Draupadi

Draupadi is perhaps the central female character of the Mahabharata. She was the daughter of King Drupada , king of the Panchala kingdom. In the original version of the epic, Draupadi is the wife of all five of the heroic Pandawa brothers. As performed in Javanese wayang, however, she is the consort of King Yudhisthira alone.

In Javanese wayang, Draupadi’s story is somewhat different from that told in Indian and other versions of the Mahabharata. In the wayang story, Draupadi is married to Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandawa, only and is not involved with his brothers. The difference
is explained by altering the story of the Pandawas’ victory in the contest for Draupadi’s hand, which is a major plot element in the epic, to explain that although Bima won the competition he did so only as a representative for his older brother.

The reason for the change is usually attributed to the influence of Islam in Java.After the collapse of the Hindu Majapahit kingdom came the rise of the Islamic kingdom of Demak, which was accompanied by a concerted effort to bring the arts into closer correspondence with the religious laws of Islam. Due to its extreme popularity, wayang was not prohibited despite its portrayal of human forms, but was adapted to reflect Islamic teachings. According to Islamic law, a woman should not have more than one husband, and the Hindu character of the Indian epic had her biography altered to become a figure more in keeping with the Muslim culture of 16th century Java.

Image: 56cm (with stand) x 14cm; puppet-- wood, fabric (cotton and velvet), glass and metal beading, ribbon, wool tassels / stand-- plastic bottle, sand.