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-- Śyāmā Draupadī, the Dynamic Twilight Iron-Lady -- Indrajit Bandyopadhyay (2018)
Prof Indrajit Bandyopadhyay*
*Asst Professor in English, Kalyani Mahavidyalay “Śyāmā Draupadī, the Dynamic Twilight Iron-Lady in:Neera Misra and Rajesh Lal edited “Draupadī and Her Pāñcāla, Re-asserting their place in History” (B. R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi [International Conference titled “Pāñcāla Mahotsava 2013”, organized by Draupadī Dream Trust, at New Delhi, in December 2013], 2018
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Some excerpts:
[quote] Śyāmā and Iron, Vajra and “Iron-Lady” Draupadī is Śyāmo is Red and Black, the colour of Twilight . Discussing on Śyāmā-Draupadī, the metaphor “Iron-Lady” naturally comes to mind. Her K ṣatriya-spirit, inner strength and unbreakable will leaves no scope for any debate – the Red in Śyāmā signifies K ṣatra Guṇa. Given the importance of Iron in Mbh. Itihāsa (Late Vedic Age) and in the Text as trope, we shall see that Iron is not mere metaphor in Kṛṣṇā-Śyāmā-Draupadī’s case, but in fact, she as “Iron” is intrinsically weaved into the Text. Discussing onVyāsa- Kūṭa, we cannot miss that Kūṭa also connotes “an iron mallet” (kūṭonmuktaṃ musalaṃ ;16.5.5e) – that kills Babhru before Kṛṣṇa’s eyes.
Considering that South Pāñcāla (Drupada’s kingdom, Draupadī's birth place), Magadha-Kāśī belt (Jarāsandha’s, and later his son, Paṇḍava ally Sahadeva’s kingdom) and Vatsa were the ancient centres of Iron mining 32, I would go this far to suggest that one cause ofKurukṣetra War was control over Iron mines. It is not logical to think that such a massive Kurukṣetra war took place with only the ideological motive of seeing Yudhiṣṭhira onthrone. Every war has Artha (economics) as motive and justification.
Śyāmā Draupadī as cause of war may be read as an allegory of war over Iron and with Iron.
Kali Yuga is the Black age, and this is the age of “Black Metal” Iron too, that is, the discovery of Iron onsets the Kali Yuga. Duryodhana too is hailed as Kali’s incarnation (kaler aṃ śāt tu saṃ jajñe bhuvi duryodhano nṛpaḥ ; 1.61.80a), and his thighs are compared with Vajra (vajrapratimagauravam; 2.63.11c). Therefore, the conflicts in Mbh., particularly between the Kṛṣṇas and those carrying Kṛṣṇa-aspect (Black) has the significance of Iron vs. Iron,[unquote]
