My final essay for my humanities course for the first semester was to analyze two texts and compare them with one of the greatest epics, the Mahabharatha. We were given Chitra Banerjee's Sari from Palace of Illusions and Mahasweta Devi's Draupadi and were asked to give our view on how these texts diverge or converge from the classic Mahabharatha and whether it subverts or reproduces patriarchal notions of women's body and honor. Attaching links to the texts if you'd like to read them. Share your thoughts below!
How often do you hear of a woman’s story from a woman’s perspective? How often do you hear a woman’s story from the woman itself? How often are we willing to hear a woman’s story without being biased and judgmental? And finally, how often are we willing to take action if necessary, after giving an ear to such stories?
Now, what’s the need for such questions? They’re absolutely necessary! Most of us would have heard in the news of a woman being stabbed to death by her husband. This happened in broad daylight, in front of a crowd, on a main road in Delhi, and not one soul stepped forward to stop him, rather they found filming the event more necessary. And personally I have a thought to add to this. What’s the point in re-storying posts on Instagram of this event, once it's done? If our argument is that people will be made aware of such things, and won’t perform them in future, aren’t we terribly wrong! Just because we are re-storying such posts on Instagram, are the number of rapes and murders reduced? Rather shouldn’t we think about methods that can actually prevent such horrible events and implement them than trying to act shocked after they happen?
So what’s the connection to these above thoughts and the famous character Draupadi of the Mahabharatha? In candid words, she was (nearly) raped in an assembly filled with men. Men who were known to be wise, men who had authority, men who were her husbands and a man who ruled an empire. Though this story is mythological, do we see an uncanny similarity in circumstances happening now, almost a few thousand years after this epic was written?
Even once, have we tried to think about Draupadi’s feelings, emotions or vehemences, from the moment she is ordered to the assembly to when she is horrendously dragged and unclothed by Dushasana? Though we do think, “Oh, poor soul! This shouldn’t have happened to her”, I don’t think we have actually tried to put ourselves in her shoes. Personally I haven’t really pondered on it. I’ve never sat down and analysed or even realised the emotional turmoil she could’ve gone through. Reading Chitra Banerjee’s short story ‘Sari’, from ‘Palace of Illusions’ was enlightening. I was able to get a flavour of how Draupadi actually felt, how she thought and how she acted from an unadulterated perspective. But I will not disagree that it was slightly depressing. No women should be put through such horrendous events!
While most versions of the Mahabharatha are written in third person, Banerjee has used first person narration in her story and it was a lovely read! I feel that Banerjee is trying to assert the need for women's voices to be recognized by capturing this story from Draupadi herself.
We all have heard of the great game of dice between Duryodhan and Yudhishtir, that led to the initial downfall of the Pandavas. In ‘Sari’, Draupadi makes a very powerful statement, “Then, goaded by Duryodhan, gripped by stubbornness, and intoxicated by the game, he began to wager things he had no right to jeopardize.”. This sentence has so much meaning and depth to it. What right did Yudhishtir have to gamble his wife? Was that all she came down to, a materialistic object to dance to his tunes? Thinking about this, I am disgusted at how Yudhishtir misuses and disrespects a relationship as sanct as wedlock.
Along the same lines, Mahasweta Devi’s ‘Draupadi’ elucidates how men are disrespectful of women’s bodies and honors. The protagonist Dopdi is on the run after having instigated and killed a nasty landlord with the other tribal workers. The government gunned all the other tribes except for Dopdi and her husband who escaped. If the government actually wanted to take legal action, they could’ve arrested her or given her a death sentence if needed. But that’s not what they did. They chose to rape her and physically abuse her under the orders of the official heading the mission to find her, Senanayak. So some questions come up here, are the officials in the government trying to do their job or are they trying to assert male dominance? Are they trying to show that by virtue of being a man, they can do anything to a woman? Is the ability to sexually assault women, a tool/power for a man to show off or feel good and something a woman must feel afraid of and surrender herself to?
Though Devi’s ‘Draupadi’ is not a re-narration of the Mahabharatha, her choice of title has been well thought out and has a strong connection to the epic itself. Both the epic and this story show how a woman is caught off guard and abused. In both cases, Draupadi and Dopdi are in some sense physically powerless, but both use their minds (each in their own way) and will power to their advantage to fight against their oppressor.
“I’m a queen. Daughter of Drupad, sister of Dhristadyumna. Mistress of the greatest palace on earth. I can’t be gambled away like a bag of coins, or summoned to court like a dancing girl.” This sentence from Sari caught my eye. Mythological stories seldom have anything for women to say and do not care to express their thoughts. But this is more than a simple thought. It highlights characteristics of authority, ego, self-respect and pride, qualities we don’t see or expect from mythological female characters. The following sentence captures the qualities I have noted. “I knew what he wanted: for me to fall on my knees and beg him for mercy. He would have protected me then. He had the reputation of helping the destitute. But I wouldn’t lower myself to that, not if I died.”. She is willing to be embarrassed because of her husband’s stupidity than lower herself to be ‘destitute’ and ask Karna for help. These are thoughts and ideas that women were not allowed to have thousands of years ago and even if they did, they were never allowed to express them or were branded different for thinking this way. This new dimension Banerjee gives to Draupadi is apprising. I feel she is trying to indirectly expose the plight of present day women through this fictitious character Draupadi.
Another observation from Sari that I made is Draupadi’s reason to choose to think of Krishna and not anyone else. She is unable to think of her brother Dhrishtadhyumna as she can only picture his anger in response to her plight. But she suddenly thinks of Krishna because he is someone who she has no relationship with and someone whom she has no expectations from. As Krishna rightly says in her trance, “No one can shame you, if you don’t allow it.”. I feel that Dusshasan gives up pulling Draupadi’s sari when she realises that she should not feel shameful for her nakedness, especially when she is not the cause for it. “Let them stare at my nakedness, I thought. Why should I care? They and not I should be ashamed for shattering the bounds of decency.”, says Draupadi. The course of her being unrobed is the period of her imaginative conversation with Krishna that leads her to understand that there is nothing to be embarrassed by something she had no control of, rather they (the Kauravas) should be disgusted at violating a woman’s image and honor in such a disrespectful way. Of course it’s just speculation on my part, but isn’t every mythological story that way?
My final analysis of Sari involves Draupadi’s thoughts towards the end of the story. “But I, too, was tainted with them, vengeance encoded into my blood. When the moment came I couldn’t resist it, no more than a dog can resist chewing a bone that, splintering, makes his mouth bleed.” She is trying to acknowledge the curse she threw at the Kauravas and is doubting whether it was right on her part to do so. She is comparing her actions in power to the power Duryodhan had and how he used it. Is her comparison logical? I don’t think so, because the use of their powers are for very different reasons though the outcomes are both selfish. But a more crucial question arises whether she’s trying to say that men and women act impulsively when given power. And whether the repercussions are grave or not I think the answer is a big yes!
Finally, I would like to discuss the ending of Mahasweta Devi’s Draupadi. This is quite a contrast to what actually happens in the Mahabharatha but the thoughts of Dopdi are pretty similar to Draupadi’s in Sari though they end slightly differently. In the epic I feel that Draupadi does feel slightly shameful at the prospect of being seen naked by an assembly filled with men. I do not blame her but am trying to draw a contrast between the two similar situations. Dopdi has lost her dignity and the rights to her body and this brings in her sense of feeling that she has nothing more to lose. This instills in her a sense of strength that is so fearful, so fearful that for the first time in his life Senanayak is afraid of a weaponless target.
When Dopdi is ordered to Senanayak’s tent, she refuses to reclothe herself and does not allow the guards to show her humanity (she refuses to take water from him). The very second Senanayak sees Dopdi walking naked towards him, a sense of a fear is noted from the way he constantly asks why she is not clothed. I think that the cause for Senanayak’s fear is not just Dopdi’s nakedness but is aided by her body language, so fearful and filled with power. Some phrases from the text support my thoughts including ‘walking toward him in the bright sunlight with her head high’, ‘stands with her hand on her hip, laughs’ and ‘shakes with an indomitable laughter’.
‘What’s the use of clothes? You can strip me, but how can you clothe me again? Are you a man?’ This is one of Dopdi’s final dialogues with Senanayak where she brings up a very powerful notion. She is questioning the very definition of who a man is. In the society we live in unfortunately this is a question that needs an answer. What kind of a man can a woman trust? What kind of a man can a woman sit next to feeling safe that he’s not going to treat her like a toy that can be played with now and thrown away the next minute? For these questions to have an answer, Dopdi’s question needs to be answered first.
It's sad to note that we are still the same way we were thousands of years ago. We still belong to a male dominated, patriarchal society. A society that thinks there’s no wrong in using women for mere pleasure - both books describe the protagonist being raped just like Draupadi was in the epic, a society that doesn’t respect a woman’s body and her body’s health - both books indicate the protagonist going through her monthly cycles as in the epic, and a society that can’t stand up and differentiate between right and wrong - not a soul steps forward to prevent or stop the women from being abused.
Though both stories have a different storyline and viewpoint of the Mahabharatha, is there some underlying message that’s trying to be conveyed? They’re both fairly new and have modern takes in comparison to the Mahabharatha, yet why are there similar ideas being circulated between the three? Are the authors trying to reinstate that we are no different from what we were thousands of years ago? Are they trying to tell us that though we call ourselves progressive, we are nowhere close to being so? Or are they trying to teach us to be empathetic and understanding of women, their feelings and their honor?
These are questions that every human being must ponder upon and the answer that we give to them will define the society we live in and its quality. Leaving you with these questions I’d like to end my essay with a quote by Reece Witherspoon which I give you the choice to interpret in your own way, ‘There remains what seems like an impenetrable wall of silence around violence and we must all play a role in breaking this silence.’
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Well written Sapna!
ReplyDeleteThanks mom <3
Deleteimpressed with your analysis and thought process. Good to see the college trying to give a focus on something beyond just science subjects. Such critical analysis and thought process will be useful in years ahead!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot dad!
DeleteLove the article <3
ReplyDeleteThanks Veeb!
DeleteSuch a great piece akka! Really loved it
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