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The Palace of Illusions - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

[Image Courtesy : Amazon]
Any story on Mahabarata will keep readers engaged even after a million years. No wonder people call it as the greatest ever epic. Half the battle is won just with the premise of Mahabarata by Chitra. 

Do we know Draupadi enough? Did she face a neglected childhood like the hidden Pandava Karna? What did she feel when she denied Karna the right to participate in her wedding? Whom among her 5 husbands did Draupadi love more? Did Draupadi love Arjuna more than the other Pandavas? Did Pandavas really love Draupadi? Was she longing for unconditional love all her life even after marrying 5 husbands at the same time? Did anyone ever love Draupadi unconditionally ? What are the other problems did she encounter just because of her gender? 

The book does not try to just answer the above questions but also poses new questions like below. What is more important? Happiness of your loved ones or Dharma? Can money and comfortable life make everyone happy? If so, why did Draupadi not feel happy in the Palace of Illusions and happy in the forest? Did women are more strong mentally than men? What is it like to being grown as neglected child? How much destruction can anger and vengeance can cause to the world?

Chitra brings in a completely different personality of Draupadi to the readers and she has succeeded in transporting ourselves to the period of Mahabarata. She also make us empathize with the feeling of the Draupadi and take us through various emotions, vulnerabilities and decisions that she takes during her life. There are lot of topics handled with admirable care and sensitivity without hurting the sentiments of the crores of people following Hinduism. 

Well, There are also portions of the book that I didn’t like as well. The entire relationship between Kunti and Draupadi is reduced to a petty quarrel between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. There is too much emphasis and space given to Draupadi’s feeling towards Karna even after the latter’s comment on the former in Duryondhan courtyard. 


As a reader, you might like this book, the most or you might even hate the most. You might like the book today and think what the hell does Chitra has written tomorrow? Having said that, I normally finish a review with a rating out of 5. However, this time I have decided not to rate this as this work needs to be experienced by everyone

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