History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c28.s1.1.1

v2.c28.s1.1.1

The passages cited above (note 1274) from the Ait. Br. and the Tai. S. that a woman cannot have several husbands at the same time make it clear that in those ancient times polyandry was unheard¹²⁸³ of. Not a single Vedic passage can be cited which clearly refers to the practice of polyandry. The most glaring example of polyandry in Sanskrit literature is that of Draupadī as the wife of the five Pāṇḍavas. Probably the tradition was too firmly rooted to allow the author to ignore it. The Mahābhārata shows that all were shocked by the resolve of Yudhiṣṭhira to make Draupadī the wife of the five brothers. Dhṛṣṭadyumna (Ādiparva¹²⁸⁴ 195. 27–29) tries vehemently to dissuade Yudhiṣṭhira, who tries to justify his action on the ground of ancient practice and the agreement of the brothers to share everything that any one of them may secure. But Yudhiṣṭhira could¹²⁸⁵ ferret out (Ādi. chap. 196) only two instances (rather mythical) in support of the practice viz. of Jaṭilā Gautamī (who had seven sages as husbands) and of Vārkṣī who had ten Prācetasa brothers as husbands. It is this fact that has led many scholars to regard the Pāṇḍus as a non-Aryan tribe somehow grafted on the Aryan stock and represented as relatives of the Kauravas by the editor of the Mahābhāratā. This too also sounds somewhat far-fetched.