slave, he can no longer be considered in posses-
sion of her and his wager was invalid. Angered at
this “arrogance,” DURYODHANA, eldest of Kaura-
vas, commands Duhshana, one of the Kauravas,
to disrobe Draupadi in order to humiliate her.
As Duhshasana grasps her sari, Draupadi prays
to Krishna for protection. Krishna answers her
prayers and her sari becomes an endless garment
that cannot be removed.
The disrobing of Draupadi is one of the most
popular and reenacted parts of the Mahabharata.
For this act Draupadi swears that she will not
adorn her hair again until the blood of Duryod-
hana and Duhshasana flows in defeat on the
battlefield. Draupadi accompanies her husbands
through their exiles and experiences everything
along with them. In the great war all five of her
sons die, but she does eventually see the day when
she can adorn her hair once again.
In regional mythology Draupadi is often con-
sidered the Great Goddess. This tradition is partic-
ularly well developed in the Tamil country, where
she takes on not only the role of the goddess Sri,
but also exhibits the characteristics of KALI and is
celebrated in many shrines, rituals, and dramas.
The dramas are often accompanied by possession
rituals and walking on burning coals.
Further reading: J. A. B. van Buitenen, trans. The
Mahabharata, Vol. 1, The Book of the Beginnings. Vol. 2,
The Book of the Assembly Hall. Vol. 3, The Book of Virata
and the Book of Effort (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1973–78); Alf Hiltebeitl, The Cult of Draupadi.
Vol. 1, Mythologies: From Gingee to Kuruksetra (Chi-
cago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1988);
———, The Cult of Draupadi. Vol. 2, On Hindu Ritual
and the Goddess (Chicago and London: University of
Chicago Press, 1991).
Dravidian
The adjective Dravidian defines a family of Indian
languages that differs from the other families,
mainly the Indo-Aryan, Munda, and Tibeto-Bur-
man. In the 19th and 20th centuries people speak-
ing these languages in South India began to see
themselves as possessing a separate culture, and
a movement to create a separate Dravidian state,
which was particularly strong between the 1930s
and the 1970s, emerged.
The term itself is from the Sanskrit terms
dramila, dramida, and dravida, referring in dif-
ferent contexts to peoples of the south of India,
the South Indian region, and Tamil, one of the
major Dravidian languages. The term is also
sometimes used to refer to the people who speak
the Dravidian languages; this usage is somewhat
misleading in that it implies a racial designa-
tion such as ARYAN, while in fact there are many
ethnicities represented by speakers of Dravidian
languages. In the ongoing debate regarding the
cultural nature of the ancient Indus Valley civili-
zation, some believe its script reflects a Dravidian
language and connect the Indus Valley peoples to
contemporary Dravidian speakers. Others believe
the language of the script is Indo-Aryan.
There are 26 Dravidian languages, spoken by
some 250 million people. All but two of them are
spoken in India; Brahui is spoken on the Afghan-
Pakistani border in Baluchistan, and Kurux is
spoken in Nepal. They are also spoken by old
diasporic communities in Sri Lanka and Malay-
sia, and in newer DIASPORA countries around the
world.
The largest Dravidian languages are Tamil
and Telegu, each with about 70 million speakers,
and Kannada and Malayalam, each spoken by
about 40 million people. Other far South Indian
dialects include Tulu and Toda, a tribal language.
Other tribal Dravidian languages of southern
and central India include Gondi, Kulumi, and
Kurukh.
Great literatures have developed in all of the
four major Dravidian languages. Tamil literature,
however, has the most impressive corpus of extant
ancient literature, dating from the second century
B.C.E., as well as a large corpus of literature dating
from the sixth century to the 12th century, whenDravidian 137 J