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 The role of
fate-8
I have found power in the mysteries of thought,
exaltation in the changing of the Muses;
I have been versed in the reasonings of men;
but Fate is stronger than anything I have known.
Euripides - Greek tragic dramatist (484 - 406 BCE)
VIII. Fate and fury
"Still waters run deep" - it is an old adage. Is fate something like a calm deep river running its course without fanfare or is it something like the violent waves of the sea dashing against the rocks scattered at the seashore? Does anyone know what is about to happen that is fateful (from the omens or physical cataclysm) or does fate sneak in surreptitiously and does the job that is ordained? From various episodes in the epics we learn that it happens to be both ways. There are occasions where the characters involved roar thunder and at other times it is a resolute determination without any pyrotechnics.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", declares a proverb. The scorn may be a rejection of love (ambA in Mahabharatham), an imposed shame (Draupadi's disrobing in the assembly hall), or an unjust punishment (kaNNagi in silappadhikAram). When an injustice is done to a woman, it is believed that she sustains that harm, nurtures her ill-feelings, and takes revenge at the appropriate time. In silappadhikAram, kaNNagi avenged the unjust murder of her husband by incinerating the city of Madurai. ambA decided to take revenge on Bheeshma, of which he was cognizant. Draupadi sought the extermination of the kaurava clan. Fate played a big role in all these cases.
Draupadi's fury:
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Draupadi's birth from the pyre
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Draupadi was born through a divine decree without being requested by her father Drupad, the king of Panchal. Drona, a childhood friend of Drupad, got Drupad taken as a prisoner by his students for ridiculing him when he went to ask for aid from Drupad. Drupad nursed that insult and sought revenge through supernatural means. Drupad performed a great sacrifice with elaborate rituals and requested the celestial powers to grant him a son who would defeat his nemesis, Drona. Out of the sacrificial fire came Drishtadyumna*. Soon after, Draupadi too emerged from the fire. At the time of her emergence a celestial voice proclaimed,
* It was Drishtadyumna who killed Drona in the Mahabharata war.
"This unparalleled beauty has taken birth to uproot the Kauravas and establish the rule of
religion". The die was cast at that moment for the war between Pandavas and the Kauravas. While morality, righteousness, and ill-will have been cited as the central core of Mahabharata, the instrument which played the most significant part was certainly fate. The declaration of the oracle at Draupadi's birth was an indication of the future course of events. Subsequent events followed the master plan designed at that time.
 At Draupadi's swayamvara, another milestone in fate's journey was reached. Draupadi rejected Karna as a suitor by preventing him from participating in the competition. Draupadi disqualified him on the basis of his less-than-royal ancestry. Karna stomached that insult and later took revenge by asking for stripping her dress away after she was lost in the dice game. Bharathi (in pAnjcAli sabhadham) describes Karna's demand in the assembly hall thus:
mArbilE tuNiyait tAngum
vazhakkam kIzhaDiyArk killai
sIriya magaLu mallaL
ivaraik kalanda dEvi
yAraDA paNiyAL vArAi
pANDavar mArbilEn^dum
sIraiyum kaLaivAi; taiyal
sElaiyum kaLaivAi enRAn
(Slaves cannot wear garment on their upper bodies. The lady who married the five (Draupadi) is not a chaste woman either. Let a servant take off the garments from the Pandavas and let him remove the dress of the lady
too)
It was Karna who instigated the disrobing of Draupadi seeking revenge for demeaning him in the swayamvara. Fate was definitely marching inexorably in measured steps!
Another milestone occurred when Duryodhana visited Indraprasta after the Pandavas established their new kingdom and built a palace. Duryodhana was fooled by so many illusions in the palace. Draupadi laughed in derision at Duryodhana's fumbling. Duryodhana felt humiliated. That incident set the stage for the march of destiny further. When Yudhishtra bet Draupadi and lost, Duryodhana embraced Shakuni and said (cf. pAnjcAli
sabhadham),
anRu nagaittALaDA-uyir mAmanE
avaLai en ALAkki nAy
enRum maRavEnaDA-uyir mAmanE
enna kaimmARu seyvEn
(She laughed that day, my dear uncle, and you made her my slave. I shall never forget this and how can I repay
you?). Such incidents placed fate's decree on course to go to completion.
When the disrobing was ordered, nobody in the assembly hall would or could help. Bheeshma stood by the royal code, Drona and Vidura kept their heads down in shame lacking the courage to speak against such an atrocity. Finally Krishna came to Draupadi's rescue and saved her honour for that day. Then came the fury and the volcanic eruption. Draupadi made a vow that she would not tie her hair until she could lubricate it with the blood of Duryodhana and Dusshasana. That certainly guaranteed a war and spelt the doom of the Kauravas. One wonders what caused the war - was it the oracle's declaration at Draupadi's birth and the inevitable sequence of events? Was the dice game inevitable? Was Jayatradha (king of Sindhu and husband of Dushsala) another element in the game plan of fate when he coveted Draupadi? Was the disrobing of Draupadi the "last straw"? It appears that everything was coordinated and the sequential events were all etched on an integrated circuit board and plugged into the instrument and the switch was turned on. No human hand could turn it off.
When the Pandavas returned from their exile in the forest (and a year of incognito existence) as per the rules of the dice game, they wanted peace talks with the Kauravas seeking their old kingdom. Efforts by different emissaries on both sides were fruitless. When Krishna volunteered to go on a mission to seek peace, it was Draupadi again who insisted that war was the only option. Even if Bheema and Arjuna wanted to avoid war, she would let her father and sons pursue the course of war. She says, "I struggled hard all these thirteen years to contain the fury. I can't do so any longer". A classic example of fury joining hands with fate and fate flaming the fury! Krishna upon hearing her entreaty tells her with a characteristic prescience that the Kauravas will not seek peace and assures her that they are doomed. At that point, Draupadi knew that her mission (destruction of the Kauravas) would be accomplished.
All the events took place predictably. It is difficult to pinpoint whether the outcome of the war is due to Duryodhana's fate, Dritarashtra's fate, or Draupadi's fate. Perhaps they all converged in unison and the war ended with victory to the Pandavas. Draupadi's shame and fury were the centerpiece in all that.
Sethuraman Subramanian
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