Draupadī’s hair

The Mahābhārata’s portrayal of Draupadī is examined by comparison with her depiction in Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa’s Veṇisaṃhāra and in the South Indian Draupadī firewalking cult. Through focusing on themes connected primarily with Draupadī’s hair, there is found to be considerable consistency and continuity from the textual to the cultic materials. With dishevelled hair, and in particular in her disguise as a Sairandhrī (chambermaid, hairdresser), Draupadī evokes themes of impurity, “dissolution” in several senses, and Śūdra and outcast roles. Through these various characterizations, the epic (as well as the Veṇīsaṃhāra and the Draupadī cult) deepens her identification with the Hindu Goddess: Draupadī represents the Goddess not only as Śrī-Lakṣmí (whom she incarnates in the epic), but in such destructive forms of the Goddess as Mṛtyu, Kālarātri, Kālī, and Durgā.