The Palace of Illusions - Author Chitra Divakaruni’s Magnum Opus
By Kalyani Giri
Last Updated: June 06, 2008

HOUSTON ­­­– Born of fire, she perished in ice. Somewhere in between she became the wife of the legendary Pandava brothers, and gained notoriety as the vengeful catalyst that spurred an egregious war, causing the deaths of her own children, and forever changing India’s historical landscape. The great yet complex epic the Mahabharatha, scribed by the Sage Vyasa, who also participates in the events of those ancient times (circa 6000 BCE and 5000 BCE), tells of the fierce rivalry between the two branches of the Kuru dynasty, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. In her loyalty to her husbands, Draupadi’s priorities shift. She leaves her children in the care of others as she joins the Pandavas in their heated quest to reclaim their birthright, a quest that inexorably leads to the tragedy of Kurukshetra. While the Mahabharatha extols the heroes for their feats of physical strength, and reveals a world where heavenly beings wander in the midst of ordinary men, very little light is shed on one of the most significant people in the epic, Draupadi. She wielded the power to bend the will of the men, and was blessed with the psychological resilience to withstand almost unbearable emotional trauma.

As a little girl in her native Kolkatta, award-winning author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni cherished the evenings when her grandfather, a vivid storyteller, would gather children together within the warm glow cast by a lone kerosene lantern and regale them with tales from the Mahabharatha. Divakaruni recalled her fascination with the women in the epic who were largely silent, their feelings unknown unless they directly affected the lives of the male heroes. Their silence made Divakaruni restless and she pledged that if she ever retold the story, it would be spoken from woman’s point of view. In the recently released critically acclaimed novel The Palace of Illusions, Divakaruni took on the prodigious task, or labor of love, to give Draupadi, or Panchaali, a voice.

The book, considered by many as the author’s magnum opus, brings Panchaali to life with such exquisite imaginative skill that her presence is almost palpable. The dusky-skinned Panchaali, who Lord Krishna affectionately refers to as Krishnaa, is a contemporary woman. She is beguilingly beautiful, strong-willed, arrogant, a little haughty, loyal, and secretly enamored with a man who is not her husband (whom she rejects at her swayamvar). As we get to know Panchaali through Divakaruni’s empathetic pen, we understand her motivations. I wondered what her mother-in-law Kunti was thinking when she insisted that Panchaali be shared among the five brothers; was the thought of having five daughters-in-law too daunting? Of course I’m oversimplifying it. While Panchaali’s loyalty was unquestionable, why did none of her husbands come to her rescue when she was being disrobed in the court of Duryodhana? But a thread that runs through the book is of circumstances, both historical and otherwise, that dictate the actions of the characters. Panchaali, like Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles is more sinned against than sinning. She isn’t the prophetess of doom that history has made her out to be.

Crafted by an inordinately gifted wordsmith, The Palace of Illusions takes the reader on a journey that is replete with drama, injustice, a seething desire for revenge, regret, and finally, redemption born of an intense spirituality when Panchaali realizes that Lord Krishna was always with her.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is also the author of Sister of my Heart, Arranged Marriage, Vine of Desire, Queen of Dreams, and The Mistress of Spices that was made into a film starring Aishwarya Rai. Divakaruni teaches creative writing at the University of Houston. On behalf of Indo-American News, I had the honor of interviewing her recently. Here are excerpts from that interview:

How closely have you stayed with the original text?
Every event is based on the Mahabharatha, What is different about this book is my interpretation of the events. And of what Draupadi/Panchaali might have thought about these events.

According to the real text, was Karna at the Swayamvar? And was that cruel question really her response to him?
Yes, he was there and those were her exact words – what is different in the novel is how she feels about it. Only the actions are given, that’s how the epics work. Motivations are not given. You have to supply the motives. Traditionally what people have said is that she was so proud and did not want to marry someone of a low caste, so she stopped him by questioning circumstances of his birth. But I have given her a different motive. I have changed the understanding of the character throughout my novel. I have portrayed Draupadi the way I see her, which is not the traditional way. And yet, none of the large public actions are different.

I wondered how you were going to show readers the epic war in your book. Your having the sage give Draupadi the gift of vision to see the tragic events unfold was purely inspired. How did you do it?
I had to think about it as a writer. I had to figure out how I was going to do it. What happens in the Mahabharatha is that Sage Vyasa comes and gives the vision to the other side. But I thought why would the sage give the vision only to one side and not the other? Why not to Draupadi.

Was Draupadi largely to blame for inciting the war?
There’s a lot of history that leads up to the war. The brothers do their part, Duryodhan does his part, but she is certainly one of the major reasons. She feels guilty for it. In the 13 years in between she constantly reminds her husbands that they must regain the honor of the family. She is motivated by revenge. What the Mahabharatha shows indirectly, and what I show more directly in the novel, is that she learns that revenge is not the answer. I think this is one of the teachings of our Hindu religion when we talk about non-violence is that violence whether we think it or do it, can ultimately only harm you.

The book shows Panchaali as saddened by the distance between herself and her children.
It was a choice she made to follow her husbands to the forest rather than stay home and care for her children. Or she could have spent some time with her husbands and some time with her children. She chose early in her life what was important to her and I think it wasn’t her role as a mother.

Is Draupadi’s name really Panchaali?
Yes, it’s one of her names. I wanted my character to want that name because she is so much more than just the daughter of someone. It gives her a character of her own. If at all she is related to anyone it is to the earth, which is large, powerful, and timeless.

How did you conceptualize this novel?
I grew up with the story of the Mahabharatha and I was very fascinated by the women characters about which not so much is told in the epic. The focus is on the men, and the heroics and the battle. I wanted to show that the women characters were as strong and courageous and in some ways went through more hardship than the men did. When Swami Tejomayananda of the Chinmaya Mission was here a couple of years ago, he asked me to write a novel based on ancient Hindu values. Then the idea of the Mahabharatha came to me, which I love, because it is so timely even though thousands of years have passed. It’s still talking of the human concerns that agitate us and it talks of war. We haven’t learnt how to resolve conflict. I wanted to make the story available to people everywhere who perhaps are not as familiar with the story. Until I started doing the research I had no idea how many different versions, how many translations of the Mahabharatha there are. The Mahabharatha truly reflects the essence of life.

You are very spiritual. How has that impacted your characterization of Panchaali?
What I really wanted to bring in was the spiritual dimension, Panchaali’s relationship with Krishna. She realizes only at the end of her life that that was the relationship that was most important because it upheld her, supported her, and loved her.

What are the lessons that we learn from this book?
I think there are several. But the most important is that revenge serves no purpose. If there is something you need to put an end to, you don’t have to do it vengefully. There are other ways to do it. I also want people to think about the whole nature of war and the Mahabharatha clearly shows that you pay such a huge price, particularly at this time in the world, for us to think of alternatives instead of violence and destruction. Everyone who is involved in war suffers and it doesn’t matter who was right or wrong. The whole civilization of India at the time was destroyed.

What were the challenges in writing this book?
The novel was a challenge because I was following a written text. It’s not like allowing your characters the freedom to take shape.