Book review - Palace of Illusions

Recently I laid my hands on the novel ‘Palace of Illusions’ by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Not having read the Mahabharata before, on which it is based on, I was apprehensive about reading this book. But once I started reading, it was very difficult to put down. It narrates the great epic Mahabharata in Draupadi’s voice, whom Divakaruni prefers to call Panchali. The novel traces Panchali’s life, beginning with her magical birth in fire as the daughter of a king before following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at the brothers’ sides through years of exile and a terrible civil war. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her stratagems to take over control of her household from her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husband’s most dangerous enemy. Panchali is a fiery female voice in a world of warriors, gods, and ever-manipulating hands of fate.

By looking at the Mahabharata from a feminist perspective, Divakaruni has given the epic a new dimension altogether. The characters have been very well etched out which makes the reader enter into a personal relationship with the characters where you hate some and you empathize with some. The myriad of relationships, their complexities, the love and hatred, power and passion, respect and revenge has been effectively captured in this work of fiction. In short, it is “a lyrical tale imbued with the scent of ancient incense yet rooted in modern day relevancy.”