Draupadi - The Impregnable Queen

10

Draupadi had been discarded. She had been looked down upon. She was underestimated. But she stood up. She always did. She was Yagyaseni. If she wanted to she could light her whole body on fire, with a little concentration her clothes stayed unaffected. But, she realized her heart was not a slave to her, maybe because she had not paid enough attention to it. Why to? Just keep the blood pumping and we are both fine. But, today she experienced something she could not words to.

The royal garden was being renovated, therefore, Draupadi decided to take a stroll through the forest. The forests near the palace were not so dangerous, and even if someone dared to attack the Queen, she was enough. Nevertheless, Vrishank and his men followed her. Giving her space, but near enough to interfere if any surprises were to occur.

She had been thinking about Drishtdyumna, he had been broken since the Videhian princess had married. Well, you could not blame her. Drishtdyumna never told her about his feelings. But Drishtdyumna was not even eating for the last few days. But Draupadi has somehow performed a miracle. He was getting better day by day. With some cajoling, he even agreed that the princess of Kosala looked like an apsara. Her thoughts had strayed towards her father when she heard a sound. The sound of a wounded tiger. Her guards started to march, Draupadi told them to stop with a wave of her hands, she did not want to attack the beast unless it was to defend herself. She quietly walked toward the sound. She had her dagger in the scabbard attached to her back with a strip of cloth. 

She walked from behind the foliage and the tiger indeed was there, he wasn't aware of his surroundings yet, he was in pain. But the beast was not the one Draupadi had been studying. There bent a man, with an orange dhoti, his red angavastram cast aside, a hermit with a bow in his hand, the arrow placed. Intelligently, the bowstring not stretched to prevent the muscles from tiring out. The body weight on the left knee. Draupadi was facing his back. Some of his hair played with the wind, escaping from the practical bun atop his head secured with a red cloth and Rudraksha beads. Her eyes travelled to his neck adorned with Rudraksha beads. His bicep muscles covered with three white bands signifying him as a devotee of Lord Shiva. His back was relaxed, but his sculpted body could not have been hidden. Some scars were visible, battle scars. He was not a hermit. His orange dhoti fluttered in the breeze. The tiger looked around, instincts kicking in. He spotted the archer. The archer ready, stretched the bowstring, his back arched, his elbow parallel to the ground. The tiger traced back his steps, signifying n attack. The archer pulled the string a notch further and released the arrow. The arrow whizzed right into the eye of the tiger, lodging in its brain. After a moment or two, the tiger fell immobile. The hermit stood, his presence towering. He started walking towards the tiger, probably to retrieve his bow when Draupadi let out a breath she did not know she was holding. She barely blinked and an arrow was aimed at her. Within another second both the hermit and the Queen could not comprehend what was taking place between them. Draupadi could not put it in words. If the almighty had created a face as soft as stern it was his. His eyes black, his eyebrows arched. His unkempt beard flowing in the air. His torso tanned and defined, adorned with scars of battles fought. Draupadi felt the urge to just walk towards him. Draupadi was shaken out of her thoughts with a greeting. She was more shaken from the doubt that was nagging her.

"Pranipat." said the hermit evenly.

Draupadi regained herself. 

"Pranipat, great hermit!" Draupadi spoke as evenly, "Pardon me for being so explicit but how come an ascetic like you have skills of an archer?"

The man frowned, "Great Queen, pardon me for being explicit too but do you believe that skills are bordered with origins?"

Draupadi was taken aback.

"Birth is unimportant, karma is what defines a person, and you have divine karma, Prince Arjuna!"

It was the man's turn to be shocked now. Draupadi was not sure but the amusement on the man's face cleared her doubts. Since she had been born, she had been told about the great Arjuna, she was after all destined to marry him, but Draupadi had disregarded the thought. She knew his face, from the painting Drishtdyumna, had gifted her once. It took her a while to find that well-groomed face, behind the disguise of a hermit. It was his voice that gave it away. His voice humble but strong.

"You have the eye of an archer yourself, great Queen!" the man grinned, realising he was compromised and could do nothing about it.

"You can call me Draupadi."

"I can't call a queen by her name, now can I?"

"Panchali?"

"Panchali."

Author's note: I am providing a vocabulary for words you may be unfamiliar with:

Apsara - A women of beauty so enchanting that she resided in the heavens