Draupadi's question
Also called: Game of dice · Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"
Meaning
Draupadi's question is a famous moment in the Mahabharata. It raises the issue of whether a wife could be treated as her husband's property. During a game of dice, Yudhisthira kept losing. He staked his wealth, his kingdom, his brothers and himself, and finally his wife Draupadi. Draupadi then asked: had he lost himself before he staked her? If he had, could an unfree man stake anyone else? Historians use the episode to think about gender and property in early India.
Example
In the dice game against the Kauravas, the elders gave two different answers. One said a wife stays under her husband's control even when he is unfree. The other said a man who has lost his own freedom cannot stake another person. The matter was never settled. Dhritarashtra, the Kaurava king, ended the crisis by giving the Pandavas and Draupadi back their freedom.
Don't confuse with
- Draupadi's marriage: that is about her being the common wife of the five Pandavas, which is polyandry (one woman with several husbands). Her question is about whether a husband could stake his wife.