Indian Epics

Wife of the Five Pandavas   Arjuna won Draupadi (daughter of Drupada) as his bride at the swayamwara When the eldest brother (Yudhishthira) tells his mother (Queen Kunti) that they have returned with a gift she tells them that they must share it informs his mother that it is Draupadi and she should be Arjuna's bride since he won her  Arjuna says Yudhishthira should have her since he is the eldest Yudhishthira says that the matter should be decided by the gods and King Drupada it is revealed that the bretheren are the Pandava  this made Drupada happy and he entertained the brothers in his palace for many days eventually the rishi Vyasa was called to decided which brother should wed Draupadi Vyasa, like Queen Kunti, says that she must marry each brother because it had already been decided by the gods because she was the reincarnation of a pious woman who had prayed to Shiva for a husban five times and the god promised her 5 husbands as a reward in her next...

King Shantanu and Ganga I chose to focus on this story because I like the idea of Ganga having agency and not just submitting to her husband. She makes the rules of the marriage and once he breaks them she is no longer bound to him The story focuses on King Shantanu and the goddess Ganga Ganga marries King Shantanu in human form but before they are married she says that he can never speak harshly toward her or try to keep her from doing as she pleased; if he does this she is allowed to freely leave him The long and Ganga have 7 children and she throws each one into the Ganges River  the king does not know that these children are actually the Vasus who were cursed to be born as human babies because of upsetting Vashishtha  she threw them into the river after birth so they could regain their celestial forms the king kept his word and never spoke harshly to Ganga even though he was upset about her throwing his children into the river until the 8th chil...