DRAUPADI'S SWAYAMVARA

WHILE the Pandavas were living in disguise as brahmanas at Ekachakrapura, news of the Swayamvara of Draupadi, the daughter of Drupada, King of Panchala, reached them.

Many brahmanas of Ekachakrapura planned to go to Panchala in the hope of receiving the customary gifts and to see the festivities and pageant of a royal wedding. Kunti, with her motherly instinct, read her sons' desire to go to Panchala and win Draupadi.

So she told Yudhishthira: "We have been in this city so long that it is time to think of going somewhere else. We have seen these hills and dales till we are tired of them.

The alms doled out to us are diminishing and it is not good to outstay your entertain- ment. Let us therefore go to Drupada's kingdom which is reputed to be fair and prosperous." Kunti was second to none in worldly wisdom and sagacity and could gracefully divine her sons' thoughts and spare them the awkwardness of expressing them. 

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