Here we go another book of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, though I saw the author of the book after picking the book up because, to be truthful I was attracted by the cover and the description of the book.
From my childhood days the stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata were always coming back to me be it in the form of movies, or tales by my mother or grandmother or books to a most extent.In all these sources the Mahabharata was always said as the life of the Pandavas and Kauravas.So why am I saying this about this book, there is one line on the cover that caught my attention in this book "PANCHAALI'S MAHABHARAT".
The Mahabharata is as much as Panchaali's as much and in fact in my opinion more that either the Kauravas or the Pandavas.As rightly said in this book by the author (although indirectly through the sage Vyasa) Mahabharata is nothing but events caused by the three mistakes or rather shall we say three choices made by draupadhi at different times in her life.
Another interesting aspect to this book is that the author writes it as the narration by draupadhi, which enabled here to describe the Mahabharata from a interesting and hitherto ignored angle 'Panchaali's'.Credit here must be given to the author for remaining true to the facts albeit trying something different.She starts of the story with the birth of draupadhi and her brother Dhristadyumma but not directly, instead as a story told by her nanny to draupadhi.This allowed the author to capture the thoughts of draupadhi and also give an idea of the reason behind the birth of these siblings.
From being born of the sacrificial fire (thus her beautiful name 'Yajnaseni', though the author doesn't use it, preferring 'Panchali'), to her strange, lonely childhood, her tricky marriage to five men with a persecution problem and a control freak mother, her own, lovely home at last, and then the unbelievable traumas that follow that nobody should have to go through.Having her home, freedom and honor gambled away, almost stripped in public, her terrible life of hiding, servitude, evading assault and finally, the grim justice of war and a lonely death falling off a mountain track.
Credit must also be give for the effort put when etching out the different characters, their complex persona's, egos and much more importantly their connection with draupathi.There is also mention of the hitherto unknown characters (to most readers) in the Mahabharata like Sikhandi, Duryodhana's wife etc, these characters might have been heard of but were always limited to the most important role they fulfill in Mahabharata.Also extreme care has been taken in dealing with the more popular ones and their relationship with draupadhi like Bheeshma and more importantly Krishna.
There is nothing much in the story that one does not know but for a few interesting or shall I say creations by the author, like who loves draupti the most.Also while reading a few chapters I got the feeling that I had read something exactly similar but not in English but some regional language (mostly Telugu though...)and the author had exactly translated word to word.But saying that we can also ignore it as this is an epic that most have grown up listening to and maybe if we too sit down to tell it in our words we are bound to be influenced albeit unknowingly by many of them who tried to tell the tale before us.
But as a final word on the book would say that this falls into the category of books when after reading I have no specific opinion as such, but lets just say it was something I got to read, this maybe not so with others but again that was just what I felt on completing the book , even now about a year and half after I read the book.
The Mahabharata is as much as Panchaali's as much and in fact in my opinion more that either the Kauravas or the Pandavas.As rightly said in this book by the author (although indirectly through the sage Vyasa) Mahabharata is nothing but events caused by the three mistakes or rather shall we say three choices made by draupadhi at different times in her life.
Another interesting aspect to this book is that the author writes it as the narration by draupadhi, which enabled here to describe the Mahabharata from a interesting and hitherto ignored angle 'Panchaali's'.Credit here must be given to the author for remaining true to the facts albeit trying something different.She starts of the story with the birth of draupadhi and her brother Dhristadyumma but not directly, instead as a story told by her nanny to draupadhi.This allowed the author to capture the thoughts of draupadhi and also give an idea of the reason behind the birth of these siblings.
From being born of the sacrificial fire (thus her beautiful name 'Yajnaseni', though the author doesn't use it, preferring 'Panchali'), to her strange, lonely childhood, her tricky marriage to five men with a persecution problem and a control freak mother, her own, lovely home at last, and then the unbelievable traumas that follow that nobody should have to go through.Having her home, freedom and honor gambled away, almost stripped in public, her terrible life of hiding, servitude, evading assault and finally, the grim justice of war and a lonely death falling off a mountain track.
Credit must also be give for the effort put when etching out the different characters, their complex persona's, egos and much more importantly their connection with draupathi.There is also mention of the hitherto unknown characters (to most readers) in the Mahabharata like Sikhandi, Duryodhana's wife etc, these characters might have been heard of but were always limited to the most important role they fulfill in Mahabharata.Also extreme care has been taken in dealing with the more popular ones and their relationship with draupadhi like Bheeshma and more importantly Krishna.
There is nothing much in the story that one does not know but for a few interesting or shall I say creations by the author, like who loves draupti the most.Also while reading a few chapters I got the feeling that I had read something exactly similar but not in English but some regional language (mostly Telugu though...)and the author had exactly translated word to word.But saying that we can also ignore it as this is an epic that most have grown up listening to and maybe if we too sit down to tell it in our words we are bound to be influenced albeit unknowingly by many of them who tried to tell the tale before us.
But as a final word on the book would say that this falls into the category of books when after reading I have no specific opinion as such, but lets just say it was something I got to read, this maybe not so with others but again that was just what I felt on completing the book , even now about a year and half after I read the book.
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