The Literary Trajectory of Mahabharata’s Draupadi across Globalisation and Migration
Author Name
Dr.Baishali Mitra
Author Address
Sr. Asst. Prof. Dept. of Humanities & Sciences
VNR VignanaJyothi Institute Of Engineering & Technology
Hyderabad.
EMAIL:
[email protected]
Keywords
Indian Diaspora Literature; Migration of Mythology; Retelling of mythology; Literature and globalisation; Draupadi; Mahabharata; Gender trope; Assertion of Feminism; Diaspora and Gender; Gender and Migration; Hindu Mythology.
Abstract
The ancient epic narrative Mahabharata is one of India’s great stories, embedded into Indian identity. The epic maintains its status as a culturally foundational text which, apart from philosophical and spiritual values, educational and religious instruction, contains and disseminates ideals of ethical obligation, social norms and gender roles. Draupadi, one of the most important female characters stands at the centre of the epic.
In this paper I trace the retelling of Draupadi’s story through the era of Indian globalisation and migration. The paper exhibits how Draupadi travels through the writings of globalised Indian and diaspora authors. Thus, the journey of Draupadi is traced through the writings of Indian writers Mahashweta Devi, Pratibha Ray representing global India and in the creation of Indian diaspora writers ChitraDivakaruni, and Krishna Udayashankar.
The paper portrays how Draupadi, initially a helpless, victimised woman transforms into a symbol of celebration of womanhood in stories retold. Through her migratory journey from ancient epic to Indian Diaspora, Draupadi becomes much more than her five cowardly husbands and the brutal death of her five sons. Her identity is reconstructed either to retell morality or to subvert the patriarch norms. Now, Draupadi represents an expansive locate on which Indian women can reinterpret their own role and simultaneously epitomizes the shortcomings of being represented. As Draupadi travels, through retelling, from ancient India to modern global India and then across borders, she becomes a woman who establishes her role, reaffirms her gender and reinvents the myth by adaptation and assertion. Her negotiations represent reconfigurations in terms of diaspora and Indian womanhood as based on icons and gendered tropes. While travelling between continents and in-between identities Draupadi steps down from a higher pedestal to become human as well as to become the voice of affirmation and independence, claiming political and personal autonomy.
Conference
International Conference on "Global Migration: Rethinking Skills, Knowledge and Culture"