My academic term paper on the book PALACE OF

ILLUSIONS (by Chitra banerjee Divakaruni)

Introduction to the book:
The Palace of Illusions is a first time version of the great Indian epic- The
MAHABHARATA.
It views Mahabharata from the point of view that Panchaali could have held about
the entire epic. Starting from the story of birth of Panchaali and her brother
Dhrishtadyumna, the book covers the important parts of Mahabharata like how
panchaali grew up, how her fate brought her five husbands, how her first encounter
with Karna modified her reaction towards various situations involving Karna, how
she and her husbands were refused their right in their kingdom, how they made a
new world in a no mans land, and how they were tricked into trouble, then finally
how the war was fought. The book also covers briefly what happens after the war is
over and how Yudhishthir hands over the kingdom to Parikshit and moved in pursuit
of Heaven with his brothers and Panchaali.

My Review on the book

The book is definitely written to be presented with the hype of being something
presented in a first ever way of looking at Mahabharata. Although, this is not the
first book of this genre but it serves as the only book available to beginners and the
way it was publicised and praised was definitely a successful attempt by an
accomplished author to make money and captivate young readers.
The first thing one notices about the book is the titles like blue, silk, milk, fire etc. All
these titles are in no way related to the story of Mahabharata but the beauty with
which author relates it to the story removes all the discomforts that might possibly
arise with the reader.
The story is not an account of Mahabharata, nor is it an attempt to re-tell
Mahabharata in a way to re-interpret it in a way that contradicts the existing
interpretations. This could have been admittedly a source of controversy and
thereby increased the sales of the book. More than anything else the book seems
to be an attempt to chalk out the position of women in a patriarch society and give
an account of the sufferings that they had to face in such a society. The book speaks
of instances when women were treated like objects in such a society. It is a
comment on the form of society more than it is a comment on the religious aspects
of the epic.
The book is basically a Draupadi centric view of Mahabharata which is the reason
why the nobler aspects of the characters of the kauravas have not been mentioned
and some incidents that could support Duryodhana have been skipped. One of them
is the night when Arjuna reminds Duryodhana of a favour promised by Duryodhana
to Arjuna and Duryodhana offers to cease the war but Arjuna demands
Duryodhanas crown from him and is granted the same.

The story translates by means of stories, dreams and conversations. It is made to

appear like a first-hand experience of Draupadi- even in the situations when
Draupadi was not present.
The book also stands the test of doing justice to the greatest epic ever. It is my
personal opinion that the concerned epic is one of the most respected in the world
because every character in the story was justified in his/her actions and every
character evil of innocent is admirable. The strength of each character, be it one of
the Pandavas, Duryodhana, Karna, Krishna, Dhrupad, Shikhandi, Kunti, Shakuni,
Ashwathhama, Dronachaarya or Abhimanyu, is enough to overpower even the story
itself. This book aptly mentions the characteristics, limitations and determination of
every character that it encounters along its flow.
The Character representation of Dhrishtadyumna is something I have read for the
first time. The manner in which he is shown to be an idealistic son, with a clear
objective is apt for the priority he has in the story. His character development part
of the story is linked to incidents happening in Dhrupads life and therefore the two
appear to be entwined in most of the qualities. The characters which are given
considerable importance other than him are- Draupadi occupying the first place,
Karna and Krishna sharing the second place and the pandavas and Kunti sharing the
third place.
There is one comment by the teacher of Dhrishtadyumna that provokes a thought in
me. This is not an issue in the book but, may be because I am always out to eye
something about the philosophy of education so it appeals to my mind more than it
does to others and I must mention it here. It is that the education system in those
days was designed to instil values in the pupils and was meant to be put to use and
not to rust, unlike the present education system where all knowledge you get about
literature gets apparently wasted because you work in the name of science. This is
a great insult for the knowledge of literature and humanities that these are being
seen as ways to fetch marks and improve their grades.
An uncommon thing to be noticed and appreciated is the guilt expressed by
Shikhandi in a conversation with Draupadi. He mentions to Draupadi that however
pure his revenge might appear to the world, it is a sin to slay the greatest warrior of
ones time. Moreover, Bheeshma happened to be the guardian of entire Hastinapur
dynasty. His death will be a setback for the society and it will take the universe one
lifetime to produce one more like him.
Being a Draupadi centric view of Mahabharata, the story is not convergent but
divergent. Every story begins with Draupadi reaches another character and comes
back to Draupadi. Then it moves to yet another character and again comes back to
Draupadi. In the end it still appears to leave the reader with no abstract idea of
what exactly was being portrayed as the central issue and any careful reader might
identify multiple issues that serve the purpose. One of this is the love of Draupadi
for Karna.
Karna has been brought out as somebody who is a fiercely warrior, is a man of his
word, has self-respect is committed to his friend, is strong in character, does not
indulge himself in wrong doing, is very generous and all this after having the worst
fate in the tale. Towards the end, he is less respected and more pitied as somebody

who has learnt to hide his pain. There could have been so many ways to look at
Karna but Draupadi turns herself inside out for Karna. She tells how she at first more
than admired Karna more than even the Pandavas or Duryodhana but had to insult
him in their very first interaction. Still there was a silent love that did express itself
to Draupadi but Draupadi seldom let it flow out of her face or mouth. Draupadi, after
knowing about Karnas past started pitying him and had a sense of understanding of
the fact that why Karna was the way he was. Draupadi had a very strong crush on
Karna. The episode after Karnas death magnifies this love. The visualisation of
Karnas soul that is said to encircle the battlefield and pay a visit to the crying
Draupadi confirms that Karna also acknowledged Draupadis love for him. It is my
personal belief that you avoid something only in one of the two cases- either you
hate it or you are obsessed with it but also understand that it is unachievable. With
Karna avoiding Draupadi, it was essentially the latter case.
Though the book is a successful attempt, I must mention some of the similar works
in Hindi literature that I have read. One of them is Vayam Rakshamah by Acharya
Chatursen that corners the paradigm and breaks out of it to see the evolution of
Ravana and the various factors that are involved in his character building process.
Yet another book is Main bheeshma bol raha hun by the same author. It views
Mahabharata from the point of view of Devwrat (Piataamah Bheeshma) and
critically analyses the actions taken by the various characters. One similar book is
Shivaji sawants Mrityunjay, which is the biography of Karna as viewed by Karna
himself, Kunti, Krishna, Duryodhana, Karnas wife, and Draupadi. All these books
produce more effect with respect to the necessity of bringing out the qualities of the
characters. This book Palace of Illusions, compared to the others that have been
mentioned above, nothing in terms of the effect it has on some voracious reader,
especially a reader of such taste. The reason it still catches the readers attention is
that it has a strong feminist psychology working in the background.
The author has seen the life of women in India and in U.S and may be some more
places and hence she could figure out the differences and sufferings that women
have adapted to. Her bringing up and her present life are both involved in the story
and those have contributed to the book much more than the scripts that she must
have read before writing this book. In this regard, I claim that this is an original
work of the author and is not inspired by anything else but her own understanding
of the matter. She has appropriately set the present day world into Mahabharata
and gives a silent yet bold message to the reader.
I enjoyed reading the book and I also admit that if I had read fewer books than I
actually have read, this could have been one of my Cant live without books.