Mahabharata 1.196.51 — Adi Parva, Adhyaya 196, Shloka 51
Adhyāya 196: Droṇa’s Conciliatory Counsel and Karṇa’s Suspicion of Counsel (मन्त्र-नय-विवादः)
द्रुपदैषा हि सा जज्ञे सुता वै देवरूपिणी । पज्चानां विहिता पत्नी कृष्णा पार्षत्यनिन्दिता
drupadaiṣā hi sā jajñe sutā vai devarūpiṇī | pañcānāṁ vihitā patnī kṛṣṇā pārṣaty-aninditā ||
Vyāsa sprach: „Wahrlich, sie ist als deine Tochter wiedergeboren, o Drupada, strahlend in göttlicher Gestalt. Darum ist Kṛṣṇā, die untadelige Prinzessin aus dem Geschlecht der Pārṣata (Prishata), bereits dazu bestimmt, die Gattin von fünf Ehemännern zu sein.“
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames Draupadī’s unusual marriage as something ‘vihita’—ordained or prescribed—suggesting that social anomalies in the epic are sometimes justified through destiny and higher dharma rather than personal desire alone.
Vyāsa addresses King Drupada, identifying the newly born/appeared princess Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī) as divinely formed and declaring that she is already destined to be the wife of five men—implicitly the five Pāṇḍava brothers.
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