Draupadi understood this possibility, i.e. ‘tamah’ appearing as ‘sattva’. That is why, whenever, Yudhishthira inclined more to Brahmana-Guna during exile, Draupadi lashed at him with the strongest of speech extolling ‘krodha’. In a fiery speech he asks her rhetorically, why his wrath does not blaze up at the sight of their plight in the forest – kasmaan manyur na vardhate!-
na.nirmanyuh.kSatriyo.asti.loke.nirvacanam.smRtam./
tad.adya.tvayi.pazyaami.kSatriye.vipariitavat.// (CE-3.28.34)
‘Truly, O thou best of the Bharatas, thou hast no anger, else why is it that thy mind is not moved at sight of thy brothers and myself (in such distress)? It is said that there is no Kshatriya in the world who is bereft of anger. I now behold in thee, however, a refutation of the proverb! Unto those Kurus the covetous sons of Dhritarashtra who injure us always, the present is not the time for forgiveness! It behoveth thee to put forth thy might. The humble and forgiving person is disregarded; while those that are fierce persecute others. He, indeed, is a king who hath recourse to both, each according to its time!'
She then goes on to sermonize him on the necessity of‘karma’-
‘Thou also shouldest act, and not incur censure by abandoning action. Cover thyself up, as with armor, with action……And this moment misery hath overtaken us. If, however, thou betakest to action, that misery will certainly be removed.’
To her, Yudhishthira’s Dharma tends to become ‘idleness’ i.e. the ‘sattva’ of his Dharma is actually ‘tamah’, because he is becoming a believer in Destiny -
‘Those persons in the world who believe in destiny, and those again who believe in chance, are both the worst among men. Those only that believe in the efficacy of acts are laudable.’
Draupadi’s ‘karma’ philosophy is akin to Krishna’s with the difference that at this phase of her age she believes in ‘sakaama karma’. To her, seeking ‘phala’ in ‘karma’ is the mark of ‘pauruS – Manliness’-
yat.svayam.karmaNaa.kimcit.phalam.aapnoti.puuruSah./
pratyakSam.cakSuSaa.dRSTam.tat.pauruSam.iti.smRtam.// (CE-3.33.16)
‘The fruit, however, that a person obtaineth by acting himself, and which is the direct result of those acts of his, is regarded as proof of personal ability – pauruSam – manliness.’
The remedy to failure despite action is further action - ‘The man of action in this world generally meeteth with success. The idle, however, never achieveth success. If success becometh impossible, then one should seek to remove the difficulties that bar his way to success. And, O king, if a person worketh (hard), his debt (to the gods) is cancelled (whether he achieveth success or not).’
The ‘kaama’ in ‘karma’ is for the ‘phala’ of victory, and if victory is unattainable, then one should be stoic of the loss and settle on honour-
atha.vaa.siddhir.eva.syaan.mahimaa.tu.tathaa.eva.te./
vRkodarasya.biibhatsor.bhraatroz.ca.yamayor.api.// (CE-3.33.42)
‘If you meet with failure, then also such manliness would be a matter of honour for Vrikodara and Vivatsu and the twins (Retranslated by author from Bengali Translation of Haridas Siddhantavagish).
Yudhishthira rejects Draupadi’s sermon as a speech ‘delightful, smooth and full of excellent phrases – valgu citra padam zlakSNam yaajnaseni tvayaa vacah (3.32.1)
In Shanti-Parva again, when Yudhishthira wants to renounce the world, Draupadi suggests to him the proper balance of opposites in a King –
yasmin.kSamaa.ca.krodhaz.ca.daana.adaane.bhaya.abhaye./
nigraha.anugrahau.ca.ubhau.sa.vai.dharma.vid.ucyate.//
‘He is said to be conversant with duties in whom are forgiveness and wrath, giving and taking, terrors and fearlessness, and chastisement and reward.’(CE-12.140.17)
She sees the excess of Brahmana-Guna in him –
mitrataa.sarva.bhuuteSu.daanam.adhyayanam.tapah./
braahmaNasya.eSa.dharmah.syaad.na.raajno.raaja.sattama.// (CE-12.140.15)
‘Friendship for all creatures, charity, study of the Vedas, penances,--these constitute the duties of a Brahmana and not of a king, O best of kings!’
If Draupadi sees the absence of ‘krodha’ and the motivation of ‘sakaama karma’ in Yudhishthira’s Dharma, and therefore lacking in ‘balance’, Bhima sees the ‘problem’ of ‘kaama’ and disbalance of ‘Dharma-Artha-Kama’ in Yudhishthira’s Dharma- ‘It is for these reasons that those who are wise are ever careful of both virtue and wealth, for a union of virtue and wealth is the essential requisite of pleasure, as fuel is the essential requisite of fire. The joy that ariseth from the five senses, the intellect and the heart, being directed to the objects proper to each, is called pleasure. That pleasure, O king, is, as I think, one of the best fruits of our actions. Thus, O monarch, one should regard virtue, wealth and pleasure one after another. One should not devote one self to virtue alone, nor regard wealth as the highest object of one's wishes, nor pleasure, but should ever pursue all three. (CE-3.34.28-38)’
Bhima too like Draupadi sees the excess of ‘Brahmana Guna’ in Yudhishthira - ‘But, O slayer of foes, no one applaudeth thee for thus suffering such pain in consequence of the kindliness of thy disposition. Thy intellect, O king, seeth not the truth, like that of a foolish and ignorant person of high birth who hath committed the words of the Vedas to memory without understanding their sense. Thou art kind like a Brahmana. How hast thou been born in the Kshatriya order? – ghRNii braahmaNa ruupo asi katham kSatre ajaayathaah (3.36.19).’
Yudhishthira rejects Bhima’s Dharma calling him ‘foremost of speakers –vaakya kovida’(3.37.3), may be with polite and subtle sarcasm. Draupadi’s and Bhima’s exhortations are nothing but ‘speech’ to Yudhishthira.
He admits it is for him that all are suffering – ‘I cannot reproach thee for thy torturing me thus by piercing me with thy arrowy words. From my folly alone hath this calamity come against you.’
However, he also makes it clear to them – ‘Having entered into such an agreement in the presence of all good men, who dareth break it for the sake of a kingdom on earth? For a respectable person, I think, even death itself is lighter than the acquisition of sovereignty by an act of transgression.’
At the end of the war and particularly on learning that Karna was his uterine brother, ‘dharma.aatmaa’ Yudhishthira is ‘samtaapa.piiDita (12.6.12)’, ‘zoka.vyaakula.cetanah’ and ‘duhkha.samtaptah’ (12.7.1).
Yudhishthira wants to leave for forest life – ‘Abandoning the whole of my kingdom, therefore, and the things of this earth, I shall go to the woods, escaping from the ties of the world, freed from grief, and without affection for anything.’
He is burdened with sense of sin (paapam).
Yudhishthira’s ‘vairaagya’ is like his father Pandu’s, who too went to the forest shortly after returning from a bloody Digvijaya.