Draupadi - The Impregnable Queen

5

Drupad was getting old. His shoulders were as strong as they had been before, but now he walked with a stoop, it took him a lot of effort to just string an arrow on the bow. He knew he had to appoint his successor too, and the choice was obvious. It had to be her. Within a matter of two years, Panchal had turned from a kingdom that existed to a kingdom that ruled. The kings of the kingdoms taken by Draupadi were happy to call themselves as Panchalas, though they ruled the rule was not wholly autonomous, on important decisions Panchal had the final say. 

5 days ago the court had agreed on making Draupadi not only the successor but the ruler, the courtiers knew it would be different to be ruled by a female, but they were ready, they were ready to see her rule. 

Today was the day of the coronation, never had a woman been crowned as the ruler, but Panchal had always been different. Their Senapati was a woman, so why not the ruler?

The court of Panchal was decorated like a newlywed bride. The drapes were made of net, the colour of the morning sky embroidered by gold threads. The posts were adorned with flowers lilac and blue. The floor was covered with petals of flowers of various colours. The throne was reworked upon. Its centre was adorned with alternative jewels in concentric circles, the fire when reflected off the jewels, it looked as if it was the sun. To the circle were attached spikes made of thin gold looking like the rays of the sun. The armrests of the throne engraved with small diamonds looked like two fireballs. The velvet white fabric made the gold throne more defining. The wall behind the throne was engraved such that when the sunlight shone through the holes, it lighted the whole court. 

The courtiers had their best apparels on. The important people of Panchal were invited to the coronation. The women were bedecked with jewels. Drupad, Shikhandini and Drishtdyumna were standing near the centre of the court. Drupad in his gold-bordered orange dhoti, with a dark blue, gold-embroidered angavastram stood waiting patiently, clad in his royal jewels. He looked as he always did. But he did not have the crown on his head. For Draupadi a different crown had been forged, Drupad's crown was to be kept safe if and when a male ruler was seen again by the Panchalas. On his left, Drishtdyumna was sporting a bright yellow dhoti with a rani angavastram bedecked with small jewels all over it. His not so dry hair crowned with a crown fit for a Panchal prince, he looked so excited that if not for his bulky figure he could have passed for a child. Drishtdyumna with his ivory skin and his toned body would have caught the attention of all present in the court, if not for his elder sister. On Drupad's right Shikhandini, stood in her sky blue dhoti and choli, her torso covered with a baby pink angavastram, her neck covered with minimal jewellery. Her war scars didn't make her desirable for everyone, but the fact that she wore anything expect armours were welcomed by all of Panchal. 

The court stood quiet when the fire rose, waiting for their new ruler to arrive. They all knew Draupadi was blessed with Agnidev's fire, whenever she was near the fire knew it before than anyone else. But this was all the people knew, but the royal family and the courtiers knew more, Draupadi could wield fire! The first time they came to know of this was when Draupadi had challenged Drishtdyumna, sparks of fire blew of her body, rendering her anger. On the days cloudy or humid or rainy, her fire seemed a little down. But today was a clear bright day. The clouds had parted so that the sun could see the happenings in the court of Panchal.

Draupadi came into view, her black locks tied in a bun atop her head, her forehead adorned with a tilak, her nose sporting a nath, its end attached to one of the kundals she was wearing. Her neck was bedecked with only one haar, but it was big enough, decorated with diamonds. She wore a red lehenga which was pleated such that it resembled a dhoti, it had been purposefully lightened so that Draupadi could move around easily, though its weight was reduced its grandeur wasn't, from the bottom of the lehenga emerged gold spots decreasing in size as they ascended, to a little below the middle. A red gold-bordered cloth was tied around her waist, such that it was parallel to where her lehenga started, but it did not cover her stomach. Her red choli was threaded with gold, attached to her sequined gold net angavastram, whose one end covered her right arm. All of this was purposefully made lightweight, it was all made of cotton, because of all people she was not the one who just sat on the throne. But the long piece of cloth, attached to the back of her bun seemed heavy, the red velvet cloth with heavy gold embroidery left a train of about 4 feet behind her. In Panchal, the tradition was that each ruler of the kingdom would have special apparel to mark the importance of the event they wore it on. For King Prishata, it was a yellow dhoti, for Drupad it was his dark blue, gold-embroidered angavastram he was wearing today, the last time he would ever wear it. For Draupadi, it was the 10 foot long, 7 kg cape. She made a mental note to see the designer after this, she had specially told him to make the apparels as light as possible, in her opinion it must have been possible to make this lighter. She waved her thoughts away as she realized she had reached the centre of the court.