Ephemera

Her Leash

He began to laugh. "My brother won you fairly. You don't have to fear your husbands any more, you belong to us now. Come boldly to Duryodhana; turn your haughty eyes to the lord of the Kurus."

She moaned. She swayed on her feet at what had overtaken her so suddenly! 

She took a sword from nearby and attacked him with all she could. But he simply held the sword and pulled it tight, dragging her along before gripping onto her tight long hair.

"Don't pretend to be so modest, you are no virgin. Five men already and now you will have a hundred more to keep you happy.  We are your husbands' cousins, after all." And his devilish laugh again. Then he came closer and she thought he was going to touch her; she saw in his eyes how much he wanted to. She drew away from him, shaking. 

"This is all about dhriti isn't it?!" She shuddered as she saw him just smirk and anger bubbled inside her. That wretched girl had never brought anything but ruin to her family.

"Don't try to fight. You know what I can do. You are my servant girl." He said as his eyes contracted to slits of evil. Of pure evil.

She ran, ran for all she was worth but she still heard his voice across the hall.

"Come, my dark beauty, let us go to the sabha."

He closed on her and with a scream, she dodged round him and ran toward Gandhari's apartment down the passage. But he was on her in a flash. Dusasana caught Draupadi by her long hair, washed in the holy waters of the Rajasuya yagna. 

Her hair, they had always been a matter of pride In her swayamvar, they had flown freely with the wind, anyone she encountered always praised it. Her sister, even though a warrior, begged to comb it. Her maids always gushed about her hair. Her husbands treated it with utmost care even in the bed.

But her hair, was now her leash.

Growling, he began to drag her to the Kuru court—she whom her husbands would hardly allow the wind to touch. She screamed, moaned and begged him to leave her, she was clad in one cloth of her periods.

But he continued dragging her there, no better than an animal as he laughed a laugh decorated with evil. Her garment kept often falling away from her naked shoulders, while she clutched at it for her very life, or for honor more precious than life. The hauled her down the steps and threw her down, her body battered and bruised, her eyes swollen, clad in her mensural cloth and face streaked with tears.

She shivered with fury. She screamed and beckoned everyone to answer but her plea fell deaf ears. 

All they offered her were consoling smiles, that taunted her. Broken vows by her husbands that haunted her.

She beseeched the Grand Excellency, Bhisma, The Maharaj, Drno, Kripa but no one lifted a finger in her defense. Her eyes raked her husbands. Yudhishtira would have been glad if the earth opened and swallowed him. He never raised his head. She stood like that, her slender shoulders heaving and no one dared make a sound. 

More quietly, she said, "Dharma has left the Kuru sabha. But I would still like an answer from Pitama Bheeshma, from Acharya Drona, from Kripa, Vidura and Dhritarashtra. My question is a simple one: am I Duryodhana's slave or still a free woman?"

"Let me answer, you ungrateful maid. I won you fair and square. You are no virgin to speak of this!" Duryodhana said glaring at her imprudence.

She still shook with the terror of her plight. Staring at her with unspeakable lewdness, Dusasana taunted, "Who are you to speak of dharma? Your dharma now is to serve Duryodhana and I dare say your satisfaction lies there as well!"