The next part of the Mahabharata starts with the Pandavas and Queen Kunti returning to the palace at Varanavata and noticing that everything was either soaked in oil or made of flammable material, quickly realizing that they were in danger. However, Prince Vidura sent help and tasked someone to make an underground exit for the family so Purochana would not find out. Ironically, the night their house burned, a woman and her five sons had come to take refuge in the palace and got perished in the fire. The townspeople confused them as Kunti and the boys, thinking that they had died.
(Image of Duhshasana pulling Draupadi's sari; image provided by Wikimedia Commons)
However, Queen Kunti and the Pandavas escaped into the forest. There they encountered a rakshasa who wanted to eat them and so he sent his sister. However, when the female rakshasa saw Bhima, she fell in love with him and offered to help him escape if he became her husband. However, Bhima denied and got into a fight with the male rakshasa. Once the rakshasa was slain, Kunti told Bhima to marry the rakshasa women and take her as his bride. Listening to his mother, he agreed. They soon have a son, Ghatotkacha. Eventually, Ghatotkacha and his mother left Kunti, Bhima, and the Pandavas. During Bhima's absence, Kunti and the sons took refuge in the home of a brahmin who told him about the Baka, the controller of the city. Baka required that eat week, one family in the town send him rice and a person as a tribute. Bhima appeared told to solve the town's woes and went with the rice cart to Baka. There he killed Baka, saving the townspeople of their worries.
We then learn about Draupadi, who emerged from fire and because of the chief of all women. The priest who told Kunti this story, also says that Draupadi was to become a Pandava queen. The Pandavas arrived in Panchala just in time for Draupadi's swayamvara. In Draupadi's previous life, her husband has become a saint and wished that in Draupadi's next life she would have five valor husbands. In the present, Draupadi's father kept the condition that whoever can hit the fish in the eye would be Draupadi's husband. Draupadi wanted Arjuna to win (and so did her father) and he did indeed win! However, after a series of events and conversations, it is determined that Draupadi was to be accepted as the bride of all five brothers. Thet made the condition that if one of them was sitting with Draupadi, then the other would not interrupt and if they did, they would be banished for 12 years. Arjuna accidentally enters this area and is then exiled for 12 years. There he meets Ulupi, the daughter of the King fo the Nagas. They eventually have a son, Iravat, together. When Prince Arjuna was returning, he took to bath in a river and ran into Apsaras. He helped transform each of them back into nymphs from their alligator form. Then Arjuna meets Chitra, daughter of another Rajah. He king says that he only has one child so Chitra's son must stay in the kingdom to rule. Therefore, after Arjuna and Chitra have a son, Arjuna leaves. Next on his journey, Arjuna met Subhadra, the sister of Krishna. He took her with him to Indraprastha (when his exile was over) and she lived happily with Kunti and Draupadi.
Then we hear the story about how the Pandavas and Krishna defeated Indra to help Agni, the god of fire, his food. They also helped Maya, who then offered to build the Pandavas a palace. As time went on, the Pandavas became more powerful. One day, Krishna approached them and said they needed to defeat Jarasandha, the monarch of Magadha. Jarasandha had kept many kings in captivity at his palace, so Krishna, Bhima, and Arjuna went to battle with him. They won and brought the king back. Duryodhana became more envious of the Pandavas and called about his brother in law Shakuni, who was a gambler that liked to cheat with his fixed dice. Shakuni challenged Yudhishthira to a match, and slowly Yudhishthira lost everything, his bother, his kingdom, and even Draupadi. When Draupadi is brought into the assembly hall of Shakuni, she begs that other man to save her honor, but no one listens. She gets abused verbally and mentally tortured. The even tried to strip Draupadi of her sari, but she prayed and her dress continued to grow more and more as they tried to get it off of her. This section ends with Draupadi allowing for the release of Kunti and the brothers, and them all returning to Indraprastha. Draupadi then vows that her hair will be loose until Bhima kills Duhshasana.
Bibliography: Mahabharata Public Domain Edition
Authors: Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.
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