Mahabharata characters 61 Draupadi 2 Exemplary devotion amidst tribulation

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Welcome back to the Mahabharata character series. We are discussing about Draupadi, the most inglorious and glorious incident in her life.
Inglorious because she was humiliated publicly. Glorious because her devotion which caused the lord to manifest miraculously that devotion was displayed for the whole world to see. So Draupadi, seeing that her husbands would not protect her, called out fervently raising both her hands, oh Keshava, oh Govinda, please save me from the ocean of the Kurus into whom which I am sinking and Krishna was in Dwaraka at that time.
Krishna heard her call and he responded. He came in invisible form. Nobody could see what was happening but all that they could see was that Dushasan was pulling and pulling at the saree of Draupadi but the saree seemed endless.
It was not ending and Krishna in an invisible form provided her an endless saree. In fact they said that Krishna incarnated as her saree to protect her honour and this is Krishna is infinite when he incarnated as a saree. The saree also became infinite and Dushasan kept pulling and pulling and Dushasan was a rugged Kshatriya and Kshatriyas can fight and fight and they are trained, they don’t get tired but he was just pulling and pulling and pulling and he kept pulling and a whole pile of saree lay on the side but Draupadi could not make its room and finally Dushasan became breathless.
Dushasan became exhausted and he stopped and seeing this extraordinary miraculous event which demonstrated how a chaste lady could not could not be exposed, could not be violated, how Dharma would protect her. All the kings who had assembled there, they all lauded Draupadi’s chastity and they censured Shakuni and Dushasan and Duryodhana and Karna. Dushasan fell silent.
Draupadi looked around and she had closed her eyes and raised his hands begging the Lord for protection. Seeing that the Lord had protected her, she thanked him and she knew the immediate crisis was over but still the full crisis had not yet gone. She looked around expectantly waiting to see whether the assembly would have some change of heart.
We saw that people were lauding her for this extraordinary miracle but the Kauravas’ eyes were still hardened. They were completely sold over to evil and seeing the Kauravas still having malicious intentions, Bhima could take it no more and he sprang up and he said, listen now as I take a vow, the likes of which has never been taken before and will never be taken hereafter. This wretched one who tried to dishonour the chaste Panchali, I vow that I will break his chest and I will drink his blood and I will kill him thus and if I do not do this, let me not go to the world of my ancestors and as he spoke this, the whole assembly actually applauded him and censured the evil quadrant of the Duryodhana, Dushasana, Karna and Shakuni and now although they had seen such a supernatural, miraculous event, it is said that believers need no reasons and non-believers accept no reasons.
So the Kauravas could not comprehend what had happened but still their heart did not change and the issue still remained and then Karna said, this is a servant woman, take her to the servant quarters and let her stay over there as best as she can and Dushasana immediately came forward and started dragging Draupadi. He had also felt horrified, humiliated, horrified not that he had been doing something wrong but horrified that, humiliated that he had been bested by a mere woman that he had not even been able to disrobe a woman. So he came forward and he dragged her while he started dragging.
He said, oh wait, she pulled herself free from there and she folded her hands in front of the assembly. Oh, oh virtuous assembly, it seems that even in the presence of elders like all of you, how can this vile person drag me away like this? I ask you, have I been one in the assembly, in the gambling match? He says, is it that I who am the wife of the high soul Yudhishthira, the wife of the Pandavas, who are born in a race which is equal to theirs, have I become a servant maid now? Whatever you say, I will do but answer my question and everyone remains silent. Whatever is virtuous, all of you know about virtue.
Tell me what is virtuous and I will do that. Draupadi beseeched again and Bhishma felt compelled to speak and he said, as I said, what is virtuous is very difficult to determine and therefore I cannot give any answer. That you turn towards dharma, towards virtue, even in such a situation speaks about the glory of your character.
Indeed, you are nothing but spotlessly virtuous and although provoked to such an extent, the Pandavas also stay fixed on the path of virtue. They are also glorious. That the Kauravas have ventured in a path of greed and folly is indication that they are going to be destroyed.
Indeed, they look as if they are going to die soon and he consoled her saying that her adherence to virtue was great. But he said, this question is very subtle. As Yudhishthira was the one who gambled, he should answer your question and everyone turned towards Yudhishthira and Draupadi again protested.
He said, but he was compelled to gamble by the machinations of evil men, but the onus was now on Yudhishthira and Duryodhana decided to rub salt on the wound and he said, yes, Draupadi, you know, the Kauravas, the Kurus are very compassionate and they are also distressed to see your distress. They do not want you to suffer in this distress. So let Yudhishthira say that he had lost a sense of discrimination, that he had erred from the path of virtue, that he is not your master and he was wrong in gambling you, then the Kauravas will release you, will free you and let him say that about your other brother, your other husband and they will release him also.
Now here Duryodhana took on a garb of being very charitable and magnanimous and some of the kings there were taken in and they applauded him. But others saw through, actually what Duryodhana was trying to do was create dissension between the Pandavas, get them to disown Yudhishthira. Now Bhima spoke up, you know, if the, if Yudhishthira, everyone knows that Yudhishthira was our master when we entered into this assembly.
Indeed if Yudhishthira were not our lord, he said, how could anyone have touched Draupadi and still lived? He said, look at my arms. He raised his arms and clapped on them, they are like towers of steel. He says, who can come inside these arms and escape alive? Not even Indra.
Now I would have destroyed all the Kauravas like a lion destroying a pack of deer if it had not been because of virtue, it had not been because of my reverence to Yudhishthira and it had not been because Arjuna is repeatedly restraining me, asking me to stay calm. So Bhima, although he was a short-tempered person, although he was infuriated, but still he also did not disown Yudhishthira. Now Duryodhana seeing his plan failing, he decided to incite.
He could see how Bhima was being torn between the anger that was erupting in him and the virtue that was innate to him and that was holding him back and he wanted to inflict more misery on Bhima to incite and infuriate him further. He uncovered his leg and exposed his thigh, muscular thigh, and he pointed to it clasping it. He says, oh Draupadi, come and sit here.
Come and sit on the lap of your new lord. What have you got to do with these poppers? He says, wretch, this thigh I will break to pieces and I will punish you. Bhima when he spoke, there was smoke, fire and sparks that were coming from his whole body.
He was looking like Yamaraja appointed for the destruction of the whole world and serious Bhishma, Kripa, Drona. Oh Bhima, everything is possible for you. Stay calm, stay calm and Karna spoke at this point and he said, it seems that the elders in this assembly are independent and they do not seek Duryodhana’s interests and he wanted to incite the Pandavas further.
As Bhima took this vow, finally, Bhima’s anger was such that he would erupt any time. Vidura finally spoke. He said, that oh assembly, take a decision.
So, Draupadi has asked and it is our responsibility to answer. If we do not answer, we will be culpable. He told a story of a sage Sudhanva who had wanted to marry the same woman as Prahlad’s son Virochan wanted to marry.
So, Sudhanva was Angira’s son and both of them brought their conflict to Prahlad and Prahlad remained silent and Sudhanva said that if you stay silent and you are expected to give judgement, then you will be culpable and he was told that Varuna’s noose will bound the person who does not give testimony and judgement when the person has the responsibility to give it and then Prahlad spoke. He says, surely your case is correct. I told Virochan, submit to him and he said, just as your father, the sage Angiras is superior to me, similarly, you are superior to my son and Angiras was, Sudhanva was pleased and he said, because you have adhered to the path of truth, so I bless that your son will live for 100 years.
So, Vidura said, if we do not respond to Draupadi’s plea, then we will be destroyed and he said, I will give my verdict. He said, because he had been, she had been gambled after Yudhishtira had lost himself, she was not lost and then Karna bought up again and he said, a woman is always the property, a woman slave is always the property of a master and when the master becomes a slave, a slave cannot have any property. Therefore, Draupadi has become the property of the Kauravas.
Duryodhana said again, he said, I will leave the decision to the Pandavas and Draupadi. If they say that they have not been lost to any stake, then I will release them. So, Arjuna snorted.
He said, surely Yudhishtira was our master when we entered this assembly. Whose master he was, when he gambled, let the assembly decide. Arjuna was intelligent.
He did not play into the hands of Duryodhana. He threw the ball back to where it belonged, to the Kuru assembly and Arjuna spoke this. At that time, there was suddenly a jackal howled in Dhritarashtra’s sacrifice chamber, which was horribly inauspicious and in response to that, arses bred and then evil birds started screeching.
Now, all these were extremely inauspicious signs and Dhritarashtra said, oh king, things have gone far, too far, now stop, otherwise the whole dynasty will be destroyed. Now, hearing all these inauspicious things, so Dhritarashtra was a person who could not be persuaded by logic and reason, but when the supernatural exhibition of power first was, Draupadi could not be disrobed and now all these inauspicious signs started coming in and he stopped. He turned to Duryodhana.
He was blind, but he could not decide where he was and he said, oh you wicked Duryodhana, because of your greed, you have caught a disaster and you will be destroyed. Stop your shameful activities now. And he turned towards Draupadi and he said, oh Panchali, throughout this terrible assembly, you have stepped in the path of virtue.
You are the foremost among all my daughter-in-laws. I had arranged this gambling match just to see the relative strengths of the Pandavas and the Kurus. Please forgive any hard words, any wrong thing that have happened over here.
Please ask for some benediction. So, Draupadi looked at him. She knew that here it stayed silent throughout all this.
Now that he had relented, it was not because of a change of heart or awakening of conscience or virtue, it was simply because of fear. So she said, you know, my son Pratyavindya has Yudhishthira as his father. So she had, as we discussed, five sons.
Pratyavindya through Yudhishthira, then Suta-Soma through Bhima, then Suta-Kirti through Arjuna, then Satanika through Nakula and Suta-Karma through Sahadeva. So now her thought as a mother, even she is not thinking, oh I have been humiliated, I have to take revenge. She is a mother.
He says, you know, let his father Yudhishthira be released. That boy has been born and brought up in royalty. Let the world not say that he is the son of a slave.
So Yudhishthira immediately agreed. And he said, please ask something else. He said, let my other husbands be released along with their chariots and their weapons.
Yudhishthira agreed immediately to that also. And he said, ask for something else. So Draupadi, now she did not, even now she remains stuck in the path of virtue.
She said, you know, Brahmana, Brahmani can ask for three boons, but a Kshatriya should not ask for more than two boons. Greed destroys virtue. Therefore, I am satisfied with these two boons that you have given me.
My husband, even now, although she had been so, we could say so terribly let down by her husbands, instead of thinking that way, she said, my husbands are powerful enough. If they just have their weapons, their chariots, they will gain back, they will gain whatever is required. So Yudhishthira praised her and he said, I will give your kingdom back to you.
And at that time, now for the Kauravas, this was a nightmare. Now Duryodhana, he was always like Dikhi, Yudhishthira would always do whatever he would want. But this time Yudhishthira publicly chastised him and had undone the work that he had done.
So he could not do that. But Karna decided that the very least they could do is they could at least mock the Pandavas. And he started laughing and he said, oh, just see these five great heroes.
And he spoke the word heroes sarcastically. These five great heroes have been saved by a woman. When they were sinking into an ocean of distress, they had to seek shelter of the boat in the form of a woman who had to rescue them.
I have never heard of such a thing. And he started laughing. And Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana and Dushyasana and Shakuntala also joined in the laughter.
Bhima was so enraged, about to pounce. Arjuna caught him and Arjuna said, oh brother, the wise do not pay heed to the provocative words of the small minded. They remember whatever good is there in the wicked and act accordingly.
Arjuna’s words could not pacify, could hardly pacify Bhima. At that time Yudhishthira caught him and he embraced Bhima. He said, oh brother, be peaceful.
And he folded his hands and Dhritarashtra said, we are your servants, so tell us what to do. And then Dhritarashtra, now he was in a damage control mode. And he said, oh, oh, Yudhishthira, you are always virtuous, always ready to serve your elders.
He says, in you resides virtue, in Arjuna resides strength, in Bhima resides strength, in Arjuna resides patience and in the twins resides reverence and service to the elders. And he said, whatever evil words and evil deeds that Dhritarashtra has done, please try to forget and forgive them. And if Gandhari and I have done any good, please remember that and go now in peace.
And then the Pandavas departed. So here we see in this incident, how it is not just often this incident is portrayed as Draupadi helplessly called out and Krishna came. Yes, that is true.
And she did. But Draupadi also demonstrates her intelligence in trying to avoid the inevitable by raising a point of dharma, by speaking virtuously, reminding others of virtue and by sticking to virtue throughout. So this is actually incident in which centrally Krishna is the ultimate saviour but Draupadi comes out as the central heroine over here.
And unfortunately, Dhritarashtra’s weak-mindedness comes back and he, under the pressurisation of Duryodhana, calls back the Pandavas again. And again there is gambling in which the Pandavas are exiled to the forest. At that time, Draupadi promises Kunti that she will serve her husbands, especially the twins who were always a matter of concern for Kunti.
And then Draupadi departs with the Pandavas to the forest. Now, actually in all this time, Subhadra is with Krishna in Dwaraka. And Krishna hears that the Pandavas are angry.
And they meet in Kamyavan. And when they meet in Kamyavan, at that time, you know, Krishna, Balram is enraged. Krishna is also angry.
Balram is also enraged. The Kauravas, when he sees the Pandavas are dressed in ascetic robes and he says, Draupadi is similarly dressed. He says, the Pandavas, the Kauravas have done such a vile act and they must be punished.
And Krishna is also angry. Krishna is enraged to see this. At that time, Arjuna pacifies Krishna with prayers.
And then Krishna approaches Draupadi and he speaks kind words to her. And Draupadi says to Krishna, Krishna, how is it that when I had such five great husbands that I was humiliated like this? And why is it that when I had you as my lord, that I was humiliated? That you, I deserve your protection for four reasons. You know, because of our relationship, because of our friendship, because of the respect that you bear for me and because I adore you as my lord.
You are my lord and I am your protector. I am your lord. So Krishna consoled her.
He said that, O Draupadi, hear my words. You will be the wife of kings. The sun may become cold, the earth may shatter apart, the oceans may dry, but my promise will never fail.
Please be patient in the situation and stick to the path of virtue as you have stuck till now. And although, and when Krishna consoled her thus, she felt so laced and encouraged. And Draupadi lived the period of exile with great determination, serving her husbands to the best of her capacity.
For her, when Arjuna departed to the heavens, it was a mortifying moment. At that time, she turned to Bhima whenever she needed something. She triggered Bhima to his adventurous deeds in getting the thousand petal lotus from Kubera’s abode.
These were the small joys for her in her forest stay. And she eventually, you know, she faced dangers even in the forest. Jaidrath tried to kidnap her, seeing her beauty.
Now, again, this was a temptation. But there was no question of Draupadi being tempted at all. When Jaidrath sent his son Kokita with this ludicrous proposal, Jaidrath thought that he was actually being very magnanimous.
Who is this damsel in a forest? I will make her my queen. But for her, Draupadi, it was abominable. And she rejected it outright.
And then Jaidrath came. She was initially very, as a cultured host, she spoke gently. She says, you know, there is water, please wash your feet and my husbands will come soon and then they will serve you.
And Kokita came first and spoke to her. She immediately covered her head with her veil and she said, I should not be speaking with you alone. A woman should not be there with another man apart from her husband.
But because of etiquette, because there is no one, so I will answer your question. And she tells who she is. So she remains, she can see the salaciousness, the lust in Jaidrath’s eyes, but she remains, she remains civil in her conduct.
But then when Jaidrath starts making unwarranted advances, she warns him, telling him about how powerful her husbands are and how they will destroy her, destroy him. Jaidrath just laughs. He thinks she is just a fiery lady.
And there are some people whose minds are so twisted that if a woman is fiery, they get more joy in possessing her and forcibly ravishing her. So then he tried to grab Draupadi. And Draupadi was so angry, she just gave him a push.
Now she was no weakling. She had lived in the forest for many years. And she just gave a push and Jaidrath just fell back.
And he was enraged. He says, for a Kshatriya to be knocked down is humiliating. Even if it is by another Kshatriya, for a Kshatriya to be knocked by a woman is outrageous.
He grabbed her and started dragging her. And Draupadi resisted, but she was overpowered and she was dragged away again. But although she was dragged away, there was the Daithriki, her maidservant.
She tried to protest and scream, but there was no one. The Pandavas were far away. And their priest Dhaumya ran along with the chariot, trying to just stifle and check Jaidrath.
Now Jaidrath was holding on to Draupadi, but finally when the Pandavas started coming and Jaidrath saw these five formidable looking warriors and he was alarmed. He said, who are they? And now of course, Jaidrath had seen the Pandavas earlier, but when in the forest, living in the forest, they were dressed in ascetic garb and they look very different. So he couldn’t easily identify.
And then Draupadi laughed and she said, you know, having courted death, what is the use of this question that you are asking now? But still, as a dying man’s request should be fulfilled, so I’ll answer your question. Draupadi was so completely confident that her husband would save her. And she said, that tall person who is fair and handsome and virtuous, that is my husband Yudhishtir.
And that hefty person who is as tall as a saw-leaf tree, who is biting his lips in rage and whose brows are furrowed so that both his eyebrows are almost sticking together, who is mad with anger, that is Bhima and there is no one in the world who can match in his strength. And that person who is carrying a huge bow, whose complexion is dark, who has powerful arms, who is the peerless archer in the whole world, that is Arjuna. And that person whose personification of handsomeness, there is no one in three worlds as handsome as him, that is Nakula.
And that person who is waving his sword, who has no equal in sword fighting in the whole world, that is Sahadev. Now that those five are going to come upon you, there is no hope for you to survive. Jayadratha was alarmed.
So alarmed was he. First the sight of the Pandavas and then the speech of Jayadratha was so scary that he practically dropped Draupadi and he just ran, got off his chariot. He felt that the chariot would not take him far enough.
The chariot would be like a target for him. So he got off the chariot and started running away. And Yudhishtir went to Draupadi and Bhima and Arjuna started charging after Jayadratha.
So Yudhishtir told Bhima that don’t kill him because he is the husband of Dushala and Dushala is our cousin. Dushala is the only female offspring of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari, the sister of the Kauravas. So Draupadi was enraged.
She said, one who has taken another man’s wife, that person should not be spared, no matter what happens. She told Bhima and Arjuna, if you want to please me, then do not spare this person. Then Bhima and Arjuna caught and arrested Jayadratha.
They were angry. Bhima was about to kill him, but Arjuna checked him and they brought him back to Yudhishtir. And then Draupadi saw how she had been arrested and humiliated.
Her heart was soft and she remembered Dushala and she did not want to make her a widow. And she said, you know, let him go. Bhima had already cut off his head and humiliated him and that humiliation just like death was a good enough punishment.
We know Draupadi was again tempted by Keechaka and that story we have discussed when we talked about Bhima, how she resisted him firmly and how again her husband could not help her. Even in the park, the king could not help her and then she called Bhima and she did not take it lying down. That night she went to Bhima and she begged to him, I will not be able to survive even for one more day if she touches me.
And even when she had to speak the words to Keechaka that, you know, I love you and I have a secret attraction for you and let us lay together in private so that no one comes to know her. She felt defiant just speaking those words, but it was a plot which she had to be a part of and she did that part gracefully and then Bhima pounded Keechaka to powder, to shapeless pulp. And then Draupadi, she was actually, when the war was about to take place, at that time Draupadi was, when everybody started talking about peace before that, when Bhima started talking about peace, Draupadi was incensed and she said, you know, all of you were waiting for war, how is it that you are talking about peace now? So Krishna consoled her and he said that, that war is inevitable.
We are only doing our duty to try to forestall it, but the Kauravas are evil-minded and you will surely be revenged. Now it was not that Draupadi was just bloodthirsty or something like that, you know, for a woman, actually one more important thing which I still proud of is Karna, when Draupadi was being, gave the suggestion to disrobe Karna, disrobe her, he said that she already has five wives, five husbands, so what kind of chaste woman can have five husbands? So she is already like a prostitute. So even if you disrobe her, there is nothing wrong in it.
This was a scurrilous insult, intolerable insult for a chaste woman. It was not that Draupadi had gone out of her way to get five husbands. No, it had been the arrangement of destiny and she had gracefully accepted the arrangement of destiny and that had been sanctioned by an authority no lesser than Vyasadeva.
So to equate that arrangement which had been sanctioned by a great sage like Vyasadeva, calling that, equating that with the arrangement that a woman of the oldest profession has with multiple men, it is horrible. And for men who were ready to dishonour women like this in public, such women, such men are the rulers, what will they do to other women? So her concern was certainly for her honour, for the honour of her dynasty, but also for the whole society, for the protection of other women who would otherwise be dishonoured just as she had been dishonoured. If something like this could go away unpunished in public, then what would happen to other people with evil disposition like the Kauravas? What would they not do? They would have no fear at all.
So Draupadi eventually, she stayed by, when Abhimanyu passed away, it was she who consoled Uttara, his widow and later on when she had to withstand the terrible, terrible pain of seeing all her five sons slaughtered, then also we see her forgiving nature. Initially, she wanted Ashwathama to be killed, but when Ashwathama was brought in front of her, her thought was to his mother and she says, Krupi, let her, I am suffering because my son is dead, let Krupi not suffer similarly. And we see her soft heartedness.
Although she had said on a prayavrat that I will fast to death unless Ashwathama is punished and his head is brought, she changed her heart. So it was not that she was angry for blood or anything like that. She was actually doing her duty as a Kshatrani and she was always devoted and dharmic.
In fact, the Mahabharata describes that the second time when the Pandavas were in the forest, before they are in the forest, they go to Kamyavan and from there they go upwards to Badrikashyam and elsewhere. Then from Kubera’s abode, they come down. Again in their Kamyavan, Krishna comes to meet them again and this time Krishna brings Satyabhama with him.
And then Satyabhama meets Draupadi and Satyabhama asks Draupadi, now what are the duties of a wife? How do you take care of five husbands? And Draupadi reveals her heart. Her, what is it that is letting her go through all this misfortune? She says that, you know, for a woman serving her husband is the greatest virtue. That is the way she satisfies the Lord and gains an auspicious destination.
She says, I am the first to wake and the last to sleep. I eat only after my husbands have eaten. I dress myself beautifully for their pleasure and when they are away, I dress myself simply and perform austerities.
And I always comport myself in a way that is pleasing to them and avoid everything that is disagreeable to them. And she describes how she, even when it would seem to the world, and she could rationalise it was the husband which had brought her misfortune, but rather than blaming them, she stayed always fixed in the path of beauty. And as Krishna had promised her, eventually she did become the queen of kings.
Maharaja Yudhishthira was again appointed as the world emperor and she became the queen at that time. And at that time also, she put aside any feeling, hard feeling that she had towards Dhritarashtra and Gandhari and she served them faithfully. Such is the life of Draupadi, who was an extraordinary lady.
Now, of course, Draupadi, when the Pandavas were eventually doing the Sarga, Mahaprasthani Kaparva, Draupadi is the first to fall. And it is said that because she was specially affectionate towards Arjuna, that was why she fell. But we have to understand that it was Arjuna who won her and her attraction for Arjuna was in that sense natural.
It’s simply reciprocal. For a woman who is to be wedded, who is the man of her dreams? The man who passes the test, who turns out to be better than everyone, that will be the man of her dreams. So, although she had special affection for Arjuna, she was not lacking in her service and in her attention to her other husbands.
So, this is basically symbolic to determine even small, small faults that might ascend, check one month on one’s higher journey. But we understand that Draupadi was a very virtuous, chaste lady and a great devotee. And in fact, Krishna says that actually when Draupadi called out to me at that time, although I came and rescued her, but still I feel that I have not been able to repay the debt that she had, that I have to her.
And there is that incident that one time when Krishna had come to Khandav and he had just, while cutting some fruits, had cut off his fingers. So, Draupadi immediately cut off her silk, ripped off her silk saree, not worrying about what would have been the fate of her saree. She was more concerned what is happening to her Lord.
And she frantically tied a band-aid to his hand with her own saree. And Krishna looked and smiled at her and he said, Oh Draupadi, I will pay you back for this. And that he paid back as the endless saree.
But Krishna felt that when Draupadi called me, I could not pay her back. I just came and did it, but still the fact that she called me, I am forever grateful to her for that. And Krishna’s heart was won over by her devotion.
And we see her devotion also in how when Durvasa Muni came and she had already eaten. The Pandavas were panicked struck, but what did she do? She remembered and called out to Krishna. And when Krishna came and Krishna arranged, we discussed the whole story how she protected them, how we protected them wonderfully.
The point is Draupadi who first thought of calling out to Krishna. So Draupadi, she may seem like a weak female, but her strength was her devotion, was her dharmic chastity. And by that, she stands out as a sterling example of a chaste woman and exalted devotee.
Thank you. Hare Krishna. Welcome back to the Mahabharata character series.