According to the Vedic Index of A.A. Macdonell and A.B. Keith, vol. I p. 479, "polyandry is not Vedic" (with obligatory references to extremely sporadic exceptions such as in the RV "wedding hymn"). Then in the Mahabharata there is suddenly the major character of Draupadii/Krsnaa marrying all five Pandava brothers. I am aware of the two volumes of Alf Hiltebeitel which are an excellent ethnographic study of the Draupadii cult in South India. However, what are currently the most important philological studies of the background of this character and of polyandry itself in late Vedic, post Vedic and epic/Puranic texts? Apart from purely/mainly structuralist approaches (Biardeau), I would be interested in explorations of whether the problematic presence of polyandry in the Mahabharata and elsewhere may imply a reference to contemporaneous (Mahabharata time) practices (just as the reference to Nagas burnt in the Khandava forest was taken as more than just an element needed in the narrative: it would also have been a reference to forest tribes and conflicting modes of resource use acc. to Irawati Karve and to Gadgil & Guha).   

With best regards, 

Jan Houben