01Born from the altar
From the fire of Drupada’s yajna rose first a son in armour, and then from the middle of the altar a young woman, dark, with eyes like lotus petals and hair in curls. A voice said she would bring about the end of the kshatriyas. She was named Krishnaa for her colour. At her svayamvara the kings could not even string the bow, and a young brahmin did it and hit the target; it was Arjuna. The famous moment in which she refuses Karna as a suta’s son is not in the Critical Edition’s text, which prints it among the passages found only in some manuscripts.
02The question in the hall
After the dice the usher came to fetch her, and she sent back a question: did the king lose himself first, or me? Duhshasana dragged her into the assembly by her hair. Vikarna alone among the Kauravas spoke for her; Karna called her a woman who belonged to many. When Duhshasana began to pull off her garment, another garment of the same kind appeared beneath it, again and again, until a heap lay in the hall and he sat down, exhausted and ashamed. In the Critical Edition the robes simply appear; her prayer to Govinda during it is found in the vulgate texts.
03The forest years
In the forest she argued with Yudhishthira about anger and forgiveness, and the Aranyaka Parva gives her the sharper case. Jayadratha of Sindhu tried to carry her off while the brothers were out hunting, and they ran him down. In the thirteenth year she served Queen Sudeshna of Virata as Sairandhri, a maid who dressed hair, and when the queen’s brother Kichaka kicked her before the court, she went to Bhima in the night. When Krishna came before the embassy, she held out her long black hair and told him to remember, when he spoke of peace, the hand that had dragged it.
04The sons she lost
She had a son by each husband: Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Shrutakirti, Shatanika and Shrutasena. All five were killed in their sleep in Ashvatthama’s night raid. Draupadi sat down to fast unto death until the killer was punished, and when Bhima brought back the jewel from Ashvatthama’s head she gave it to Yudhishthira to wear. On the last road she was the first to fall. Asked why, Yudhishthira said she had loved Arjuna above the others. In svarga Indra showed her to him as Shri herself, born on earth for the Pandavas.