Student Name-Smriti Jha
College Name-Sinhgad College Of Engineering Vadgaon(bk)
THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS
– Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
b. Genre and Context :-
The Palace of Illusions is a 2008 historical fiction and mythology novel. It is considered a retelling of Mahabharat. It is basically Mahabharat with a women’s point of view.
c. Initial Impression :-
Actually I found this book at my cousin’s place, she was given this book by her intern. There she just gave a jist of it and l developed a great interest to go with this book further. You won’t believe I have read this entire book in 1½ days , such an engrossing book is this. Really great.
II. SUMMARY
Plot overview :-
It is a twisted version of the epic mythological saga Mahabharat. What makes this book interesting is that in this male dominated world,it focuses on the needs and greed of females. The author explores the feminine view of a much known tale which every child has heard or seen in their childhood by some or other means, she manages to make you view things with a different perspective. Being herself a woman,the author too faced many problems while writing this book and she was blamed for all the wrongdoings and suffering her family faced, but she was strong enough to pursue her dreams and now the book is one of the bestsellers.
The book deals with ‘Panchali’ , often just known as the wife of five husbands. In this novel she has been portrayed as daughter, sister, daughter in law, mother, princess and of course as queen. The book touches on all the aspects of her life, all twists and plots in her life, vows and revenges of her life, love and love interest of her life, mistakes and savages of her life, her birth and her death.
The story begins with the birth of Panchali from fire along with her twin brother and rejection from her father. It has Krishna’s involvement at each and every place. It revolves around Draupadi listening to Rishi’s predictions and experiencing it all happening, including her strange wedding, her children , her ‘Chirharan’ , her revenge , her vows , losing loved ones , the great war and the ultimate thing – death.
b. Theme :-
There is no such theme of this book , it is based on Mahabharata.
c. Setting :-
The plot is set in the era of Mahabharat when women were not allowed to give their decisions, when women were just a thing to throw up in gambling.
d. Characters/Subject :-
(I) The main character in the story is Panchali aka Draupadi aka Krishna. She is the frame of reference of this novel. She was told in her early life about her future, about how she would affect the lives of dear and near ones, about how she would become the destroyer of her entire bloodline. She was told not to be childish in everything and not to demand more than what one wants. She was not able to make her own decisions, her sakha used to guide her at each moment. She was not allowed to love a single person for her entire life and she could not attain the love of her life.
“Jise chaha tha usey paa na sake
Aur jise paya usne kabhi chaha hi nahi.”
(II) Krishna :- Lord Krishna the guide of Draupadi’s life is the second most important character. He was present at each and every moment whether she needed him or not. He was her forever ‘sakha’. Kanha was Arjun’s saarthi during the great war, he was also the ‘shantidut’ for the Pandavas and above all he was the creator of everything.
Other characters are :-
Arjun :- Also known as Parth, he was one of the great warriors of hos time. He was the one who won Draupadi’s swayamvar and married her. He was also Subhadra’s husband, Abhimanyu’s father and Uttara’s father in law. He went to attain enlightenment and gain some ultimate powers ,he also had to experience women’s life for one year.
Karna :- Duryodhana’s best friend was surprisingly Panchali’s love interest whom she used to admire a lot but couldn’t express her feelings due to restrictions in her life. He was the man of his words and also ‘daanveer’.
Kunti :- Mother of five sons forced her daughter in law to be wife of five husbands just because she could not take her words back or she wanted her sons to fulfill her each and every demand whether appealing or not.
Gandhari :- A woman truly devoted to her husband. She had such a great strength to abandon all the beauties of the creator just because her husband wasn’t permitted to do so.
Yudhishthir :- A man who never speaks lie but can speak once to win a battle. A man who never disrespects women but can do it once just to win a battle. A man who never accepts anything wrong but can accept once just not to disrespect her mother. A man for whom mother is greatest of all beings but not once when she hid the fact about Karna being his brother.
Bheem, Nakul, Sahdev :- Even they had a significant impact on the story.
Dhritarashtra :- To fulfill his son’s demands he can go to any extent be it destruction of his entire family.
Dhrishtadhyuma :- Twin brother of Draupadi, he was the one standing always behind her even when she was not accepted by their own father.
Rishi :- Who predicted the future of Draupadi, told her about the importance of her life.
e. Writing Style :-
The author tries to put some of the romantic aspects in such a triggered historical tale. She also was able to make readers look upon her opinion as the right one.
f. Character/Subject Development :-
The characters are too related. Like when the story starts it starts with Draupadi’s birth, therefore starts with fire and so on. Each and every character is introduced at the right time. None of them were known before in her story but the author also managed to keep a suspense about the characters even when the readers know who they are.
g. Plot structure/Practical Applications :-
Twists in the story are very exciting, especially the point where it comes to the fact that Kunti knew that Karna’s love interest is Draupadi and she offered him Draupadi in exchange for his life.
I personally find this twist very intriguing. Also the point when Bheem did not revealed Draupadi’s name while in the way of death was most interesting.
And above all the fact that a girl who was born to be loved and to give love was all alone at the time of her death neither did she had her husbands alongside nor her Krishna. The author had described her state of mind very beautifully at that stage.
h. Themes and Messages :-
The message this book provides is that woman is not a material, she shouldn’t be materialized at all aspects of her life. She also has her ideas, her thoughts, her experiences, her feelings, her anger , her childishness. She shouldn’t be forced to hide all of them and taught to behave maturely every moment and sacrifice everything for the satisfaction of her family. For women also, this book provides some lessons that she should always prioritize herself as men do. She should have self respect and not do everything as others want.
i. Emotional impact :-
I literally cried when the princess was asked to sleep on the floor who had slept all her life on satin bed. The state of Draupadi when she was asked to marry her husband’s brother and when Arjun gave her the look as if she betrayed him. When Kunti didn’t think even for once that whatever she said by mistake would cost her daughter in law’s self respect.
When none of her husbands were able to save her from the great disrespect she had to face in front of the entire Bharatvarsh.
When all of her sons died in a single night.
This book made me feel that women are very delicate and at the same time very strong.
When Kunti knew what betrayal looks like she could have taken her words back.
Gandhari was so strong that she gave up her eyesight but so weak that she couldn’t see her son losing the battle which was never made for him to win.
III. STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS
a. Strengths :-
I really enjoyed Panchali’s childhood or say her life before marriage. I also enjoyed Rishi’s predictions and the way he predicted things made me want to read the book as fast as possible. I also enjoyed the recap that the author provided when Draupadi was a few seconds away from death .
b. Weakness :-
I think the author did not explore motherhood in depth. She described all the roles of women very beautifully but l think Draupadi as a mother was much underrated , that area was not much encountered.
IV. PERSONAL REFLECTION –
a. Connection :-
Being a girl, I found this book very relatable. However I have not done many roles in my life but l can connect to all the female characters in the story. Has inspired a lot to raise voice, choose between right and wrong and has audacity to speak for what’s right for oneself.
b. Relevance :-
In our country, even after so many years of independence and when the world is modernising in every dimension, there are some places which are very orthodox. There people still do not treat girls and boys equally and there exists gender inequality. So for places where this happens, this book has the capacity to change people’s mind and make them do the right things but only when they understand the true meaning of the lines mentioned.
Not only people, this would inspire women to make their place in this world.
V. CONCLUSION –
a. Recommendation :-
I would highly recommend this book to everyone. This book doesn’t has any boundaries of age, genre etc.
It can be read and loved by all. Just because it is a retelling of Mahabharat, people could connect with it very easily.
b. Rating :-
I would give it 6 out of 5 because I know it would be my all time favourite forever book.
c. Final thoughts :-
I would conclude by saying that this book is a must read . Even if you are not interested in reading, you must read this book once, I bet you’ll get addicted to it once you start reading .
THANKYOU!!
