Q for Queens in Mahabharata - Mahabharata Mashup

Namaste, 

For me, there’s no kingdom without a queen. Womenhad played varied roles over the years. Mahabharata has many queens, someknown, some powerful, and some left unnamed. 

Here, I’ll mention three queens from threegenerations who set the stage for future events. Of course, queens likeSatyavati (Bhishma’s stepmother), Rukmini (Krishna’s wife), Sudeshna (KingVirata’s wife), Damayanti (King Nala’s wife), etc., also had important roles.Even Kunti (though she was technically not a queen for most of her life)contributed to the events. 

River Goddess Ganga 

As you read in the post about Ashta Vasus, Ganga wasdestined to give birth to the Vasus. For this, she had to marry King Shantanu(son of Pratipa) of the Kuru dynasty. 

Even before the Vasus were cursed, King Mahabhisa ofthe Ikshvaku race was cursed by Brahma for staring at Ganga doing an importantritual. The king was to be born as a human, and Ganga would help break thecurse. Later, the Vasus requested her to give birth to them when they had to beborn as humans. 

One day, when King Pratipa was doing tapasya at thebanks of the Ganga, she went to sit on his right leg and asked him to marryher. The king said the right side was meant for daughters and daughter-in-law,so he would welcome her as his son’s wife and made a promise. Years later, hisson Shantanu went to the river bank, saw Ganga standing there, and fell in lovewith her. She agreed to marry him only if he promised never to question heractions. He agreed. However, unable to see her drown their children, Shantanuquestioned her. She revealed the truth and left with the eighth child(Bhishma). Once the child was trained and old enough, she handed him over toShantanu as the heir to the throne. 

The kingdom of Hastinapura flourished with abundanceand prosperity when Ganga was the queen and lived in the palace with Shantanu.And why not? She was the source of life, after all! 

Queen Gandhari 

Gandhari was the princess of Gandhara (present-dayAfghanistan), the daughter of King Subala. Gandhari worshipped Shiva and got aboon that she would give birth to a hundred sons. When Bhishma got to know ofthis, he approached King Subala with a proposal to get Gandhari married toDhritarastra. However, the king didn’t agree, as Dhrtarastra was blind. Bhishmawon him over with persistence. When Gandhari heard of this, she showed her acceptance bywrapping a silk cloth over her eyes. She said she didn’t wish to see his lackof sight and would continue to keep the blindfold until her lastbreath.  

Gandhari was shown as a regular flawed human inMahabharata. Be it her jealousy when Kunti delivered a child or her desire toprotect her son Dhuryodhana despite knowing his flaws. In Udyoga Parva,Gandhari was also asked to come to the Sabha to convince Dhuryodhana to makepeace with the Pandavas. Her words were quite ruthless compared toDhritarastra, who loved his sons a little too much (and was already jealous ofthe Pandavas). She straight out told Dhuryodhana that he was wicked and wouldremember their warnings when he faced death in the form of Bhima. She addedthat she could see it was too late to change his mind. 

While Gandhari’s role as a queen is not explored,she does come into the limelight with her curse on Krishna. The Curse of Gandhari by Aditi Banerjee presents theepic from her POV. (I haven’t read the book, but know Aditi is a dharmicperson)

Empress Drapuadi 

Draupadiis the princess of Panchala, the daughter of King Draupada, and the wife ofthe five Pandava brothers. Draupadi was born from the yagna fire and is knownas Yagnaseni. She wasn’t born as a child but as a teenager, along with herbrother Dhrstadyumna, who came out of the yagna fire wearing armor and holdinga sword. 

Draupadi was the queen of Indraprastha and became anempress when Yudhistira completed the Rajasuya. However, she had to spend thenext thirteen years of her life in exile when Yudhistira lost the game of diceto Shakuni. After the war, Draupadi became the queen of Hastinapura and ruledthe kingdom for 36 years. 

In Aranyaka Parva, Draupadi and Satyabhama had aconversation in the forest. Krishna and Satyabhama went to visit the Pandavasto offer support. Draupadi spoke about her role as a wife, daughter-in-law, andqueen. We learn she was right in the middle of things and had complete controlover the administration and finances. 

To quote Draupadi, “It was I who listened tocomplaints and laid down rules to be observed. I knew the entire palace system,from the maidservants and other palace workers to the palace cowherds andshepherds. I was the one, not the Pandavas, who knew the details of income andexpenditure; I alone knew their total revenue. My husbands went about theirvarious pursuits, and I managed their treasury, as inexhaustible as Varuna’socean.”

Draupadi was capable, confident, and assertive.Unlike the modern retellings, she wasn’t presented as an arrogant woman but anassertive one who spoke her mind when the need arose. She wasn’t proud of herbeauty either. Her beauty was only a part of her but didn’t represent her entirepersonality. In a way, some feminist retellings have done more disservice toDraupadi than elevate her. 

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The AI images are made on Bing.