that is dirty, impure or negative. Sita does the agnipariksha to prove her purity; that she has nothing to cleanse. Draupadi’s firewalking is to cleanse herself of all the karma with her previous husband, and renew and refresh herself before going to the next one. It has a strong biological and sexual connotation.
We know about Sita’s sons, Luv and Kush. What about Draupadi’s children?
Draupadi has one son from each of her five husbands. The epic doesn’t provide the details of these sons. They are only mentioned at the end of the war. When the Pandava camp is sleeping after celebrating their victory, Drona’s son, Ashwatthama, comes to kill the Pandavas. He mistakes these five sons of Draupadi for the Pandavas and beheads them. When he presents the heads to Duryodhana, the Kuru prince finds it hard to believe they are the Pandavas. As a test, he picks up what is supposed to be Bhima’s head, and is able to crush it easily. He tells Ashwatthama that had it been Bhima he could not have crushed it like this; this must be his son. Duryodhana feels very bad about it. It is quite horrifying too.
If we see the two heroines, Sita is quiet, silent, undemanding, while Draupadi is loud, vengeful and demanding, like her father. Sita’s sons eventually become kings, but while Draupadi gets her revenge, she loses her sons. It is Arjuna’s other wife, Subhadra, whose son becomes king of Hastinapur. Maybe this is to indicate that one should be patient in life rather than vengeful.
Were Sita and Draupadi good cooks?
In Ayodhya, there is the famous Sita ki rasoi. Sita’s kitchen was about the great quality of food. In one loka katha, a crow grabs a roti that Sita has made and takes it to Ravana in Lanka. Ravana is impressed and wants to know who this gifted cook is. So, according to the story, Ravana went looking for her and kidnapped her for her rotis, not to avenge Surpanakha!
In the Mahabharata, it is Draupadi’s thali that is famous. It is said that Draupadi always fed anyone who visited her house. A kitchen that always has food is referred to as ‘Draupadi ki thali’.
How did the two women die?
People don’t like to use the word death for the protagonists of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; the word we use is ‘samadhi’. Sita’s story is simple. After being banished to the forest, she raises her two sons as a single mother. When Rama comes, and is taking their sons with him, he asks her to return to Ayodhya with them. She refuses, saying she’s done her duty. She prays to her mother, the earth (dharti ma), and asks her to take her back. Can be called death—you’ve to decide. Some Assamese stories say Sita is under the earth and still loves her children and wants her children to come back. There are other such stories in other loka kathas too.
Draupadi’s story is interesting. The Pandavas rule Hastinapur for thirty-six years, after which they renounce the world and start their journey towards heaven. The first to slip and fall is Draupadi. Yudhishtira instructs his brother not to turn back for they have given up everything in life and if any of them dies, they die. In a way, Draupadi dies alone, unlike Sita. When Sita departed, Rama could not live without her, and took jal samadhi, that is, he submerged himself in the river, while none of Draupadi’s husbands even looks back at her. Her story is a bit tragic.
Do Sita and Draupadi have temples dedicated especially to them?
There are a few temples, though not very popular. Gramadevis (village goddesses) have temples, and in loka kathas too. Sita has one temple in Mithila, in the southern part of Nepal, where Maithili is spoken and Sita is given a lot of importance. In Nepal, at Janakpur, there’s a Janaki temple. In Haryana, there’s a Sita Mai temple in Karnal. At Waynad in Kerala, there’s a Seetha Devi temple where she’s worshipped along with her sons, Luv and Kush. In Sri Lanka, at Nuwara Eliya, there’s a Seetha Amman temple.
Draupadi is worshipped as a gramadevi, and her temples are found primarily in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu. In Arcot district in Tamil Nadu, you find many temples of Draupadi Amma. There, she is considered a roop (form) of Durga and Kali, and plays based on the Mahabharata are performed to please the goddess.
24
Brothers and Sisters
We celebrate festivals like Bhai Duj and Rakshabandhan. Is the brother–sister bond special to our culture?
Yes, it is. When we see mythologies from other parts of the world, we don’t see them giving a similar importance to this relationship. In Greek mythology, Apollo and Artemis are twins, but not much detail is provided about their relationship. In our Vedas and Puranas, epics and loka kathas, there’s always a brother–sister story. For instance, in weddings, the younger brother of the bride and her mama, mother’s brother, both play an important role.
There’s a very interesting story in the Vedas about Yama and Yami. Tell us about it.
According to the Vedas, Yama and Yami are the world’s first man and woman. As they near the end of their lives, Yami goes to Yama and says they should have a child otherwise there will be no human being left in the world after them. Yama says they are siblings and it would be against dharma for them to procreate. This is a classic problem of primal twins. Every culture has its conflicts about the relationship between the first man and woman. How should we see Adam and Eve—they could be siblings, mother–son, father–daughter. Similarly, the Yama–Yami relationship in the Vedas is controversial.
After Yama dies, he becomes the first resident of Pitr-loka. As he has not left any son in the land of the living, he can never return to Bhu-loka—that is, be reborn. So he becomes a permanent resident of Pitr-loka and the god of death.
Realizing the tragic situation, Yami starts weeping. It is said that she takes on the form of Yamuna, the river; some say she becomes Yamini, the night, and dons a starry blanket for her brother. Some say that when the sun sets it becomes Yama who goes to Pitr-loka, and Yamini takes his place as the night sky. So, they are destined to remain apart.
Do the Puranas have stories of brothers and sisters?
The Puranas talk of the Surya Vansh and the Chandra Vansh. The former comes from Ikshvaku and the latter from Ila; these two are brother and sister. Although Ila was born male, and known as Sudhyumna, he later turns into a female. Her children form the Chandra Vansh.
In the Mahabharata, who was Draupadi’s brother?
She has two brothers. One is her twin, Drishtadyumna, who kills Drona. Draupadi and Drishtadyumna’s elder brother is Shikhandi, who is born a woman and later becomes a man. His story is the opposite of Ila’s.
Did Draupadi consider Krishna her brother?
In our society, we always wish to give a name to a relationship between a man and a woman. Simply friendship between the two is not acceptable. So this has been turned into a brother–sister relationship; Krishna is Draupadi’s rakhi brother. According to one version, when Krishna kills Shishupala with his Sudarshan
chakra, his thumb is injured. Draupadi tears the end of her sari and ties it around his bleeding thumb. It is said that this is the origin of the custom of tying rakhi. Krishna tells her that she is now his sister and he will always help her in times of trouble. And because she ties a piece of cloth, he gives her seemingly endless lengths of garment during the vastraharan.
Did the Kauravas and the Pandavas have a sister?
When the Kauravas and the Pandavas are born, it is felt that there should be at least one girl too, because all the queens have given birth only to boys. So, Dushala is born to Gandhari. Dushala’s husband is Jayadrath, the king of Sindh, a characterless man. Once, during the Pandavas’ exile, he tries to rape Draupadi, but the Pandavas save her in time. They want to kill Jayadrath, but Draupadi asks them to forgive him, otherwise their sister will be widowed.
The Mahabharata also has other siblings—Kripa–Kripi, Hidimba–Hidimbi, Rukmi–Rukmini—it’s easy to remember these names! Tell us their stories.
Shantanu finds an infant brother and sister in the forest. He discovers that they are a rishi’s children so he brings them home. They are Kripa and Kripi. Kripa grows up to become an accomplished teacher of martial arts and Kripi marries Dronacharya. Drona is poor and needs a job, so Kripa gets him the job of teacher of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Both Kripa and Drona become their teachers, eventually fighting from the Kauravas’ side in Kurukshetra.