Nārada at Indraprastha

After the Pāṇḍavas settled in Indraprastha, the divine ṛshi Nārada came to visit them. To show why they needed a clear agreement about Draupadī, he told them the account of Sunda and Upasunda. The Pāṇḍavas then made a formal agreement. Each brother would spend one year with Draupadī in turn. Any brother who entered the private room during another brother’s year would go into exile for twelve years. This agreement later became the reason for Arjuna’s twelve years of vanavāsa (forest exile).

Nārada arrives

Nārada came to Indraprastha while the Pāṇḍavas were enjoying their new kingdom. Yudhishṭhira and his brothers welcomed him with every honour. When he had accepted their hospitality, he spoke of what had brought him. The question was how five brothers could share one wife without it becoming the seed of quarrels.

The account of Sunda and Upasunda

Nārada told the account of Sunda and Upasunda. They were two asura brothers who were completely devoted to each other. They destroyed themselves because of the apsarā Tilottamā. Nārada did not tell it to blame anyone. He told it as a warning: desire is the one force that can break even the deepest bonds of love.

Nārada said to them: “If two brothers who shared everything, who fought the devas together, who never in their lives raised a hand against each other, could kill each other over a woman in one moment of unchecked desire, then you too need a rule within which this danger is kept in check.”

The agreement of the Pāṇḍavas

The Pāṇḍavas accepted his advice. Together they made this agreement.

Each of the five brothers would have Draupadī as his wife for one year at a time. During that year none of the other brothers would go near the private rooms where the couple lived. If any brother broke this and entered the room without leave, he would accept twelve years of vanavāsa as his own tapas (austerity), whatever his reason for entering.

The agreement was made to keep things in order, not to punish. It gave the arrangement a clear structure in dharma that all five brothers and Draupadī could live within without jealousy or quarrel.

What came of the agreement

The agreement was tested later. His dharma (duty) compelled Arjuna to enter the private room where Draupadī was with Yudhishṭhira. A brāhmaṇa’s cattle had been stolen, and Arjuna’s weapons were kept in that room. He could not refuse to help the brāhmaṇa, even if it meant breaking the agreement.

When he came out with his weapons, Arjuna himself said that he must go into the twelve years of exile that the agreement set. Yudhishṭhira argued that the purpose had not been wrong, that the cause was good, and that no tapas was needed. Arjuna insisted on keeping the agreement as it was made, and left for his twelve years of vanavāsa.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, chapters 209–212 (Nārada’s arrival, the account of Sunda and Upasunda, and the agreement)
• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, chapter 213 (Arjuna and the agreement)