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Consider the following excerpt from The Mahabharata:

SECTION CLXLIII (Swayamvara Parva continued)

Vaisampayana continued,

Hearing these words of Drupada, the virtuous king Yudhishthira replied, saying, 'O great king, I also shall have to marry.

Hearing him, Drupada said,

If it pleaseth thee, take thou the hand of my daughter thyself with due rites. Or, give Krishna in marriage unto whomsoever of thy brothers thou likest.

Yudhishthira said,

Thy daughter, O king, shall be the common wife of us all! Even thus it hath been ordered, O monarch, by our mother. I am unmarried still, and Bhima also is so amongst the sons of Pandu. This thy jewel of a daughter hath been won by Arjuna. This, O king, is the rule with us; to ever enjoy equally a jewel that we may obtain. O best of monarchs, that rule of conduct we cannot now abandon. Krishna, therefore, shall become the wedded wife of us all.

Since Yudhishthira never lies, there are 2 reasons for all Pandavas to marry Draupadi:

  1. Order from their mother (i.e., Kunti telling all five Pandavas to marry Draupadi)

  2. All Pandavas equally enjoy a jewel won by anyone (source already cited above)

Now my doubt is, where (i.e., in which paragraph of Mahabharata) can I find the explicit statements made by Kunti to support reason #1?

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As per Mahabharata: Adi Parva: Swayamvara Parva: Section CLXLIII,

Vaisampayana said, 'Then those illustrious sons of Pritha, on returning to the potter's abode, approached their mother. And those first of men represented Yajnaseni unto their mother as the alms they had obtained that day. And Kunti who was there within the room and saw not her sons, replied, saying, 'Enjoy ye all (what ye have obtained).' The moment after, she beheld Krishna and then she said, 'Oh, what have I said?'.

So indirectly she said and not explicitly as you can notice the words "Kunti who was there within the room and saw not her sons [and Draupadi too]". Even she regretted about this soon after she got to know the matter.

Draupadi became common wife of 5 Pandavas due to boon(s)/curse(s) as described in the subsequent chapters and few Puranas too which is already discussed here in below posts:

How can Draupadi be a pathivrata (dutiful wife) while being married to 5 men?

Why did all the Pandavas marry Draupadi?

Is Draupadi a goddess?

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  • 2
    Were pandavas stupid enough to not know the context of saying of kunti, and divided the wife among them
    – Anisha
    Jul 29, 2018 at 12:52
  • 2
    @Anisha Due to boons/curses, "the God of Desire invaded their hearts and continued to crush all their senses"...see the updated answer and link mentioned in answer and related Qs/As....
    – YDS
    Jul 29, 2018 at 13:53

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