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I understand that there are many versions of this story in the Mahabharata, but in one of them, it is said that Arjuna had brought Draupadi home after winning her Swayamvaram. Arjuna had told his mother Kunti that he had brought alms, to which she said to share the alms equally amongst his brothers. Hence Draupadi was forced to marry not just Arjuna but also his four other brothers. Why was this the case? Surely it is worse to force someone to marry not just one, but four other people she never wanted to marry, than to disobey his mother's orders?

Edit: The answers to the question "Why did all the Pandavas marry Draupadi?" is not an answer to my question, as I am more interested to know why it wasn't stopped.

Edit 2: I will summarise what I understand to be the answer to my question:

  1. Arjun couldn't disobey his mother and his eldest brother because it would be adharmam.
  2. Draupadi was "bought" by Arjun through his show of valour, therefore from that moment onwards she had no say in who she married.
Hari5000
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  • @ram I will wait for a while until someone else disproves the current answer. – Hari5000 Jun 19 '20 at 10:36
  • correct, disobeying mother is adharma. but that alone is not the reason. Kunti herself says that she didn't say "share" with woman in mind, but just with food in mind. What if mother says "kill all cows", should that also be followed implicitly ? Maybe, depends. That's why all Pandavas and Vyasa and Krishna debated the issue. Once Vyasa mentioned her previous life, her boon from Shiva, previous lives of 5 pandavas, then in addition to their mother's statement, they accepted it.
  • – ram Jun 22 '20 at 07:01
  • incorrect. she was won with the intention of marriage. even when Bhishma abducted Amba,Ambika,Ambaliksa, he stated the intention of marriage to his younger brother, Vichitraveerya. I am not aware of any instance, where someone won a woman, but then married her off to someone else. In this special instance, because of her previous life boons, in addition to the winner Arjuna, others married her. It's not like Arjuna made the decision to let her marry others. The decision was made by everyone - Vyasa, Krishna, Kunti, Yudhishtir, Dhaumya @sv
  • – ram Jun 22 '20 at 07:05