Itihāsa / Mahābhārata chronicle / Sabhā · 15 of 50
15. The hall and the cloth
Sabhā (सभा)
Draupadī is in the women's rooms, and she is in her period, and she asks the messenger whether a wife was staked before the husband had lost himself or after. The messenger has no answer. She is sent for anyway. Duḥśāsana goes in and brings her out by the hair. She is dragged into the assembly of men who include her husbands, her elders, and her teachers. This page will not linger on her body. The fact is the dragging, and the fact is the hall that allowed it.
Standing there, she asks the legal question the game has earned. If Yudhiṣṭhira had already lost himself, was he still a person who could stake her? She asks Bhīṣma. She asks the elders. Bhīṣma says dharma is subtle, and he does not answer. A younger Kaurava, Vikarṇa, says the stake was unlawful. He is shouted down. Karṇa is cruel, and he is speaking from the old wound of the svayaṃvara. He tells Duḥśāsana to take the cloth. Duḥśāsana pulls. The cloth does not end. Tellings differ on why. In one she called Kṛṣṇa. In one the protection is her own vow. In one it is Dharma. This page does not choose among them. It records that the elders did not answer, and that the cloth did not end, and that the poem refuses to make the miracle a substitute for the answer she was owed.
Bhīma makes a vow. He will break Duryodhana's thigh, and he will drink Duḥśāsana's blood. The vow is the poem's. This page states it and does not teach it. Omens break into the hall, jackals and an ill dawn, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra is afraid. He offers Draupadī boons. She takes two. The freedom of Yudhiṣṭhira, and the freedom of the others with what is theirs. She will not take a third. She says greed of boons is unbecoming, and the poem lets her be the one person in the room who knows where to stop. They are leaving. Duryodhana calls them back. There is a second game. The stake is thirteen years: twelve in the forest, and a thirteenth in hiding, and if they are found in that thirteenth year the twelve begin again. Yudhiṣṭhira plays again. He loses again. The hall has its victory, and it has a question it never answered.
नेपालीमा
द्रौपदी रजस्वला थिइन्। उनले दूतलाई सोधिन्, बाजी पति आफैँ हार्नुअघि लगाइएको हो कि हारेपछि? दूतसँग उत्तर थिएन। तैपनि उनलाई बोलाउन पठाइयो। दुःशासनले उनलाई कपाल समातेर पति, ज्येष्ठ र गुरुहरू भएको सभामा तानेर ल्यायो। यो पृष्ठ उनको शरीरमा अल्झिँदैन। तथ्य तानिनु हो, र त्यसलाई हुन दिने सभा हो। उनले खेलले जन्माएको कानुनी प्रश्न सोधिन्। युधिष्ठिर आफैँ हारिसकेका थिए भने उनलाई बाजी लगाउने हक थियो? उनले भीष्मलाई सोधिन्, ज्येष्ठहरूलाई सोधिन्। भीष्मले भने, धर्म सूक्ष्म छ, र उत्तर दिएनन्। कान्छा कौरव विकर्णले बाजी अवैध थियो भने। उनलाई चिच्याएर चुप लगाइयो। स्वयंवरको पुरानो घाउबाट बोलेका निष्ठुर कर्णले दुःशासनलाई कपडा खोल्न भने। दुःशासनले ताने। कपडा सकिएन। किन भन्नेमा कथनहरू फरक छन्। कुनैमा उनले कृष्णलाई बोलाइन्, कुनैमा रक्षा उनकै प्रतिज्ञाको हो, कुनैमा धर्मको। यो पृष्ठले ती मध्ये छान्दैन। ज्येष्ठहरूले उत्तर दिएनन्, र कपडा सकिएन; कविताले चमत्कारलाई उनले पाउनुपर्ने उत्तरको विकल्प बन्न दिँदैन। भीमले प्रतिज्ञा गरे: दुर्योधनको जाँघ भाँच्नेछन्, र दुःशासनको रगत पिउनेछन्। त्यो प्रतिज्ञा कविताको हो। यो पृष्ठले त्यो भन्छ, सिकाउँदैन। सभामा स्याल र अशुभ बिहानजस्ता अपशकुन देखा परे, र धृतराष्ट्र डराए। धृतराष्ट्रले द्रौपदीलाई वर दिन खोजे। द्रौपदीले दुई वर लिइन्: युधिष्ठिरको मुक्ति, अनि अरूको मुक्ति तिनीहरूका आफ्ना कुरासहित। तेस्रो लिइनन्। वरको लोभ अशोभनीय हो भनिन्, र कविताले उनलाई त्यो सभामा कहाँ रोकिनुपर्छ भन्ने जान्ने एक मात्र मान्छे बनाउँछ। उनीहरू फर्कँदै गर्दा दुर्योधनले फेरि बोलायो। दोस्रो खेल भयो। बाजी तेह्र वर्षको थियो: बाह्र वर्ष वनमा, तेह्रौँ लुकेर, र तेह्रौँ वर्षमा फेला परे फेरि बाह्र वर्ष सुरु हुने। युधिष्ठिरले फेरि खेले। फेरि हारे। सभाले आफ्नो जित पायो, र कहिल्यै नदिइएको एउटा प्रश्न पनि।