THE ATTEMPTED DISROBING OF DRAUPADĪ

When Draupadi was lost in the game, Karna was the first to come forward. He was Duryodhana's great friend, and he said, "Now we want to see the naked beauty of Draupadi." Present at that meeting were elderly persons like Dhrtarastra, Bhisma and Dronācārya, but they did not protest; therefore they are described as an assembly of uncultured men. Only an uncultured man wants to see a woman naked, because according to the Vedic culture a woman is not supposed to be naked before anyone except her husband.

When the Kurus were taking away Draupadi's sarī to see her naked, Krsna supplied more and more cloth for the sari, and therefore they could not come to the end of it. Finally, with heaps of cloth stacked in the room, they became tired and realized she would never be naked. They could understand, "It is impossible."

At first, Draupadi had tried to hold on to her sări. But what could she do? After all, she was a woman, and the Kurus were trying to strip her naked. So she cried and prayed to Krsna, "Save my honor," but she also tried to save herself by holding on to her sari. Then she thought, "It is impossible to save my honor in this way," and she let go and simply raised her arms and prayed, "Krsna, if You like You can save me." Thus the Lord responded to her prayers.