Did Draupadi love Arjuna more than the other Pandavas as a controversial South Indian novel claims?

Transcription: Sudha Mehta Mataji

Question:Did Draupadi love Arjuna more than the other Pandavas? There is a controversial South Indian novel that depicts how Draupadi would have fantasies about Arjuna while she was with other Pandavas? Is this based on fact in the Mahabharat?

Answer: Today it is become fashion to give some perverse twists to the sacred scriptures so that one can get some immediate publicity even notoriety and thereby sell ones books and become wealthy. So these sort of most of this sort of twist are not based on scriptures at least not in scriptures as is properly understood

So sensationalising and perverting scriptures for one’s own purposes is definitely very offensive and that should be avoided and as devotees we should not read such books

Now regarding the specifics yes it is true that Draupadi had greater affection for Arjuna than the other Pandavas and that is in anyways natural. In the Swayamvar it was Arjuna who won Draupadi and that’s why her heart was given to him first and foremost but then when Kunti desired that Draupadi must be married to all the five Pandavas then with the consent of Dhrupada and under the instruction of Vyasadev it was decided that Draupadi will be married to all the five husbands. She served all of them diligently. So as far as service is concerned she would serve all of them very well. It’s not that she let her heart’s affection for Arjuna affect her services to others but everyone is an individual and as an individual one can have ones likes and dislikes there is nothing wrong about that. So the point here is not whether Draupadi loved Arjuna more or not the point is whether that lead to her distraction in her service to others to the other Pandavas or that made her half hearted or inattentive about other Pandavas. That sort of perverse imagination is not based in scriptures. In fact her service to the Pandavas was so exemplary that even Krishna’s consorts, the queens of Dwarka, when they met Draupadi they asked “Draupadi how do you serve five husbands” and then she describes how she wakes up before the Pandavas has woken up and she arranges for their meals and she doesn’t take meal before all of them had taken meal and she is the last to take rest. So basically her service attitude was equally diligent towards all the five Pandavas but naturally her heart was attracted to Arjuna more.      Now that fact should not be twisted to make cheap sensationalist fantasies. And that sort of thing is definitely scripturally unfounded                     and also it is devotionally deleterious it is harmful. When we want to read Mahabharat we should read based on what is actually given in the scriptures and as is explained by the devotees in the Parampara. It is best that we do not expose ourselves to these kind of sensationalist misinterpretations of the scriptures. Thank you. Hare Krishna .