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 13-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary: “Scar”
After Karna leaves, a brahmin enters the contest. He succeeds, and “[b]efore [Panchaali] could take in a breath, the shield cracked in two and fell with a clang” (100). No one knows his identity, and Panchaali puts a garland around his neck, signifying their marriage. The crowd erupts in fury, and they attack him. However, he emerges “from the sea of weapons unscathed” (101). Since Panchaali is now married to a brahmin, she must discard her finery and wear a simple shawl. She walks barefoot through the streets, following her husband as he takes her to his family. Panchaali stops to rest under a tree and removes her husband’s cloak. It turns out that he is Arjun, stripped of his kingly regalia.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Brinjal”
Arjun takes Panchaali to a small settlement on the edge of town. The conditions there are squalid, and his family lives in a hut. Panchaali meets Kurti and Arjun’s brothers. Panchaali notices that her “mother-in-law regarded [her] as [an] adversary” (105). Kurti informs her sons that “[a]ll five of you must marry this woman” (108). That night, Panchaali sleeps on a mat at the brothers’ feet.
The next day, Panchaali wants to cook brinjal, an eggplant dish, for lunch, but Kurti does not give her the necessary implements or ingredients. However, Panchaali draws upon her knowledge from the sorceress, and “I closed my eyes and imagined a rich paste of poppy seed and cinnamon coating pieces” (111). The brothers enjoy the meal.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Lac”
Panchaali dreams of the “palace of lac, where my husbands were supposed to have burned to death” (112). In the dream, she is an insect without eyes among many other insects. She lays eggs and waits for them to hatch. Meanwhile, one of the brothers sets the palace on fire, and everyone burns.
After Panchaali wakes up, she learns the true story about the fire. Duryodhan offered the Pandavas a holiday, secretly planning to kill them. The Pandavas learn about his plan, and they dig a tunnel to the forest to escape. One day in the forest, they encounter a woman and her five sons asking for alms, and the Pandavas offer to host them as their guests. Kurti instructs her sons to burn the palace, saying that she will take the blame for their deaths in order to trick Duryodhan.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Boon”
Panchaali and the Pandavas visit Drupad for a banquet hosted in the new couple’s honor. At Drupad’s palace, the brothers announce Kurti’s wish that all five of them marry Panchaali. They also claim that if they cannot all marry her, none of them will. If none of the brothers marry her, Panchaali will be sent back to her father’s palace, which would be shameful.
Drupad asks Vyasa to decide the issue, and he says that Panchaali should marry all five men. It is decided that each brother will be married to Panchaali for a year, starting with the oldest brother. Before she changes husbands, Panchaali will become a virgin again. A “long-drawn, tedious ceremony” is held in which Panchaali marries each brother (121). After the ceremony, she and the oldest brother, Yudhisthir, go back to her palace for her wedding night.
Chapter 17 Summary: “Grandfather”
When the Pandava family learns that the Pandava brothers are alive, their former royal status is restored. Their grandfather, Bheeshma, comes to Panchaali’s palace to greet them, and he welcomes her with open arms. Panchaali travels with the Pandavas back to their palace at Hastinapur “in triumph” (125).
She takes up residence in her new block of rooms, which are at the center of the palace. Panchaali starts to observe the people in the palace such as Gandhari, whom Dhai Ma calls dangerous. She is still fixated on Karna, and she hopes to see him soon.
Chapter 18 Summary: “River”
Panchaali walks with Bheeshma along the river Ganga and notes that he “made [her] uneasy” (131). She reflects on her husbands’ great love for Bheeshma, and wishes that they did not care about him as much as they do. Panchaali looks into the waters of the Ganga and believes that she sees Karna as a baby. Bheeshma reveals that his mother is a river goddess, and he goes to the river to ask her questions and reflect.
Panchaali confides that she does not feel at home in the palace. Bheeshma promises to get her one of her own. The next day, Dhritarashtra gives Yudhisthir his birthright. He divides the kingdom in two, giving his own son, Duryodhan, the smaller but better portion. The Pandavas are given the larger, inferior portion. Panchaali and her husbands travel to their new kingdom without Kurti.
Chapters 13-18 Analysis
The concept of fate continues to develop in these chapters. Throughout the previous chapters, there are many signs suggesting that Arjun would be the person to win Panchaali’s hand in marriage. When the tournament occurs, everyone assumes that the winner is an unknown brahmin, but he turns out to be Arjun. Arjun and Panchaali come together, thus solidifying their fate together. Furthermore, when Kurti insists that all of her sons marry Panchaali, Vyasa confirms that the marriages are indeed fated. He informs Drupad, “If people asked uncomfortable questions, he could blame it on the gods, who had ordained it lifetimes ago” (119). Thus, Vyasa asserts that these marriages are all a part of Panchaali’s destiny, which he revealed to her when she first came to visit him. Her life unfolds according to a fated plan, and Drupad’s decision to host the swayamvar only reinforces this plan by bringing her closer to the Pandavas.
Gender roles are also examined in these chapters, especially the roles of husbands and wives in relation to each other. When Drupad hosts the swayamvar, Panchaali must abide by the results of the contest. Here, her father removes her agency by making the choice his own. Even though her husband is not a king, she says, “I’m no longer a princess. I’m your wife, and content with my lot, whoever you may be” (103). She must relinquish her identity as a princess to meld with the identity of her husband. When Drupad balks at the idea of Panchaali marrying all five Pandava brothers, they threaten to send her back to him. This would be shameful, and she would have to kill herself as a result. Thus, if a man rejects a woman, her honor is tarnished and she has no choice but to take her own life. However, a man’s honor is not affected in the same situation. The novel affirms the idea that a woman loses her personhood in the wake of her husband’s identity and wishes.
Divakaruni continues to explore the nature motif in these chapters through the characters’ strong ties to natural elements. For example, when Bheeshma and Panchaali walk by the river, Panchaali sees or imagines she sees Karna in the waters. Bheeshma notes, “The river holds many memories. She offers to you the ones you most long to know” (134). Thus, the river communicates important truths to those who interact with it. Similarly, Panchaali connects to the natural elements of herbs and spices when she cooks the brinjal. Using what she learned from the sorceress, she is able to add these natural ingredients to the meal through magic. Her strong tie to natural elements helps her to improve her dish and to defeat Kurti in their domestic battles.
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