Sages talk about Draupadi's past births

The all knowing sages decided to visit Drupada and attend the wedding of Draupadi with the Pandavas.
The guards at the gate informed Drupada that great sages like Durvasa and Jamini had come with their disciples. Drupada went to welcome them. He welcomed them, gave them seats to sit and then washed their feet. He asked them how come they had graced him with their presence.

They said they had come to tell Drupada that his daughter was destined to marry and have husbands. Dhristadyumna said he had not heard of anything like this before. He had heard of men having five wives, bit not of any woman ever having more than one husband.

Yudhistira said As their mother had said, they would marry agree to the marriage only if Drupada agreed to marry his daughter to all five of them. He said the word of the mother was equal to that of the Vedas.

Kunti hearing the discussion came there. She bowed down to all the sages and wondered what was to be done.

Vyasa, who was also there, said he would tell them why Draupadi was to have five husbands.

In the Treta Yuga, Draupadi was the daughter of a brahman. She was a devotee of Shiva and worshipped him to get a suitable husband. She would pray with great devotion and would ask Shiva to bless her with a great husband. Whenever she asked for a husband, she would say it five times.
Shiva appeared before her and said she would be blessed with five husbands.

The maiden was stunned and said why was the great God playing tricks on her? Shiva said that she had asked for a husband five times, which is why she was getting five husbands. Shiva said you will have five husbands and will also be counted as a pious woman.

The maiden killed herself in the waters of Ganga. She was reborn as the daughter of the king of Kashi. Not having married, her friends used to ridicule her. She went and meditated. Dharma, Vayu, Indra and Ashwini Kumars appeared before her and asked her the reason for her meditation.

She said she wanted a husband. The Gods asked her to choose among them. For the maiden, they all looked the same and she could not decide. She kept quiet. The Gods gave her a boon of having five husbands. They told her to give up her body, saying in the next birth, she would get five husbands.

Vyasa said this was the maiden now born as Draupadi. Of the Gods, who had blessed her, they are all born as the Pandavas. So she is destined to marry the five Pandavas.

Agastya, who was there, said he would tell what he was aware of.

Once, Yama was busy doing a sacrifice. As a result, no human on earth died. The Gods were terrified. They went to Brahma and asked him to do something. Brahma went to the Naimisha forest where Yama was performing the sacrifice. He told Yama that he needs to do justice to people faced on the work they are performing, and not sit and perform sacrifices. Yama said when other Gods performed sacrifices that was fine, but when he performed the same, that was bad. Brahma was wondering what to say when from his body, a being emerged. He had a quill for writing in his right hand and a palm leaf in his left hand. His name was Chitragupta. Brahma handed Chitragupta to Yama saying, his work will be keep track of all the deeds of people on the earth.
Happy Yama went and completed his sacrifice. When Brahma and the other Gods were  returning back, they saw a river with golden lotuses blooming in it. The lotuses were flowing with the current of the water. They wondered where the lotuses had come from, their scent was wonderful. Indra asked to Pawan to find out. Pawan left but did not return for long. Indra then asked Yama to go. He went and he too did not return. He then asked the Ashwini Kumar to go. They went and did not return either. Indra then decided to go himself.

He saw a maiden sitting and crying. Her tears were falling in the water and forming the lotuses. Indra asked her who she was and why she was crying.

She said she was a daughter of Daksha. She told Indra that before him, four other Gods had come to her and wanted to marry her. Indra also expressed his desire to have her.
She took Indra high up in the mountain, where where a handsome man was meditating. This was Shiva. The maiden told Shiva that these Gods wanted to marry her. Shiva asked Indra to lift a mountain. When Indra did that, he saw Pawan, Yama and Ashwini Kumar trapped below the mountain. Shiva said he would take Indra and the other Gods to Vishnu. Vishnu would decide what to do.

Vishnu said the four Gods would be born on the earth. Indra would also be born on earth. The maiden would also be born there and she would have all five of them as her husbands then.

Agastya said, this maiden is none other than Draupadi who is destined to have five husbands.

Listening to all this, Drupada agreed to have his daughter wed the five Pandavas.

Birth of Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi

Kunti and her sons stayed in the house of the brahmana. A priest one day came there. He spoke about his travels and the places he had visited. He spoke about the land of Panchala and also of the swayamvara of the daughter of the king of Panchala. He priased Drupada's daughter who was called Krishnaa who was very beautiful. She was also called Yagyaseni as she had been born from a sacrifice (Yagya). Drupada, King of Panchala, had also obtained a son from the sacrifice, who would cause the end of Drona.
The Pandavas wanted to know why the son would bring an end of Drona.
The priest said once, Drona and Drupada were great friends. Drona was insulted when he had visited Drupada. He went back to Hastinapura and taught the Kuru princes. He asked the kuru princes to get him Drupada as a prisoner.
Arjuna, son of Kunti, achieved this.
Drupada, when freed roamed the banks of Ganga, lost in thought. He wanted to find out ways in which he would bring an end of Drona. He found two brahmanas, Yaja and Upyaja and was told they may be able to help him.
Drupada went to Upyaja and asked for his assistance in finding a way to get rid of Drona, son of Bharadwaj. Upyaja said it was not proper for a brahmana to hold a sacrifice to kill another. When the king was insistent, Upyaja told Drupada to go to his elder brother, Yaja, and ask for his help.
Drupada went to Yaja with his prayer.
Yaja agreed and Drupada made arrangements to start the sacrifice. He fasted as per rituals along with his queen.
A son came out of the fire, his body the color of fire, with a bow and arrow in his hand. Followed by the boy, a girl came out of the fire. When she emerged, mantras could be heard from all directions.
A voice from the heaven said this girl will be the cause of the death of many kshatriyas. The boy will be killer of Drona.
The king named the son Dhrishtadyumna. The girl, as she was dark in complexion was named Krishnaa.

The priest ending his story said this was the girl, whose swayamvara was being arranged. As the daughter of Drupada, she was also named Draupadi.
The Pandavas wanted to go and attend the swayamvara ceremony.
Kunti said they were living for many days in a person's house and that was not a very good thing. They agreed to go towards Panchala.
At that moment, Vyasa came there. Seeing Vyasa, all bent down and bowed at his feet.

Birth of the Kauravas

The sage continuing telling Janmajeya said :

Once Vyasa was pleased with the devotion of Gandhari , blessed her to have hundred sons as strong as her husband.
Gandhari became pregnant and even after ten months had passed, she was still pregnant. She then heard that Kunti had given birth to a son.
Gandhari was unhappy. The eldest in the race would have right to the throne. Even though she was pregnant before Kunti, Kunti had given birth had given birth first.
A year passed and she was still pregnant. Not sure what to do, she struck her stomach with an iron mace, in disgust, thinking of terminating her pregnancy.

The pregnancy terminated, Gandhari gave birth to a lump of flesh. Hearing this, Vyasa came there. He told Gandhari that jealousy and anger were not virtues of a noble woman and she should not have done what she did.

Gandhari asked the sage to help her. The sage asked her to get hundred pots, fill the pots with clarified butter, and carefully divide the flesh into portions and put a portion in each pot. He then told her to water the pots regularly. He asked her not to disturb the pots, and saying this he left.

The day Bhima was born in the forest, the same day Duryodhana was born from the first pot. The moment he was born, Duryodhana started braying like a donkey. Hearing this, the donkeys in the neighborhood started calling out. In response, the dogs and foxes started howling.

Dhritarashtra went to Bhishma and Vidura and said he was sad as Pandu's son was the eldest and would claim right to the throne. With the birth of his son, there were ill omens everywhere.

Vidura said this is not a good sign. He asked the king to abandon the child. Blinded by the love for his first born, Dhritarashtra refused to agree. Soon the other ninety nine sons were born.

Janmajeya said : I know Duryodhana had a sister. After the hundred sons when did Gandhari have a daughter?

The sage said : When Vyasa was dividing the flesh into parts, Gandhari was wishing for a daughter to be born. It so happened, that after diving into hundred parts, a small part was left. Vyasa then told Gandhari that this part would be the daughter that she was wishing for.

There was a maid with whom Dhritarashtra had slept once. From this maid was born a son called Yuyutsu.

Later the hunderd and one sons  got married to able princesses and the daughter, Dushala, got married to Jayadhrata. 

Matsyagandha born

There was a king once called Parichar. Giving up everything, he went into the forests where he spent his days in meditation. Indra thought the king would take over his throne.
Riding his mount, Airavata, he arrived in the spot where the king was meditating. Addressing the king, he asked him to give up the austere penance. He gave the king many divine clothes and a garland called Vaijayanti. Crowing him as the king of Chedi, Indra left.

He got married to a beautiful woman.

One day he left for a hunt, to kill some deer. Though he was in the forest, hunting, his mind was thinking of his wife. Struck with passion, his seed feel on a leaf. He asked his pet falcon to take the semen to his wife.

When the bird was flying, he was spotted by another falcon. The birds started fighting and the leaf feel into the river Yamuna.

Dirghika, an apsara was living the waters. She had been cursed by a sage to live the life of a fish.  She ended up swallowing the semen that had fallen in the waters and became pregnant.

The fish was caught one day and the moment the fishermen lifted her on the banks, the fish gave birth to a tiny baby boy and a tiny baby girl, and taking the form of the apsara, she left for the heaven.

The people were amazed. They took the children and brought them to king Parichar. The king accepted the boy as his son, and gave the girl to the chief of fishermen, to be raised as his daughter.

The king named his son Matsyaraj and raised him as his son.

The chief of fishermen raised the girl was very beautiful except that she had a very strong fishy odour which would emanate from her body. So strong was the smell that no wanted to go near her.

He asked his daughter to live on the banks of Yamuna and help all who wanted to cross the river.

The sage Parasara one day happened to be there. He spotted the girl sitting on the banks of the river.
Moved by her beauty and driven by passion, the sage desired her. He asked her who she was.

She said was the daughter of a fisherman and because the smell that came from her body, she had been named Matsyagandha.

Astika is born

Leaving his wife, Jaratkaru left for the forests. His wife was alone. With eyes full of tears, Jaratkari left for her brother's house.
Vasuki wanted to know what troubled his sister. She said for no fault of mine, my husband has left me and gone off, never to return.
Vasuki consoled her. He said if you remember mother had cursed us to die in the snake sacrifice. We will survive the sacrifice because of your son. He will be our savior.
Jaratkari said her husband has also said the same before he left. He had said that this son of ours will save both my ancestors and your family.
Vasuki wanted to know why Jaratkaru had left the house. She told her the brother the whole story:

One day my husband was resting with his head on my lap. It was time for sunset - the time when one needs to get up, light the fire and don the worship.Fearing that he will face ill will as he was sleeping away, I woke him. He was angry when he work up. He said even dusk cannot come unless I wake up. As my wife you should have known this.
After this my husband said I had offend him, and he left.

Vasuki consoled his sister and told her not to worry. Her brother's house was her house and she had no cause to worry now.
On a full moon night, Jaratkari gave birth to a healthy baby boy. The boy was named Astika. When he grew up he started his education learning the vedas.