The novel “Palace of Illusions” is written by the famous Indian-American author “Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni”. The book is a retelling of the great Indian epic Mahabharata from the point of view of Draupadi, also known as Panchali.
The Palace of Illusions By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Summary of The Palace of Illusions By Chitra Divakaruni
The story begins with the mysterious birth of Draupadi and her brother Dhi, who were born from the yagna of King Drupada. At Draupadi’s birth, Sage Vyasa prophesied that she was going to change the course of history. Draupadi was raised as a royal princess. She learned the 64 arts that a noble lady should be proficient in such as dancing, singing, writing, poetry and riddles, etc.
To marry off his daughter, King Drupada organized a magnificent swayamvara where all the princes and kings of India were invited, Panchali would choose her husband from among them. To be eligible to marry Draupadi, there is an archery competition, whoever wins the archery competition wins Panchali.
Lord Krishna is Draupadi’s best friend. In the book, Lord Krishna is shown as both a human and a god. During the competition, Draupadi asks Krishna who is the best archer in the kingdom and who can succeed. Lord Krishna replies that there are two people who can win this archery competition: Arjuna, son of the Pandavas, and Angaraja Karna, the best friend of the Kauravas.
When Karna comes forward to participate, Draupadi rejects him because of his caste. From that moment on, Karna becomes Draupadi’s archenemy. Arjuna marries Panchali, one of the Pandavas’ sons. Despite this, she falls in love with Angaraja Karna.
When Arjun comes home with Draupadi he says, look mother what we have brought for you, he is saying this for Draupadi, to which his mother says that whatever you have share it with all your brothers, thereby Draupadi gets married to all the five Pandava sons. In this way Draupadi becomes the wife of all the five Pandavas. But Veda Vyasa had made an arrangement that Draupadi will live with the same husband from the eldest to the youngest for one year.
After their Swayamvara, King Bhishma or Pitamah divided the kingdom between the cousins i.e. Pandavas and Kauravas. Pandavas were given such poor land. But with their hard work and patience, Pandavas built the finest and most beautiful city in the form of Indraprastha. The palace of Pandavas is quite illusory, for example, you see a floor, but it is not a floor, it may be water, you see a wall, but it is not a wall, it may be an illusion. Draupadi was very happy with her new palace, the palace of illusion.
As Duryodhan visits new palace, he was illusion by floor and fall into a water pool. Draupadi saw him falling into water and started laughing at him, she made a comment on him “a blind son of a blind father “ . Duryodhan felt insult and pledges to takes revenge from Draupadi and her five husbands.
After this incident Duryodhan’s mama, Shakuni arranges a gambling game in which Yudhisthira loses everything his beautiful palace, his brothers and his wife. As a result five Pandav brothers and their wife Draupadi are banished in forest for 12 years and they must spend their 13 years in exile. Throughout her exile, Draupadi main focus is to take revenge from Kauravas. She is one of the few women who has audacity to speak up and ask questions. She is represent as a powerful women.
During the 12 years the Pandavas prepare themselves for the Mahabharata war. During their 13 year exile Draupadi disguises herself as a maidservant of Queen Sudeshna, Arjuna disguises himself as one of the women teaching dance to Princess Uttara. Yudhishthira disguises himself as a court advisor to King Matsya. Nakula and Sahadeva get jobs working in the king’s barn and Bhima becomes a cook.
Finally at the end of their thirteenth year the time comes for the Pandavas to take revenge on the Kauravas. Arjuna gets a chance to kill Angaraja Karna, Bhima gets a chance to kill all 100 Kaurava sons. Draupadi’s close friends like Drupada, Dhira and Abhimanyu also die in the war. At the end of the war, Kunti tells her sons that their enemy is Karna, her eldest son and their elder brother.
The conclusion is that the souls of all those who died in the war like Duryodhana, Karna and Dushasan go to heaven. All the Kauravas got heaven because they all died as warriors on the battlefield. At the end of the story, when the Pandavas come to know about the death of Lord Krishna, they decide to die. The novel shows their going to the afterlife and Draupadi finally meets Radhe Karna.
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