In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Draupadi is the daughter of King Drupada. She and her brother Dhrishtadyumna (also called Draupada) emerged together from a sacrificial fire that the king had lit to gain a means of revenge on Drona, to whom he had lost half his kingdom. She became the wife of the five Pandava brothers following a swayamvara.

It is said in the Mahabharata that the Kauravas did lose the Mahabaharata war because they treated Draupadi very badly after a dice game in which the Pandavas lost their and Draupadi's freedoms. Dushasana, one of the Kauravas, was violently stripping of Draupadi's clothes, but "as Draupadi's garment was torn off each time another garment of the same sort appeared again and again."

As Drupada was the ruler of the kingdom of Panchala and Draupadi the princess of Panchala, she was also known by the name Paanchali. She was named by Brahmanas as "Krsnā" due to her dark complexion and is very often mentioned and addressed by this name in the Mahabharata.

References

Vanamala Bhawalkar, Eminent women in the Mahabharata

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