Feminism and Spirituality in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's the Palace
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2018-2789-AJHA 1 Feminism and Spirituality in Chitra Banerjee 2 Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions 3 4 In "The Palace of Illusions" Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni rewrites "Mahabharata" from the female 5 perspective of Queen Panchaali, whose candid and moving first person narrative voice undermines 6 the stereotypical perception of women in the Indian culture. Divakaruni occupies the ambiguous 7 position of employing both the patriarchal and the feminist voices, thus combining the traditional 8 themes of Mahabharata with the polyphonic or dialogic postmodern modes of narration. The Palace 9 of Illusions implies that in order to reach social equality human beings must strive for spirituality; 10 it is only by shedding the masks of authority and social hierarchy that men and women connect as 11 authentic individuals. 12 13 14 The monumental, Sanskrit epic poem Mahabharata is one of the spiritual 15 sources that have defined the values of the Indian society for thousands of years, 16 while shaping the nation’s cultural consciousness through the narrative’s 17 masculine voice and perspective. The patriarchal prerogative to narrate the story 18 shoved the poem’s female characters to a seemingly marginal role. As Chitra 19 Banerjee Divakaruni explains in the introduction to her novel The Palace of 20 Illusions, Mahabharata depicts several ‚powerful, complex women characters that 21 affected the action in major ways‛ (xiv). Yet these characters remain ‚shadowy 1 2018-2789-AJHA 1 figures, their thoughts and motives mysterious, their emotions portrayed only 2 when they affected the lives of the male heroes‛ (xiv). The vague representation 3 of women’s emotions and thoughts in such an influential epic poem may have 4 prevented its readers from developing a realistic, multi-dimensional image of 5 women in general and of Queen Panchaali in particular. This lack of female voice 6 and perspective in the traditional text has pushed Divakaruni to rewrite the 7 ancient epic from the female perspective of Queen Panchaali, whose candid and 8 moving first person narrative voice undermines the stereotypical perception of 9 women in the Indian culture. When the narrator’s internal world becomes 10 transparent to the readers, they become aware of her motives thus reconsidering 11 the traditional assumption that the protagonist’s stubborn and vengeful character 12 was the main reason for the ‚destruction of the Third Age of Man‛ (Divakaruni 13 xiv). The Palace of Illusions demonstrates a complex, often ambiguous social 14 position of Queen Panchaali1 who is continuously restricted by the patriarchy, yet 15 manages to empower herself by manipulating the system through her rhetorical 16 talent. 17 Similarly, Divakaruni occupies the ambiguous position of employing both 18 the patriarchal and the feminist voices thus combining the traditional themes of 1 At birth Panchaali is named Draupadi, which means the daughter of King Drupad. In this essay the names Draupadi and Panchaali will be used interchangeably. In the novel, however, the name Draupadi is used to describe the younger Panchaali, before sage Vyasa’s renaming, and before she has gained her royal power as the wife of Pandavas. Panchaali is associated in the novel with the mature, much more empowered protagonist than Draupadi whose social status is primarily defined through her father’s name. 2 2018-2789-AJHA 1 Mahabharata with the polyphonic or dialogic postmodern modes of narration. The 2 polyphonic narration described by Mikhail Bakhtin as simultaneous 3 interdependence and autonomy of various narrative voices enables Divakaruni to 4 integrate them into a complex fictional world in which women, and not only men, 5 can be the active agents of social change. The distinct voices of the novel which, 6 according to Bakhtin, ‚do not necessarily overpower each other, may remain 7 independent, while enriching each other through dialogue‛ (287). 8 Dialogic narration seems to be characteristic of women writers as Elaine 9 Showalter asserts, ‚women’s writing is always ‘bitextual,’ in dialogue with both 10 masculine and feminine literary traditions‛ (263). Since, according to Showalter, 11 ‚there can be no writing < outside of dominant culture,‛ women’s writing and 12 feminist criticism is ‚necessarily a double voiced discourse embodying both the 13 muted and the dominant‛ (263). The dominant, patriarchal culture indeed serves 14 as the basis for Divakaruni’s imaginative endeavor of pouring her own 15 postmodern, feminist content into the ancient myth thus infusing them with the 16 interpretation that allows her to bridge between the Eastern and Western parts of 17 her literary heritage. 18 In her study ‚Dialogics of Self, The Mahabharata and Culture,‛ Lakshmi 19 Bandlamudi refers to Vygotsky’s theories claiming that ‚while the author intends 20 to convey certain messages, the readers, depending on their history and social 21 location, bring varied meanings to the text and subsequently transform the text‛ 3 2018-2789-AJHA 1 (8). This is exactly what Divakaruni achieves in The Palace of Illusions; by 2 employing Panchaali as the narrator of her novel, the author upholds the 3 feminist, liberal values thus transforming the traditional epic into a novel 4 accessible to her contemporary, Western audience. 5 Writing in English about the Indian mythology, Divakaruni has to take her 6 readers’ cultural perspective into consideration providing the necessary context 7 and explanations of rituals and practices that the Westerners might 8 misunderstand2. Divakaruni’s reinterpretation of the ancient epic enables the 9 Western audience to engage with the different and challenging perceptions of 10 time, fate, storytelling, reincarnation, individuality as well as social and gender 11 hierarchies. Yet Divakaruni’s goal is twofold – not only that she engages in a 12 process of cultural translation explaining the Indian culture and philosophy to the 13 English speaking readers, she also challenges the stereotypical perceptions of 14 women in the traditional Indian American culture. 15 By adjusting and reinterpreting those postulates of Mahabharata that 16 discriminate women, Divakaruni enables both herself, and her Indian American 17 readers, to reclaim their feminist values and beliefs as continuous with rather 18 than separate from their ethnic selves. The feminist spirit thus revives 19 Mahabharata for Divakaruni’s Indian American audience encouraging the liberal 20 women to reconnect to their history and religion. The Palace of Illusions can serve 2 She explains cultural terms like yagna fire, swayamvar (54), philosophical ideas such as karma (58) and spiritual concepts of reincarnation and the afterlife (358). 4 2018-2789-AJHA 1 as a bridge between cultures and succeeding generations of Indian American 2 daughters who may experience a clash between the traditional values they are 3 encouraged to follow at home and the expectations of the American environment 4 that supports women’s self-expression and self-assertion3. 5 Moreover, since the Western readership may not be widely familiar with 6 Indian Mythology, the novel must provide the essence of the Sanskrit epic. While 7 Divakaruni’s challenge with the Indian American audience is to present a 8 convincing picture of Panchaali as a complex yet sympathetic character, the 9 American readers must be offered a two-sided picture of how Panchaali is both 10 originally represented in Mahabharata and how she is re-represented in the novel. 11 Throughout the novel, Divakaruni inserts translated portions of the original epic 12 into her text to enable the readers to compare Sage Vyasa’s descriptions of the 13 events with Panchaali’s first person narration as rendered by Divakaruni’s novel. 14 Thus, instead of battling against or trying to erase the patriarchal voice of the 15 sage, Divakaruni creates a polyphony of voices that supplement rather than 16 contradict each other. This dialogic representation of the traditional and the 17 liberal narrators creates a complex and realistic portrait of the Indian culture and 18 tradition. The forces of the present do not aspire to illuminate, but, rather, build 19 upon or engage with the forces of the past. Lakshmi Bandlamudi argues that even 20 though ‚Vyasa is the original author *of Mahabharata], the text is believed to have 3 For further discussion of cultural contradictions in Indo-American children see Ghassarian. 5 2018-2789-AJHA 1 evolved over thousands of years, and it continues to evolve through the minds of 2 individuals living in heterogeneous cultural systems‛ (14-15). The Mahabharata is 3 such an intricate text that it ‚entices the readers into a creative play‛ landing itself 4 to multiple reinterpretations contingent with the readers’ socio cultural 5 background (15). 6 In the interviews of Indian American immigrants conducted by Bandlamudi, 7 about different characters and events described in Mahabharata ‚significant 67 8 percent of the subjects said that they either had no thoughts of Draupadi or they 9 did not care about her or even disliked her‛ (141). Even though Draupadi’s 10 character participates in all the major events of Mahabharata, she is not recalled4 as 11 a significant character worthy of deep contemplation and interpretation. In fact 12 she is not remembered as a heroine, but, rather, a slave to men’s whims (Zelliot 13 73). In her poem ‚Slave‛ Hira Bansode, ‚a major Dalit woman poet of Bombay‛ 14 (Zelliot 72) writes: 15 16 Where the doors are decorated with mango leaves 17 Where the houses are ornamented with little flaming oil 18 lamps 4 In the chapter entitled ‚Gendered Memories: The Heroine’s Journey in Time,‛ Bandlamudi poses several important questions: has Draupadi disappeared from the memory storehouse, or was she never encoded in the memory to begin with‛ (141). Another possible explanation for repressing Draupadi’s character might relate to the ‚problem of retrieval:‛ the Indian immigrant readers would rather repress her character because remembering her would make them face some difficult questions of gender hierarchy they would rather avoid (140).