Unmuting and reinterpreting the Mahabharata through feminist translation in The Palace of Illusions (2008)
Arunima Dey
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Title
Unmuting and reinterpreting the Mahabharata through feminist translation in The Palace of Illusions (2008)
Abstract
The Mahabharata is arguably the most well-known Hindu epic in modern day India. Despite the fact that it is not, strictly speaking, a religious text, the notion(s) it vehiculates concerning what constitutes the correct gendered code of conduct continue to shape the minds and practices of a majority of Hindus in India. The original Mahabharata, I contend, promotes a subservient position of women within their interpersonal relations and the larger domain of society, and legitimises patriarchal codes that restrict and controls women and their bodies in both the private and the public sphere in contemporary Hindu society. In this context, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions (2008) provides for what I perceive to be a feminist translation of the original; by making the central female character the narratorial voice, it problematises taken-for-granted notions of ideal Hindu womanhood. This translation un-silences and re-centres the marginalised people (women and lower castes) whose stories were otherwise left unsaid in the original Mahabharata. Divakaruni’s feminist translation also delves into tabooed topics such as female sexuality and pleasure. I argue that Divakaruni’s Mahabharata demystifies the unquestioned authority of Mahabharata as a text that defines appropriate Hindu womanhood, so that her translation is not just a literary work but also becomes a tool for societal change.
Keywords
Mahabharata, feminist translation, Hindu epic, The Palace of Illusions (2008), Hinduism
34(1) - 2022