Shloka 33
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय ८१: कृष्णस्य दूतप्रयाणम्
Udyoga Parva, Chapter 81: Krishna Sets Out as Envoy
वैशम्पायन उवाच इत्युक्त्वा मृदुसंहारं वृजिनाग्रं सुदर्शनम् । सुनीलमसितापाडुी सर्वगन्धाधिवासितम्
vaiśampāyana uvāca | ity uktvā mṛdu-saṃhāraṃ vṛjina-agraṃ sudarśanam | su-nīlam asitā-pāṇḍu sarva-gandhādhivāsitam |
Vaiśampāyana said: Having spoken thus, she took in her left hand her tresses—softly gathered, exquisitely beautiful to behold, deep blue-black in hue, dark and lustrous, and fragrant with every perfume. Then the daughter of Drupada, Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī)—with lotus-like eyes and the gait of an elephant—approached lotus-eyed Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Her eyes filled with tears, she began to speak.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral appeal: personal suffering is brought before a dharma-protecting figure (Kṛṣṇa) not merely as emotion, but as a demand for righteous response to wrongdoing. It highlights that injustice, when endured, seeks ethical redress through rightful counsel and action.
After speaking, Draupadī takes her gathered, fragrant, dark tresses in her left hand and goes to Kṛṣṇa. With tear-filled eyes she begins to address him, signaling a turning point where her anguish and the memory of insult are presented as grounds for decisive intervention.