Shloka 5
Draupadī’s Grief at Seeing the Heroes in Disguise (द्रौपदी-विषादः / वेष-परिभव-वर्णनम्)
(पदभ्यां पर्यचरं चाहं देशान् विषमसंस्थितान् | दुर्गज्छवापदसंकीर्णास्त्वयि जीवति पाण्डव ।।
vaiśampāyana uvāca | padbhyāṃ paryacaraṃ cāhaṃ deśān viṣama-saṃsthitān | durgacchavāpadasaṃkīrṇās tvayi jīvati pāṇḍava || tato ’haṃ dvādaśe varṣe vanya-mūla-phalāśanā | idaṃ puram anuprāptā sudeṣṇā-paricārikā || para-striyam upātiṣṭhe satya-dharma-pathasthitā | tad-anantaraṃ dvādaśa-varṣasyānte vanya-phalāhārā virāṭa-nagaram āgatā sudeṣṇāyāḥ paricārikābhavam || gośīrṣakaṃ padmakaṃ ca hariśyāmaṃ ca candanam | nityaṃ piṃṣe virāṭasya tvayi jīvati pāṇḍava || sāhaṃ bahūni duḥkhāni gaṇayāmi na te kṛte | drupadasya sutā cāhaṃ dhṛṣṭadyumnasya cānujā | agni-kuṇḍāt samudbhūtā naivāyāṃ jātu carāmi bhoḥ || matsya-rāja-samakṣaṃ tu tasya dhūrtasya paśyataḥ | kīcakena parāmṛṣṭā kā nu jīvati mādṛśī ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “While you still live, O Pāṇḍava, I have had to wander on foot through uneven regions—hard to traverse, infested with wild beasts and birds of prey. Then, in the twelfth year, living on forest roots and fruits, I came to this city and became Sudeṣṇā’s attendant. Standing on the path of truth and dharma, I now serve another woman. While you still live, O son of Pāṇḍu, I daily grind for Virāṭa the fragrant pastes—gośīrṣa, padmaka, and dark-green sandalwood. Yet for your sake I do not count these many sufferings. I am Drupada’s daughter, the younger sister of Dhṛṣṭadyumna, born from the fire-pit; never before did I walk upon the earth like this. And now, in the very presence of the Matsya king, while that crafty man looked on, Kīcaka has violated and insulted me—what woman of my rank could live after enduring such disgrace?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights steadfastness in satya and dharma even under extreme degradation, while also condemning the abuse of power: a ruler’s court becomes ethically complicit when it witnesses injustice and fails to restrain it.
Draupadī, living incognito in Virāṭa’s palace as Sudeṣṇā’s attendant, laments the hardships of exile and servitude and protests the public outrage committed by Kīcaka in Virāṭa’s presence, framing it as an unbearable dishonor for a princess of her lineage.