SB 1.15.7 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 7
Yat samsrayad drupadageham upagatanam Rajnam swayamvaramukhe smaradurmadenam. Tejo hritam khalu mayabhihatascha matsyah Sajjikritena dhanusadhigatacha Krishna
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Yat—by whose merciful, Samsrayd—by strength, Drupadageham—in the palace of King Drupada, Upagatanam—all those assembled, Rajnam—the king, Savambaramukhe—on the occasion of selection of bridegroom, Smaradurmadhanam—all compact in lusty thought, Tejo—power, Hritam—vanquished, Khalu—as it were, Maya—by me, Abhihastas—pierced, Cha—also, Matsya—the fish target, Sajjikritena—by equipping the bow, Danusha—by that bow also, Adhigata—gained, Cha—also, Krishna—Droupadi.
TRANSLATION
By His merciful strength only I was able to vanquish the power of all the compact in lusty thought princes assembled at the palace of King Drupada on the occasion of selecting bridegroom and by equipping my bow and arrow I could pierce the fish target and thereby gained the hand of Droupadi.
PURPORT
Droupadi was the most beautiful daughter of King Drupad and when she was young girl almost all the princely order desired to achieve her hand. But Drupad Maharaj decided to hand over his daughter to Arjuna only and therefore contrived a peculiar way of target of fish which was hanging on the inner roof of the house under the protection of a wheel. The condition was that out of the princely order one must be able to pierce the target of fish eyes through the wheel of protection and nobody would be allowed to look into the target by head upward. On the ground there was a water pot in which the target and wheel reflected and one had to fix up his aim towards the target by looking over the trembling water in the pot. Maharaj Drupad knew it well that only Arjuna or alternately Karna could successfully carry out the plan. But still he wanted to hand over his daughter to Arjuna. And in the assembly of the princely order when Dhristadumnya the brother of Droupadi introduced all the princes to his grown up sister there was Karna also present in the game. But Droupadi tactfully avoided Karna as the rival of Arjuna and she expressed her desire through her brother Dhristadumna that she was unable to accept anyone who was less than a Kshatriya. The Vaishyas and the Sudras are less important than the Kshatriyas. Karna was known as the son of a carpenter who is a Sudra. So Droupadi avoided Karna by this plea just intelligently of Kshatriya politician's daughter. When Arjuna in the dress of a poor Brahmin pierced the difficult target everyone was astonished and all of them specially Karna offered a stiff fight to Arjuna but as usual by the Grace of Lord Krishna he was able to come out very successful in the princely fight and thus gained the valuable hand of Krishna or Droupadi. Arjuna was lamentingly remembering the incidence in the absence of Lord by Whose strength only he was so powerful.