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16.DRAUPADI'S SWAYAMVARAM
The brahmana may be physically weaker,
but is it all a matter of brute strength?
What about the power of austerities? Why
should he not try?" And they blessed him.
Arjuna approached the place where the
bow lay and asked Dhrishtadyumna: "Can
a brahmana try to bend the bow?"
Dhrishtadyumna answered: "O best of
brahmanas, my sister will become the life-
mate of any one of good family and
presence, who bends the bow and shoots
the target. My words stand and there will
be no going back on them."
Then Arjuna meditated on Narayana, the
Supreme God, and took the bow in his
hand and strung it with ease. He placed an
arrow on the string and looked around him
with a smile, while the crowd was lost in
spellbound silence.
Then without pause or hesitation he shot
five arrows in succession through the
revolving mechanism right into the target
so that it fell down. The crowd was in
tumult and there was a blare of musical
instruments.
The brahmanas who were seated in the
assembly in large numbers sent forth
shouts of joy, waving aloft their deerskins
in exultation as though the whole
community had won Draupadi. The
uproar that followed was indescribable.
Draupadi shone with a fresh beauty. Her
face glowed with happiness which
streamed out of her eyes as she looked on
Arjuna. She approached him and placed
the garland on his neck. Yudhishthira,
Nakula, and Sahadeva returned in haste to
the potter's house to convey the glad news
immediately to their mother.
Bhima alone remained in the assembly
fearing that some danger might befall
Arjuna from the kshatriyas. As anticipated
by Bhima, the princes were loud in wrath.
They said: "The practice of swayamvara,
the choosing of a bridegroom, is not
prevalent among the brahmanas. If this
maiden does not care to marry a prince,
she should remain a virgin and burn
herself on the pyre. How can a brahmana
marry her? We should oppose this
marriage and prevent it so as to protect
righteousness and save the practice of
swayamvara from the peril which
threatens it." A free fight seemed
imminent.
Bhima plucked a tree by the roots, and
stripping it of foliage, stood armed with
this formidable bludgeon, by the side of
Arjuna ready for any event. Draupadi said
nothing but stood holding on to the skirts
of the deer-skin in which Arjuna was clad
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