48 pages • 1 hour read
Chitra Banerjee DivakaruniThe Palace of Illusions
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Fire”
In this chapter, we are introduced to the novel’s female narrator, initially named Draupadi. She later takes the name Panchaali. Panchaali begs her nurse, Dhai Ma, to tell her stories, and “the one I made her tell over and over was the story of my birth” (1). Prior to Panchaali’s birth, her father, King Drupad, prayed to the gods for 30 days along with his entire court. Finally, the king poured ghee (clarified butter) into fire. Panchaali’s brother, Dhri, emerged from the flames, along with a prophecy that claimed he would avenge his father. Next, Panchaali emerged, and voices said, “Take good care of her, for she will change the course of history” (5). According to Dhai Ma, Drupad picks both of the children up and names them. Panchaali, however, notes that Drupad only wanted to pick Dhri up. She clings to Dhri, forcing their father to pick both of them up.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Blue”
The author uses this chapter to explore Panchaali’s relationship with Krishna, the king of Dwarka and the advisor to King Drupad. We later learn that Krishna is a divine incarnation of the god Vishnu. Panchaali and Krishna get along well because they are “both severely dark skinned” (8). There are many stories about Krishna having supernatural abilities, but the narrator questions the veracity of these stories. Still, she insists that “there was something unusual about him” (10).
Krishna sometimes teases Panchaali, but he also offers her helpful advice. For instance, he tells her, “Often others see you as you see yourself” (9). Though Panchaali feels unattractive, she decides to get dressed up for the feast of Lord Shiva. When she acts confidently during the feast, people respond with respect and admiration. Previously, people were dismissive toward her.
Krishna refers to Panchaali as Krishnaa, the female form of his own name. It means either “the dark one” or “the one whose attraction can’t be resisted” (12).
Chapter 3 Summary: “Milk”
During stormy evenings, Panchaali and Dhri tell “each other stories to keep our minds occupied” (14). One night, Panchaali tells the story of the feud between Drupad and Drona. In the story, the two men are young boys. Drupad the prince and Drona the brahmin both study under the same wise man. Drupad promises that when he becomes king, he will give half of his kingdom to Drona.
Years later, Drona comes to Drupad in threadbare clothes, reminding Drupad of his promise. He seeks a position at court and says that he will “share […] the secret science of warfare” (16). Drupad remembers his friend, but he fears that the members of his court will laugh at him if accedes to Drona’s request. Instead of honoring his promise, he tells Drona to seek alms from the treasury.
Later, Drupad forgets about Drona, until the Kaurava army attacks. A young soldier named Arjun captures Drupad because he has been instructed by his guru, Drona, to do so. When Drona and Drupad meet again, they embrace. Drona says that he will give half of the kingdom to Drupad so that they will be even. Vapor escapes from Drona’s mouth, and Drupad swallows it. The author notes that the vapor “would fuel him for the rest of his life,” implying a grudge (20).
Chapter 4 Summary: “Cosmology”
Dhri regularly studies with a tutor. Panchaali sits in on their tutoring sessions behind a curtain. She is chastised for helping her brother and for participating in the lesson. Dhri begins to take “other lessons, though these I couldn’t share” (26). He spends time with courtesans and nobles. He also studies the art of warfare and statecraft, which Panchaali yearns to learn.
Dhri tells Panchaali about the celestial astras, which are weapons from the gods that are summoned by special chants. He must study with Drona in order to learn their complexities, but Panchaali challenges him on this because he’s destined to kill Drona.
Meanwhile, Panchaali learns “sixty-four arts that noble ladies know,” consisting mostly of singing, dancing, music, and social skills (29). She spends time with Drupad’s wives in order to practice her skills, but the wives are cold and distant.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Smoke”
Because many people are not direct with her, Panchaali explains, “I learned to eavesdrop” (34). She listens to her maids have a conversation. One of them has just gone to see a sage, whom predicted her future. We later learn that the sage’s name is Vyasa.
Panchaali and Dhai Ma go to see the sage. For Dhai Ma, Vyasa predicts that her husband will soon die and that she will accompany Panchaali to her next palace. Panchaali steps into a circle filled with smoke, and voices tell her “You will marry the five greatest heroes of your time. You will be queen of queens, envied even by goddesses. You will be a servant maid. You will be mistress of the most magical of palaces and then lose it” (39). She will also cause a war, bring death to evil people as well as her family, and ultimately die alone. Before she leaves, Vyasa gives her the name Panchaali, meaning “spirit of this land” (41).
Chapter 6 Summary: “Incarnations”
The eldest daughter of Drupad, Sikhandi, returns to the palace. Sikhandi has been exiled for 12 years, living as an ascetic and transforming into “a great and dangerous warrior” (45). Panchaali meets with Sikhandi and discovers that her sister has turned into a man.
Sikhandi explains that when she was 6, she took a lotus garland from the palace wall and began wearing it. As a result, Drupad banished her. In a past life, Sikhandi was Princess Amba, who was in love with King Salva. King Bheeshma stole Amba away. When Amba returned from her captivity, Salva rejected her. Bheeshma rejected her as well. Amba sought revenge on Bheeshma, and she received the lotus garland from the child god Kartikeya, who said that the one who wears it will defeat Bheeshma. However, Amba could not find anyone to take the garland and threw it on Drupad’s wall.
Sikhandi realizes that she was Amba in a past life and becomes a man in order to avenge her. She invokes a yaksha, or nature spirit, which turns her into a man. Now, Sikhandi will defeat Bheeshma in the Great War that Panchaali will bring.
Chapters 1-6 Analysis
In this retelling of The Mahabharata, Divakaruni weaves humor into the narrator’s voice. This helps to make the ancient, complex epic more approachable and accessible to contemporary readers. Panchaali takes in the world around her with a wry sense of humor. When discussing her original name, Draupadi, meaning “daughter of Drupad,” she says, “Granted, he hadn’t been expecting me, but couldn’t my father have come up with something a little less egoistic?” (5) Here, she uses humor to challenge the inherent power structure in her world. She blames her father’s ego for giving her a name that is practically a copy of his own, denying her a unique identity. When discussing Krishna, Panchaali goes on the say, “People loved to exaggerate, and there was nothing like a dose of the supernatural to spice up the drudgery of facts” (10). Her world is steeped in magical realism, and this comment is almost meta-textually humorous. Panchaali consistently points out the tendency of both other characters and the author to use the supernatural to add layers of interest. Divakaruni welcomes the reader into the text through the keen, humorous observations of Panchaali.
As we move through these initial chapters, Divakaruni establishes the theme of prescribed gender dynamics and power relations. In this world, men are warriors and statesmen while women are relegated to the domestic arts. Panchaali, however, rebels against these cultural standards and embarks on a journey of self-actualization. When she is a young woman, she uses “skin-whitening unguents” because her society looks down upon dark-skinned people, especially women (8). However, she eventually takes Krishna’s advice and acts as if she is attractive, and “[o]vernight, I who had been shunned for my strangeness became a celebrated beauty” (10). By asserting her worth, she sees a positive result in her community. Her actions influence her surrounding reality.
Panchaali also yearns for knowledge. She sits in on her brother’s lessons, but to do so she must sit behind a curtain and remain silent. Eventually, she rebels and speaks up. She also receives news from Krishna: “He brought me news of the world that no one else cared to give me, the world that I was starving for—even news that I suspected would be considered improper for the ears of a young woman” (12). In this way, she rebels against the cultural gender structures of her society and asserts her power as an individual by seeking knowledge.
The theme of fate also comes to the fore in this section. In this world, prophecies are important. When Panchaali and Dhri are born, the voices of the gods accompany them. Of Dhri, the voices say, “He’ll bring you the vengeance you desire, but it’ll break your life in two” (4). Meanwhile, Panchaali is fated to change the history of the world. Thus, these children grow up convinced that they will fulfill these roles. Stories solidify their fates, and Panchaali loves hearing the story of their birth. Similarly, Dhri loves hearing the story of Drona and Drupad because “[i]t deepened his belief in the inevitability of a destiny he might have otherwise sidestepped: to kill Drona” (20).
However, when Panchaali hears another reading of her fate from Vyasa, she wants to change it. She does not want to take the good with the bad. Vyasa assures her that this is impossible and that she must bow to the will of fate.
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