Proceedings of Research Papers Presented At The National Research Seminar In English On
“Widening Canvas Of Literature” Held On 03rd And 04th December, 2015
Palace of Illusions: A Tale of True Love
By: Dr. Roshan Benjamin Khan
Professor in English (Dept of English)
S.A.B.V.Govt. Arts and Commerce College
Indore (M.P) India
Abstract
Palace of illusion is a novel narrated by protagonist Draupadi, queen of five Pandava’s and
daughter of Drupada. This novel is journey through the heart of Draupadi where the conflict
between her faithfulness towards each of husband and the love of her life Karan wages a war.
She is unable to consummate her marriage with the Pandavas spiritually .She is unable to
forget her love for Karna inspite of the humiliations and the insults which Karna heaps on her
at the court of Hastinapur after Yudhistira loses her in the game of dice . Karna suggests that
she be stripped of her clothes and ornaments as he takes this opportunity to get even with her
.Draupadi had insulted Karna when he had tried to win her hand at the swayamvara .But true
love overcomes hatred and the insults piled on oneself by one’s beloved are soon forgotten.
Unable to accept her love for Karna in public Draupadi joins him in an eternal journey of
souls.
Key Words: Yajna, Feminine emotions, swayamvara, secretly reciprocates insulted, divine
illumination.
The
Palace of Illusions, a novel based on the tale of the
Mahabharata which is an ancient epic tale of war and gore is given a hue of feminine
emotions of tender and faithful love through Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee’s innovative
characterization of Draupadi . Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas and the daughter of King
Drupada , the ruler of the northern Indian kingdom of Panchaala, becomes the narrative
voice in the restorative fiction which brings back the tales of ancient India to life in the
twenty first century .Draupadi is an unusual woman ,born out of the sacrificial fire that had
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actually been a religious ceremony to appease the Gods as King Drupada wanted the Gods to
bless him with a son .King Drupada the ruler of Panchaala was perturbed by the strength of
the Pandavas after Arjuna , a Pandava prince renowned for his skilled archery and valor
defeated him in a war .There was another reason for his despair over this defeat . Arjuna
had been trained by Drona who had been a friend of King Drupad . Drupad had promised
Drona that he would give divide his kingdom to give away an equal half to him when he
came upon the power to do so but went back on his words when the moment to fulfill the
promise presented itself . Drona snatched away half the kingdom from Paanchal
by force
using Arjun .In order to enable him to deal with the strength of Drona by taking revenge on
him King Drupad performed a yajna to attain a son .Out of this fire was born not only his son
Dhrishtadyumna but also the dark beauty Panchaali or Yajanaseni or the beautiful Draupadi .
As years pass Draupadi grows up to be a beautiful woman .A swayamvara is
conducted to enable her to marry a suitable man. Drauapadi while being shown the portraits
of various princes who would be attending the swayamvara ceremony where they would be
assessed by having to pierce a fish’s eye by looking at its reflection, happens to take a liking
to Karna .But unfortunately she is dissuaded by her friend Krishna and due to an argument
that occurs between her brother and Karna on the day of the swayamvara. Karna is insulted
by Draupadi and her brother. But Draupadi in spite of herself has given away her heart to
Karna .Later during the swayamvara, Arjuna who is in hiding along with his brothers, wins
her hand at the swayamvara ,disguised as a Brahmin .But it is only the body that is bound by
laws of the world ,the heart has its own will .Draupadi cannot conquer her love for Karna
,inspite of having to be the wife to all the five Pandavas .She cannot love any of her
husbands and none of her husband’s love her as faithfully as Karna .Draupadi ‘s words to the
reader give an insight into the internal conflict that Draupadi is struggling with,“I finally
faced the truth: what I wanted –even if it was only an admiring glance from Karna –was
sinful .Was I not married five times over –worse, to men with whom Karna was at enmity?”1
Draupadi though she is faithful to the Pandavas is unable to inculcate faithfulness in them.
She live in a Palace of Illusions literally and figuratively .She is unable to consummate her
marriage with the Pandavas spiritually .She is unable to forget her love for Karna inspite of
the humiliations and the insults which Karna heaps on her at the court of Hastinapur after
Yudhistira loses her in the game of dice . Karna suggests that she be stripped of her clothes
and ornaments as he takes this opportunity to get even with her .Draupadi had insulted Karna
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when he had tried to win her hand at the swayamvara .But true love overcomes hatred and the
insults piled on oneself by one’s beloved are soon forgotten. Even when Draupadi is married
to the Pandavas in the initial years of her married life this is the state of her mind as she
confesses to the reader, “I confess in spite of the vows I made each day to forget Karna ,to
be a better wife to the Pandavas ,I longed to see him again .Each time I entered a room ,I
glanced up under my veil –I couldn’t stop myself –hoping he was there.It was foolish .If he
had been present ,surely he would have turned away ,my insult still a fresh gash in his mind .
I eavesdropped shamelessly on the maids, trying to discover his whereabouts .On the verge of
asking Dhai Ma to find out where he had disappeared …”2
However it is not Draupadi alone who is burning with passion .Karna secretly reciprocates
her passion as one learns when he confesses to Bhishma about his love for Draupadi during
the battle of Mahabharata .They do not need the handcuffs of marriage to remain faithful to
each other .Ironically marriage does not enable her or the Pandavas to remain faithful to each
other. All the Pandavas indulge in bigamy and Draupadi is never the win of their hearts and
neither can they own her heart .But Karna rules Draupadi’s heart even after her marriage to
the Pandavas .Karna endures all the hardships that Draupadi faces while living in the forest
with her husbands and even thinks of bringing her back with him to marry her .He is even
tempted when Kunti offers her daughter –in –law Draupadi to him ,to be dissuaded from
fighting a battle with the Pandavas .But unfortunately true love is a fire that burns two souls
into liquid gold .Karna’s confession to Bhishma who is lying on a bed of arrows presents a
heart full of love inspite of never having received the respect ,the lust and the duties that the
Pandavas have enjoyed in Drupadi’s role as a wife .Says Karna, “But worst still is this : even
knowing what I know ,I desire her !I can’t forget her shining haughty face at the swayamvar
ah how many years has it been ?All this time I told myself ,I hated her for humiliating me
worse than anyone else had done .That I wanted revenge .But I was only fooling myself
.When Dusshasan started pulling at her sari ,I couldn’t bear it .I wanted to knock him down .I
wanted to knock to shield her from stares .The twelve years she was in the forest ,I too ,slept
on the ground sinking of her discomfort how many times I started to go to her ,to beg her to
come away with me ,to be my queen. But I knew it was hopeless .She was completely loyal
to her husbands .My words would only disgust her.”3
It is only at the end of the novel that Karna and Draupadi are united in love and through their
true love they attain their union with God. The novel ends with this beautiful moment in
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Draupadi’s life when Draupadi leaves her mortal life behind and attains union with Krishna
and Karna, “Krishna touches my hand .If you can call it a hand, these pin pricks of light that
are newly coalescing into the shape of fingers and palm .At his touch something breaks the
chain that was tied to the woman’s shape crumpled on the snow below .I am buoyant and
expansive and uncontainable –but I was always so, only I never knew it! I am beyond name
and gender and the inspiring patterns of ego .And I am for the first time, I am truly Paanchali
.I reach with my other hand for Karna –how surprisingly solid in his clasp! Above us our
palace waits the only one I ever needed .Its walls are space, its floor is the sky, its centre
everywhere .We rise .The shapes cluster around us in welcome, dissolving, forming and
dissolving again like flies in a summer evening.”4
Each word in this passage that ends the novel is in descent with the Indian concept that true
love is eternal and it is only through true love that one can attain union with the Divine. Love
in the ancient Indian philosophy has been a union of souls and the, union of lovers is the
moment when Divinity is attained and a connection with the divine presence can be
established. The union of two different worlds in the lovers’ souls leads to a divine
illumination which dissolves all the illusions of the mortal world and the lovers are lifted
higher than the mortals and levitate in a moment of immortality and celestial ambience .The
Hindu philosophy has always celebrated the love of man and woman as the path to divinity.
Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee turns a tale of war into a tale of platonic love between Karna and
Draupadi .The concept of true love breaks away from the illusions of the world in the novel
by Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee .Marriage, vows, sexual intimacy, duties and social pressure
are illusions that keep a marriage alive but true love flowers in wilderness .This is the biggest
lesson one derives from Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee’s novel The Palace of Illusions.
Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee gives a new meaning to the epic Mahabharata by turning into a
battle of duties and the heart .This novel is more a tale of love than war though the original
story which inspired this novel focuses on the valour, revenge, martyrdom the battlefield.
Citra Divakaruni Banerjee transforms a male dominated narrative very skillfully to a
narrative which continues in the soft velvety voice of a woman reverberating with strong
emotions focusing on immortal love which like God does not need a form to be accepted but
exists everywhere. The love that Draupadi has for Karna is pure and free. Expectations and
disappointments do not weigh the love down. Karna the brave warrior remains unmarried all
throughout his life .Draupadi remains a spiritual virgin which is symbolically depicted by the
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boon she has been given that at the end of her term of physical relationship with each of her
five husbands she will emerge a virgin. The boon represents her detachment to her marriage
to the five Pandavas which is full of duties and obligations for both the husbands and wife
.But Karna apparently seems to be indifferent to her but ironically is much more in love with
her than he wants to admit to himself and Draupadi .Draupadi’s Palace of illusions is
certainly a representative of the state of existence that he is in. She is under an illusion that
her marriage is a recourse for her but unfortunately it is her marriage to the Pandavas that
draws into a tunnel of humiliations and miserable life .After Arjuna wins her at a swayamvara
,the very name suggesting bridegroom by one’s own choice ,Draupadi is taken away to the
forest where by a cunning twist of fate ,Draupadi becomes the wife of all the five Pandavas
.Perplexed by the first irony of fate ,she has some more to deal with .She has to cook like a
common woman in the forest ,do menial jobs in the house an inspite of all the sacrifices she
has undergone for the sake of the Pandavas , none of the Pandavas are able to save her when
Duryodhana and Dusshasan humiliate her at the court of Hastinapur. Karna participates in
the cruelty that is meted out to her but she is able to forgive Karna when she comes to realize
his love for her.
The hue of Karna and Draupadi’s enigmatic love for each other colors the dark narrative of
Mahabharata with tender and ethereal emotions .Wikipedia’s description of the concept of
love as per Vedanta is an important, “Vedanta describes the mind as being composed of
sheaths or veils going from a gross awareness of self to a subtler awareness. Love - what we
call love - is a very complex emotion described by as a feeling of empathy or compassion.
The identification of one's self with others.”5When one examines the empathy that Draupadi
feels towards Karna when she hears of him having been abandoned by his mother, one does
come to realize that the beginning of love in Draupadi’s heart .Draupadi was not the motive
of the yajana out of which she was born .Her father wanted a son and Kunti, Karna’s mother
wanted to test a boon given to her by a sage. The unmarried Kunti abandoned her little child
for fear of social ostracism .It is this fact that pulls Draupadi more towards the social
underdog Karna .Drupada is also indifferent to Draupadi . He is a king and therefore he is
able to give the privileges of a princess to Draupadi .But he is certainly not able to be as
much as a father to Draupadi as he is to Dhrishtadyumna . It is this
between Karna and Draupadi
point of empathy
that is described thus: “We’d both been victims of parental
rejection…”6
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Love is a conundrum ,an enigma even in an age of marvellous technology .Love is timeless
,ageless ,boundless .Love is like God formless ,immortal .The end of the novel is the focal
point as it describes the moment when Draupadi unites with God ,self and the beloved. The
union with God brings for her a moment of self –realisation and she is freed from the worldly
existence of illusions when she is freed from the captivity of her mortal form .The Palace of
Illusions is the mortal life of Draupadi where every relation is an illusion .Love is an illusion
and so is hatred . Draupadi not only deceives the world about her feelings for Karna but
herself as well. Once she achieves a realisation of herself, she meets her beloved Karna in an
eternal union, “A long time ago I’d asked Vyasa’s fire spirits, Will I find love? They’d
assured me I would .But they had lied! I’d gained glory, respect and fear, yes even
admiration .But where was love I’d longed for since I was a girl? Where was the person who
would accept me completely and cherish me with all my faults?”7
Ironically the person whom she had hurt the most was the only person who had accepted her
with all her faults, her pride and had loved her without even expecting even her love in
return. Games of the heart are puzzling. The love between Karna and Draupadi is the most
divine form of love .It withstood the distances between them physical and mental, it filled
their hearts with respect, sympathy and empathy for each other and their love was free form
duties and obligations to be fulfilled towards each other .They only loved each other because
they were in love and did not have to be in love as a duty towards each other and the world.
The novel
Palace of Illusions as narrated by Draupadi takes a new approach to the epic
tale of war .She merges the paradoxical battles of the heart and the battlefield to bring out a
masterpiece .In a world that is torn apart by caste and gender distinctions, where differences
lead to discrimination love unites two souls and the two souls revel in the suffering .For them
the pleasures of the world are a Palace of Illusions.
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Works Cited
1. Banerjee , Chitra Divakaruni . The Palace of Illusions. New York: The Double Day
Broadway Publishing Group,2008 . Print. P .185.
2. Banerjee , Chitra Divakaruni . The Palace of Illusions. New York: The Double Day
Broadway Publishing Group,2008 . Print. P. 130.
3. Banerjee , Chitra Divakaruni . The Palace of Illusions. New York: The Double Day
Broadway Publishing Group,2008 . Print. P.276
4. Banerjee , Chitra Divakaruni . The Palace of Illusions. New York: The Double Day
Broadway Publishing Group,2008 . Print. P. 360
5. Wikipedia. “Self-realization”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-realization .web . 14
November
2014 at 18:44.
6. Banerjee , Chitra Divakaruni . The Palace of Illusions. New York: The Double Day
Broadway Publishing Group,2008 . Print. P .78.
7. Banerjee , Chitra Divakaruni . The Palace of Illusions. New York: The Double Day
Broadway Publishing Group,2008 . Print. P. 351.
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