Panchali: Draupadi’s Powerful Voice in a Graphic Retelling of the Mahabharata
Ritisha Tankha
The Mahabharata, as we all know is a well-known classic, the longest epic with its longest version consisting of a hundred thousand slokas, written by the sage, Vyasa.
The Mahabharata is not a legend or a myth, it is the history of our country, as is seen from various archaeological evidence found over the years. A history that each Indian, young or old should read, and understand.
Panchali: The Fierce Voice of Draupadi
The author considers each character of the Mahabharata worth reading, but Draupadi, also called Panchali, stands out among the women of that time. And Panchali is what Sibaji Bandyoadhyay has written about.
In the graphic novel, Panchali, published by Penguin Random House India, the writer has focussed specifically on Draupadi, one of the main characters of Mahabharat.
Daughter of King Draupad and wife to the five Pandava brothers, Panchali’s character comes out strongly in the book. Panchali stands as one of the few women in the entire clan who speaks her mind and is regarded as the epitome of feminism.
The courage and strong will shown by her comes out perfectly well, not just through the words of Bandyopadhyay but also through the art work done by Sankha Banerjee. The fierce illustrations of Panchali transported me to that era, and I could feel myself a part of it.
A Graphic Retelling That Makes the Epic Accessible
The author splits the book into seven episodes, with some further divided into sections to make it easier to read and comprehend. Also, it helps differentiate and make sense of the events taking place. The simple language makes it suitable for all age groups, especially us children, who I feel must know our history.
Frankly, it was only small sentences and colourful illustrations that made me pick this book up. I have another on Mahabharata titled Jaya by Devdutt Patnaik at home bought by my mom, but despite mom’s repeated requests to me to read it, I could never make myself do so – it’s so full of text. I seriously feel if our elders want us to read our historical epics, they must bring us books like Panchali – simple and yet true to the original story.
Learning Values Through Storytelling
Through such books youngsters like me can easily learn of the certain human values like love, devotion, loyalty as well as understand what duplicity, conflict and discord is – something which no amount of preaching can do. The book also helped me understand power games played in courts and ill-effects of gambling, patriarchy and prejudice, and the destruction of nature.
What’s more interesting is the summary at the end about each chapter which gives details about the content in each chapter, and the epilogue at the end to recount or look at the events that took place at a glance.
Ritisha Tankha is a Class 12 student of Army Public School, Noida
