Draupadi’s Dream

Draupadi wants to beget a daughter by Karna. Bilingual poet [Malayalam and English] K Sachidanandan has written a very short story in the latest edition of the Malayalam weekly, Mathrubhumi. Titled Draupadi’s Soliloquy, the story is an implicit lament on the current state of affairs in India.

No woman can accept her fate with resignation when she has five valiant and virtuous husbands and yet has to stand disrobed in front of a couple of malevolent men who have usurped all powers through means more foul than fair.

Of what value is Yudhishthira’s dharma? Draupadi laments. Arjuna’s famed valour is in vain now. Even the devotion of mighty Bheema serves no purpose. Nakula’s dutifulness and Sahadeva’s courtesy are all futile virtues in this royal court where villainous characters have put on the robes of heroes.

What I want is Karna, Draupadi laments to herself. She has seen the flame that burns fiercely in the eyes of Karna. She has felt the ardour of the passion that fumes in Karna’s bosom. Karna can sacrifice not only his kavacha-kundla but also his very self, if she stands in need of it. Let Karna the Outcast come.

I want a daughter by Karna, Draupadi says. To herself. In the world that is driven by a handful of vicious men, how loud can a woman utter her wishes?

Draupadi wants a daughter who will be a harbinger of a new era in which no woman will be disrobed in royal court that is sustained through manipulations and machinations. I want a daughter who will liberate women from men. A daughter who will liberate my husbands from their macho egos. I want a daughter who will liberate my sons from their ancient hubris.

Draupadi wants a daughter who will be able to laugh happily in the world of men. Not stand disrobed by political chicanery.

A daughter whose heart will have abundant tenderness. Also harshness if needed. A daughter who knows that sacrifice is not only a woman’s duty. A daughter who won’t have to beg for a Krishna’s magnanimity. She will be the Sun’s descendant. From her will a new earth emerge. A new earth where all that exists will be sacred: trees and rivers and hills and valleys and caterpillars and butterflies and…