Who was the common wife of the five Pandavas?

Draupadi was the common wife of the five Pandavas. The brothers were Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva, making her marriage one of the Mahabharata’s most distinctive relationships.

The marriage followed Arjuna’s victory at Draupadi’s svayamvara, where he won her hand in an archery contest. When the brothers returned home, Kunti—without seeing what they had brought—told them to share their “alms.” The family treated her words as binding, and the sage Vyasa gave further explanations and approval for the unusual arrangement.

Draupadi was born from a sacrificial fire performed by King Drupada of Panchala. She is also called Panchali, Krishnā, and Yajnaseni. Her five sons, known collectively as the Upapandavas or Draupadeyas, were each fathered by one of the Pandavas.

A common mix-up is to identify Subhadra as the Pandavas’ shared wife. Subhadra was Arjuna’s wife and the mother of Abhimanyu; the shared marriage belonged to Draupadi.