Bold, fiery, gutsy, straightforward, opinionated, strong, fearless, beautiful, brave, generous, enviable, and a feminist. You must be wondering who this exceptional lady is. She is none other than the feminist of her age: Draupadi.
We hear of so many incidents of girls being abandoned by their families whose sole wish was for a son. Draupadi too was never fully accepted by her family. She was intolerant of injustice and resolved for herself that she would defend the innocent and stand up against the vile, in the manner today's women fight for the truth and stand up against injustice.
Today's girls are fearless, strong, independent and don’t really need a man to fulfil their wishes and complete her existence, Draupadi too was an embodiment of these attributes. She did not need the Pandavas (her husbands) to fight for the dishonour that their game of dice brought to her at the hands of the Kauravas. She condemned all those who watched as she was humiliated. Draupadi was a fiery yet compassionate woman, who had a soft corner for the good and was the worst enemy of all those with bad intentions. This clearly shows how balanced she was.
Nowadays women are very vocal about their likes and dislikes. They don’t hide their emotions. Likewise, Draupadi was always vocal about her decisions and thoughts.
However, had she put in more effort and gone out to empower all the women of the society of that time as much as she empowered herself, it would have influenced an entire generation of women.
Had Draupadi thought about the other women of her time, it would have guided not only the existing lot of people but also the generations to come. This would have led to a rise in the status of women today in our country. If this had happened, today's woman wouldn't have had to fight for her basic rights. A mission like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao would not have existed, issues like female foeticide, female infanticide, child marriage, and illiteracy would not have haunted our society and culture and most importantly, girls would have been taught about their rights, while boys too would have been made aware of them and learnt to respect those rights. Panchali personified every quality that today's women look up to.
She is the ideal woman. If women look up to her as their role model instead of their favourite singers, actors, models, etc, no women in our country would be denied rights, as they would have the guts, grit and determination to stand up for themselves.
Draupadi never regretted anything in her life, because she alone was responsible for the choices she made. If we, the women of this generation, follow the same rules, each one of us would be content with our life, leaving all our regrets, doubts and qualms far behind.