Life of Panchali told through deep illustrations and simple words

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.

Each character of Mahabharata is worth a read, but what stands out among women of that time is Draupadi also called Panchali. 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 happens to be one of the few women in the entire clan who spoke her mind and is considered 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.

The book is split into seven episodes, some split further into sections which makes 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. 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