But sometimes, one has to drop logic and go with the instinct of the heart, even if contradicts law (Divakaruni 2008, 353).
While reading Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions and revisiting the epic Mahabharata, a series of memories, though cluttered, flashed back and forth in my mind. The foremost includes watching the weekend’s telecast on Doordarshan and being delighted by the commentary starting with, “Mai samay hun.” Even though a school kid, I could feel something divine in it. It used to prepare us for the episode. Later on, a neighbour lent us some 60 CDs of the whole show. All the members of the family watched it together, one after the other. One day, I mistakenly put the wrong cassette in the DVD player, in which Arjuna showered countless arrows on Bheesma to prepare his deathbed. I could recall how I grieved all day until the members of the family consoled me that it was Bheesma’s destiny. The next memory pertains to the first year of my college, where I had to read the Mahabharata as part of our Indian Classical literature paper. I remember how I outsmarted my colleagues during the discussion due to my knowledge about the epic, little of which was critical. I didn’t know then how to be critical of the epics, which is the voice of the Gods and sages. Our professor suggested reading The Palace of Illusions, but I was more occupied with the core text, i.e. Rajgopalachari’s Mahabharata, hence I ignored it. After 9 long years of her suggestion, I finished reading The Palace of Illusions and felt that had I read it then, I would have gained an additional perspective that it can be interpreted or rewritten in this way, too. Ramanujan discovered some 300 diverse ways of re-telling the Ramayana existing in different corners of the world. I wonder, can’t there be even half of the ways of re-telling the Mahabharata as compared to the Mahabharata? After all, it’s the largest epic ever known. I guessed Divakaruni felt the same; thus, Panchaali’s Mahabharata was born through her pen and her thoughts.
Title: The Palace of Illusions
Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Publisher: Picador, first published in 2008
Genre: Novel, Mythological fiction
Pages: 360
Price: 147/- at Flipkart
The Palace of Illusion originated from the feminine urge to advocate for the right to voice for women, which had been largely ignored in the epics. They were treated largely as the object of desire or a prize by the largely male and war-dominated society. They often become the subject for the male to show their prowess. Their representation in the epics was also marginalised, and the authors often depicted them with an attitude of pity, sheltered and protected first by their father and brother and later by their husbands. The Palace of Illusion is a noble attempt to subvert this binary. Divakaruni attempted to impart a touch of feminist movements, to be more precise, women’s empowerment prevalent in the contemporary world, to the mythological past as well. The last few chapters on reviving Hastinapur are a testimony to this fact.
The book is cleverly woven into 43 chapters, having a ‘one-word’ title capturing the essence of that particular episode. Utmost care is taken to not make the chapter exhaustive and monotonous, even when you’re reading or revisiting the story for the umpteenth time. The narration feels like someone is telling you a story, which is going straight into your head without much effort. The curiosity to peep deep into the thoughts of Draupadi, her private life and her response toward the events, though constructed imaginatively, is upheld well throughout the chapters. Since we already know the story, the usage of a non-linear narrative technique by Divakaruni is largely justified. Her narrator, Draupadi, would often venture into the past and the future to inspect the events before the chapter that captures the particular episode starts. All the significant events and the sub-stories are captured at appropriate moments in the book.
The creative liberty taken by Divakaruni in the book is also aptly justified. The idea of imparting vision to Draupadi to see the happenings in the war, like Sanjay, is truly stupendous. It gave her a vision and a voice to the arena that was mainly dominated by males. Her resentment of the unjust customs and scathing attack is quite evident. Addressing Draupadi by the name ‘Krishnaa’ by Krishna, i.e. addition of an additional ‘a’ shows the spiritual connection between the two. The presence of Dhai Ma as a nanny introduces the fondness of Panchaali for stories. The contemporary overtones in the novel are also remarkable.
However, at certain instances, I feel that the liberty was unnecessary. For instance, the depiction of her unusual fascination with Karna went too far in the novel and was uncalled for.
Truly, a masterpiece. I am really awestruck by the way the alternate mythology has been woven. I must say, changing the narrator can actually do miracles. I highly recommend this book to everyone. It justifies that the classics are not for a particular age but for all time.
©Shashank
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