Q: Black Draupadi?

[Vidhyanath Rao]

> Draupadi's polyandry is typically given as a reason to say that she and
> the Pandavas were from a more primitive tribe than the Kurus. 

Oh yeah, polyandry is primitive, polygamy less so, lifelong monogamy
is feudal and serial monogamy is the height of civilization.

In RV, Maruts are described as travelling with a single woman,
concieved of as a common wife. This is usually explained in
naturalistic terms, but if ``Nature religion'' is not subscribed
to anymore, should we conclude that the Maruts are not really
`Aryan' gods, but come from a more primitive source?

And, of course, Dumezil had a very different explanation for this.
I have never seen any of those who claim that Draupadi's polyandry is
a sign primitivity to attempt to explain why Dumezil must be wrong.
I am not even sure that many of those even knew what Dumezil had to say.



Nath Rao (nathrao+ at osu.edu)		614-366-9341