Painting of Draupadi.
Artist: Raja Ravi Varma (n.d.)
Krishna once visit the Pandavas and was entertained with such splendor as was deserving of a deity. Guests ate enormous piles of food and drank rivers of liquor. Draupadi and Subhadra were among those who took part in the festivities. Being unaccustomed to such banquets, they had far too much to drink.
Draupadi, wife of the five Pandavas, was the first to become inebriated. She said to Subhadra, wife of Arjuna, “I think I’ve had too much.”
“You’re quite right. You’re slurring your words and you’re spinning around.” But Draupadi wasn’t spinning. This was only Subhadra’s own drunkenness affecting her. She soon realized this and said to the wife of the Pandavas, “Oh no. I’m drunk, too.”
Draupadi laughed hysterically. “I hope my husbands won’t get mad.”
“Oh, I doubt it. This is but a rare indulgence. It’s not like we do this everyday.”
“No? Then maybe they’ll forgive some other things, too.”
“Like what? What do you have in mind?”
“What if we gave away all of our fine clothes and ornaments?”
“Are you crazy?” shouted Subhadra.
“Shh,” Draupadi replied, putting her finger to Subhadra’s lips.
The two women left the side of the Yamuna and went into their quarters. The train of maidens who followed them were concerned and asked if it weren’t better for them to go to bed and sleep this off. These concerns were soon hushed by the brilliant, richly embroidered robes that Draupadi and Subhadra gave to the maidens. The two women told them to return to the feast. They wanted to have a party of their own. So bribed, the maidens left them alone. Draupadi and Subhadra soon found an empty car. They laughed among themselves, not knowing that this car would send whosoever entered it into parts unknown. As soon as they stepped in, it flew them to a clearing in the middle of a dark and frightening jungle. They could hear a growl every second and each time they dared to look at the forest, there seemed to appear a bloodshot pair of eyes staring at them. They shouted at the car and begged it to take them back to Krishna and to the Pandavas, but the car refused. It said to them, “I can fly but once per day. You’ll have to wait until Surya passes over in his chariot.” The women, sobered by this, began to pray for their rescue.
At this point, the women had been gone for several hours. Krishna and the Pandavas were deeply concerned. They would have asked the guests but they were all asleep or hopelessly drunk. The maidens saw them wandering about asking questions and knew who they were looking for.
The eldest among the maidens said to them, “I think they took that magic chariot.”
“Really?” Arjuna asked. “Do you know where it took them?”
“Northwards, I believe. It was aimed in that direction before it took off.”
"Oh no,” Krishna said.
“What is it?” asked Arjuna.
“There’s an abandoned temple in that direction. It’s infested by dreadful rakshasas. I was intending on visiting it and cleansing it after this banquet.”
“We will go and rescue them,” said the other four Pandavas.
“No,” said Arjuna, “you must stay here and guard our guests. I fear that something even worse will happen if you don’t.”
“We will do as you wish,” they replied.
With much haste, Krishna and Arjuna took the former’s chariot and directed it to the temple. They would have landed safely if a rakshasa hadn’t appeared in a clearing and thrown a spear at the horse leading it. They crashed near the temple. After coming to, Arjuna and Krishna found themselves being attended to by Draupadi and Subhadra.
“What happened?” Arjuna asked.
“We don’t know who threw it, but an enormous spear appeared in the sky and struck your chariot.”
“In any case,” said Krishna, “I’m glad you two are fine.”
“And we’re glad that you two are fine,” said Subhadra. “You were out for a long time. It’s nearly morning.”
At this moment, the rakshasa which had thrown the spear and which had been watching the two women for several hours, appeared from the edge of the forest. It was carrying a bag of ingredients and an enormous pot of soup in which it planned to cook all four. It had a hundred bloodshot eyes.
Arjuna and Krishna jumped to their feet.
“Rakshasa!” shouted Arjuna. “You shall not defeat us!”
“On the contrary. I will surely pick the flesh from your bones and use it in a delectable soup.”
“Disgusting,” Krishna muttered. He tried to toss his discus at the rakshasa but the demon stepped out of the way. The discus didn't hit the rakshasa, but the demon's bag was split open and some of the ingredients fell out.
It laughed and said, "You think such weak weapons will defeat me?”
Both men were even more concerned. If Krishna’s discus couldn’t defeat it, what could? The creature rushed at them. Having a dozen arms and just as many heads, it was able to trade blows with both Arjuna and Krishna at the same time. The battle was fierce, but no side seemed likely to win.
Out of the corner of his eye, Arjuna caught sight of one of the ingredients that had spilled out: a pile of curry powder. He grabbed a handful and, when the rakshasa had drawn close, threw it at the demon's gaping mouth.
The rakshasa let out of a bloodcurdling scream. The powder made the rakshasa's mouth feel as though it was on fire. The demon rushed away to a nearby stream and began to drink it dry. While it was bent over the stream, Krishna and Arjuna rushed behind it and stabbed it in the heart. The creature keeled over and its blood painted the stream red.
Rather than stay any longer in what was still a rakshasa-infested jungle, Arjuna, Krishna, Draupadi, and Subhadra returned to the banquet. On the way there, Draupadi and Subhadra agreed that, during the next feast, they would moderate their alcohol consumption and that they would never enter a car while drunk.
Author's Note
It was interesting to me to see that liquor was consumed at an ancient feast. I didn't have any idea that alcohol was a part of the Indian diet hundreds or thousands of years ago. Given that Draupadi and Subhadra have drunken antics of a rather harmless kind, I thought that it would be interesting to give them their own little adventure and make it rather over the top. After deciding to continue their drunken antics, it seemed only natural that they should be put in a life-threatening situation in order to provide a lesson on the perils of excessive drinking. In this way, my story is an adaptation of an epic with elements of a fable thrown in.
Bibliography
Various authors. Mahabharata (public domain). Link.
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