#prishati

Her real name is unfortunately not recorded in the epic. She is conventionally referred to as Prishati, though her marital name can also be written as Draupadini/Paarshatini.

When Shikhandi is born as a girl to her, she lies to the public, with only her husband in confidence, that she has given birth to a boy. She hides the secret all the way up until it comes out, rather dramatically, after Shikhandi is married to the princess of Dasarna.

She is late to the alter of the yajna that Drupada performs in order to get a son that would slay Drona, and the twins Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi 'pop out of the fire' itself. She requests Yaaja, the ritwika of the yajna, to issue a mandate that the twins must address her as their mother thereafter.

“A king was like a gardener”, his grandfather had told him once. “He nourishes new life, all the while weeding out that which is unsuccessful or harmful. He has to have his hands in the dirt, his head in the blazing, burning sun. But the kingdom is his garden, and he has to make it the best damn garden he can,”

~ Drishtaketu, Drishtaketu. 

"जितू, सर्वात जास्त कशाचा त्रास होतो माहित आहे? आता- आता आरश्यात बघितल्यावर समोर तिचा चेहरा दिसत नाही! जी निराशा आणि तळमळ आजन्म मला अपल्या ताकदीने मृत्यूच्या जबड्यात ओढून घेण्याचा सतत प्रयत्न करत असते, तिच्याशी लढायची शक्ती आईकडूनच यायची. आणि मग ती नव्हती तरी आरश्यात पाहिल्यावर तिचा चेहरा दिसायचा, आणि एक क्षण वाटायचं कि हो, आहे ती माझ्याबरोबर! पण आता- आता तेही नाही! आता वाटतं, समुद्रात वाहून गेलेल्या, भटकणाऱ्या नावेसारखा झालो रे मी!"

Thank you so much for the kind words! ❤️❤️❤️

I usually use Photoshop, which in the absence of both a working laptop pen and general RAM capacity, is a pretty simple affair, though demanding patience. Most of these paintings are fit to be finished in 20-30 minutes (most of it spent waiting for PS to buffer).

Mostly I use the Pen tool for the outlines and then the generally available brushes over the touchpad, just playing around with the opacity and blend modes.

This is what my screen usually looks like when I paint 🤭:

And, since I can't usually keep any of the PSDs for the other ones or run a parallel screen-recording due to the lack of space, but here's a quick frame-by-frame timelapse for the Prishati one ❤️:

“We do not seek the throne because of the power it gives us, Vindhya,” he tells his younger brother, whose position as crown prince is on dangerously shaky ground. “We seek it because we care. You have to care.” He takes Vindhya’s shaking hand in his. “Push past the apathy, and look toward the future,” 

Ah, I actually prefer to just call her Prishati because no other woman is addressed by that name. Because y'know, Prishati vs Parshati—that is Krishnaa's name from Prishata. Daughter vs granddaughter, tho I'm not really sure how different they are linguistically.

But if you'd like other options, I've heard Kokila is a popular variant for her. Or, if you want something else, here's my secret for naming any OCs: this website.