Week 12 Reading Epified’s Mahabharata Part C

Epified's Mahabharata

Draupadi Being Born
Source: Google Image

Since I already watched Part A and Part B, I decided to continue the Epified series with Part C. My favorite episode was the last one, Episode 26 The Birth of Draupadi. In this story, Drupad organised a Yagya in order to create a son to fight Drona. Drupad's son emerged from a fire with sages and priests praying over him. As the audience looked on with glory, a female unexpectedly emerged from the fire. Drupad named the unexpected child Draupadi. I was surprised I did read about this story in the original version of the Mahabharata I read. I cannot tell yet if I like the fact that their are so many versions of different stories and epics and some contain the same stories and some don't. I can't really think of anything in western culture that compares to that. As for the Epified episode, I liked this story because I saw a perfect opportunity for gender-bending. In this version, the family was hoping for a son in order to fight Drone. I could definitely write a story about Drupad praying for a daughter in order to protect him. Kings are constantly hoping for sons in order to give their power and throne to someone one day and frankly, I do not think it is fair. The women are treated a either extensions of their husbands or baby factories. Anytime someone wants a son, they go get an arranged marriage with a woman. In many of my stories I bend the characters to where the female has all of the glory and power. I could even go as far as making Drupad's wife be the one calling the shots instead of him in order to further demonstrate women's power. I will say I did like the magic aspect of the story, a theme that seems very prevalent in most Indian epics and tales. In this story, the fire is obviously magic as it was able to create two souls. Because they describe this practice as a ritual, one can guess that this is not uncommon and magic was not some fancy talent or anything out of the ordinary. I may be able to incorporate that into my project at the end of the week. 

Bibliography: Epified's Mahabharata Episode 26-The Birth of Draupadi