The Shame of Draupadi: Reading Public Humiliation and Gendered Gaze in the Sabha Parva

The Sabha Parva of the Mahabharata holds one of the most disturbing episodes in Indianepic tradition—Draupadi’s public humiliation in the Kuru court. This paper explores how thefemale body becomes a site of male gaze, political control, and gendered violence within apatriarchal system. By applying feminist theory and visual studies, the essay examines thedisrobing episode as more than a myth—it is a gendered spectacle of power, shame, and resistance.The paper also draws on critical voices like Simone de Beauvoir, Laura Mulvey, and AlfHiltebeitel to interrogate the moral silence of the court and the cultural implications of Draupadi’sshame.