Rewriting Gendered Narratives: A Comparative Reading of Chitra

Banerjee Divakaruni’s the Palace of Illusions and Kavitha Kane’s

Karna's Wife: The Outcast's Queen

Prathyaksh Janardhanan

Faculty of Business Administration, GLS University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Keywords: Gender, Agency, Narratives, Draupadi, Uruvi, Mahabharat.

Abstract: Gender has always sparked debatable narratives that may not be binary in nature in sociological and academic

discourse as a conceptual and epistemological construct. It is evidence of the necessity to continue these talks

and arguments that the category continues to ignite the ashes of resistance. Due to their genre-based palimpsest

narratives, Indian epics, which serve as the storehouse of stories, silence important voices from the macro

narratives of the text. Additionally, epics have primarily highlighted the achievements of men. The only role

for women in the epics is that of the muse, who provides the hero with courage and inspiration. In this sense,

the Draupadi character is anomalous. Furthermore, the discussion of voices of self articulation is sparked by

the title of Kavitha Kane's novel Karna's Wife: The Outcast's Queen. The tales told by the two ladies in the

Mahabharata—whose husbands were among the most celebrated yet star-crossed warriors of their era—

illustrate how their narratives rework their histories and so disrupt the epic's overarching macronarratives. In

order to demonstrate how alternative narratives as depicted in these novels aid in articulating a narrative voice

for the gendered subject, the paper attempts rewritings and works on two strong female characters from the

epic. Through the use of these characters, the paper argues how the voice becomes the agency to generate

resistance against macro epistemic narratives produced by the larger framework of a patriarchal ecosystem.

1 INTRODUCTION

One of the celebrated works on Indian women

writings was by Susie Tharu and K Lalitha. In the

compendious volumes on women writing, they argue

that these writings respond to ideologies from

complexly constituted and decentered positions. The

collusion of ideologies portray defiance and

subversion which is implicit in the conflict between

the institutions and the subject (35)

One of the agencies of resistance against

epistemic violence is the rewriting of epics through

the perspective of the silenced subject. This paper

looks at the rewriting of the epics through the

rewriting of a famous woman epic character :

Draupadi and a not so discussed character Uruvi ( the

princess who defied traditions to marry Karna.

Through this study, the paper intends to showcase the

complexity of rewriting women charecters from

multiple perspectives such as caste, class and gender.

The paper begins by interrogating the premise of

rewriting the epics and myths and how this exercise

helps the silenced subject achieve the agency to voice

themselves. The paper would then discuss Chitra

Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions and

Kavitha Kane’s Karna's Wife: The Outcast's Queen.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND

COMMENTARY

The West benefits from the epics and myths as a

storehouse of tradition and culture and from their

allusions to a glorious past. as a reminder of a

beautiful past also contributed to shaping a nation's

identity. This was demonstrated when Europe

claimed the Greek epics as their own and used them

to help build national identities (Martyniuk, 190).

Romila Thapar challenges this assertion in "Epic and

History: Tradition, Dissent, and Politics in India" by

arguing that the epics contributed to the literary

crystallization of a heroic ideal. The epics and other

cultural forms, such as them, seem to have been a

significant part of early Indian history (Thapar 26).

824

Janardhanan, P.

Rewriting Gendered Narratives: A Comparative Reading of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s the Palace of Illusions and Kavitha Kane’s Karna’s Wife: The Outcast’s Queen.

DOI: 10.5220/0012512500003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 824-828

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

The fossils discovered near the base of the Swalik

Hill, where the war occurred, serve as an example of

this (Michael and John,87). To rally support for a

particular ideological viewpoint, nationalists all over

the world likewise altered its form (Thapar, 3).

According to Thapar (Thapar, 7), the Brahmans

hijacked the epics to elevate the Vaishnava Cult

through the depiction of Ram as Vishnu's incarnation.

A brahminical vision of monarchical governance

after the demise of the Mouryan Empire has been

considered to find ideological and narrative support

in the Mahabharata (Fitzgerald, 811). Thus, in the

epic, the Great War heralded the demise of clan-based

society and the advent of kingdoms (Thapar 100).

This is demonstrated in the Pandav Lila performance

in Garhwal by the Pandavas establishing the

legitimacy of the Rajput heritage (Sax, 101).

The continuity of Indian tradition is provided by

epics, myths, and the rewriting of the same to

reimagine history (Chakrabarti, 12). According to

Jain's Indigenous Roots of Feminism, the epics are

regarded as a part of Indians' collective consciousness

and are amenable to political interpretations and

rewriting from various cultural and ideological

perspectives, which changes how they are retold

(Jain, Indegenous Roots of Feminism,29).

Epics were rewritten in the late colonial era, as

previously stated, extolling tales of bravery and

serving as nothing less than allegories of colonial

expression (Lothspeich, 280).This is particularly

evident in how female epic characters like Draupadi,

who was worshipped and had atrocities perpetrated

upon her compared to Mother India, are portrayed.

This can be seen in works by Ramcharit Upadhyay,

such as Dev Draupadi (1920), Sairandhri (1927), and

others. As shown in Narendra Sharma's Draupadi

(1960), poets and playwrights used epic literature to

portray dreams of an independent India after the

country gained its freedom (Lothspeich, 28). The

rewriting of epics was primarily concerned with

challenging the myths' role in stifling the voice of the

woman subject.

By analyzing the epic character of Madhavi and

rewriting the epic character in Bhisham Sahni's play

Madhavi, Pankaj and Jaidev argue that the play

retrieves the epic character and enables it to protest

against the victimization of the epic character by the

patriarchal structures (Pankaj and Jaidev, 4).

Similar to Madhavi, the rewriting of every epic

character enables her to express her feelings and

voice her protest against patriarchal persecution

(Pankaj & Jaidev, 4).

While reinstating Draupadi's loneliness and angst,

which are described as nathavati anathvat (Karve,

91), the Draupadi chapter by Irawati Karve in

Yuganta analyzes the life of the epic heroine and

offers a fresh view of the character. In Ram Kumar

Brahmar's Aahuti, where she travels with Arjun to

visit her sons' corpses, she experiences loneliness as

she recalls her past as a princess, queen, and wife and

comes to the realization that she did not have a

distinct identity. She was her father's (her creator's)

pawn.

The crucial factor would be if Draupadi, the epic

heroine, had expressed her displeasure through her

exposed hair and desire for blood in the form of

retribution, the epic's portrayal of Draupadi focuses

on a few traits of the heroine, including her dark

magnetic beauty and birth from the sacrificial fire for

vengeance (Adi Parva,473), her alternating between

compassion and vengeance—she loved her husbands

and co-wives but wanted blood as a retaliation for her

insult (Sabha Parva,828), her infatuable physical

(sexual) stamina— This This deprives her of the

respect accorded to her ancestor Sita and portrays her

as a goddess or an example of sexual licentiousness

for her non-normal acceptance of five men (Jain,

Indigenous Roots, 42).

By contrasting the versions of the stories that have

already essentialized Draupadi with Paanchali's

versions, Divakaruni's presentation of the epic

character through Paanchali operates alternatively

through counter narratives. Paanchali's portrayal of

her resolve to confront Karna (Divakaruni, 33) and

her outbursts when her husbands’ took more than one

wife (Divakaruni, 90) serve as examples of this.

Paanchali is always thinking about and reflecting on

what is happening to her. This introspection served as

the impetus for the development of an identity distinct

from how the epic portrayed her.

The Palace of Illusions depicts Paanchali's education

as being limited to the moral code, the abilities

required for a woman to run her household by the

sorceress, Dhai Ma, and the tales of admirable

women. Through portions she stole from her brother

Dhri and her battle with Nyayasastra in an effort to

reach equality with men, she learned about the

education of men.

She is also shown off in The Palace of Illusions in her

capacity as queen. The figure of Divakaruni who

combines grace and ferocity is Paanchali. Through

the character, both of these elements are accurately

portrayed. In his book Indigenous Roots of Feminism,

Jasbir Jain examines how Draupadi has been

rewritten to give women characters a dramatic voice

that allows them to resist male authority and

challenge patriarchal epistemic institutions as well

(29).

Rewriting Gendered Narratives: A Comparative Reading of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s the Palace of Illusions and Kavitha Kane’s

Karna’s Wife: The Outcast’s Queen

825

The ubiquitous writings on Draupadi can be

attributed to the fact that the epic heroine, was pivotal

to the monumental changes in the epic. In other

words, her presence within the epic may have been

marginal in terms of representation, the rewritings on

the other hand provide the alternative narrative voice

to the character, but what about characters which do

not figure at all in the epics due to its magnimanity.

Kavitha Kane’s Karna’s Wife : The Outcasts Queen

depicts one such character. The novel depicts the

story of Uruvi, a Kshatriya princess who decides to

wed Karna, despite his minority status. Her life is

constantly contrasted with Draupadi, who refused to

allow Karna to participate in her swyamvar due to his

low birth status. The svyamvar plays a conspicuous

role that aids unravelling of the destiny of the

characters especially Draupadi.

While Draupadi gets inevitably drawn into family

feuds and politics, which turns her first into the wife

of five men and then the very embodiment of

venegeance, Uruvi’s life is determined by her

decision to choose Karna, because she loved her,

despite the fact that he was a ‘ sutaputra’ and was

already married to Vrushali, his first wife, who was

from a lower caste ( Kane, 42).

Through the narratives, the readers of the novel get

insights into the life of Karna, from the perspective of

the gendered subject : Uruvi. The novel thus forms a

feminist rewriting of Shivaji Sawant’s Mritunjay, the

famed rendition of Karna’s life ( Kane, 52). In the

Chapter titled “ The Pariah’s Wife’, Uruvi argues

with the grandsire Bhishma, regarding acceptance of

Karna within the larger upper caste and class society.

One day you will have to answer the question

yourself. Is Karna a bad man doing good things or is

he a good man doing bad things. ( Kane , 62)

Further, in the Chapter titled “And Foes” : Shakuni,

Uruvi reconciles to her fate as Karna’s wife. She

reflects:

She had to suffer the way people looked at her and

Karna, the false sympathy she had to put up with.The

embarrsement that deluged her often made her hate

herself. Nor could she stand the contempt people

showed for Karna……… She had to learn to

sUruvive and the only place she could hide was in the

recesses of her thoughts , her silent tears slipping

silently down the shadowy contours of her face,

dripping into the darkness ( Kane,95)

The momentous meeting between Uruvi and

Draupadi,after the ill fated dice game is of the

intricately crafted moments in the novel. In the

Chapter titled “ Draupadi’s revenge”, Uruvi

understands a shocking discovery that Draupadi too

loved Karna and perhaps longed to be his queen than

Arjun or the Pandavs. While Uruvi is livid with anger

at the role played by her husband in the unfortunate

events in the Sabha, Draupadi comforts her:

But I am not angry with him. He insulted me in a

moment of heat!. Love knows how to forgive.Love is

blind- to faults to flaws. You are fortunate to have

him…keep him, don’t lose him ( Kane, 135)

In the novel, Uruvi’s anger at the actions of her

husband was only matched by Draupadi’s anger for

her husbands inability to save her from the public

shaming in the Kuru Sabha. The novel also shows the

undercurrents of hypocrisy, where Uruvi’s mother

Shubra finally approves the decision by her daughter

to wed Karna instead of Arjun and chastises her for

being angry at Karna ( Kane, 143). The novel

provides multiple perspectives on the nature of

Karna, which is described through the chapters

wherin Uruvi discusses her life with Kunti and

Bhanumati. In her conversation with Bhanumati, she

understands that even the latter longed for Karna and

finally reconciles to the fact that Karna’s friendship

with Duryodhan is strong and everlasting, which

ironically will be their downfall ( Kane, 209).

Thus, Uruvi emerges from the narrative scape of the

novel as the critical feminist voice, which flags the

flaws of the most illustrious men such as Bhisma,

Shona ( the elder brother of Karna), Sakuni and many

others. She also criticises Kunti in the Chapter titled

Karna and Kunti, for having revealed the secret of

Karna’s birth at the opportune moment, thereby

effectively crippling him mentally just before the war

(Kane, 260).

3 CONCLUSIONS

To conclude, the rewritings of women charecters of

the epic enable articulation of the silenced or

marginalsed charecters, thereby improvising the

polyphony that the epic already boasts of. One of the

key inferences that can be drawn from this analysis is

that the plight of the women have always remained

suppressed, due to the hegemonic tendencies of the

patriarchal order. Draupadi and Uruvi are both

princesses, born to affluent families, yet are destined

to suffer due to the men in their lives. Further, Uruvi

has been shown as a character, on whom destiny has

not imposed its will, as we see in the case of

Draupadi. Uruvi is shown to have the agency of

making decisions on her own , beginning from

marrying Karna to being a healer and mother. Her

life has been depicted as a choice of her own. When

the Mahabharat valorises the indomitable spirit of the

men, the rewritings make a humble attempt to

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showcase that the women in the epic have a lived an

equally fulfilling life, despite the fact that their

marital roles have limited them to the confined

spaces of the gendered roles in their lives.

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