Who is Draupadi?

Born from fire

Draupadi was not born like other people. Her father, King Drupada, held a great fire sacrifice to win a son who could destroy his old enemy Drona. From the fire came a son, Dhrishtadyumna, and then a dark, beautiful daughter. A voice said she would change history. She is also called Panchali, the princess of Panchala, and Krishnaa, "the dark one."

The bride contest

Kings came from across the land to win her by stringing a giant bow and hitting a target. Arjuna, in disguise, won. When the brothers came home and called out to their mother about what they had brought, Kunti answered without looking: share it among you. And so Draupadi became the wife of all five Pandavas.

The dice hall

When Yudhishthira lost everything at dice, he wagered and lost her too. Dushasana dragged her by her hair into the hall full of elders. She asked them a question that no one could answer: could a man who had already lost himself still wager his wife? When Duryodhana’s brother tried to strip her, she prayed to Krishna, and the cloth kept coming, longer and longer, until he gave up.

She left her hair unbound and vowed to keep it that way until it could be washed in the blood of the man who had dragged her.

How Draupadi’s story ends (spoilers)

The Pandavas won the war, but Draupadi lost all five of her sons to Ashwatthama’s night attack on the camp. Years later, on the final walk to the Himalayas, she was the first to fall.