Draupadi- Arrogant Princess or Caring Queen?

Draupadi, the queen of the Pandavas, is often relegated to the sidelines as an arrogant, prideful woman who expected her husbands to be at her beck and call. Vyasa Maharishi’s Draupadi is quite the opposite.

In the chapter named the Draupadi- Satyabhama samvaada, we have Krishna’s beloved wife Satya ask Draupadi how she manages to keep her husbands attracted to her, so to speak. Satya asks Draupadi to suggest some herb or magical mantra or viles that would help her do the same and keep Krishna besotted with herself.

Draupadi gently reprimands her friend and tells her that such methods are so vile that women of good character should not even think of them, let alone use them. The Pandava queen then proceeds to tell Satya what she does to ensure that her husbands never lose their affection for her. A lot of what she says may make modern-day feminists scream ‘patriarchy’ and ‘oppression’. But I trust my readers to be able to look beyond the words and understand how Draupadi was the lynchpin of the whole family and the administration as well.

Here are some highlights of Draupadi’s side of the conversation:

-She took care of her husbands and their other wives

-She ensured that not only her husbands but also who were in their service, the personal attendants, were fed comfortably before she ate

-She cooked, cleaned, managed the provision stores to ensure they never ran out of them

-She took care of Mother Kunti’s food, water and clothing herself

-For Kunti, she never chose articles that were of inferior quality to what she chose for herself 

-At Indraprastha, Yudishtira supported 8000 brahmanas who were served food in golden plates. Apart from this, 80,000 snataka brahmanas lived there supported by the king. 30 dasis were allocated to each. Similarly, 10,000 yatis also lived in Indraprastha. Draupadi was in charge of ensuring that they all received food and clothes and that they were revered as per norms

-The one lakh dasis who worked in the palace were also under Draupadi’s charge. She knew all of them by sight and by name and their eating and living needs too were addressed by the queen herself. The Queen took a personal interest in the dasis, in providing for them. But she was also the one keeping track of what tasks were allocated to each and whether it had been done or not.

-When the king went out on a yatra, 1 lakh horses and 1 lakh elephants went with him. It was the Queen who ensured provisions for the animals and who kept count of their horses and elephants too

-The sevaks in the palace as well as the ones in the private quarters (Antahpuri) and the cowherds and shepherds also had their work overseen by Draupadi

-Now, we get to the most interesting responsibilities of the Queen- she was the only one who knew about the personal income, expenditure and savings of all 5 Pandavas

-That was not all. Draupadi was the only one to be fully aware of the state of the treasury with its vast riches. She knew what was coming in and how much was going out. Remember, Indraprastha was a flourishing economy and the city’s coffers were filled with gold

Would it be appropriate to call Draupadi the finance minister of Indraprastha or at least a key minister of the Kingdom given all her responsibilities? You decide!