Assembled Kings Rage Against Drupada for Choosing a Brahmin

The contest was over. The target had been struck. The unknown Brahmin had won. Now, in the assembly hall filled with kings and princes who had come as suitors, King Drupada of Panchala spoke his decision: he would give his daughter, Draupadi, to that great-souled Brahmin. A silence fell, then broke into a low, angry murmur. All the assembled kings looked at each other. They had traveled from their kingdoms, presented themselves, and endured the test. Now they were being passed over like straw. The insult was public and profound. They began to speak to each other, their voices rising. "This evil-hearted one does not respect us. He invites us, entertains us with food, and then shows us this disrespect. In this assembly, which is like a conclave of the gods, can he not find a single king who is his equal?" They turned to the matter of dharma (cosmic law and duty). "The sacred texts clearly say that a svayamvara (a maiden's choice of husband) is for Kshatriyas (the warrior class). Brahmanas have no right in the choice of a husband." Their anger found a target. "Let us kill him. He does not deserve our respect. He is a wretch who insults kings and their sons." One king proposed a darker alternative: "If this lady does not wish one of us as her husband, let us throw her into the fire and return to our kingdoms." Then came the calculation that stayed their hands from the immediate, greater crime. The Brahmin winner, though guilty of impertinence and greed, should not be killed. "After all," they reasoned, "our kingdoms, lives, riches, sons, grandsons and all our other wealth exist for the sake of Brahmanas." To kill a Brahmin was an unspeakable sin. But Drupada was not a Brahmin. He was a king who had insulted other kings. "Something must be done," they declared, "to prevent insult and to protect our own dharma, so that other svayamvaras do not end like this one." The precedent had to be crushed with the king who set it. Having said this, those tigers among kings, their arms like clubs, rushed at Drupada with diverse weapons, their single purpose to kill him where he stood.