Source – goodreads.com
‘She had been fighting battles since she was born; it was
just the battlefields that kept changing periodically. But that moment, she
strongly believed in avenging those lecherous men for the humiliation she was
meted out.’
‘Draupadi: India's First Daughter' is a mythological
fiction novel, based around the Mahabharata War. While there exists a decent
number of books in the market on this subject, what makes this book stand out
is how this shows the war from the main female protagonist's point of view.
‘Draupadi' signifies the inner turmoil, dilemma, and
hardships the princess of Panchal faced during the Mahabharata War. This war is
remembered as 'the war for a woman's honour'. But there is only a limited
amount of literature from any woman's point of view on this war. The author has
given his best effort to make that happen through his work.
About
The Author
Source – amazon.in
Vamshi Krishna is a software engineer in Bangalore, who
plays the part of a writer at night. Most of his time is spent coding or
writing. He is an alumnus of IIT-BHU and hails from a small town in Telangana.
He claims that he came across 'Mahabharata' only a few
months before penning down 'Draupadi: India’s First Daughter’. When he was
gaining more and more knowledge regarding this epic, he found himself to be in
complete awe of Draupadi and her story. The inspiration he drew from her story
led to him starting to work on this novel.
His debut fiction novel 'Zero Not Out', is a love story
inspired by his real-life incidents. Apart from this, he enjoys reading about
cricket, love, women, and failure stories.
Draupadi:
India’s First Daughter
This story, as mentioned earlier, revolves around the
times of Mahabharata. The interesting twist here is that this book is written
by a man from a woman's point of view, which gives the reader a general
curiosity to know how well the author understood the female protagonist of this
epic.
I tend to believe the writer has done a tremendous job in
understanding a woman's point of view, not only limited to the epic but also
extending to general happenings in our lives.
He depicted how she was caged with the terms like wife,
daughter, mother, daughter-in-law, sister, friend, and so on. Yet, she managed
to shine through it all, claiming her throne as a queen of the greatest kingdom
of that time.
Where
It All Started
While the story of Draupadi starts while her birth from
the holy fire, the book starts its journey from the time when Draupadi got
married to Arjuna after he won the Sawayamvara (a method of marriage in which a
woman chose a man as her husband from a group of suitors), but the Pandav
prince was ordered to share his ‘winning’ with his brothers like he always
does.
By the time Queen Kunti realized her mistake, it was too
late. Here, Draupadi stood, thinking about what went wrong in the past few
hours. She thought about how she was a princess a few hours ago, and now she
was in a small cottage, where everyone slept after putting a question mark on
the life she will be living ahead.
While this is the starting point of this book, the author
tends to circle back to various key moments of Draupadi’s life at certain
intervals throughout the book.
Based
On Instinct
As Draupadi is the female protagonist of the Mahabharata
epic, it is hard for anyone to decipher what was going on in her mind during
those times. But the author has tried his best to inculcate the element of
female instinct in this book, to make it more relatable.
Most of the book is about Draupadi's conversations with
herself, analyzing the family she's been married into, looking at and observing
her five husbands, and so.
A very beautiful friendship has been portrayed between
Shri Krishna and Draupadi in this book. It shows how Shri Krishna was her only
comfort corner; he was that one person with whom she was able to have an honest
talk.
Breaking
Stereotypes
The author has tried to portray Draupadi to be a woman
ahead of her time. While during the earlier ages, women were treated as
secondary to their husbands, Draupadi seemed to have an identity beyond her
marriage with the Pandavas.
She vocalized her opinions and beliefs, making her stand
out from all the women from those times. While she was the center of all
conspiracies of the kingdom, she was able to endure the pain and rise from it
as a stronger woman.
The book showcases an interesting take on various events
of the epic, making it a crisp yet fulfilling read.
The recommendation of this book goes to anyone with an
interest in mythology and fiction. This book can be a good weekend companion,
as it is not an elaborate read.
Overall
Rating- 3.5/5
Written by – Simran Mahon
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