Jayadratha Sees Draupadi and Desires Her
Jayadratha, king of the Sindhus, traveling through the Kamyaka forest to marry another woman, sees Draupadi standing alone at the hermitage gate. Struck by her beauty, he tells his companion Kotikashya that he no longer wishes to marry — he will take this woman instead — and sends him to find out who she is and who protects her.
Jayadratha, king of the Sindhus, was on his way to the country of Shalva to be married. He traveled with a large retinue of kings and warriors, and when they reached the Kamyaka forest, they stopped to rest.
There, at the gate of a hermitage, he saw a woman standing alone.
Her form was radiant. She seemed to illuminate the forest around her, like a flash of lightning against a dark cloud. The men who saw her joined their hands in salutation, uncertain whether she was a goddess, a celestial dancer, or some illusion created by the gods themselves.
Jayadratha stared. He was amazed. He was happy. And then he was deluded by desire.
He turned to Kotikashya, a king who traveled with him, and spoke. "Who is this woman with the unblemished limbs? Is she human? I no longer desire to marry the woman I was going to see. I have seen this one, and I will take her with me to my own kingdom. Go and find out who she is. Whom does she belong to? Where has she come from? Why has this beautiful woman come to a forest full of thorns? She has beautiful hips. She is slender of waist. Her teeth are beautiful. Her eyes are large. Will she love me? If I can obtain her, I will consider all my desires satisfied. Go, Kotika, and find out who her protector is."
Kotikashya, adorned with earrings, descended from his chariot and approached the woman at the hermitage gate.
He walked toward her the way a jackal approaches the wife of a tiger. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 545