‘Draupadi is the voice of female anger’

On why Draupadi, who is vocal and passionate, is a role model

1

What are the challenges you had to overcome while writing your first work of mythological fiction?

At the time the idea came to me, my daughters were quite young. I used to take them to watch Ramayana productions in Delhi every year. The scene where it ends in popular representation – where Sita is happily enthroned next to Ram – always bothered me. I wondered how I would tell my daughters that this woman – the perfect, loyal, submissive wife who truly loved her husband – was humiliated and sent into the forest. Around the same time, the horrific Nirbhaya incident took place. I thought then, no matter how perfect a woman, the patriarchy of Indian society doesn’t allow space for her. She’s humiliated, tortured and can even be killed. I looked around for sources that present complex and nuanced images of women – and the Mahabharata does that.

I wanted to look at the epic through the eyes of the women, so I left out the wars and fighting, and only follow the women’s lives and how they’re shaped in a deeply patriarchal society. The idea was to present a different ideal from the perfect image of Sita that we’re always given. I wanted readers to see how women were able to shape their destinies even 2500 years ago. This was the challenge – to make it accessible to the girls and women of today.

2 Popular incidents such as Krishna coming to Draupadi’s aid during her disrobing are deleted in your version. Why did you choose not to go with the widely-known stories?

I wanted a story that readers could credibly believe can happen without divine interventions. The Draupadi scene was important to show that despite having five husbands, she was actually alone. In the sabha where she is humiliated, she stands up and fights for herself. It’s an extraordinary thing – a woman on her period with clothes full of blood, being insulted in front of her husbands, in-laws and the full sabha, is able to say ‘How dare you treat me like this?’ I wanted this to be a moment Draupadi takes ownership of, one where she doesn’t need divine intervention. I wanted to leave out all divine involvement so the women could take ownership of their actions.

3 Why does Draupadi appeal to us?

Draupadi appeals to us because she’s the voice of female anger, which is rare in Indian society. Even now, most of us are told to control our anger, to watch the way we speak to men and elders. It’s rare to find a woman who is vocal, and Draupadi says such extreme things – even today one is shocked when she calls her husbands eunuchs. Even though she’s not offered as a role model like Sita. Draupadi is vulnerable, passionate, has angry outbursts – people can relate to her.