I was introduced to Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni by my sister. My first book was her latest 'One Amazing Thing' which I liked. I got interested in 'The Palace of Illusions', in some part, due to nostalgia.
It so happened that in the 'old days' (I no longer call them good), when my dad and I used to live in Pune, dad would watch mythological serials and almost drum splitting volumes and, since I would be in the kitchen doing my chores, I would inevitably end up following all the serials. For me they were more like radio shows since I would only listen and never watch (if I could help). There was one show called 'Krishnaa' which sounded quite interesting to me. It showed Mahabharat from Draupadi's point of view -with normal female jealousies, pettiness, love and priorities. In fact, it showed the protagonists as normal people. Which interested me twofold - One I have always considered the people and story to be on a different plane even though they were earthlings. It was interesting to see them brought on to earth. Secondly, the whole thing as we know it is male dominated. Women just figure as decorations. So, it was an unexplored and important view point for me. However, I would catch bits and pieces of the episodes whenever I happened to be working near the tv but it remained lodged in my mind. I was curious to know what the women involved in the epic thought about it all.
Now, I have always been labelled a 'feminist' although I am not sure how true it is considering my current avatar. I have been called nari mukti morcha also. But, I think that I am more of a person who asserts her belief rather than a feminist. Since, women generally do not assert themselves, I may come off as a feminist to some people. But having said that, I am interested in how women figure in different cultures and how they deal with their place in society. So, this interpretation of Mahabharat became really interesting to me. When I read the synopsis of this book, I felt that maybe the serial Krishnaa was based on this book. After a lot of internet research, I found that it is, in fact, based on Yajnaseni, an award winning book written by Pratibha Ray. I would love to read this book too and see how they compare with each other.
Reading Palace of Illusions bridges the gap between mythology and reality. For the first time, I was able to imagine the life then - with all gods, demigods, sages and, yes, humans. Draupadi is portrayed for the complex character she was. And for the first time, I could relate to the totally western concept of your childhood affecting the kind of person you became. We see how the momentous events of the great epic affect her. We also see the jealousies, mother in law issues and totally other human failings portrayed. We see her relationship with Karna. Draupadi and Karna had an attraction which underran a lot of events in Mahabharat - this is little known fact but a very important one because it leads to actions on their parts which changed the whole course of the epic.
A very important thing about the book is the narrative. The story is well told and the narrative is robust. All of us know that the Mahabharat is a humongous (do people use this word?) story and selecting events specific to the story must have been tough. Not only are the events well picked but the narrative flows between the past, future, prophecies, curses, earth and heavens flawlessly.
This book made me think again about a couple of things:
First, people say that Draupadi was responsible for Kurukshetra. I would say that Kunti had the bigger role in this. If she had acknowledged Karn as her son, Duryodhan probably would have given up much earlier. As it was, Karn supported Duryodhan and history happened. It is very shocking to see in evidence that Kunti chose rajpaat and her name over her son. And she was selfish enough to acknowledge him later to save her other sons. Anyway, I think I would like to write my thoughts about Karn in a separate post.
The second thought this book forced up from my subconcious is the eternal debate between love, hate, anger, desire. Which is the strongest emotion? I have thought about this for years with no apparent conclusion. When confronted with a dilemma, which would be the reigning emotion and thus governing the choice we make? A topic I have dissected to death in my mind and maybe someday on my blog.
I would say this book is a must read irrespective of whether you are a feminist or not. Whether you are interested in history or mythology or not (as Indians our knowledge of Mahabharat is a fact of life).
It so happened that in the 'old days' (I no longer call them good), when my dad and I used to live in Pune, dad would watch mythological serials and almost drum splitting volumes and, since I would be in the kitchen doing my chores, I would inevitably end up following all the serials. For me they were more like radio shows since I would only listen and never watch (if I could help). There was one show called 'Krishnaa' which sounded quite interesting to me. It showed Mahabharat from Draupadi's point of view -with normal female jealousies, pettiness, love and priorities. In fact, it showed the protagonists as normal people. Which interested me twofold - One I have always considered the people and story to be on a different plane even though they were earthlings. It was interesting to see them brought on to earth. Secondly, the whole thing as we know it is male dominated. Women just figure as decorations. So, it was an unexplored and important view point for me. However, I would catch bits and pieces of the episodes whenever I happened to be working near the tv but it remained lodged in my mind. I was curious to know what the women involved in the epic thought about it all.
Now, I have always been labelled a 'feminist' although I am not sure how true it is considering my current avatar. I have been called nari mukti morcha also. But, I think that I am more of a person who asserts her belief rather than a feminist. Since, women generally do not assert themselves, I may come off as a feminist to some people. But having said that, I am interested in how women figure in different cultures and how they deal with their place in society. So, this interpretation of Mahabharat became really interesting to me. When I read the synopsis of this book, I felt that maybe the serial Krishnaa was based on this book. After a lot of internet research, I found that it is, in fact, based on Yajnaseni, an award winning book written by Pratibha Ray. I would love to read this book too and see how they compare with each other.
Reading Palace of Illusions bridges the gap between mythology and reality. For the first time, I was able to imagine the life then - with all gods, demigods, sages and, yes, humans. Draupadi is portrayed for the complex character she was. And for the first time, I could relate to the totally western concept of your childhood affecting the kind of person you became. We see how the momentous events of the great epic affect her. We also see the jealousies, mother in law issues and totally other human failings portrayed. We see her relationship with Karna. Draupadi and Karna had an attraction which underran a lot of events in Mahabharat - this is little known fact but a very important one because it leads to actions on their parts which changed the whole course of the epic.
A very important thing about the book is the narrative. The story is well told and the narrative is robust. All of us know that the Mahabharat is a humongous (do people use this word?) story and selecting events specific to the story must have been tough. Not only are the events well picked but the narrative flows between the past, future, prophecies, curses, earth and heavens flawlessly.
This book made me think again about a couple of things:
First, people say that Draupadi was responsible for Kurukshetra. I would say that Kunti had the bigger role in this. If she had acknowledged Karn as her son, Duryodhan probably would have given up much earlier. As it was, Karn supported Duryodhan and history happened. It is very shocking to see in evidence that Kunti chose rajpaat and her name over her son. And she was selfish enough to acknowledge him later to save her other sons. Anyway, I think I would like to write my thoughts about Karn in a separate post.
The second thought this book forced up from my subconcious is the eternal debate between love, hate, anger, desire. Which is the strongest emotion? I have thought about this for years with no apparent conclusion. When confronted with a dilemma, which would be the reigning emotion and thus governing the choice we make? A topic I have dissected to death in my mind and maybe someday on my blog.
I would say this book is a must read irrespective of whether you are a feminist or not. Whether you are interested in history or mythology or not (as Indians our knowledge of Mahabharat is a fact of life).
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