Chitra Benarjee Divakaruni’s ‘Palace of Illusions’ is The Mahabharata from feminine point of view. Here Draupadi is depicted as the protagonist of the story and the entire story of Mahabharata is related from her perspective. Her feelings, aspirations, wishes and desires and her mindset and ideology, how she was able to cope up with extra ordinary challenges in her life are the core content and plot line of this novel.
We can see the oppression faced by Draupadi at various levels through out the novel.
If you want to interpret a social reality, then you have to rise above caste, creed, religion, region, race, sex and other demographic barriers. The first lessons of patriarchy are learnt in the family where the head of the family is a man/ father. Man is considered the head of the family and controls women’s sexuality, labour or production, reproduction and mobility. Society, when it thinks in a man’s perspective, portrays woman subjectively. At the time of MahaBharata, women were subjective to men. Subjectivity that woman is man’s ‘other’ creeps in. Man sees the woman as ‘other’ of himself. Man is not born. He is made. Woman is not born, she is made. The Social construct of a woman is such that she should be sub ordinate to man. The exploitation continues as long as women allow it and subjugate themselves.
So, to challenge this portrayal of Woman from a Man’s perspective, Chitra Benarjee Divakaruni has lent voice to Draupadi, making her the central character of the novel, relating her tale from her point of view(Feminiely).
It is the portrayal of struggle by Draupadi to achieve equality, dignity, rights, and freedom from the patriarchal boundaries. Draupadi is portrayed as a brave and Courageous character in the novel and loads of times, her will and character are put to test. Traditional society has a system which doesn’t see anyone as an individual. People