The Palace Of Illusions

A while ago I finished reading Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s “The Palace Of Illusions” which I had stumbled upon when casually browsing a bookstore at the airport. The book presents a women’s perspective of the Mahabharata, by narrating the epic by none other than Draupadi, who was hugely held responsible for the war taking place. Personally for me, Mahabharata has always evoked a deep level of excitement. If I were to simply put it, it’s a lethal combination of drama, upscale levels of politics, games played in pursuit of power & love, with the oomph added by brawny men.

However, predominantly Mahabharata is more about the men, their aspirations, lives & ambitions that sometimes scale beyond power. It has etched out some great heroes like Bheesma, Drona, Krishna, Arjun, Karna and the list goes on. So unless the author consciously chooses, the women in this epic will not be presented as central protagonist. So in that aspect, I liked the book and a refreshing narrative, revolving around Draupadi in the first person. The book takes one all the way through the epic, as witnessed by Draupadi, her journey of life, starting with her mysterious birth, her immense love for her brother, her bond with Krishna in whom she sees a friend,confidant and guide, her baffling marriage, her relationships with her husbands and mother –in law, her share of comforts & miseries all culminating into strong resentment that she unfailingly nurtures in her heart, which can be calmed only with the war. Draupadi’s portrayal is in contrast to the passive, docile & submissive image of the women of those times. She was a black beauty, who had a mind of her own & spoke for it at every given opportunity. If opportunity ceased to exist, then she would work her way around to create one, she knew how to utilize the power of love and eventually becomes the binding thread amongst all her husbands. However, she came with her set of flaws as well, her infamous temper, supreme impatience & agitation and fearlessness. Yet, most importantly she knew her limitations of being a women of that era, accepted various customs, like her husband’s other wives, the hardships thrown their way, death of all her children in the war & finally her own death. But what I liked the most in her character was, that never settled for acceptance without challenging & questioning the ground rules which the society placed on her as a women.

Few mentions in the book were revelations for me and I am not so sure if these are facts or pieces of the author’s imagination, but nevertheless I was surprised on reading them.

· 1. Top of the list is Draupadi & Karna’s love for each. I never heard of this one, till I came across this twisted forbidden love story in this book. So here is in short what the book said, before the Swayamwar Draupadi was shown the paintings of the various suitors and that’s when she sees Karna for the first time and upon knowing his story, feels drawn towards him. Right then as if reading her mind, Krishna immediate issues her a warning, that she under no circumstances will marry him, as he was cursed to doom. During her marriage, she verbally refused to marry Karna, thereby insulting him, but from that moment on she was in love with him and continues to secretly harbor those feeling till the very end. Karna too harbored similar feelings for her, which he kept strictly under check, knowing she was the wife of the lone man he hated, Arjuna. Such was the case of forbidden love which has a happy end, when after her death she goes to him, knowing that now nothing can prohibit them from loving each other!!!

So I wonder, what must have been the real reason that Krishna stopped Draupadi from marrying Karna. Think of it, had she not married Arjun that day and instead married Karna, a strong link paving way for the war might have been missing, thereby creating a tiny possibility that the Mahabharata wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

· 2. Apparently, during her younger days, Draupadi was cautioned by Vyasa himself, against committing 3 mistakes that could avert series of events leading the Great War. One being not raising a specific question during her marriage, which she does by questioning Karna on family name; two, controlling her words when her husbands are at the peak of glory, which she does by mocking Duryodhana on his father’s blindness; and the third, avoiding cursing when she faces the greatest humiliation of her lifetime, which again she does when she is disrobed. I wonder if the warnings were for real or merely a foundation for a stirring plot. What if she would have actually obeyed the warnings.

· 3. Next, when I began reading, I wondered how the author would depict the war scenes, since the narrative of the book is in first person. So it turns out that, Draupadi was given a special vision to view the war as it happens. Again, I wonder if this was for real or a figment of author’s imagination, as the only other person granted with this vision I guess was Vidhur, so that he could narrate the war to the blind King Dhritarashtra

I have yet to completely watch B.R. Chopra’s televised version of the Mahabharata, however after seeing a couple of episodes, I feel he has done a good job recreating the epic, but the real impact of the story has been diluted courtesy incomprehensible Hindi, gaudy clothes & tacky sets. About a decade ago, upon a friend’s recommendation I picked up the Mahabharata to read it and I vividly remember being on self-imposed house arrest till it finished the book. So if you haven’t read it as yet, you are missing on some real good reading. But a quick mention here would be, please don’t pick this book up with the objective of reading the Mahabharata, as it’s almost like a condensed version of the original, where a lot of sub-plots have been just mentioned as a passé.

Happy Reading
Meetali