The Palace of Illusions

Mahabharata from Draupdi's point of view. CBD (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni) does stick to facts, however, doesn't hesitate to add a few of her own. Which makes the book interesting and scandalous at the same time. :)

Language is fluid, doesn't take very long to sail through the book. Book is out and out about How Draupadi led her life, what were her intentions or motivations behind her choices. :) ( )

Started out awesome, but I gradually lost interest as it went on -- I'm missing about 90% of what Divakaruni is trying to do by dint of my unfamiliarity with the source texts she's working with, and felt kind of frustrated by the 20/20 hindsight that kept appearing ("If I had know what terrible things would happen, I would have behaved like a decent person for once in my life!").

Must come back to this when I have read more Indian legends. ( )

This novel retells the story of the Indian epic The Mahabharat from the perspective of Panchaali, a princess born in fire who marries five brothers and whose actions spur her husbands and relatives toward war. Panchaali makes a great heroine, who experiences life's joys and misfortunes, and who harbors a secret passion for her husbands' greatest enemy. Invoking a fresh and magical atmosphere, The Palace of Illusions is both legendary and contemporary. ( )

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is unlike any book I've read before.. It begins with the main character and her brother being born in fire in a religious ceremony, with it foretold that she will change the course of history, and he will avenge their royal father. Had I picked up (on Richard's recommendation) a fantasy, or a romance, or some hybrid creation?

Nope. This novel is derived from the Indian epic The Mahabharata, and has a vast scope that Homer would have enjoyed. The author has prized loose the female story threads from the epic and rewoven them into a compelling novel. Although there are many fantastic occurrences along the way, the story is driven by basic human urges - love, ambition, pride, vengeance and resistance to oppression. Princess Panchaali will not be treated as a dependent girl, and mostly successfully insists on receiving a man's education like her brother Dhri. Over time she'll prove the cleverest and most dominating of them all, save perhaps for the divine incarnation Krishna, who cajoles and criticizes her, in a kind way, from a loftier perspective. She increasingly realizes how important his presence is to her, and I always found his appearances in the book uplifting, too.

Important promises are made and broken, a kingdom is stolen by trickery and through weakness, and vengeance is sworn. Panchaali improbably is married to five husbands at once, as is foretold, and finds her way to the dream-like Palace of Illusions created in the desert, beautifully described by the author. Some who are high are brought low, and fight to regain what they had lost. Panchaali balances her own thirsts for revenge with her obligations to her husbands and her people, and struggles with exchanging her ardor and anger for the more tranquil and far-reaching views provided by Krishna. She has a strong voice and develops a prickly reputation because of it. Like a reverse Helen of Troy, her curse on the unrighteous may lead to a massive war. The fight will not be over the beauty of Panchaali, but over the truth and irresistibility of her anger.

Yet we believe in and follow Panchaali for smaller reasons provided by the author - her thwarted love for another, her struggles with male oppression and court politics, her sense of honor, her love for the beautiful palace, her wisdom when faced with difficulty, her recognition of her faults.

"The princess who longed for acceptance, the guilty girl whose heart wouldn't listen, the wife who balanced her fivefold role precariously, the rebellious daughter-in-law, the queen who ruled in the most magical of palaces, the distracted mother, the beloved companion of Krishna, who refused to learn the lessons he offered, the woman obsessed with vengeance - none of them were the true Panchaali.

If not, who was I?"

I was caught up in the same question. And the question of how Panchaali fit within the ethical and religious threads of The Mahabharata woven through the story. Like Homer's Greek poems, this is a brave and bloody story. As epic battles rage, who are the real winners and losers? The finale of the book brings it all into a buoyant and beautifully rendered perspective that flat knocked me out. ( )

I enjoyed reading this novel based on the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. The book is written from the point of view of Draupadi (daughter of Drupad), also referred to as Panchaali. So, it is a distinctive women's story that remains fairly faithful to the original. Panchaali is central to the epic, as she is the wife of all the five Pandava brothers, Yudhisthir (Yudhisthira), Bheem (Bhima), Arjun (Arjuna), Nakul (Nakula), Sahadev (Sahadeva). Note, the names in parentheses are the more common English renditions of the Sanskrit names. We are taken through her young life, the oddness of her multiple marriage situation, the dispute with the Kauravas (actually somewhat distant relatives) that leads to banishment of the Pandavas, but ultimately to a war whose worth is questioned. Panchaali's relationship with Krishna is explored -- the god-man who pops in and out of the picture almost in a trickster fashion, but whose philosophy is core to much in Hinduism. I think the ending of the book lends greater finesse to the orginal story as I had observed in the Peter Brooks film of a number of years ago. This was an engrossing read. ( )