When Arjun won the swayamvar held for Draupadi, the Pandavas along with Draupadi come to their mother to announce what happened. The Pandavas intimate to their mother that they have brought home something very special. The mother, perhaps busy, tells them to distribute what they have brought among themselves. And that is how, Draupadi ended up marrying 5 brothers.
Now, what kind of a person says to her sons "distribute it among yourselves"? That phrase, I believe, is one used by a person who usually resorts to rules blindly without taking the trouble of finding whether the rule is applicable in every circumstance. Now, if the mother thought that her sons said they brought peanuts, one can imagine her giving that response. But, what did she hear her sons tell her? She heard them tell her that it was something (or someone) special.
Was Kunti someone who blindly apply a rule? Such tendency to blindly distribute equally comes from a person who is out of sync with the world, someone who sees the world without feelings. Was that her nature? Why did she give such an uncharacteristic response to what, she could suspect, was a fairly important question? What would have been the response of Kunti, as we know her from the rest of Mahabharat? My guess is "I am busy, wait". She would never have told her sons to distribute equally.
Why did the author of Mahabharat create an incident where a character behaved so differently from her usual self? Is this the right way to write?
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