The Infinite Sari - Krishna Saves Draupadi

DRAUPADI (being dragged into the hall, hair disheveled): Release me! This is against dharma! I am not a slave to be wagered!

DUSHASANA: Your husband staked you fairly. You belong to us now. And we shall see what lies beneath that royal pride.

He begins pulling at her sari. The assembly watches—Bhishma lowering his eyes in shame, Drona turning away, Karna smirking.

DRAUPADI (looking at her husbands, who sit frozen): Will none of you speak? Will none of you act? Is there no dharma left in this assembly?

Silence. Even Bhima, who trembles with rage, is bound by the rules of the wager.

DRAUPADI (tears streaming): Then I have no one. No husband, no protector, no—

She stops. A thought rises unbidden.

Draupadi: "Krishna... Govinda... Dwarakadheesh... You who are everything to everyone... You who have never failed those who call your name... I surrender to you. I release my grip on my own sari and hold only to you. Save me or let me die, but I am yours."

She raises both arms above her head—a gesture of complete surrender, releasing even her attempt to hold her clothing.

Dushasana pulls harder, unwinding yard after yard of silk. But the sari does not end. More fabric appears—endless, infinite, pouring from some inexhaustible source. The hall fills with silk. Mountains of it.

DUSHASANA (exhausted, collapsing): This is witchcraft! Where is this cloth coming from?

KRISHNA (voice resonating in Draupadi's heart, though he is in distant Dwaraka): I am here, Panchali. I was always here. The moment you surrendered completely—the moment you let go—I was free to act.

DRAUPADI (whispering): You came. Even from so far away, you came.

Krishna: "Distance is nothing. Time is nothing. When a devotee calls with complete faith, I am there faster than thought. I cannot do otherwise—it is my nature, as it is the sun's nature to shine."

Draupadi: "But why did you wait? Why let them drag me this far?"

Krishna: "You were holding your sari yourself. You were looking to your husbands, to the elders, to dharma. All good things, but none of them could save you. Only when you released everything—even your own effort—could I intervene. Surrender is not the last resort, Panchali. It is the first and only resort that truly works."

DRAUPADI (as Dushasana gives up, as the court sits stunned): They have dishonored me before everyone. How do I live with this?

Krishna: "You live as one who has seen the truth. Your husbands are not your protectors—I am. Dharma in this assembly failed—but cosmic dharma never fails. Everyone who watched your humiliation and did nothing has written their fate today. This shame will be avenged."

Draupadi: "When? How?"

Krishna: "In time. Everything in time. For now, know this: you called, and I answered. You surrendered, and I protected. This is the eternal contract between the Divine and the devoted. It never fails. It cannot fail. Hold to that when the dark days come—and darker days are coming. But so is justice."