An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s3.551.4

c5.s3.551.4

Duryodhana said to Draupadi: "Let thy husbands decide the question, and, by making Yudhishthira the just a liar, free thee from slavery." Bhima said that only his obedience to Yudhishthira and the admonitions of Arjuna retained him from killing the wretched sons of Dhrtarashtra. Bhishma, Drona, and Vidura asked him to forbear (II, 70). Exhorted Draupadi to choose a new husband among the sons of Dhrtarashtra, and Duryodhana, after having exhorted Yudhishthira to decide the question, uncovered his left thigh and showed it to Draupadi. Bhishma swore that he would break this thigh of his. Vidura warned them, and was of opinion that Yudhishthira had no right to stake her. Duryodhana said that if Bhima, Arjuna, and the twins declared that Yudhishthira had not their master, then Draupadi should be free. Arjuna said that he was certainly their master before the play, "but having lost himself, let all the Kauravas judge whose master he could be after that." Just then a jackal began to cry near the agnihotra of Dhrtarashtra, and other terrible omens were heard. On that account Gandhari and Vidura remonstrated with Dhrtarashtra, who blamed Duryodhana and granted a boon to Krishna. She chose that Yudhishthira should become free from slavery. As she was granted a second boon, she asked that Bhima and his brothers with their chariots and bows should regain their liberty. She refused to ask a third boon (II, 71). Karna praised Draupadi for having saved her husbands.