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INTRODUCTION
D.O.B: 29 JULY 1996 KOLKATA INDIA

Chitralekha bannerji is an Indian american poet and she is MC DAVID professor of writing at the university of Houston creative writing programmed she writes for children as well as adults and has published novels in multiple genres including realistic fiction, myth and fantasy. she was graduate teaching assistant at U.C. BERKELEY. divakarunis work is often considered as quasi autobiographical as most of her stories are set in California near where she lives. Divakaruni is also an editor of two anthologies. she focuses intently in her poetry on the experiences of women pursuing identities for themselves. the themes divakaruni explores in her short stories and poems are developed in novels.she draws on her own experiences and those of other immigrant women to write novels and verse.

Divakaruni’s many honors and awards include a C.Y. Lee Creative Writing Award, PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards, multiple Pushcart Prizes, the South Asian Literary Association’s Distinguished Author Award, International House Alumna of the Year from the University of California-Berkeley, the Cultural Jewel Award from the Indian Culture Center in Houston, and the Light of India Award from the Times of India.

Divakaruni's works are largely set in India and the United States, and often focus on the experiences of south Asian immigrants. Divakaruni is also a co-founder and former president of Maitri, a helpline founded in 1991 for south Asian women dealing with domestic abuse. Her fiction has been translated into 29 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Indonesian, Bengali,etc...

Plot summary[edit]
The Palace of illusions is written by award winning writer Divakaruni retells this drama from the perspective of Panchaali, the wife of all five Pandava brothers. Panchaali’s life was not simple and ordinary starting from her birth to her last breath because she was a “women”.

The Palace of illusions traces Panchaali's life which left a memorable remark on the Indian history. Panchaali also known as Dhraupadi’s life was not so simple but the orthodox beliefs and boundary on freedom just because you are a women has not changed much in our culture .Our culture and history has always been ironical because on one side we duly worship our sacred goddess while on the other hand the women of our society have been practiced to live only for the family and not for themselves.

So let us ride through this Homeric tale of Smart, resilient, and courageous Panchaali. King Dhrupad want to take revenge from Guru Dhrona but he did not have any prince who could fulfill this dream of his father. So King Dhrupad invited hundered of priets and they performed the fire yagna. For thirty days the priets, king, queens, attendants, ministers every attended the yagna and they were allowed to eat only once a day and that also milk and rice and King Dhrupad didn’t even eat that. Finally on 30th day Dhristhdyum the son of king Dhrupad was born and along with him was born Dhraupadi. Dhraupadi had dark complexion,courage and she liked to learn about the arts and knowledge about the kingdom rather than having feminine choices like singning, dancing or stiching .Dhraupadi felt that her father wanted only his brother and not her since childhood but she had a special bonding with her brother Dristhdyum with whom she used to share her desires and curiosity. Dhraupadi used to remain aloof in her chamber engaged in her own thoughts and activities she did not have much feminine friends but she used to have regular talks with her nurse Dhai Ma who used to teach her lessons and values about life. Lord Krishna was her “only” friends. She used to enjoy his company. She used to ask him many questions but he always used to answer them in riddles. Krishna always stood by her side and had faith in her.

Although she was married to Pandavas she had secret affection towards Karna who was the greatest and dangerous enemy of her husbands.It was because of the sadness and calmness she had seen in his eyes and how they both had same destiny:they both were disowned by their parents.

Once Dhraupadi met Vyasa Sage on the outskirts of her kingdom to know about her future. Vyasa predicted that she will marry the five greatest heroes of your time. She will be queen of queens, envied even by goddesses. She will be mistress of the most magical of palaces and then lose it. She will be remembered for causing the greatest war of your time.

He gave her advice Three dangerous mo­ments will come to you at that time, hold back your curse. Maybe it will mitigate the catastrophes to come.”Dhraupadi was stunned to hear this prediction.

First dangerous moment:During her Swayamvar when argument was going on between Karna and Dristhdhyum, Draupadi came between them and asked Karna the question of “who his father was? “ in front of the whole court filled with people from all around Bharata, which humiliated him and he never forgave her.

Secound dangerous moment:When the Pandavas were in power and they built the magical and magnificient palace with the most beautiful garden in the world they invited every renowed king of Bharata including Duryodhan to visit their palace at that time by mistake Duryodhan fell in water and Draupadi laughed at him saying:”Blind son alike blind father.”At that time Duryodhan vowed to teach her a lifetime lesson and show her original value.

Third dangerous moment:When Pandavas lost everything in the dice game they even lost Dhraupadi she was dragged in the court filled with Kauravas, Pandavas. Guru Dhrona, Bheeshma and Karna by her saree. When Dusashan started pulling off Dhraupadi’s sari Dhraupadi cursed that all the wicked and cruel men in this court will die in the great war.

Thus this was the journey of Dhraupadi she was born in fire and she died on the snow covered mountains of Himalayas. These three dangerous moments and her courage to speak made her life hard and difficult but like a brave women she passed all the tests of her life. Krishna was always there by her side even at the time of her death when none of her husbands were there.

Characters in the book: Palace of Illusions
The main characters of the book are:

1.     Draupadi:
Draupadi i s the main character of the book and one of the most important characters of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. She was known Draupadi because she was the daughter of Drupada Panchala. It is told that she was born from fire as an adult, with no experience of childhood or parenting. His father Drupada Panchala always wanted a son who can destroy the Kuru household which was patronized by Drona, so he organizes a yagna of 100 pandits where he wanted a son. He got a son which emerged from fire known as Drishtdumna, but with him, a woman also emerges who is known as Draupadi. She was a beautiful, mysterious, fearless yet compassionate woman and a queen of five Pandavas and she is considered to be the sole reason because of which Mahabharata war came into existence. She was also known as Panchaali as she was the queen of Panchala Kingdom.

2.     Shri Krishna:
The character of Shri Krishna is very beautifully described in the book by the author. Shri Krishna has played a very important role in the Hindu epic Mahabharata as well as in the book. He is considered as the eight avatar of Lord Vishnu and one of the most popular and inspiring person in the Indian divinities. From the time Draupadi was born, they both were best friends as Krishna would come to her rescue each time she found herself in the trouble. There was always a divine presence of Krishna in her life. Krishna also saved Draupadi at the time when she was getting humiliated by the Kauravas as the Pandavas lost her while playing the game of Dice (Chopat).  Their friendship is one of the most beautiful parts of Mahabharata. Shri Krishna was the one who taught Arjuna a spiritual path of wisdom, devotion and discrimination during the battle of Kurukshetra.

3.     King Drupada:
Drupada was the king of Panchala. He and Dronacharya were the best friends from the time they were studying under Rishi Bhardwaj who was Drona’s father. But, after Drupada became the king, he got a little arrogant and got into a fight with Drona. To defeat Drona in the battle, he wanted a son, so for that he organized a yagna from which he got a son, but he also got a daughter named Draupadi. He wanted Draupadi to get married to Arjuna as he was the only one who defeated Drupada in the fight which was between Dronacharya and Drupada and he considered Arjuna to be the most powerful warrior. He would not allow Draupadi to step out of the house as she was a girl child. Overall, he was a person with a good character.

4.     Duryodhana:
He is also one of the major characters of Mahabharata and the author has beautifully described him in her book. He was the eldest of the Kauravas and son of Dhritrashtra and was always fascinated to get the kingdom. He was so much against the Pandavas that he had tried many times to kill them in their childhood only, as he didn’t want any of the Pandavas to be the prince after Dhritrashtra. Karna was a very good friend of Duryodhana. Every time he would conduct some or the other cunning strategy to defeat the Pandavas, for which he got a great support from his uncle named Shakuni.  Draupadi insulted Duryodhana by saying, “A blind son of a blind father” which was a great insult for Duryodhana. In order to take revenge, he humiliated Draupadi by defeating the Pandavas in the game of dice (Chopat). There was a great hatred between Duryodhana and Draupadi.

Gender Stereotypes
In the book Palace of Illusions from a Hindu epic Mahabharata by award winning writer Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni talks about the life of Draupadi. Draupadi’s father wanted a boy child who could take his revenge from Guru Drona and after 30 days of worship and fire yagna Dhrishtadyumna along with him Draupadi was born. Draupadi always had a interest in learning about the kingdom but just because she was a girl she was forced to learn feminine activities like cooking, singing, dancing, etc. Draupadi was also kept in her room and not given opportunities to learn more about her kingdom. Even after her marriage she was not treated well she was used as a bet by her five husband’s in a game against Duryodhana which they lost and due to which she was insulted a lot and Duryodhana also tried to disrespect  her was but with his magical powers Lord Krishna saved her respect. These instances of the book depict how Draupadi had to suffer all pain and had to make many compromises just because she was a woman. Even today many girls have to suffer with a same pain and make many compromises due to a narrow minded approach of people which is inappropriate and these stereotypes must be changed.

Friendship
The book Palace of illusions shows Draupadi’s pain and sufferings but also gives us an idea about the friendship of Lord Krishna and Draupadi. Lord Krishna was a very good friend of Draupadi since her childhood as they grew up as good friends. Lord Krishna always helped her in her problems even when she was being humiliated by Duryodhana he saved her respect with magic even when her husband’s did not spoke in her favor. He was a great friend of Draupadi and was very supportive in all her problems.