A highly sucessful oriya novel, yagnyaseni tells the story of draupadi.infact we are shown the entire story of Mahabharat from the perspective of the story’s heroine. The author strongly sympathises with draupadi and atempts to unravel the different layers of her character from the viewpoint of a woman.Thus a large part of the novel is drawn from folk lore and some parts i suppose are the author’s own interpretations and suppositions.The book also deals with the eternal story of love between Arjun and Panchali.It also potrays the friendship between Krishney and Krishna strongly.
Draupadi has arguably, always been the most oustanding and enigmatic of all heroines the world has ever known.The author uses this fact brilliantly to flesh her character out.she explores the hurt in Arjuna for having to share his wife and Draupadi’s great affection for Arjun.Infact this is something that the original Mahabharat hints at too. While it blatantly states that Draupadi’s favourite husband was Arjun and the latter preferred Draupadi of all his wives, it hints at Arjun’s frustration in two places. The Mahabharat also makes it obvious that Yudhishtir desired Draupadi , something that Arjuna sensed. Yudhishtir was well aware that his mother would ask the alms to be split, afterall it was repeated everyday. Yet, he chose to call the princess won by Arjun as a gift.That later Arjun decides to enter the chamber of Yudhishtir and Draupadi and undertake a piligrimage has always been very curious. he didnt need his bows and arrows to catch a thief and that he couldnt find weapons elsewhere is also incongrous. What perhaps was the reason for that was his hurt at having to share Panchali thus deliberately moving away and subtly hinting at it. His subsequent piligrimage for one year saw him marry three times. Incidentally the novel mentions the duration of this tour of his to be 12 years. the versions i have read so far place it at one year which afterall makes more sense.The second and perhaps the last time we are given an insight into this hurt of his is in the Karna Parva where Arjun accuses Dharamaraj of enjoying the fruit of his labour. He sights Draupadi svayamvar as an example and also states that Yudhishtir was the root cause of their and Panchali’s suffering.This book by Ray however deliberates upon that aspect elaborately.In parts its unneeded. The pandavs and panchali accepted their fate as such and realsied that they were the tools to establish dharma. That Arjun sulked all the time and Draupadi thought only about him is perhaps a bit difficult to digest. Afterall given their sufferings its highly improbable they could do it even if they so wished.
The other aspect of the novel is Draupadi’s regard and affection for Karna.It also states that Karna’s animosity towards Arjun was because the latter was Draupadi’s favourite. The original Mahabharat mentions no such incident. It only states that Karna was hurt by the insult at the svayamvar ,the reason why he participates in the cheer haran. That he subsequently repents that act is also elaborately stated.The disrobing is thus the low point of Karna’s character along with that of Bhishma, Drona and others.But Krishna asking Karna to give up Duryodhan states that while doing so he will obtain Panchali as his wife. Thus perhaps Karna nurtured a soft corner for her. But then she was the supremely desired woman of her time.
As for draupadi’s attraction towards Karna there is no such incident in Vyasa’s story. Its only the later folk lores which mention that. Infact Draupadi goades Arjun to kill Karna and Arjun also promises her that he shall do so to assuage her insult.
That Draupadi was an example of total supplication to Shri Krishna is something that is well known and we again see a great deal written about it, here too.
The Mahabharat is great because it does not hide the grey shades in any character. It portrays no person as purely good or no one as the epitome of evil. The sanskrit version provides ample scope for writing about Draupadi as such. There is perhaps no need to draw on folk lores and build imaginary situations. This is perhaps Prathiba Ray’s greatest fault.While mirroring Draupadi in today’s women the author has missed out in places on the true nature of her heroine. Yet it is perhaps the best book on draupadi ever written.
