KICHAKA KICKED DRAUPADI

Sun god rescues Draupadi from Kichaka's humiliation in Virata king's court, Bhima protects Draupadi and kills Kichaka and his one hundred-five brothers

I am positive you all remember Karna, who was born to Kunti but was raised by a Suta family and, for this reason, recognized as 'Suta Putra' or the charioteer. The gorgeous and subtle princess Draupadi; daughter of the king Drupada, who had once denied Karna to even take part in her swayamvara considering the truth of him being Suta, was embarrassed and tortured by a Suta Putra Kichaka in the Virata kingdom. In the end for the unrighteous acts of Kichaka, he faced the required consequences. First of all, let me tell you about Kichaka. He was the brother-in-law and the commander-in-chief of King Virata. He was born in the Suta clan.' Suta clan' is considered lower to Kshatriyas and higher to Vaishyas. A Suta clan son is birth from a Brahmin mother and a Kshatriya father. Kichaka was the first and most courageous out of all the sons of Kshatriya king Kekaya. Kekaya king had a second wife, from whom he had a daughter named Chitra or Sudeshna who he had married off to Virata king. 

In the previous birth, a demon or asura named 'Bana' used to be the most horrifying and skilful demon amongst the Kaleya demons, later known to be reincarnated as Kichaka. He was destined to create worry among human beings and ruin religious dignity. Just like Indra triumphed over the daityas Kaleya, in a similar way King Virata used to defeat all his enemies by taking the assistance of mighty Kichaka.

Pandavas were staying inside Virata's kingdom accordingly in their intended disguise. Only two months had been left for them to complete their 13th exile year. Exquisite Draupadi being devoted toward her husbands served Queen Sudeshna and however managed to remain in such discomfort. One day King Virata's commander-in-chief noticed her there in the palace and was stunned by her alluring beauty. He wished to take her to his palace and intimate with her. He took the permission of Queen Sudeshna and expressed his feelings to Sairandhri or Draupadi. He insisted she should rule his palace and get rid of her current measurable life. Out of ardent desire, He promised her all the comforts and he was prepared to abandon his better halves to just keep Sairandhri with him. 

Draupadi denied him that time by means of saying, "How can You even assume of getting intimate to a slave? By getting married in the same caste and by remaining responsible and lovable towards your wives, you will acquire heaven. Moreover, I am married to five Gandharvas. I request  you not to do such sin by way of desiring for married women and comply with righteousness." But His mind was filled with Lasciviousness, he couldn't tolerate her refusal. Being loyal towards her husbands, Draupadi even warned Kichaka about Gandharva's husband's tremendous strength.

Kichaka was consumed by lust. He requested his sister Sudeshna to arrange for his meeting with Sairandhri. Since Sudeshna was already conscious of Sairandhri's powerful Gandharva husbands before, she referred to Kichaka about them. But Kichaka contradicted her by way of saying that he could even kill many Gandharvas all by himself. Sudeshna was in trouble at that time. She Knew by way of such blunder her brother would turn out to be accountable for her complete family's destruction. Still, out of emotions, she thought of a plan. Sudeshna decided to ask Sairandhri to bring her Sura from Kichaka's palace so that Kichaka would get some privacy to persuade Sairandhri.

Sairandhri denied going to Kichaka's place. She requested the queen to send someone else on behalf of her. She even recalled Sudeshna of the promise that she had made at the time of their first meeting to defend her in the kingdom. However, the queen, at that time gave her the assurance that Kichaka would not harm her and order her to go to his place. She prayed to the sun god that time who sent an invisible demon to protect her. She entered Kichaka's palace. Finding Sairandhri alone there, Kichaka requested her to intimate with him. Sairandhri mentioned her purpose for coming there and warned him again. He forcefully grabbed her right hand and tried coming close to her. Draupadi pushed him away, he fell on the floor. Then she out of fear ran away in the direction of the king's court where King Virata was playing Pasa with Yudhishthira at that time. Kichaka also followed Draupadi toward the king's court. In front of the king and other members of the council, he grabbed her hair and kicked her on the floor. Draupadi was badly hurt and her lips started bleeding. The demon which was appointed by the sun god caught Kichaka and pushed him away with a great force and made him unconscious there. Members of the courtroom began disparaging Kichaka there. Yudhishthira and Bhima were present there. They could not tolerate this. Bhima out of anger was about to kill Kichaka at that time, on the

other hand, he controlled himself and left that place after getting warning signs from his elder brother Yudhishthira. They couldn't do anything at that time since they had to keep their identity secret. Draupadi could comprehend Yudhishthira's intention behind pacifying Bhima's anger. She was devastated and asked for justice from King Virata there. Being devoted towards her husbands she additionally kept in her mind that she was just a Sairandhri. Yet she requested a decent king for a fair decision.

King neglected her by way of announcing how could he make judgments as he had not witnessed what had occurred between Kichaka and Sairandhri. Seeing poor Sairandhri in that pathetic situation Yudhishthira told Sairandhri to depart that place and go to the queen's palace. He is a roundabout way tried to console her by way of saying that even her Gandharva husbands were no longer coming to her at that time because they did not get any chance to display their anger. As Yudhishthira used to be cautious about not disclosing their identity, he referred to Draupadi as not disturbing the king in the course of playing and noted to her that Gandharvas would certainly take care of her. He moreover said to Draupadi that, 

“क्षमा सत्यं क्षमा दानं क्षमा धर्मः क्षमा तपः । 

क्षमावतामयं लोकः परलोकः क्षमावताम् ॥

द्वयंशिनो द्वादशाङ्गस्य चतुर्विंशतिपर्वणः

कः षष्टित्रिशतारस्य मासोनस्याक्षमी भवेत् ॥

(meaning: Forgiveness is truth, forgiveness is compassion, forgiveness is religion and forgiveness is the Penance. For forgiving people, there is this Loka and Paraloka. Which has two (Uttarayana and Dakshinayana) parts, twelve (month) are angas, twenty-four (paksha) are festivals and three hundred sixty (days) in the completion of that cycle Only one month is left; so who can quit forgiveness and not wait)

Later Draupadi went to Bhima in the kitchen and grieved over her sufferings. She knew that all her husbands had to remain silent due to the fact of incognito. However, she was in a dilemma after the rough treatment of Kichaka. Since Kichaka was close to King Draupadi was extremely worried. She asked Bhima to kill Kichaka. Additionally, she told Bhima to do it without anyone's knowing. Bhima alleviated her grief and thought of a plan. As per his plan next night Draupadi had to invite Kichaka to the dancing hall, where Bhima could kill him.

The next day, Kichaka again came to Draupadi and warned her that there was no way she could escape from him. Draupadi then asked him to meet inside the dancing hall in the nighttime without letting anyone

know and Kichak agreed. females of the kingdom who generally used to learn dancing there left the hall. After that Bhima went there secretly and lay down on the bed pretending to be Sairandhri there. When Kichaka came close to him, Bhima got up and attacked Kichaka. They had a huge fight there. Kichaka also confronted him bravely and fought with him until his death. fearless Bhima broke all his bones of the body one via one then choked him from his neck vigorously. Bhima hit him out of rage and Kichaka's eyes got out and his complete body became a pile of flesh and then he was lifeless there. Bhima showed his dead body to Draupadi proving his love for his affectionate wife and left toward the kitchen.

Draupadi called the guard of the hall there and instructed him that Kichaka was killed via her Gandharva husbands. The guard informed all the brothers of Kichaka regarding his death. By seeing the condition of the dead body Kichaka's brothers could realize solely Gandharvas could do this. They blamed Sairandhri for the whole lot and to please Kichaka's soul, they decided to burn her alive along with the lifeless body of Kichaka. They tied her up with the dead body and began carrying her towards the cemetery. Sairandhri called all his Gandharva husband's names there and cried for help. Bhima heard her voice from the kitchen and reached the cemetery before them. Then Bhima located one huge tree there, he uprooted it with his muscular hands and threw that toward Kichaka's brothers and killed all one hundred five of them. Then he untied Draupadi from the lifeless body and rescued her. Then both of them went towards the palace in distinct ways. Later Draupadi reached near Queen Sudeshn.  Queen asked her to leave the kingdom since King Virata was panicked considering the fact of being overthrown by the furious Gandharvas. However, Draupadi Requested her to let her stay in the kingdom for another thirteen days determining in her mind their 13th exile year was about to end after that. In addition to that, she assured the queen regarding the safety of the king and his sons. 

Ref: Mahabharata book

Read about the Agyant Vaas of Pandavas.