Insight on The Palace of Illusions
On one fine September evening, amongst mild breeze blowing all over with the coolness of lush green palm trees, I was sitting on a hammock at my terrace and sipping Darjeeling tea. I was wondering what if the great warrior and tragic hero in the whole wide world Karna (son of Surya) had participated in the swayamvar which the king of Kampilya, Drupad had organized for her daughter Draupadi (also called Panchali). In the swayamvar, Arjun won disguised as a brahmin. Karna was prohibited to participate because he was a Suta. If you think critically about the situation mentioned before, if Karna would have participated in the swayamvar, he would have won. Then technically Mahabharat would not have happened because Panchali's worldly triumphs would not be paired with her spiritual feelings: her pride and her need for vengeance. Also, this thought didn't come randomly to me, it was after I read the International bestseller The 'Palace of Illusions' by Chitra Banerjee Divakaru...