Draupadi Laments Her Sufferings to Krishna
Draupadi approaches Krishna and begins to recount everything — the poisoning of Bhima, the burning of the lac house, the killing of Hidimba and Baka, her own svayamvara. She censures the Pandavas for tolerating her molestation, names each of her five sons, and declares that her grief over Karna's laughter will never be pacified.
Draupadi came to Krishna and began to speak.
She started with who he was. "It has been said that when all beings were first created, you were the only Prajapati. You are Vishnu. You are the sacrifice. You are the sacrificer. You are the one for whom sacrifices are performed. The sky is covered with your head and the earth with your feet. You are the stomach of all these worlds and you are the eternal being."
Then she spoke of herself. "O Krishna! I am a wife to the Parthas. I am your friend. I am Dhrishtadyumna's sister. How could someone like me be dragged to the sabha? I was then in the dharma of women. I was trembling. I was stained with blood. I was clad in a single garment. I was miserable. But I was dragged into that assembly of Kurus. On seeing me in that sabha, in the middle of all those kings, stained in my menses, those evil-minded sons of Dhritarashtra laughed at me. They wished to enjoy me like a slave girl, when the sons of Pandu, the Panchalas, and the Vrishnis were still alive."
She censured the Pandavas. "The Pandavas may be extremely strong and supreme in war. But I censure them. They looked on when their famous wife, according to dharma, was molested. Shame on Bhimasena's strength! Shame on Partha's Gandiva! Both of them allowed me to be oppressed by insignificant ones."
She named her sons. "Prativindhya was born from Yudhishthira, Sutasoma from Vrikodara, Shrutakirti from Arjuna, Shatanika from Nakula, and Shrutakarma from the youngest. All of them derive valor from the truth. They are maharathas like Pradyumna and you. They are supreme archers. Enemies cannot vanquish them in battle. Why did they tolerate the weak sons of Dhritarashtra?"
She recounted the history of their sufferings. "When they were but children, he threw the non-violent ones and their mother out of the kingdom. It was that evil one who mixed virulent poison in Bhimasena's food. He digested it because his time had not ended. It was he who tied Bhima up, flung him into the Ganga, and went away. Though fettered, Bhima tore off his bonds and arose from the water. It was he who caused virulent serpents to bite Bhima all over his body when he slept, but that destroyer of enemies did not die."
She spoke of the burning of the lac house. "When they were asleep and unconscious with the arya lady in Varanavata, he tried to burn them. Who could have acted in this way? The frightened and weeping arya lady, greatly oppressed and surrounded by flames, told the Pandavas, 'I am slain. How will we find peace from the flames today? Without a protector, I will perish with my young sons.' Bhima took up the arya lady on his left lap and the king on his right. He took the twins on his shoulder and Bibhatsu on his back. Grasping all of them, he arose with force and freed them from the fire."
She spoke of Hidimba and Baka. "Setting out in the night with their mother, they arrived near the forest that was Hidimba's. A rakshasa woman named Hidimba arrived. She placed Bhima's feet on her lap and caressed them. Then the worst of rakshasas arrived. Bhima killed him. Ghatotkacha was born from her. Then they went to Ekachakra. There Bhima killed a maneater named Baka, who was as strong as Hidimba."
She concluded. "O Madhusudana! I have no husbands. I have no sons. I do not have a brother or a father. Nor do I have any relatives. When I was oppressed by inferior ones, you ignored me, unmoved by sorrow. My grief that Karna laughed at me then will never be pacified." Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 310