The Palace Of Illusions : A Short Review

"Wait for a man to avenge your honor and you will wait forever."

     As talked about character as Draupadi has been through time, the character justifies being rightly so. The book takes it's readers not only through the different layers of the protagonist's character, but also instigates them to take a dig into who I felt one of the bravest and most tragic heroes of all time, Karna. Draupadi, under the name of Panchaali ( after being born from the fire in the great land of Panchaal ) narrates her tale : experiences, fantasies, prides, flaws, insecurities, lovers, desire, and above all, vengeance.

     Divakaruni intricately carves out the layers of incidents one after the other through dreams, flashbacks, verbal stories, scripture references and primarily, through Panchaali's experiences. She narrates her rebellious childhood, warm relationship with her brother and Dhai Ma, foreseen marriage, relationship with her five husbands, her attraction towards Karna and her relationship with the ever mystifying Krishna.

     The book begins with her childhood, when she falls prey to the male dominated society and extreme code and restrictions on women. She proves to be a red mark against the black and white background of the society; a rebel;  trying to break through the barriers set by the society.In spite of all these, she gets married to Arjun, and eventually also to his four brothers, the great warrior, in a swayamvar arranged by her father, a tragic one though. And then one event leads to the other, eventually leading to the most destructive and malicious battle ever fought in the history of Bharat, the Kurukshetra war.

     What appealed to me the most about the book were the constant intervention of  the great Krishna with his ever wise words about the world and it's ways whenever Panchaali was in need, minute description of the protagonist's encounter with each character providing the reader enough liberty to analyse the characters in depth, and finally a sense of personal relatabilty to the ideas of the protagonists. Yes, there is both a Arjun and a Duryodhan in all of us.

     Whether it's the description of the magnificent titular Palace of Illusions, or the horrific imagery of the land and people after the gorious war, the reader lives through the events of the timeless Mahabharata all over again, from a fresh perspective.

     It is said that the qualities which were distributed among the five Pandavas, that is, Yudhishtir's righteousness, Arjun's unbeatable archery skills, Bheem's physical strength, Nakul's good looks and Sahadev's intelligence, were all clubbed in only and possibly one person, Karna. I wonder what would have happened if Karna would have been allowed to compete in Draupadi's swayamvar. Maybe history would have changed it's course, a task too dauntless for the protagonist to take responsibility of.

     But as they say, Mahabharat is not the story of the Pandavas' revenge from the Kauravas, it's that of Draupadi's.

                 "The humor of the Gods is cruel; or they see more than we do."