The Disrobing of Draupadi

Mixed media painting on water color paper

One of the most searing moments in the longest epic of the world- Mahabharata has to be the disrobing of Draupadi in the Kaurava court. Even before Duhshasana starts to tear off her clothes, she has been manhandled, dragged into court in a blood-stained garment, pulled by her hair and insulted by Duryodhana and Karna. All this while the elders of her family watch in stupefied silence.

Her emasculated husbands mutter and rumble in anger, but none of them can lift a finger to help her, bound as they are by dharma (Religion; represented by the golden wheel), the dharma of their new status as slaves.

Draupadi prays to Lord Krishna and is able to salvage the last fragments of her dignity. Her garment becomes endless — yards and yards of fabric appear miraculously and defeat Duhshasana’s lascivious intentions. Draupadi never stands fully naked in that public, fundamentally male space.