GIVING VOICES TO THE IGNORED
Author Meenakshi Reddy Madahavan talks about her series on women in the Mahabharata
The Mahabharata refers to Satyavati, the greatgrandmother of the Pandava and Kaurava princes, by multiple names: Matysyagandha (she who smells of fish), Gandhavati (the fragrant one) and Vasavi (daughter of king Vasu). But how much do we really know about her? As with most female characters in the epic, readers don’t have any insight into her motivations or fears.
Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan is here to change that. Her latest novel, The One Who Swam with the Fishes, reimagines Satvyavati’s journey, humanising her in the process. It’s the first book in a series that will feature stories of the oft-ignored women in the Mahabharata. Yes! I was a reserved, bookish child with no siblings and parents who worked. My favourites were folk tales from places around the world. But I also loved the Indian ones, because I could picture the setting, food and language much more vividly than, say, Russian folk tales. Like every other Indian kid growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, I was obsessed with the Mahabharata. We never watched the show at home, but I caught glimpses at friends’ houses. I couldn’t help but wonder how cool it was for the entire family to watch it together. From this obsession grew a need to tell the story myself, but I got into other writing projects, and other writers did versions of the story. Then, in 2015, I started talking about the women in the epic and how little we know about them. That sparked the dormant idea in my brain again. I was going to start with Uttara, Abhimanyu’s young wife and the woman at the very end of the Mahabharata, but the more I read, the more I was attracted to the idea of doing this chronologically. The idea is that readers will be able to watch the story unfold as it happened, through different points of view. The next book will be out next year. It’s about Amba – one of the three princesses of Kashi – who was kidnapped by Bheeshma. She has a fascinating story, and I’m excited to tell it. After that, I hope to go on to ten more books, to truly do justice to the series.