Kings Boast and Fail to String the Bow at Draupadi's Swayamvara
The swayamvara for Draupadi begins, and the assembled kings, arrogant with youth and lineage, are struck with desire. They descend into the arena, each determined to win her by stringing an immensely strong bow, but all are flung to the ground, humiliated and broken.
The arena was a crush of kings. They were youthful, adorned with earrings, and each regarded himself as the most skilled warrior present. Insolent with beauty, valour, lineage, virtue, riches, and youth, they boasted at one another like kings of elephants drunk in the season of rut. Mentally struck with desire for Drupada’s daughter, Draupadi, they suddenly stood up from their royal seats. “Krishna will be mine,” each exclaimed. They descended into the arena, and for her sake, they felt hatred for their own relatives.
The gathering was not merely mortal. The gods came in their heavenly chariots—the rudras, the adityas, the vasus, the twin Ashvins, the sadhyas, and the maruts, with Yama and the god of wealth at the forefront. The daityas (demons), the suparnas (celestial birds), the great uragas (serpents), the devarshis (divine sages), and the gandharvas with the apsaras were all there as witnesses. So too were the chiefs of the Yadus, including Balarama (Halayudha) and Krishna (Janardana). Krishna, glancing at the five Pandavas who sat like elephants in rut or a fire covered with ashes, identified them to Balarama: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Jishnu (Arjuna), and the valorous twins.
In the arena, the other kings bit their lower lips in anger. Their eyes, hearts, and natures were set only on Draupadi. Her own future husbands, the Pandavas, were also struck with the arrows of the god of love. The air was thick with divine fragrances and garlands, and a great roar arose from drums, flutes, veenas, and cymbals. The celestial routes above were crowded with the chariots of the gods.
Then the attempts began. One after another, the kings exhibited their valour for Draupadi. They grasped the bow, but it was of such immense strength that with all their might, they could not string it. The firm wood of the bow recoiled violently, flinging those brave rulers to the ground. They failed in their desire and lay there miserable, broken in spirit. The bow’s recoil caused them pain and shattered their bracelets and earrings. Having lost all hope of obtaining Draupadi, the entire assembly of kings was crestfallen. Those who had boasted of noble birth became objects of derision.
Amidst the humiliated kings, Kunti’s brave son Jishnu—Arjuna—then arose, wishing to string the bow and place an arrow on it.