This post is written under Day 5 of my ongoing project 30 days 30 books.
As Indians, we have heard/read/seen various versions of the famous Indian Epic Mahabharata. We all remember times of black and white television sets when Sunday morning meant the famous tone of “Mahaaabharat” as the show started.
We remember Sanjay, who narrated the story to Dhritrashtra as he had special power to watch the war as it unfolded. We remember the warriors who fiercely fought through the Dharmyudh. We remember Krishna who changed the course by his words and we remember the women who cried and prayed for their father, husbands and sons.
In the different versions of great epic we have always heard of women in passing. It is Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni representing Mahabharata from Draupadi’s viewpoint.
Draupadi, the woman who married the five greatest men of the era. Draupadi who is remembered to be the woman who was called in the court full of men. Draupadi who gave everything for her men.
In her book, Chitra retells Draupadi’s life as a daughter, a teenager, a wife, a daughter in-law, a woman. Of course she talks about Mahabharata, how one cannot talk about it while talking about one of the characters. But Chitra tells what went on in the women’s tent while their men fought.
Little that we know of Draupadi’s life, Chitra brings us the pride, fear, happiness, sadness, anger and other emotions that Draupadi carries with her.
In a book that I couldn’t keep down once started reading I finally understood Draupadi like I always wanted to.
The book wonderfully covers the nitty-gritties of its protagonist’s life. It travels from childhood to end of the Mahabharata. It narrates each of the famous incidents and explains the turmoil in Draupadi’s mind.
It talks about her love for Karn, her regret over her mistakes, her anger towards Duryodhan, her suppressed frustration about being wife of five. Some of them might not account true from the original epic, but of course we do not have Draupadi to verify.
In her writing Chitra has deeply thought about women’s emotion, has stepped into Draupadi’s shoes and bought her alive in her words.
If you have ever been intrigued with the cheer haran, pick up this book.
I rate the book 3.5 on a scale of 5.
You can read Day 4 review here.
It's the beauty of Mahabharat , that it can be intrepreted and worked upon in so many ways. The anciets used to say that what you can't find in the Mahabharat you can't find anywhere else !
ReplyDeleteSeems an interesting read. Thanks for the review, Sugandha.
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