In plain words
Draupadī's forbearance
Women of pure heart like Draupadī are the very ones who have sustained the culture of Bhārata from time immemorial. When Aśvatthāmā came in the dead of night and cut the throats of the sleeping Upapāṇḍavas, Arjuna caught him, bound him and stood him before Draupadī: “Draupadī! I will cut his throat right in front of you. Anoint your head with that blood and bathe,” he said. But what did Draupadī do? She fell at Aśvatthāmā's feet and spoke in this way:
As the world knows, long ago all our menfolk, the loosing of arrows and their recall and all the arts of arms, learnt from Droṇācārya; you are Droṇa himself in the form of his son; in your heart not the least touch of pity: was it right to cut down the sons of his pupils?
They did not come at you in fury; they were not on the battlefield, weapons in hand; not the slightest wrong did they do you; in the pride of your strength, in the dark, these gentle ones, little children, untried in the deeds of war, lost in sleep: to slay them, alas! how could your hands move?
Would any mother forgive the wicked man who cut her sons' throats? But Draupadī begged Arjuna to forgive Aśvatthāmā and let him go. “I grieve so much because he killed my children. If you kill him now, how his mother too will grieve for her child, just as I do! We must not bring grief to a mother. So, Arjuna! Forgive him and let him go with his life,” she asked.
Forbearance is Satya, forbearance is Dharma; forbearance is the Veda, forbearance is Ahiṃsā, forbearance is yajña; forbearance is contentment, forbearance is heaven; forbearance is everything in all the worlds.