[Advaita-l] Ekadashi (VTCS Rao)

[Kaushik Chevendra]

*Krishna saved Draupadi.* First of all, just so people know what we're
talking about, here is the description of Krishna saving Draupadi form
being disrobed in this chapter
<http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m02/m02067.htm> of the Sabha Parva of the
Mahabharata:

When the attire of Draupadi was being thus dragged, the thought of Hari,
(And she herself cried aloud, saying), *'O Govinda, O thou who dwellest in
Dwaraka, O Krishna, O thou who art fond of cow-herdesses (of Vrindavana). O
Kesava, seest thou not that the Kauravas are humiliating me. O Lord, O
husband of Lakshmi, O Lord of Vraja (Vrindavana), O destroyer of all
afflictions, O Janarddana, rescue me who am sinking in the Kaurava Ocean. O
Krishna, O Krishna, O thou great yogin, thou soul of the universe, Thou
creator of all things, O Govinda, save me who am distressed,--who am losing
my senses in the midst of the Kurus.'* Thus did that afflicted lady
resplendent still in her beauty, O king covering her face cried aloud,
thinking of Krishna, of Hari, of the lord of the three worlds. Hearing the
words of Draupadi, Krishna was deeply moved. And leaving his seat, the
benevolent one from compassion, arrived there on foot. And while Yajnaseni
was crying aloud to Krishna, also called Vishnu and Hari and Nara for
protection, the illustrious Dharma, remaining unseen, covered her with
excellent clothes of many hues. And, O monarch as the attire of Draupadi
was being dragged, after one was taken off, another of the same kind,
appeared covering her. And thus did it continue till many clothes were
seen. And, O exalted on, owing to the protection of Dharma, hundreds upon
hundreds of robes of many hues came off Draupadi's person. And there arose
then a deep uproar of many many voices. And the kings present in that
assembly beholding that most extraordinary of all sights in the world,
began to applaud Draupadi and censure the son of Dhritarashtra.

Second of all, Draupadi recalls the incident in this chapter
<http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m05/m05082.htm> of the Udyoga Parva of the
Mahabharata.

O Kesava, the sons of Pandu, the Panchalas, and the Vrishnis being all
alive, exposed to the gaze of the assembly I was treated as a slave by
those sinful wretches. And when the Pandavas beholding it all sat silent
without giving way to wrath, *in my heart I called upon thee. O Govinda,
saying,--Save me, O save me!*

On top of that, Kunti mentions the incident in this chapter
<https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/1/8> of the Srimad Bhagavatam:

My dear Kṛṣṇa, Your Lordship has protected us from a poisoned cake, from a
great fire, from cannibals, *from the vicious assembly*, from sufferings
during our exile in the forest and from the battle where great generals
fought. And now You have saved us from the weapon of Aśvatthāmā. I wish
that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see
You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see
repeated births and deaths.

Finally, Madhvacharya describes the incident in this chapter
<http://www.dvaipayana.net/mbtn-trans/Chapter_21_prabhanjanacharya.pdf> of
his Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya, one of the oldest commentaries on the
Mahabharata:

*When dushyAsana started disrobing her, draupadi started to remember
kRushNa in a very special manner.* At that time, another saree which was
divine, very delicate and glowing like gold appeared on her body. As and
when dushyAsana started snatching the sarees, a new saree appeared. Sinful
dushyAsana could never reach the end. He was exhausted and sunk down in the
assembly hall. When the pile of sarees started to grow like mountain,
ignorant duryOdhana who was furious said “why are you delaying, take her to
our house”.

So I don't think there's any reason to doubt the story.

On Tue, 22 Nov, 2022, 11:21 am V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> In a discourse by a scholar who has researched the Mahabharata, it was
> stated that the 'incessant supply of cloth/sari by Krishna' incident is not
> there in the MB.  I am surprised by this observation.  Could anyone pl.
> confirm this?
>
> regards
> subbu
>
> On Tue, Nov 22, 2022 at 9:21 AM sunil bhattacharjya via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Dear friends,
> >
> >
> > In one of the mails, here on this above subject, it has been mentioned
> that
> > when Draupadi was being disrobed
> >
> > she prayed to Lord krishna, and yes Lord Krishna did respond. Vedavyasa
> > said that it was Dharma (i.e.,
> >
> > Dharma-avatara Vidura), who came to the rescue of Draupadi. Of course,
> > behind the scene Lord Krishna arranged
> >
> > for the unlimited supply of clothes through Lord Surya.
> >
> >
> > It is believed that according to one Pauranic anecdote Draupadi once gave
> > clothes to Lord Surya, during the
> >
> > marriage of Suryaputra Shani, and Lord Surya was pleased and he promised
> to
> > help Draupadi in time of her need.
> >
> > Lord Krishna reminded Lord Surya about Draupadi’s need for clothes and
> Lord
> > Surya did supply that in a
> >
> > mairaculous  way.
> >
> >
> > My 2 cents
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