Reading Notes: "Draupadi, The Fire-Born Princess" Part D

Draupadi: The Fire-Born Princess [Graphic Novel on Reserve]
                 Part D, Pages 88-115
Draupadi Graphic Novel Cover Page. Source: Indian Epics Blog
POV: Third person
Summary:
  • The war begins and Draupadi watches from afar at the harsh granduer of it all; the first day brings no deaths that are close to Draupadi, except Uttaraa's brother dies
  • The women tend to men's wounds but as the days pass, Draupadi becomes more worried at the war her divine destiny foretold she would help come to pass
  • On one day, Arjuna's son Abhimanyu is killed very dishonorably and the Pandavas swear revenge on Drona who is fighting for Kauravas, who also had a hand in defeating Abhimanyu
  • They trick Drona and Draupadi's brother, born of the flame to kill him, does him in and when Drona's son hears of this, he swears revenge (which he will later take)
  • The battle rages is on and one by one the Kauravas fall under the hands of the Pandavas; when Dushasana is killed, Bhima brings his blood for Draupadi as she had sworn she would never braid her hair again til she had washed her hair with it; she does this but does not feel better, 'wrestling with her conscience'
  • Finally the war is over and not one out of the hundred sons are left; everyone wrestles with the death that surrounds them
  • In the night, Ashwatthama goes to the camp where Draupadi's sons and her brother remained, and murders them in their sleep
  • Draupadi faints from the pain of seeing all her family but the Pandavas dead ("May no mother ever have to see what I saw after Ashwatthama was done")
  • When he is brought back, Draupadi wants revenge but then she decides to forgive for it would cause another woman, another mother, pain to lose her child; finally, the fiery torment inside her soul is stilled; Krishna curses Ashwatthama to roam without power for three thousand years
  • Draupadi performs the rites for the dead and bathes herself in Ganga, which fully cleanses her soul of the fire inside
  • Draupadi and the Pandvas return to Hastinapur and rule; but slowly those around them begin to pass ("But time is the great reaper"), and when Krishna dies as fate be told, they decide it is time to retire
  • The last living heir to the Kuru dynasty is the grandson of Arjuna, born Uttaraa who was pregnant before Arjuna's son was killed
  • They leave him, named Parikshit, as the king and go to take the last journey up the mountain
  • We return to the beginning where Draupadi first started narrating; on their mahaprasthana, Draupadi is the first to fall and before the life leaves her, Bhima looks back even though you are not to do so; he was the one who seemed to love her most
  • After he leaves her, she begins to fade away, thinking back on her life and thinks of Krishna; her spirit leaves her body in peace and as light fills her, she is welcomed to heaven by Krishna.
  • Draupadi is revered in many aspects: as a goddess, and as a legend.
Draupadi and Bhima Source: Wikimedia Commons

Reference: Draupadi: The Fire-Born Princess, Saraswati Nagpal. [Printed Graphic Novel]

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