SECTION IX
Vaisampayana said, "Binding her black, soft, fine, long and faultless
tresses with crisped ends into a knotted braid, Draupadi of black eyes
and sweet smiles, throwing it upon her right shoulders, concealed it by
her cloth. And she wore a single piece of a black and dirty though costly
cloth. And dressing herself as a Sairindhri, she began to wander hither
and thither in seeming affliction. And beholding her wandering, men and
women came to her hastily and addressed her, saying, 'Who are you? And
what do you seek?' And she replied, 'I am a king's Sairindhri. I desire
to serve any one that will maintain me.' But beholding her beauty and
dress, and hearing also her speech that was so sweet, the people could
not take her for a maid-servant in search of subsistence. And it came to
pass that while looking this way and that from the terrace, Virata's
beloved queen, daughter of the king of Kekaya, saw Draupadi. And
beholding her forlorn and clad in a single piece of cloth, the queen
addressed her saying, 'O beautiful one, who are you, and what do you
seek?' Thereupon, Draupadi answered her, saying, 'O foremost of queen, I
am Sairindhri. I will serve anybody that will maintain me.' Then Sudeshna
said, 'What you say (regarding your profession) can never be compatible
with so much beauty. (On the contrary) you might well be the mistress of
servants both, male and female. Your heels are not prominent, and your
thighs touch each other. And your intelligence is great, and your navel
deep, and your words solemn. And your great toes, and bust and hips, and
back and sides, and toe-nails, and palms are all well-developed. And your
palms, soles, and face are ruddy. And your speech is sweet even as the
voice of the swan. And your hair is beautiful, and your bust shapely, and
you are possessed of the highest grace. And your hips and bust are plump.
And like a Kashmerean mare you are furnished with every auspicious mark.
And your eye-lashes are (beautiful) bent, and your nether-lip is like the
ruddy ground. And your waist is slender, and your neck bears lines that
resemble those of the conch. And your veins are scarcely visible. Indeed,
your countenance is like the full moon, and your eyes resemble the leaves
of the autumnal lotus, and your body is fragrant as the lotus itself.
Verily, in beauty you resemble Sri herself, whose seat is the autumnal
lotus. Tell me, O beautiful damsel, who you art. Thou canst never be a
maidservant. Art you a Yakshi, a Goddess, a Gandharvi, or an Apsara? Art
thou the daughter of a celestial, or are you a female Naga? Art you the
guardian goddess of some city, a Vidyadhari, or a Kinnari,--or are thou
Rohini herself? Or are you Alamvusha, or Misrakesi, Pundarika, or
Malini, or the queen of Indra, or of Varuna? Or, are you the spouse of
Viswakarma, or of the creative Lord himself? Of these goddesses who art
renowned in the celestial regions, who are thou, O graceful one?'
"Draupadi replied, 'O auspicious lady, I am neither a goddess nor a
Gandharvi, nor a Yakshi, nor a Rakshasi. I am a maid-servant of the
Sairindhri class. I tell you this truly. I know to dress the hair to
pound (fragrant substances) for preparing unguents, and also to make
beautiful and variegated garlands. O beauteous lady, of jasmines and
lotuses and blue lilies and Champakas. Formerly I served Krishna's
favourite queen Satyabhama, and also Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas
and the foremost beauty of the Kuru race. I wander about alone, earning
good food and dress; and as long as I get these, I continue to live in
the place where they are obtainable. Draupadi herself called me Malini
(maker of garlands).'
"Hearing this, Sudeshna said, 'I would keep you upon my head itself, if
the doubt did not cross my mind that the king himself would be attracted
towards you with his whole heart. Attracted by your beauty, the females
of the royal household and my maids are looking at thee. What male person
then is there that can resist your attraction? Surely, O you of
well-rounded hips, O damsel of exquisite charms, beholding your form of
superhuman beauty, king Virata is sure to forsake me, and will turn to
thee with his whole heart. O you of faultless limbs, O you that art
endued with large eyes casting quick glances, he upon whom you wilt look
with desire is sure to be stricken. O you of sweet smiles, O you that
possessest a faultless form, he that will behold you constantly, will
surely catch the flame. Even as a person that climbs up a tree for
compassing his own destruction, even as the crab conceives for her own
ruin, I may, O you of sweet smiles, bring destruction upon myself by
harbouring thee.'
"Draupadi replied, 'O fair lady, neither Virata nor any other person will
be able to have me, for my five youthful husbands, who are Gandharvas and
sons of a Gandharva king of exceeding power, always protect me. None can
do me a wrong. It is the wish of my Gandharva husbands that I should
serve only such persons as will not give me to touch food already
partaken of by another, or tell me to wash their feet. Any man that
attempts to have me like any common woman, meeteth with death that very
night. No one can succeed in having me, for, O beautiful lady, O you of
sweet smiles, those beloved Gandharvas, possessed of great energy and
mighty strength always protect me secretly.'
"Sudeshna said, 'O you that bringest delight to the heart, if it is as
thou sayest, I will take you into my household. Thou shalt not have to
touch food that hath been partaken of by another, or to wash another's
feet.'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Thus addressed by Virata's wife, O Janamejaya,
Krishna (Draupadi) ever devoted to her lords, began to live in that city.
Nor could anyone ascertain who in reality she was!'"
--------------------END OF PARVA 4 : UPA-PARVA 9 ---------------------
