Why did Yudhisthira while gambling Draupadi describe her physical beauty publicly?

Transcript

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Question.
Why did Yudhishthira gamble while gambling Draupadi, describe the beauty of her bodily limbs in a public assembly? Answer. The culture which is described in Mahabharata is different from either the bhakti culture that we are practicing or even the culture that is there in mainstream Hinduism today. We have to understand that the Mahabharata is primarily depicting a Kshatriya culture and Kshatriyas do have Rajasic values.
Yes, their passion, which we see in the way they often boast about their strength and they insult their opponents and they fight vigorously and then they perform grand sacrifices. Yes, that is all under the regulation of dharma. But still, there is that passion and the difference between the passion then and the passion now is that there is no regulation of dharma which keeps the passion under control.
So the point which I’m making is that if we try to simplistically expect that all the bhakti principles that are followed by those who are seeking transcendence, you know, what we, what Shrila Prabhupada has given us in the Krishna Consciousness Movement is not just Vedic culture. Yes, Prabhupada has given us the best of Vedic culture and in the same Mahabharata of which the Bhagavad Gita is a part, Krishna is speaking of his times when he says, that even in those times, the culture of bhakti, those who knew Krishna and were devoted to Krishna were not many. So the point is even when devotees of Krishna are present in a particular culture, they do not entirely flout that culture.
They live according to that culture and then they demonstrate devotional principles within that culture’s context. So this is the background for understanding this gambling match and the way it has transpired. Excuse me.
So normally in the gambling matches, the tradition was that, the custom was that whatever is being put at stake, the speciality or the glory of that is talked about. So we say Yudhishthira is going to gamble some horses and he will say, oh these horses are so precious, these horses are important, they can run at this speed, they can draw chariots with such elegance and then this, this, this like that. He will speak the glory of the object that is being put at stake and similarly on the other side also, whoever is gambling, Shakuni was gambling on behalf of Duryodhana, he would also speak the glory of what he was putting at stake.
So that was just a part of the way in which the game was, the game was focused on. So the excitement in the game was increased. So now the fact is that Yudhishthira did not even think ever of gambling properly.
It was, we see that when he lost everything, he was just devastated completely. So later on, Yudhishthira does say that I got carried away by the fever of gambling. When they are later on in the forest on the exile, when they are discussing, he says I got carried away by the fever of gambling.
So admitting that is his humility also. So now the point is that it’s not that, first of all, we shouldn’t have expectations of a pure devotional culture within the epics because that is focusing on Kshatriya culture and secondly, even though whatever Yudhishthira is doing at that particular time, he is under the spell of the gambling, the fever of gambling has got to him at that time. So even at that time what happens is that he is, if we see, he gambles first the twins, Nakula Sahadev, then he gambles Arjuna, then he gambles Bhima and when he is gambling each of them, he glorifies.
He glorifies how illustrious Arjuna is, how glorious warrior Nakula is, Sahadev is. Now he doesn’t glorify himself and gambles himself and when he has lost himself, at that time he is devastated and it was at that time Shakuni proposes, you know, you still have one thing and if you gamble Draupadi, gamble Panchali, then through her you can gain back everything that you have lost and that’s where he offers the hope that keeps gamblers gambling. So I’ll get back what I lost and I’ll get more also and Yudhishthira feeling helpless, feeling that, thinking that, you know, if Draupadi does not have her husband’s anyway, who is going to protect her? Her only hope now is that if I can get back things.
So he very reluctantly puts her for gambling and it’s not that. So as a part of the way the gambling match is played, just as he glorifies Arjuna, he glorifies Arjuna’s skills, he glorifies Nakula, Sahadev, Bhima’s skills, so like that he glorifies Draupadi’s beauty also. So now in the Kshatriya culture that was there at that time, the glorification of the beauty of a woman was a part of that culture.
Even when Ravana approaches Sita, he’s coming in the garb of a sadhu and that time also he praises Sita’s beauty and in the Bhagavatam also we see that when Mohini Murthy appears, the Bhagavatam describes Mohini Murthy’s beauty quite explicitly. So it was a part of that culture. So what Yudhishthira was doing was not something reprehensible.
He was simply following the custom of gambling and he was speaking about the glory of whatever it was that was being put at stake. Of course, this is not to say that what he did was right or it is not to condone that. It is certainly the whole set of events that happened were terrible but there’s no point to highlight only this particular indiscretion.
It was not out of the actually what happened in the whole gambling match was out of sync with Yudhishthira’s overall character and it was in one sense the will of destiny. It was a part of Krishna’s plan to demonstrate to the world how ultimately even when none of our protectors can protect us, it is the Lord who protects. So that whole past time culminates in Draupadi being rescued by Krishna.
But specifically the glorification that the description, the vivid description of Draupadi’s beauty that Yudhishthira does, that is firstly he is gripped by gambling fever and he is doing what is normally done while putting something at stake to praise the speciality of what has been put at stake. But of course, this explanation should not be used in any way to at an ethical level rationalize what was terribly wrong. The whole gambling match was rigged and Yudhishthira was pressurized by his elders to play in that match and this whole tragic series of events unfolded therein.
Thank you.