Draupadi Meets the Queens of Krsna 203

My father became very pleased and married me with Lord Krsna in great
pomp, giving as my dowry many divisions of soldiers, horses, chariots and
elephants, along with hundreds of maidservants. Thus Lord Krsna brought
me to His capital city, Dvaraka. On the way back, He was also assaulted
by many princes, but Lord Krsna defeated all of them, and thus I have the
privilege of serving His lotus feet as a maidservant.”

After this, Bhadra began to speak. She said, ““My dear Draupadi, Lord
Krsna is the son of my maternal uncle. Fortunately, I became attracted to
His lotus feet. When my father understood these feelings of mine, he
personally arranged for my marriage, inviting Lord Krsna to marry me and
giving Him in dowry one aksauhini, or division of armed forces, along with
many maidservants and other royal paraphernalia. I do not know whether
I shall be able to have the shelter of Lord Krsna life after life, but still I
pray to the Lord that wherever I may take my birth I may not forget my
relationship with His lotus feet.”

Then Laksmana said, ‘““My dear Queen, many times I have heard the
great sage Narada glorifying the pastimes of Lord Krsna.I became attracted
to the lotus feet of Krsna when I heard Narada say that the goddess of
fortune, Laksmi, was also attracted to His lotus feet. Since then I have
always been thinking of Him, and thus my attraction for Him has increased.
My dear Queen, my father was very affectionate toward me. When he
understood that I was attracted to Krsna, he devised a plan. His plan was
like that devised by your father; during the svayamvara, the prospective
bridegrooms had to pierce the eyes of a fish with their arrows. The
difference between the competition in your svayamvara and mine was
that in your case the fish was hanging openly on the ceiling, in clear view,
but in my case the fish was covered with a cloth and could only be seen
by the reflection of the cloth in a pot of water. That was the special
feature of my svayamvara.

“The news of this device was spread all over the world, and when the
princes heard of it, they arrived at my father’s capital city from all
directions, fully equipped with armor and guided by their military instruc-
tors. Each one of them desired to win me as his wife, and one after
another they raised the bow and arrow which was left there for piercing
the fish. Many could not even join the bowstring to the two ends of the
bow, and without attempting to pierce the fish, they simply left the bow
as it was and went away. Some with great difficulty drew the string from
one end to the other, and being unable to tie the other end, they were
suddenly knocked down by the spring-like bow. My dear Queen, you will

be surprised to know that at my svayarhwara meeting there were many
