Dhātreikā

Dhātreikā, also called Dhātreyi, was the personal maid of Draupadī, who was very fond of her. She was at the āśrama in Kāmyakavana when the five Pāṇḍavas went out hunting. Draupadī stayed behind with the brāhmaṇas, and the ṛshi Dhaumya was with her. Dhātreikā was the only person who saw Draupadī carried off by Jayadratha. She was the first person the Pāṇḍavas met on their return. Her tearful account, above all what she said about the direction Jayadratha had taken, let the Pāṇḍavas chase him at once and rescue Draupadī.

The abduction and its witness

The Pāṇḍavas came back from the hunt, with the ṛshi Dhaumya and with the permission of the ṛshi Tṛṇabindu. They found Dhātreikā weeping on the ground at the āśrama. Her mouth was dry and she rolled on the ground in grief. The sight told them at once that something terrible had happened.

Indraseṇa, the Pāṇḍavas’ charioteer, jumped down from his chariot and ran to her. He asked her at once whether Kaurava agents had come there. He asked whether anything had happened to Draupadī, whether the earth had swallowed her or the ocean drowned her. He pressed her to tell the truth.

What she told them

Dhātreikā wiped the tears from her face and told Indraseṇa everything.

The wicked Jayadratha, shaming the five great Pāṇḍavas, has forcibly carried Draupadī away. Look, the new paths his army made are still fresh. The broken tree branches have not yet wilted. He cannot have gone far.

She then called on the Pāṇḍavas themselves with fierce words.

O heroes! Quickly turn your chariots around. Put on your armor. Take up your bows and arrows. Chase that villain before Draupadī, the devoted wife of all five of you, falls into his power. Do not let the yajña ladle (sruvā) fall into the ash-pit. Do not let the pure soma be lapped up by a dog. Do not let a jackal that has strayed into the forest defile the sacred lake. Hurry before any of this comes to pass.

Yudhishṭhira was moved but troubled by her passion. He gently asked her to calm herself. He told her that no one who dared such an outrage could live. The brothers armed themselves at once and rode out in pursuit. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, chapter 269)

What she did

Dhātreikā appears only briefly in the Mahābhārata. Draupadī was taken, but Dhātreikā did not run away. She stayed at the āśrama, weeping, until the Pāṇḍavas came back. Her report was exact and could be acted on. She named the abductor. She said that the tracks were fresh and the broken branches not yet wilted. She pointed the brothers the right way. She also urged them with a series of vivid comparisons for what would be lost if Draupadī’s honour were violated. This went beyond the part of a dāsī (maid) who only reports what she has seen.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, chapter 269