Yudhishthira and Jayadratha

While the Pandavas are away hunting, the king of Sindhu enters their hermitage and propositions Draupadi, urging her to abandon her exiled husbands for him. She rebukes him with a deep frown, tells him not to speak that way again, and begins to distract him with words — stalling for time until her husbands return.

Jayadratha dismisses Draupadi's warnings, insisting she cannot dissuade him with words alone. She declares she is not weak — that both Krishnas will follow her footsteps on a single chariot, that Indra himself cannot abduct her, and that she will see him bound and dragged by the sons of Pritha.

The Pandavas return from their hunt to find their hermitage empty and their maid weeping. A jackal howls on their left — an omen of disaster. When Indrasena questions the maid, she learns the truth: Jayadratha has abducted Draupadi while they were away, and the trail is still fresh.

The Pandavas follow the fresh trail of Jayadratha's army, seeing the dust raised by the hooves of his horses. Dhoumya urges Bhima to attack. When they see Draupadi standing on Jayadratha's chariot, their rage flares — and they call out to the king of Sindhu to stop.

Jayadratha, having abducted Draupadi, sees five chariots approaching and his courage drains away. He asks Draupadi to identify her husbands — and she does, describing each Pandava in detail, warning him of the doom that is about to descend upon him.

Draupadi has finished speaking. The five Pandavas, equal to five Indras, ignore the terrified infantry and turn their fury on Jayadratha's chariot army, unleashing dark showers of arrows from all sides.

Seeing his army destroyed, Jayadratha frees Draupadi and flees into the forest. Yudhishthira orders Nakula to pick her up, and Bhima wants to slaughter the remaining soldiers — but Arjuna stops him. Bhima vows to kill Jayadratha even if he escapes to the nether regions. Yudhishthira objects, citing Duhshala and Gandhari. But Draupadi, angry and unashamed, demands the wretch's death.

Jayadratha orders his allied kings to stand firm and attack. The warriors from Shibi, Sindhu, Trigarta, and Souvira face the five Pandavas — and are decimated. Bhima kills Kotikashya with a javelin. Arjuna slays twelve from Souvira with his arrows. Nakula cuts off an elephant's trunk and tusks with his sword. Headless torsos litter the battlefield, and the survivors are routed.

Jayadratha, having been defeated by the Pandava brothers, flees for his life. But Bhima chases him down on foot, seizes him by the hair, thrashes him unconscious, kicks him in the head, and shaves his head into five tufts. He binds him and presents him as a slave to Yudhishthira — who, moved by compassion, orders him freed.

After rescuing Draupadi from Jayadratha's abduction, Yudhishthira sits among the sages and unburdens himself to Markandeya. He cannot understand how a woman who has always followed dharma could be touched by such dishonor — and he asks whether the sage has ever seen or heard of anyone more unfortunate than himself.

Yudhishthira sits in the forest, weighed down by exile and loss, when the ancient sage Markandeya finds him. Instead of empty comfort, Markandeya offers a series of comparisons — Rama’s endurance in the wilderness, Indra’s victories won through allies, and the Pandavas’ own recent rescue of Draupadi from Jayadratha — to argue that Yudhishthira has no reason to despair.