Jayadratha Draupadī Haraṇa
In the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata, Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu, finds Draupadī alone in the forest āśrama (hermitage) of the Pāṇḍavas. He carries her away by force. The Pāṇḍavas follow at once. Bhīmasena catches Jayadratha and is ready to kill him, but Yudhishṭhira stops him. Jayadratha then does tapas (austerity) to Bhagavān Śiva and receives a vara (a boon) that has a terrible result later at Kurukshetra.
The meeting at the āśrama
The Pāṇḍavas were away from the āśrama. Jayadratha came to the forest camp with his followers as he passed through the region. He was the king of Sindhu-Sauvīra. He was the husband of Duśśalā, the only daughter of Dhṛtarāshṭra, so he was a brother-in-law of the Kauravas.
Draupadī was alone in the āśrama when Jayadratha arrived. His minister Koṭikāsya was the first to go to her. He admired her great beauty and asked who she was and how she came to be there, in a way that was far too free. Draupadī received them with dignity. She told them she was the wife of the Pāṇḍavas and invited them to rest as guests.
Jayadratha’s proposal and Draupadī’s refusal
Jayadratha himself then went to Draupadī. Her beauty overwhelmed him. He spoke to her in a way that was wholly improper. He asked her to leave the Pāṇḍavas and their hard life in the forest and to come away with him. He spoke of his own kingdom and wealth, and said that a woman of her beauty deserved better than exile in the forest.
Draupadī refused him calmly and with deep anger. She reminded him who the Pāṇḍavas were: their family, their strength, and the fact that no one had ever defeated them in battle. She reminded him that she was their wife, in full keeping with dharma. She warned him that what he proposed was not a path he could walk safely.
Desire and pride took away Jayadratha’s judgment. He forced Draupadī into his chariot and drove away. The purohita (priest) Dhaumya followed on foot, crying out against the wrong. He could not stop Jayadratha by force, but he would not leave Draupadī alone.
Draupadī speaks to Jayadratha
As the chariot went through the forest with Draupadī as his captive, she did not stay silent. She spoke to him directly and at length. She described each of the Pāṇḍavas: how each looked, what each was like, what each could do in battle, and what Jayadratha was bringing on himself. This was not a plea. It was a warning, spoken with the certainty of a woman who knew what was coming.
She spoke of Bhīmasena’s fierceness, of Arjuna’s archery that no one could equal, of Yudhishṭhira’s steadiness in dharma, and of the strength of Nakula and Sahadeva together. She made it clear that she was not a woman without protectors, and that they were already on their way.
The chase and Jayadratha’s defeat
The Pāṇḍavas came back to the āśrama and found Draupadī gone. Dhaumya was following on foot some way off, showing them the path. They took up their weapons at once and went after Jayadratha.
The chase was quick. The allies who had come with Jayadratha tried to resist, and the Pāṇḍavas killed them or drove them off one by one as they caught up.
Bhīmasena was the fastest. He overtook Jayadratha, took all his weapons, and caught him alive. Draupadī was set free, unharmed. Jayadratha stood in Bhīma’s grip, a shameful place for a king.
Bhīma’s punishment and Yudhishṭhira’s mercy
Bhīmasena meant to kill Jayadratha at once. But Yudhishṭhira stepped in. He reminded Bhīma that Jayadratha was the husband of Duśśalā, the only daughter of Dhṛtarāshṭra, and that killing him would only widen the circle of grief, with no good reason for it. He said it was not the way of a kshatriya to kill a captive who had been disarmed, when the woman who had been wronged was safe.
Bhīma held back. He gave Jayadratha the pañchashikhā punishment: he shaved Jayadratha’s head except for five tufts of hair, a public sign of shame. Then he made Jayadratha say aloud before everyone: “I am the slave of Dharmarāja Yudhishṭhira.” Only after this did Yudhishṭhira order his release. Jayadratha went away, ashamed but alive, with the marks of his shame for all to see.
Jayadratha’s tapas and Bhagavān Śiva’s vara
The shame he had suffered at the hands of the Pāṇḍavas burned deep in Jayadratha. He went to Gaṅgādvāra (Haridvāra) and did hard tapas to Bhagavān Śiva. He wanted the power to defeat the Pāṇḍavas, and he held to that one aim. He kept his arms raised, stood on one leg, lived on very little food, and bore heat and cold without complaint.
Bhagavān Śiva appeared and gave him a vara, with a clear limit. He told Jayadratha that he could not defeat all five Pāṇḍavas. But he would be able to hold back four of them for one day in battle: Bhīma, Nakula, Sahadeva and Yudhishṭhira. The fifth, Arjuna, he could not hold back. Arjuna was beyond this vara.
Jayadratha accepted.
The Nārāyaṇa Māhātmya
After the account of Jayadratha’s vara, the text gives the Nārāyaṇa Māhātmya. In it Mārkaṇḍeya tells of three great avatāras (descents) of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, that is, Bhagavān Vishṇu:
- Varāha avatāra: Bhagavān Vishṇu came down as the boar to lift up the earth, which Hiraṇyāksha had sunk under the waters.
- Nṛsiṃha avatāra: Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared as the man-lion to protect Prahlāda and to kill Hiraṇyakaśipu.
- Vāmana avatāra: Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared as a dwarf brāhmaṇa and took back the three worlds from Bali in three steps.
These three show that when adharma goes beyond its limit, Bhagavān Vishṇu steps in directly and completely.
What came of it at Kurukshetra
The vara Jayadratha received at Gaṅgādvāra proved decisive at Kurukshetra. On the day of the Chakravyūha, Abhimanyu had gone into the formation alone, and the other Pāṇḍavas tried to follow him. Jayadratha used his vara to hold back the four Pāṇḍavas at the entrance. They could not get in. They could only watch from outside while Abhimanyu fought alone and was at last killed by the joint attack of the Kaurava commanders. This was the direct result of what happened in the forest: Jayadratha’s shame and his tapas turned into the one day that cost Arjuna his son.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 264–272