Drupada Sends His Priest to Confirm the Pandavas' Identity
Overjoyed by his son's report, Drupada sends his priest to the potter's house with a delicate mission: to ask directly if the winners are Pandu's sons. Yudhishthira responds not with a confession, but with a firm lesson on the rules of the contest.
Filled with hope and happiness, King Drupada sent his priest to the potter’s house. His instructions were clear: “Go to them. Tell them we know who they are. Ask them if they are, by any chance, the sons of the great-souled Pandu.”
The priest went as instructed. He praised the men he found there and delivered the king’s message in detail and in the right order. “O first among those who deserve homage,” the priest said. “The king of Panchala, the granter of wishes, wishes to know who you are. Seeing the one who shot down the target, his joy has no bounds. Tell us the details of your family and your lineage. Place your feet on the heads of your enemies. Gladden the hearts of the king, his men, and mine as well.”
The priest then revealed Drupada’s long-held desire. “King Pandu was a dear friend of King Drupada, who regarded him as his own self. He has all along desired that his daughter should be given to that Kourava as his daughter-in-law. O heroes of unblemished limbs! This desire was always in King Drupada’s heart, that the strong and long-armed Arjuna should marry his daughter according to dharma (cosmic law and duty).”
When the priest fell silent, Yudhishthira—the eldest of the brothers, referred to here as ‘the king’—looked at the humble messenger. He first instructed Bhima, who was next to him, to show the priest every respect: to bring water to wash his feet and to give him offerings. Bhima did so, and the priest accepted the homage and seated himself happily.
Then Yudhishthira spoke. His response was not a direct answer, but a statement of principle.
“The king of Panchala gave his daughter away according to his wishes and his own dharma,” Yudhishthira said. “He set a price—the test of the bow—and this brave one has won her in accordance with that. Therefore, no questions can now be asked about his varna (social order), action, intention, means of living, lineage, or gotra (clan). All those questions have been answered by the act of stringing the bow and striking the target. In doing that, this great-souled one has won Krishna in an assembly of kings. Since that is the case, the king of the lunar dynasty has no reason to regret his decision or be unhappy.”
Yudhishthira acknowledged Drupada’s wish. “O Brahmana! King Drupada’s eternal desire will certainly come to be true for the king, because I think that this king’s daughter was unattainable otherwise. No one weak in strength, or of low birth, or unskilled in the use of arms could have strung that bow and shot down the target. Today, it is therefore not proper for the king of Panchala to grieve over his daughter. No man on earth can now undo the fact that he succeeded in shooting down the target.”
As Yudhishthira finished speaking these firm, conclusive words, another messenger swiftly arrived from King Drupada. The feast, he announced, had been prepared.