The Palace of Illusions - Book Review

While I was reading ‘Mrityunjay’, I learnt about another book based on Mahabharata ‘The Palace of Illusions’ authored by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The book revolves around Draupadi aka Panchali.. the wife of the Pandavas and has an interesting take on how she viewed Mahabharata – it has been written as if narrated in first person by Draupadi herself. 

With Draupadi being one of the most powerful women in Mahabharata, there has always been a curiosity to know more about her. She is one the most controversial and enigmatic characters in Mahabharata, whose hunger for revenge, many believe, led to an unnecessary war. Knowing the little that I know about Mahabharata, I thought of her as someone who got stuck in the cross fire of hate between the Kauravas & Pandavas. Going through what she did in the Hastinapur court, she wasn’t too wrong seeking revenge either. Maybe she could have been a little more forgiving and not became one of the reasons for initiating the Great War. 

The novel has been aptly titled “The Palace of Illusions” based on the illustrious palace that the Pandavas built for her. And after reading the book, I realized even more that the name was suited since this was the only place which she truly loved and felt at home in. The book has a very contemporary style of writing. While reading the first few pages I actually got a little disappointed since the writing didn’t seem to have the gravity that an epic story like Mahabharata requires. The writing seemed a little trivial as well. However as I went further, I realized that the writer wanted us to learn about Draupadi’s longings of a normal childhood & trivial childlike thoughts and then show how her circumstances gradually changed her thinking and made her the women she became. The effect of all the incidents which caused her to behave the way she did is clearly explained. 

 There were many things that I hadn’t given much thought of earlier or wasn’t aware of before reading this book. Like the story of her birth.. that she and her brother were born out of a hunger for revenge and to satiate their father’s ego. No wonder Draupadi had that same thing within her and had an unforgiving & revengeful nature. Morning shows the day!! Also the fact that Shikhandi was her sibling or her childhood friendship with Krishna (and thus their great bond) was something I didn’t know. The book also lets us know that when Draupadi was still a young unmarried women Rishi Vyasa had predicted her whole life and also warned her about few events which would be life changing for her. He had also advised on which of her actions she needs to control in order to avoid taking the pre-destined path. However even after knowing the result of her actions in these events, she is unable to do anything about it and her life takes the course that Vyasa predicted. Maybe the writer wanted to emphasize the point that Draupadi did what she was supposed to do and what was destined for her. It didn’t matter how she behaved, the war and the sufferings that are to be would take place. The book also has the typical ‘Saas-Bahu’ angle. :-) It was happening with the great queens of Mahabharata as well so may be a Saas and a Bahu are destined to have some or other clash ;-)

Being the romantic that I am, I loved the part about the unspoken love between Draupadi and Karna. Draupadi was attracted to Karna even during her Swayamvar and might have chosen him if not for Krishna's words. In ‘Mrityunjay’ there was a reference to their mutual attraction; in this book it has been explored further with many incidents where the actions of Draupadi and Karna are explained even though their thoughts at those incidents are different from the actions they take. Each regrets many of the words used for the other. The author does try to bring a closure of sorts by writing a happy ending for them. Do read the book to find out more :-) I used to think that the Draupadi-Karna love story was a figment of both Shivaji Savant and Chitra’s active imagination but learnt after some googling that there are subtle references to it in the original version of Mahabharata as well!!!! Interesting. 

The novel is a good read and the author has brought out the pains and sufferings of Draupadi really well. Her revengeful attitude as well as ego has not been polished over either. The story has been well written giving us a different insight into the life of Draupadi… she was not the cause of the epic battle; her life was impacted by the forces leading up to the war!  I would recommend it for sure.

Rating: I would give it 4 out of 5.