Pañcendra Upākhyāna

Vyāsa told this account to explain where the five Pāṇḍavas and Draupadī came from. He told it during the Vaivāhika Parva, the part of the Mahābhārata about Draupadī’s marriage. Five earlier Indras had gathered great pāpa (sin), including the killing of a brāhmaṇa. Śiva joined them into a single particle, and it was born again as the five Pāṇḍavas. The devī Śrī had lost her seat, and she was born as Draupadī to be the wife of all five. With this knowledge, Vyāsa gave King Drupada the vision to accept the unusual dharma of Draupadī’s marriage to five husbands.

Vyāsa comes to the debate

Drupada had objected to the plan to marry his daughter Draupadī to five brothers. A deep debate followed. Yudhishṭhira spoke from the precedents of the śāstras, but Drupada was not convinced. Kuntī and Dhṛshṭadyumna each spoke in support. The talk had come to a stop when Vyāsa arrived.

Vyāsa asked Drupada for a private meeting. He took the king aside and gave him what no argument could give: divya-cakshu, divine sight, the power to see the hidden truth behind what was happening.

The five Indras

Vyāsa showed Drupada what lay behind the births of the five Pāṇḍavas. In an earlier age, five Indras had gathered terrible pāpa. These included the killing of a brāhmaṇa and other great wrongs, which would normally have sent them to naraka (hell). Śiva, in his compassion joined with his justice, drew these five flawed Indras together into a single particle. That particle was born again in the human world as five separate beings, the five Pāṇḍavas.

Each Pāṇḍava carried the main nature of one of those Indras: Yudhishṭhira his kingly dharma, Bhīma his primal strength, Arjuna his unmatched skill in arms, Nakula his beauty and Sahadeva his wisdom. All five were divine qualities, now born in human form for a great purpose.

Śrī born as Draupadī

Vyāsa then showed the origin of Draupadī. In the divine worlds, the devī Śrī, who is Lakshmī, the lady of good fortune, had lost her seat through a series of events there. She came down to earth. In an earlier birth, as the daughter of a ṛshi, she had done intense tapas (austerity) and had asked Śiva five times for a husband. Pleased with her tapas, Śiva gave her not one husband but five in her next birth. She was born as Draupadī, and the five Pāṇḍavas were the five husbands meant for her.

So the marriage of one woman to five brothers was not a strange thing. It was a divine plan of Śiva himself, joining the five Indras born again with the one who had been Śrī.

Drupada accepts

After receiving this vision, Drupada was convinced. He could not argue with what had been shown to him. He accepted the marriage as dharma, not only allowed but ordained. The Vaivāhika Parva then went on to the wedding itself.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, chapter 195 (Vaivāhika Parva)