The Palace of Illusions

The Palace of Illusions: A Novel is a 2008 novel by award-winning novelist and poet Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It was released by Doubleday.

First edition (publ. Doubleday)

The novel is a rendition of the Hindu epic Mahabharata as told from Draupadi's (Panchaali's) viewpoint, namely, that of a woman living in a patriarchal world. As Booklist summarizes the plot, "Smart, resilient, and courageous Panchaali, born of fire, marries all five of the famously heroic Pandava brothers, harbors a secret love, endures a long exile in the wilderness, instigates a catastrophic war, and slowly learns the truth about Krishna, her mysterious friend."[1]

Chapters of the book are following:-

  1. Fire
  2. Blue
  3. Milk
  4. Cosmology
  5. Smoke
  6. Incarnations
  7. Fish
  8. Sorceress
  9. Portrait
  10. Births
  11. Scorpion
  12. Song
  13. Scar
  14. Brinjal
  15. Lac
  16. Boon
  17. Grandfather
  18. River
  19. Palace
  20. Wives
  21. Afterlife
  22. Discus
  23. Lake
  24. Games
  25. Sari
  26. Rice
  27. Tales
  28. Lotus
  29. Visitations
  30. Disguise
  31. Preparation
  32. Field
  33. Right
  34. Secrets
  35. Avalanche
  36. Wheel
  37. Owl
  38. Pyre
  39. Ash
  40. Snake
  41. Reed
  42. Snow
  43. Fire

Reviews
  • "...it's really intriguing to find a book that deals differently with Draupadi - not a Manushi article or a Gender Studies tract on 'Mythical Women and Agency', but a proper story, like Vyasa's epic, where Draupadi begins. ... The 'mysterious woman' style of narration is unmistakably Divakaruni's." Renuka Narayanan, Hindustan Times[2]
  • "Is Divakaruni's novel a usefully accessible version of a remote cultural artifact, or a case of forcing a remarkable quart into a conventional pint pot?" Elsbeth Lindner, San Francisco Chronicle[3]
  • Palace of Illusions on Scribbles of Soul
  • Book Review : The Palace of Illusions - July 16, 2015
  • Book Review: The Palace of Illusions

See also
  1. "The palace of illusions : a novel". Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 1, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-02-12/entertainment/17139479_1_chitra-banerjee-divakaruni-novel-indian-epic


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