Writing Draupadi: Politics and Poetics of Myth in Modern South Asian Literature

Komal Prasad Phuyal

Published in Literary Oracle — Vol.8, Issue I, May 2024

Keywords: poetics of myth, agency, rewriting, revision, power relations

Abstract:

Modern South Asian literature celebrates Draupadi as one of the key icons that helps explore the embedded tenets of thoughts about self, history, and polity. Human beings make meaning of their endeavours in the political setup of historical context by placing self-therein. Bengali novelist Mahasweta Devi (1926-2016), Oriya novelist Pratibha Ray (1943-), and Nepali novelist Neelam Karki (1975-) rewrite Draupadi’s myth from the Mahabharata in “Draupadi” (1978), Yajnaseni (1984), and Cheerharan [Disrobing] (2016) respectively. Each of the woman authors addresses the formation of a woman’s self at a particular historical juncture in their society. Devi’s rebel self emerges from prevailing discrimination in Bengali society where the Mundas were socially and politically pushed to the margin. Ray broadly reflects on the plight of women in her contemporary society where they have lost independence to the dictations of society upon their self as they have no freedom of choice. Narrated in an epistolatory form addressing Krishna as her spiritual companion, Ray’s Draupadi reveals the vibes of her inner heart and her intimate observations about the world and the people. In Karki’s Cheerharan, Draupadi organises a programme to bring four generations of women together: Satyavati from the first generation; Ambika and Ambalika from the second generation; Gandhari and Kunti from the third generation; and Draupadi, Ulupi, and Bhanumati from the fourth generation. Though each generation narrates its story to the audience in the programme, this study will focus on Draupadi’s narration only. Devi, Ray, and Karki employ Draupadi as one of the power narratives to explore a new meaning in the changing context of their society. The woman authors reframe Draupadi’s myth in different ways to suit the ethos of Bengal in the 1970s, Odisha in the late 1970s, and Nepal after the second people’s movement in 2006. Each author invents a unique way of framing the narrative to address the inequalities in power structures in their societies. This paper contextually reads the three texts to examine the goal of writing Draupadi in modern South Asian fiction.

https://doi-ds.org/doilink/06.2024-51533985/LiteraryOracle/2024/V8/I1/A8