What explains Krishna’s absence in the infamous dice game in the Mahabharata?
This question itself reveals insights about the structure of the Mahabharata. The mythological explanation is that Draupadi is in fact an avatar of Shri, Vishnu’s wife. And Krishna, of course, is an avatar of Vishnu. This husband-wife relationship, abrogated in the epic-historical plane for the benefit of the story, nevertheless retains its emphasis at certain key junctures. During Draupadi’s swayamvara, Krishna is present even though he is clearly not a suitor.
One can read the fact of his presence as a symbolic act — a divine husband granting sanction to his eternal wife to marry another person while she is in her human form. Draupadi’s molestation, viewed at by the same lens, shall appear as an event that cannot possibly happen in Krishna’s presence, for how could a divine husband allow an avatar of his eternal wife to be disrobed before an assembly of mere humans. In his anger, he would have destroyed the entire Kuru clan in a single stroke. Krishna’s absence from the dice game is, therefore, easily understood in the mythological plane.
The Mahabharata, however, is not merely interested in gods and their machinations but also in the world of men and women — so it needs to explain Krishna’s absence in the epic-historical plane as well. In fact, the Krishna who leads prominent Yadava leaders to meet the Pandavas and Draupadi in the jungle begins by lamenting the fact that he was not there at the dice game, for he would certainly have never let Draupadi’s humiliation happen. Had he been in Dvarka, he would have been able to reach Hastinapura in time and save the Pandavas. But, as he explains to Yudhistira, he was engaged in battle with the Shalva king.
Krishna’s battle is the result of the same power struggle that accounted for the lives of Kamsa, Jarasandha and Shishupala. The list of his enemies is quite long, and interconnected, so when news of Shishupala’s murder reaches the Shalva king, he attacks Dvarka and lays siege to it. At that time, the fort is being defended by Krishna’s sons, notable among whom is Pradyumna, who suffers heavy injuries in an arrow battle with Shalva. Shalva has in his possession an airplane called Soubha (more like an airborne city) which grants him a distinct advantage in attacking the otherwise excellently defended fort in Dvarka. He sacks Dvarka, destroying it almost completely.
The mortal Krishna, one can imagine, is enraged at the sight of his son’s injuries and also at the situation in his city-state. He gathers an army to attack Shalya, who proves to be a formidable enemy even before Krishna. It requires nothing less than the sudarshana chakra to kill Shalya. In sum, Draupadi’s disrobing is possible only if Krishna is occupied elsewhere in the epic-historical plane. And what could be more distracting than a war? But that a god should need an excuse means that the event itself is necessary.
Tanuj Solanki
Twitter@tanujsolanki
The writer is reading the unabridged Mahabharata