2017-12-20 Wed

Beautiful, brave, intelligent and controversial, Draupadi is the most fascinating and powerful heroine of Hindu mythology. The greatest example of women’s strength of character in the literature of ancient India, she is one of the explanations to feminism.

Who is Draupadi exactly? The wife and queen of five Pandavas or the daughter of Panchal king Drupada. No, her identity is beyond these mere titles. She is considered as 'Mahabharati' by whom Mahabharat meets its climax, she is Panchali- the light of Panchal, she is Yajnaseni- Born from Yajna fire, she is Krsna- due to her dark complexion. Draupadi was considered the most beautiful women of her time, it is said that her complexion was so dark that her hair uses to look golden brown against her skin. She was the most graceful combination of beauty and intelligence.

Empress Draupadi was a duty-bound woman, she never lost the sense of duty even it the worst circumstances. She was badly treated and suffered relentlessly while on another hand she was the women with her own mind, assertive and unflinching. Draupadi was a polyandrous woman in Indian mythology but she was not the only one. Marisha was also other known woman with more than one husband.

Draupadi is also considered “a man” among the Pandavas due to her brave outspoken ways, her respect for truth, her will for standing against all the evils and her struggle to save her self-respect. She is worshipped with other Pancha Maha Pathivratas but unlike ‘Sita’ who is worshipped with her consort, Draupadi stands alone in her temple. She is worshipped as a maiden in the temple of Kondal, Tamil Nadu.

To celebrate Mahabharata, the great epic and poem of ancient India, India Post has used stamps depicting various scenes from this epic. Draupadi in an INR 15 stamp is depicted in a form of a leather shadow puppet famous part of folk culture in Karnataka –Andhra region.

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