Draupadī and the Queens of Dvārakā
At Samantapañchaka, during the great gathering at the time of the solar eclipse, Draupadī meets the queens of Dvārakā. She asks each of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s eight principal wives how she came to marry him. Each queen tells her own account. Rukmiṇī tells of her elopement. Satyabhāmā tells of Narakāsura’s death. Jāmbavātī tells of her father’s gift. Kālindī tells of her tapas (austerity). Mitravindā, Satyā-Nāgnajitī and Lakshmaṇā tell of their svayaṃvara (the ceremony where a bride chooses her husband). Bhadrā tells of an arranged marriage. At the end, the sixteen thousand queens freed from Narakāsura speak together.
In every account the queen says that reaching Bhagavān Kṛshṇa took tapas, surrender, or great puṇya (merit) gathered over many births.
Draupadī’s question
At Samantapañchaka, during the great gathering, Draupadī, a woman of great character and noble family, sat with the queens of Dvārakā in one of the fine enclosures set up for the Yādava women. She looked at each queen, radiant, gracious and calm. Curiosity and devotion moved her, and she spoke to them:
“O noble ladies, you are the most blessed of women, for you have Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself as your husband. I wish to know from each of you how this great fortune came to you. How did each of you come to be married to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa?”
Each wife then told her account.
Rukmiṇī’s account
Rukmiṇī, the most senior of the queens, told how she had heard of Kṛshṇa’s qualities from Nārada and others, and had fixed her heart on him. Her family arranged her marriage to Śiśupāla. She sent a letter to Kṛshṇa through a trusted brāhmaṇa. In it she declared her love and asked him to come and take her. Kṛshṇa came alone to Vidarbha. On the day of the wedding he carried her away at the temple gate, and he defeated all the kings who had gathered and tried to stop him.
She said: “I had worshipped Bhavānī for Kṛshṇa with all my heart. I received what I sought. All of this was Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s own grace and not my own merit.”
Satyabhāmā’s account
Satyabhāmā, the daughter of Satrājit, said: “My father had the Syamantaka jewel, and Kṛshṇa was falsely accused of stealing it. When the truth came out, my father, in gratitude and regret, offered me and the jewel to Kṛshṇa. Kṛshṇa accepted me but gave the jewel back. Later he killed Narakāsura at my request, with me by his side in the battle. Then Bhūdevī, the mother of the slain asura, came and placed me in Kṛshṇa’s hands herself. In this way I came to him, partly through family circumstance and partly by grace.”
Jāmbavātī’s account
Jāmbavātī said: “My father Jāmbavān, the great bear-king who had served Rāma, had found the Syamantaka gem and kept it in his mountain cave. Kṛshṇa entered the cave in search of the jewel and fought my father for twenty-eight days. Jāmbavān stopped only when he knew Kṛshṇa as his ancient Bhagavān Rāma himself. He gave the gem to Kṛshṇa with both hands. He also offered me, his daughter, as a gift to the one to whom his heart had always belonged. I came to Kṛshṇa as my father’s offering to his beloved Bhagavān Rāma.”
Kālindī’s account
Kālindī, the daughter of Sūryadeva, said: “I did severe tapas on the bank of the Yamunā. I vowed that I would have none but Vishṇu as my husband. I lived in a dwelling under the water by the Yamunā and lived on fallen leaves alone. Kṛshṇa came to Arjuna’s camp at Indraprastha. Arjuna asked about a woman he had seen doing tapas at the river. Kṛshṇa already knew who I was. He brought me to him, and I was received with great joy. This tapas was itself given by him, and its fruit was he himself.”
Mitravindā’s account
Mitravindā, a daughter of a Yādava family, said: “At my svayaṃvara my heart was already set on Kṛshṇa. But my brothers, who were against him, tried to stop him from entering. Kṛshṇa came anyway. He defeated my brothers and took me as I stood ready to garland him. I had gathered the puṇya to be claimed by him in the assembly of kings, and he claimed me.”
Satyā-Nāgnajitī’s account
Satyā, also called Nāgnajitī, the daughter of King Nagnajit of Kosala, said: “My father had set a great test for anyone who wished to marry me. He had to subdue seven wild bulls at the same time. These bulls were powerful and could not be controlled, and they had gored many kshatriyas who tried. Kṛshṇa came to Kosala. He took seven forms at once, and with each form he subdued one bull. He put a noose on all seven and tamed them together. No other king could do this. My father gave me to him with great honour and enormous gifts. My svayaṃvara was a test of divine power, and only Bhagavān Kṛshṇa could pass it.”
Bhadrā’s account
Bhadrā, a cousin of Kṛshṇa from the Yādava family, said: “My father and brothers, who loved Kṛshṇa deeply, simply offered me to him. There was no condition and no contest. He accepted me as a gift from my family. My good fortune was to be born into a family whose hearts were already wholly in Kṛshṇa.”
Lakshmaṇā’s account
Lakshmaṇā, the daughter of King Bṛhatsenā of Madra, said: “At my svayaṃvara a revolving fish was set up as the target. It could be seen only by its reflection in the water below. Many kings, Arjuna among them, tried to shoot it. Kṛshṇa had not formally entered as a competitor. At the last moment he took the bow, fixed his eyes on the reflection, and shot the fish through the eye without looking up at the real target. I put the garland around his neck myself. My puṇya from past lives made him choose to take part on that day.”
The sixteen thousand queens
At last the sixteen thousand queens, whom Narakāsura had held captive and Kṛshṇa had freed, spoke together:
“We were held captive by Narakāsura and had given up all hope. When Kṛshṇa came in and killed the asura, we were set free. We looked at him and our hearts were given. There was nothing else we could do. We asked to be accepted as his wives. He accepted all of us equally. Our only prayer is that in life after life we may have this same good fortune, to serve him and belong to him.”
Draupadī heard all these accounts with joy and reverence. She understood that each of these women, by a different path of devotion, puṇya, love and surrender, had been drawn to the same Supreme.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 83