Canto 10 - Chapter 83: Conversation between Bhagavan Sri Krsna's consorts and Draupadi

Discourse LXXXIII

Conversation between Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa's consorts and Draupadī

Śrī Śuka began again : (Parikṣit!) the almighty Lord (Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa) was the Preceptor of the Gopis, as well as the goal (which they sought to attain through the practice of His teachings). Having thus shown His favour to them, the Lord saw Yudhiṣṭhira and all (other) friends and enquired about their welfare. (1)
(Parikṣit!) their sins disappeared at the very sight of the lotus-feet of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Kindly enquired after and duly honoured by the Lord of the (three) worlds, they felt delighted at heart, and replied:—(2)
" (Blessed) Lord, exalted souls enjoy with their mind the nectar of your lotus-feet, which occasionally flows out through their lips (in the form of the stories of Your enchanting sports). Those who quaff this nectar to their heart's fill with the cup of their ears are rid of all ignorance in respect of You—ignorance, which is the root of corporeal existence of all embodied beings. How can any evil befall them? (3)
Lord, You are an embodiment of unfailing wisdom and a perfect ocean of Bliss. The three states of the soul occasioned by its contact with the mind (viz., wakefulness, dream and dreamless sleep) cannot touch even the fringe of Your effulgent Being and melt away even in its proximity. You are the sole resort of recluses, who have lost all consciousness of the world. You have assumed a human semblance through Your own inconceivable Yogamāyā (enchanting power) in order to protect the Vedas whose influence had waned through the force of time. We offer our obeisances to You." (4)

Śrī Śuka continued : (Parikṣit!) when Yudhiṣṭhira and others were thus extolling the most glorious Lord (Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa), ladies of the Yādava and Kaurava families met together and began to relate to one another the stories of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa sung throughout the three worlds. I shall now tell you (in detail) what they said. Please listen. (5)

Draupadī said : Rukmiṇī, Bhadrā, Jāmbavati, Satyā, Satyabhāmā, Kālindī, Śaibyā, Lakṣmaṇā, Rohiṇī and other consorts of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, (please) tell me how the glorious Lord Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa espoused you. Though God Himself, He behaves like a mortal through His own Māyā (enchanting power)." (6-7)

Rukmiṇī said : (Draupadī,) Jarāsandha and the other kings wanted that I should be given in marriage to Śiṣupāla. They came armed for a fight to carry out this intention of theirs. But the Lord took me away from their midst even as a lion carries away its prey from a herd of goats and sheep. (It is no wonder that He should do so; for) even invincible warriors bear the dust of His feet on their crowns. (Dear Draupadī, I sincerely wish that) the lotus-feet of my Lord, the repository of all prosperity and beauty, may be available to me for worship from (birth to birth). (8)

Satyabhāmā said : (Draupadī,) my father was sorely grieved at the death of his brother (Prasena); he, therefore, charged the Lord with Prasena's murder. In order to wipe off this stigma cast on Him, the Lord vanquished the lord of bears, Jāmbavān, (in battle) and winning the jewel from him restored it to my father. Seized with fear on account of the false imputation made by him, my father bestowed the jewel on the Lord alongwith myself, even though he had affianced me to another. (9)

Jāmbavatī said : (Draupadi,) my father (Jāmbavān, the lord of bears,) was unaware that my Lord was the same as Śrī Rāma, (his own lord and deity). (Therefore,) he fought the Lord for twenty-seven days. After this test when he recognized the Lord (to be Śrī Rāma Himself), he took hold of His feet and offered me as a present, together with the jewel. May I continue to be His slave (from birth to birth, is my only prayer to the Lord). (10)

Kālindī said : (Draupadi !) when the Lord came to know that I was practising austerities in the hope of obtaining the privilege to touch His feet, He came with his friend (Arjuna), and espoused me. I have now the privilege of sweeping His house. (11)

Mitravindā said : (Draupadi !) my father called an assembly of kings at his capital to enable me to elect my own partner in life. The Lord too attended the assembly and, vanquishing all the kings (in battle), took me away to His capital (Dwārakā), which is the abode of all excellence and beauty, even as the lion carries away his prey from a pack of dogs. My brothers, who offered Him resistance, with a view to delivering me from His hands and thereby injuring me, were equally worsted in the fight. I now seek that in every life I may get the privilege of washing His feet. (12)

Satyā said : (Draupadi !) in order to test the strength of the kings (who had assembled to seek my hand), my father had secured seven oxen endowed with inordinate strength and energy and very sharp horns. These oxen had shattered the pride of many a valiant warrior; but the Lord playfully and quickly took hold of them, (put strings through their noses) and brought them under His power in no time, even as children deal with kids. (13)
Thus winning me as a reward for His strength, my Lord carried me to Dwārakā with all my attendant maids under the protection of a strong army. He conquered on the way all the princes who tried to intercept. (O queen, my only desire now is that) I may (always) get the opportunity of serving Him. (14)

Bhadrā said : Draupadi, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the son of my maternal uncle. Knowing that I had given my heart to Him, my father sent for Śrī Kṛṣṇa of his own accord and bestowed me on Him, with an army consisting of one Akṣauhīṇī and many maids-of-honour. (15)
I now consider that my highest good lies in obtaining in every birth the touch of His feet, wherever I may be thrown by the force of my Karma. (16)

Lakṣmaṇā said : O queen, Devarṣi Nārada frequently sings the story of the descent and sports of the Lord on earth. Having heard those songs and duly considering the fact that Lakṣmī, the goddess of wealth, rejecting (Indra and) the (other) guardians of the world, had chosen Him as her consort, I set my heart on the Lord. (17)
O virtuous lady ! my father, who is known by the name of Brhatsena, loved me intensely. When he came to know of my mind, he contrived a plan for carrying it into effect. (18)
O queen, just as on the occasion of your self-choice of a husband your father invented the device of a fish in order to get Arjuna for you, my father too invented a similar device, with this difference that the fish was totally screened externally and only its reflection could be seen in the water. (19)
Hearing of this, kings versed in the secrets of archery, and the use of all other arms comes alongwith their teachers, in their thousands from all sides to the capital of my father. (20)
All were honoured by my father with due regard to their prowess and age. With their heart set on (winning) me, they took up the bow and arrow kept in that assembly and attempted, (turn by turn,) to hit the mark. (21)
Some of them lifted the bow but finding themselves unable to string it left it where it was. Others succeeded in drawing the string as far as the other end of the bow, but (unable to fasten it to that end) fell down struck by it. (22)
Greatest warriors like Jarāsandha, Śiṣupāla, the king of Ambaṣṭha, Bhima, Duryodhana and Karṇa succeeded in stringing the bow, but could not locate the fish. (23)
Seeing the reflection of the fish in the water, Arjuna was able to locate it, discharged the arrow aiming at it with great care, but failed to hit it, the arrow only touching the fish. (24)

(O queen !) the pride of the proudest of princes having thus been crushed, most of the kings returned to their seats (giving up all hopes of winning me). It was then that the almighty Lord took up the bow, strung it sportfully, joined the arrow to it, and looking but once at the reflection of the fish pierced it by His shaft and brought it down to the ground. The sun was at the meridian at that time. (25-26)
(O good Draupadi !) shouts of victory were raised all over the earth while celestial drums began to sound in the heavens and gods transported with joy showered flowers. (27)
(O queen !) I entered the arena at that moment, with the anklets at my feet sweetly jingling. I wore round my loins a new piece of finest silk and had wrapped myself with another. With flowers adorning my braid and bashful smiles on my lips, I carried in my hands a brilliant necklace of jewels wrought in gold. (28)
Thick tresses of hair overhung my face and brilliant ear-rings added lustre to my cheeks. Lifting up my face I glanced at the kings on all sides with enlivening smiles and sidelong looks and with a heart over-flowing with love gently placed the necklace round the neck of my Lord. (29)
The moment I placed the necklace round His neck, clay tomtoms, tabors, conchs, drums and kettledrums were sounded; male and female dancers began to dance, and songsters began to sing (in various tunes). (30)

Draupadi ! when I thus chose my beloved Lord as my life's partner, the other love-lorn monarchs grew (extremely) jealous and were very much upset at their discomfiture. (31)
In the meanwhile my Lord, possessed of four arms, (at once) placed me on His chariot drawn by four excellent horses and, lifting up His bow and putting on His armour stood prepared for battle. (32)
Dāruka drove the chariot decorated with gold as all the kings looked on, O queen, and the Lord proceeded to Dwārakā even as the lion passes through a herd of deer. (33)
Lifting up their bows and prepared for a battle, some of those kings pursued my Lord with a view to obstructing Him on the way; but their attempt was no more successful than that of dogs to check the lion. (34)
Some of them fell in battle, their arms, legs and necks being torn asunder by the arrows discharged from the Śārṅga bow of the Lord; while others abandoning the fight took to their heels. (35)

Then the Lord of the Yadus, like the very sun, entered His home, the city of Dwārakā, whose glories are sung in heaven as well as on earth. The city was specially decorated on this day with various ornamental arches and streamers which screened off the rays of the sun. (36)
My father honoured all his friends, relations and kinsmen with valuable textiles and ornaments, beds, seats and other articles. (37)
Though my dearest Lord lacks nothing being complete by Himself (in every way) and delights only in the Self, yet my father out of love presented Him with a number of maid-servants, all kinds of wealth, foot-soldiers, elephants, chariots, horses and many valuable weapons. (O queen!) we must have (in our previous lives) practised great austerities giving up attachment to all. That is why in this birth we earned the privilege of actually working as His maid-servants in the household of our Lord. (38-39)

Rohinī (on behalf of the sixteen thousand consorts) said : Having conquered many a king during his expeditions for world conquest, Bhaumāsura had made us, their daughters, captive and kept us confined in his palace. When, having put an end to Bhauma and all his forces in battle, He came to know of our existence in his palace. He liberated us and, though Perfect in Himself married us (all), knowing as He did that we ever contemplated on His lotus-feet, which bring emancipation from the bondage of birth and death. (40)
O virtuous lady, we crave not for universal sovereignty on earth, or for rulership of the heaven, for the enjoyments attaching to both these positions or for supernatural powers, for the position of Brahmā, or for Liberation or for (the various forms of personal existence in) the (eternal) abode of God. (41)
We (only) desire that we may (continue to) bear on our head the glorious dust of the lotus-feet of our Lord, which is scented with the saffron on the bosom of Lakṣmī (the goddess of wealth). (42)
We long for the touch of the (sacred) feet of the glorious Lord, which the Gopas and the Gopīs, the Bhila women, nay the very creepers and blades of grass craved for where He tended cows in Vraja (May this yearning of our heart be fulfilled by the Lord). (43)

Thus ends the eighty-third discourse, in the latter half of Book Ten of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Sarhhitā.