extraction.mahabharata.draupadi_council_hall
---
record_id: extraction.mahabharata.draupadi_council_hall
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/mahabharata-dutt.md
passage_locator:
label: Draupadi in the Council Hall; Draupadi's Plaint; Insult and Vow of Revenge
start: 1685
end: 1825
translation: Romesh Chunder Dutt, Project Gutenberg eBook
notes: Line numbers refer to the repository markdown source for Dutt's condensed
English rendering of the Sabha Parva dice-hall crisis.
canonical_text:
summary: After Yudhishthira loses wealth, kin, and Draupadi in the dice game, Draupadi
challenges whether a man who has already lost himself can still stake his wife,
is dragged by the hair into the council hall, calls the elders to defend justice,
and ignites the Pandavas' vow of revenge.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Yudhishthira loses possessions, brothers, himself, and then Draupadi in the
dice game.
category: wager
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Draupadi argues that if her husband has already become a bondsman, his later
wager of her is invalid.
category: legal_speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Duryodhana orders Duhsasana to bring Draupadi into the assembly as a slave.
category: command
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Duhsasana seizes Draupadi by the hair and drags her from the women's rooms
into the council hall.
category: violation
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Draupadi appeals to the elders and asks why no warrior rises to protect an
outraged queen.
category: appeal
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Her words stir the Pandavas toward vengeance, while Bhishma, Drona, and Vidura
condemn the insult.
category: consequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Draupadi
description: Queen of the Pandavas who contests the legality of the wager and publicly
demands justice in the council hall.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Yudhishthira
description: Pandava king whose compulsive gambling leads to the staking of himself
and Draupadi.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Duhsasana
description: Kuru prince who violently enforces Duryodhana's order against Draupadi.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Duryodhana
description: Victor of the dice game who claims Draupadi as slave and orders her
appearance in the hall.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Bhishma, Drona, and Vidura
description: Elders present in the assembly who witness the outrage and are named
in Draupadi's appeal.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: wronged_queen
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Draupadi is claimed as slave, dragged into the hall, and appeals as an outraged
wife and empress.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: dharma_questioner
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Draupadi asks whether a man who has lost himself can still stake his wife
and demands a righteous answer.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: fallen_gambler_king
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Yudhishthira continues staking progressively greater losses until he wagers
himself and Draupadi.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:4
label: assembly_enforcer
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Duhsasana carries out the seizure and forced presentation of Draupadi.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: usurping_claimant
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Duryodhana treats the dice result as authority to reduce Draupadi to slave
status.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: silent_elders
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Draupadi calls on the elders by name, and their delayed moral response becomes
part of the scene's accusation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: dice wager
literal_form: fatal game of dice in which kin and queen are staked
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: sacred hair
literal_form: Draupadi's consecrated hair seized and dragged by Duhsasana
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: council hall
literal_form: royal assembly chamber where the outrage is witnessed
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: unanswered appeal
literal_form: public demand for a righteous answer from elders and warriors
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
- wisdom
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Invalid wager challenged
summary: After the dice losses, Draupadi contests the legality of her staking and
sends back the claim that a bondsman cannot wager his wife.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Queen dragged into assembly
summary: Duryodhana sends Duhsasana, who seizes Draupadi by the hair and drags her
into the council hall despite her pleas.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: Public appeal and vow of revenge
summary: Draupadi denounces the silence of the elders, calls the outrage a Kuru
shame, and provokes a vengeance response from the Pandavas.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: dharma challenged in royal assembly
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
- wisdom
basis: The crisis centers on whether the dice result can legitimately transfer a
queen after the king has already lost his own freedom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The appeal is to dharma and courtly justice rather than to a visible divine
verdict within the passage.
- id: motif:2
label: violated queen as trigger of vengeance
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Draupadi's public humiliation becomes the emotional and ethical spur toward
later revenge.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage shows the vow impulse rather than the later fulfillment.
- id: motif:3
label: corrupt sacred exchange
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
basis: The dice game acts like a binding transfer of persons and status, but Draupadi
rejects it as invalid once the gambler has lost himself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The exchange is juridical and corrupt, not a repairing or covenantal sacred
exchange.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: This passage is a strong atlas witness for public appeals to sacred or royal
order when a woman's status is violated before passive authorities.
claim_level: same_function
target: cross-cultural justice-in-assembly and violated-queen comparison records
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
limitations: The comparison is functional and does not imply direct borrowing from
other legal or mythic traditions.
- id: claim:2
claim: Draupadi's hair seizure gives the scene a marked body-symbol motif that can
be compared with other traditions where dishonor to a consecrated or royal person
triggers curse, judgment, or vengeance.
claim_level: same_motif
target: cross-cultural dishonor-and-vengeance symbol records
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
confidence: medium
limitations: The evidence here is social and ethical; supernatural retaliation is
not narrated in this excerpt.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 1660-1677
quote_or_summary: Yudhishthira loses wealth, kin, himself, and then Draupadi in
the dice game and the Pandavas are reduced to exile.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/mahabharata-dutt.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1693-1718
quote_or_summary: Draupadi asks whether a man who has already become a bondsman
can still stake his queen and declares the wager void.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/mahabharata-dutt.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 1720-1739
quote_or_summary: Duryodhana angrily orders Duhsasana to bring Draupadi to the council
hall as a conquered slave.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/mahabharata-dutt.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 1741-1772
quote_or_summary: Duhsasana catches Draupadi by her consecrated hair and drags her
in slipping garments into the hall despite her pleas.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/mahabharata-dutt.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 1778-1806
quote_or_summary: Draupadi addresses the elders, asks why no righteous warrior protects
a virtuous wife, and calls the scene a shame to Kuru glory.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/mahabharata-dutt.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 1812-1825
quote_or_summary: Draupadi's glances inflame the Pandavas toward vengeance, and
Bhishma, Drona, and Vidura are described as condemning the outrage.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/mahabharata-dutt.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The dramatic sequence and legal challenge are explicit; broader comparative
claims remain cautious and functional.
reviewer_status:
status: draft
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Needs review for dharma terminology and comparative tagging.
extracted_by: Codex
extracted_at: '2026-04-27'
notes: Local extraction for the Mahabharata wave focused on assembly shame, violated
queenship, and dharma challenge.