Draupadi's Mahabharat

Part 13

"You cannot fall in love with someone else right now, its too late, its your swayamvar in a few days and how can you even think about someone else". But they knew that it was of no use because even if I listened to them I could not stop thinking about him I was madly in love with him and could do nothing about it.

Today was finally the day of my swayamvar, I was very excited, I was sure that prince Arjun was going to attend it. This was the day I had been waiting for, and today I was going to marry the love of my life. As I went for my bridal bath in the early morning, the maids had scented the pool a little extra today, there were more petals of flowers toady and everything seemed different and beautiful. After taking bath I went to my room and was greeted by Satyabhama and Rukmini. Both of them were Krishna's wives, and both had an amazing story of how Govind married them.

For Rukmini,Krishna heroically carried away Rukmini, as per her wish, and eloped with her as they loved each other but her brother Rukmi out of envy had forbidden their marriage because Krishna killed his uncle who was also a friend of Rukmi. He had arranged an unwanted marriage between Rukmini Devi and the evil who was a cousin of Krishna on the paternal side( His father Vasudeva of the Yadava/Vrishni clan had two sisters, one being Kunti and the other Srutashrava, mother of Shishupala ). Later Rukmini wrote a beautiful love letter to Krishna to come and take her away.

And for Satyabhama, Satyabhama was the daughter of Yadava King Satrajit, the royal treasurer of Dwaraka, who was the owner of the jewel. Satrajit, who secured the jewel from the sun-god and would not part with it even when , the king of , asked for it saying it would be safe with him. Shortly thereafter, Prasena, the brother of Satrajit went out hunting wearing the jewel but was killed by a lion. , known for his role in the , killed the lion and gave the jewel to his daughter . When Prasena did not return, Satrajit falsely accused Krishna of killing Prasena for the sake of the jewel.

Krishna, in order to remove the stain on his reputation, set out with his men in search of the jewel and found it in Jambavan's cave, with his daughter. Jambavan attacked Krishna thinking him to be an intruder who had come to take away the jewel. They fought each other for 28 days, when Jambavan, whose whole body was terribly weakened from the incisions of Krishna's sword, finally recognized him as and surrendered to the lord.As repentance for his having fought Krishna, Jambavan gave Krishna the jewel and also his daughter Jambavati in marriage. Krishna returned the jewel to Satrajit, who in turn apologized for his false accusation. He promptly offered to give Krishna the jewel and his three daughters Satyabhama, Vratini and Prasvapini in marriage. Krishna accepted them but refused the jewel.

Both of them became my best friends immediately, even they were as eager for my swayamvar as I was. They helped me to dress and make up, I never thought that I could look so beautiful, everything was perfect. After I had dressed up, all my family members came to my room except father to have a look at me including Govind. "You look amazing, sister" this was Dhri's comment "But maybe you could have dressed a little normally, now all those evil men will caste bad glances at you and don't like it at all" he continued. "Let her do what she wants to do, after all, she has to impress her love" Govind said as always teasing me. "Could you just shut up, don;t you think that you are speaking too much" I said. Then father entered, he was happy for the first time, maybe because I was going at last. "Maharaj Drupad I am very thankful that you came here I was going to come to you to take your blessings" I said a bit hesitantly. "You can call me father, if you want I have accepted you as my daughter now, and its all because of Vasudev Krishna" he said. I did not expect this but still I smiled at Govind. I took fathers blessings and all of us proceeded to the main hall where the swayamvar was to be held.

As we entered the hall Dhri held me by my hand and led me inside, I did not understand why did he do this, maybe because he felt that it would comfort me but he forgot that I was the bravest woman earth had ever witnessed. What so ever it was I did not have any objections to it and I felt good.

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Hope you liked the chapter, I will update the next part soon. I think that the progression of the story is good, if not please feel free to drop your comments.