Published Online:September 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJES050925
DOI:10.71329/IUPJES/2025.20.3.47-60
Author Name:Suchitra Rani Mahato, Rajiv Bhushan and Maninder Kapoor
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Arts and Humanities
Download Format:PDF
Pages:47-60
The Mahabharata is a tale often told, and each time it is told, the perspective shifts. The proof of the tale lies in the telling. Who is telling the tale often makes a drastic difference. Divakaruni makes Draupadi tell the tale in her novel The Palace of Illusions. This paper examines the shifts in perspective when Divakaruni gives Draupadi the voice of the narrator in the novel. Divakaruni very skillfully persuades her readers into acknowledging the need for a strong female voice to burst the bubble of patriarchy. Divakaruni’s Draupadi is not a passive puppet in somebody else’s story, but an active participant who crafts her own destiny. She blasts the patriarchal bastion to topple cultural stereotypes and exult in the resultant dramatic reversal of gender roles. The paper traces the painful growth and development of a distinct female identity through the defiant rebellion of the protagonist. Draupadi’s protest transcends time and space to become the voice of all women. She raises certain potent gender issues that are as relevant today as they were in the past. Patriarchy does not let go of its stranglehold and every generation creates its own Draupadi.
The Mahabharata is considered the defining principle of our day-to-day life. “Mahabharata” is the largest epic of India, eight times as long as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey put together. The authorship of the Mahabharata is traditionally attributed to Veda Vyasa, who dictated the verses to Lord Ganesha.