‘Unhappiness, like happiness is ephemeral. Don’t enable both to rule your coronary heart’

The story of the Mahabharat is the story of valor, energy, humiliation, and justice. That is what now we have grown up listening to. However Ira Mukhoty paints a special, relatable, and mortal portray of the epic by her e book – Tune of Draupadi.

In contrast to some other illustration of the epic, the e book has no VFX. No tales of gods, goddesses, and demons fill within the pages. Superstitions and tales of spirits, occult and black magic exists; however aren’t these lifelike perceptions of the society? It offers a rational notion of the births of 100 kids or the Pandavas, considered God’s boon or Draupadi, who emerges from the hearth. What’s most fascinating is the narrative concentrate on the ladies characters and their actions. Breaking the shackles of a patriarchal narration and presenting a feminist perspective makes Tune of Draupadi unforgettable.

Apparently, every character drowns of their share of sorrows and acts accordingly, including as much as the Nice Struggle. Their need to flee the present scenario quantities to selections that stamp their lives ceaselessly. Ganga’s childhood is minimize quick attributable to her marriage to King Shantanu. Her tribal customs turn into a mismatch for the Royal Chambers and she or he is equally not able to mom kids and but have many. Unable to bear herself trapped, she abandons her solely surviving son to the King and deserts them ceaselessly which leaves a deep scar in Devwrat’s soul, making him uncomfortable within the presence of ladies he meets thereafter. Satyawati, then again, searches for shrewd escapism from her smelly fishermen’s hamlet. Not devoid of ambition both, when she finds King Shantanu besotted by her magnificence, she grabs the chance to proceed the Fisherman’s clan as an alternative of the unique Kuru clan.

The Kashi sisters, Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika appear to be essentially the most distressed ladies within the epic. Whereas Ambika and Ambalika quietly resort to their destiny and marry a dying prince; Amba seeks revenge for being turned down by her lover and kidnapped from her personal Swayamvar. Whereas Gandhari is tricked into marrying the blind prince and seen as an object that will assist Dritarashtra see the world, she seeks revenge by protecting up her personal eyes ceaselessly. Kunti, herself an deserted baby, hides her pre-marital motherhood and abandons her firstborn. She later moms all 5 kids of Pandu and makes use of political wit and technique to maneuver them; the best one being sharing Draupadi among the many 5 husbands. Lastly, Draupadi herself burns with the hearth of revenge and the lack of her 5 revered husbands to guard her honor.

The robust selections taken by the ladies of the epic affect the acts of the boys. Whereas Devwrat disintegrates right into a silent spectator in his personal Kingdom, Dritarashtra turns into engulfed in fatherly love which makes him really blind to his sons’ actions. Whereas Yudhishthira abides by legal guidelines and rules and refuses to make use of discretion, Bheema takes horrible vows throughout Draupadi’s humiliation. Arjuna is aware of Draupadi’s emotions in the direction of him however by no means reciprocates in its entirety. Nakul and Sahadev, being the youngest, typically discover themselves overshadowed by their three brothers.

Tune of Draupadi stands on three pillars – discovering one’s objective in life, the tales of castaways, and the sorrows behind the large and egoistic façade of life. Whereas most males within the story have an outlined objective together with Drishtadyumna who was to take revenge on Guru Drona, Draupadi by no means had an outlined objective in life. Her seek for life’s objective is commonly limitless.

The novel is stuffed with tales of castaways on their very own phrases. Bheeshma is deserted by his mom, Satyawati is mocked for being of low caste and a fisherman’s daughter, Gandhari is taken in from the faraway kingdom of Gandhar the place Bharat was alien to her and her choice to blindfold herself restricted her involvement within the Kingdom, Amba is turned away, Karn is given up and even Draupadi by no means receives the love that she feels for Arjun. She additionally has to endure humiliation and take refuge within the forests and different kingdoms. The Pandavas had been born on the hermitage and had been by no means actually accepted by their cousins within the Palace.

Furthermore, each character, outstanding or small, King and princes or Queens and Princesses are in the end lonely of their lives past the façade of royalty. Most ladies have short-lived marriages. Draupadi is subjected to polygamy. She couldn’t even get to know her sons. Uttara misplaced her husband inside days of marriage. Duryodhan’s insecurity concerning his cousins offers him no peace.

A retrospective story of the world, Tune of Draupadi makes the readers ponder as Duryodhana says to Yudhisthir ‘Which considered one of us is admittedly the winner? Yudhisthir!‘. Whereas mythology glorifies the Pandavas, this rather more sensible story makes one ponder whether all about them is as pure as it’s staged. It tells that each man and girl have their very own vices, insecurity, need, and ambition and that’s what makes the Epic worldly, to be present in each particular person’s story. The female perspective can be fascinating. One can argue that literary works like The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni or The Fisher Queen’s Dynasty by Kavita Kane additionally give a female perspective. However they cope with both Draupadi or Satyawati’s views alone, and this narrative clearly specifies that nobody perspective is ever right. Every has its personal rationale and affect.

No. of Pages: 287

Writer: Aleph Book Company

Availability: Amazon / Flipkart

Bought from: Instagram Unhaul