Demythologizing Draupadī

Abstract

Draupadī, the wife of the five Pāṇḍavas in the Mahābhārata, is a much discussed character who has been interpreted in various ways, for example as a tragic character, the heroine of the epic, and even as a witch who is responsible for causing mass destruction, the Kurukṣetra war. With all the associated complexities, Draupadī remains one of the most intriguing of characters, a figure who has baffled readers and critics alike over the ages. The present study seeks to analyze the explications of one of the most haunting episodes of the Mahābhārata, the disrobing of Draupadī, as portrayed in contemporary folk art and theatre, which seek to demythologize one of the most controversial characters in the canon of Indian literature and deconstruct the Phallocentric ideology that informs the epic. The study takes into consideration Saoli Mitra’s play, Nāthavatī anāthavat (“Five Lords, Yet None a Protector”), which is an attempt to view Draupadī through “a pair of woman’s eyes,” together with Teejan Bai’s dramatized rendering of Draupadī cīrharaṇ. It seeks to draw comparisons with the original epic as well as between the works of these two theatre artists and their style of narration in order to evaluate how far they have succeeded in providing radically different interpretations of the character while providing the essential message of the episode. These two artists share some striking characteristics as they take up the rural folk tradition and enter the male bastion, using dramatized theatrical techniques, such as live music and dance to act out multiple roles, all the while recontextualizing the episodes, often offering a social critique, demythologizing the myth, and presenting the essential message of the epic that is expressed in mythical terms.