Draupadi Demystified : Facts Of Mahabharat by Mahendra Arya
My take on the book:
Mahabharat is an epic which has been extensively re-written over the years, with the authors adding their own imagination and interpretation to the original Sanskrit verses. The author Mahendra tries to clear such myths added to the epic over the years by narrating it from Draupadi’s point of view.
The entire book is narrated by Draupadi beginning from her birth till the war ended in Kurukshetra. There are a total of 13 chapters that span this entire story. Each chapter covers each phase of Draupadi’s life. Though each chapter targets to demystify the stories that have been in circulation about Draupadi, the book also describes the major events in her life in a concise manner.
I have been reading stories from the Mahabharat from my childhood and they never bored me even after reading them a hundred times. Though it is a known story, the author’s narrating style and presentation of the same stories is what kept me hooked till the end. Though in the first few chapters it took me time to get used to the story being narrated from Draupadi’s perspective, once I was past them, I started enjoying the story.
If mythology is a genre you enjoy reading or always wanted to pick one in this genre but not sure where to start then I would recommend picking this one.
My rating:
4/5.