48 pages • 1 hour read
Chitra Banerjee DivakaruniThe Palace of Illusions
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 25-30Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 25 Summary: “Sari”
The Pandavas decide to end their visit with Duryodhan. When Yudhisthir tells Duryodhan that they are leaving, Duryodhan challenges him to one last game of dice. Until this point, Duryodhan pretended to be a poor player at dice. However, on this day, he eviscerates Yudhisthir, who bets away “his jewels, his weapons, and all his personal wealth” (189). On top of that, he bets away himself, his brothers, and Panchaali, who all have to become Duryodhan’s slaves.
Panchaali is dragged into the hall by Duryodhan’s brother Dussasan, and Duryodhan demands that she sit on his lap. He then demands that all the Pandavas remove their clothes and jewels and hand them over to him. When they try to take Panchaali’s sari, she sends her thoughts to Krishna, who appears to her. Instead of becoming naked, “more and still more fabric appeared until he was exhausted with tugging,” and Panchaali remains clothed (193).
In response to the way she is treated, Panchaali curses the Kauravas, saying that she will kill them all. She vows to leave her hair uncombed and unwashed until then.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Rice”
The blind king fears Panchaali’s curse and gives her husbands their freedom and kingdom back. Duryodhan taunts Yudhisthir about being saved by his wife and challenges him to one last game, which Yudhisthir loses. His punishment for losing is 12 years of exile. Duryodhan attempts to take possession of the Palace of Illusions, but “a wind rose up, and as it swirled whitely around the palace, its domes and turrets began to dissolve,” so he is left with nothing (198).
Panchaali leaves with her husbands, even though she could have stayed with Drupad in the palace. They enter the woods, where they build a cabin and live off the land. Her husbands are content, but Panchaali is not. She is fixated on her need for vengeance.
One day, Duryodhan sends the sage Durvasa into the woods to harass the Pandavas. Panchaali is in possession of a magical pot that Vyasa gave her, which continues to create food until Panchaali takes her meal. By the time Durvasa comes and asks for food, she had already cleaned out the pot for the day. Panchaali starts to concentrate on Krishna, who appears and makes a grain of rice appear in the pot. After Krishna disappears, Panchaali learns that Durvasa has already left the woods, claiming that he’s no longer hungry.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Tales”
While the Pandavas live in the forest, they receive many visitors. Dhri often visits, and he brings servants to prepare feasts. Panchaali’s children also visit occasionally, but she feels “awkward and tongue tied with them” (207). She receives many invitations to visit the outside world, but she refuses. Even when Dhai Ma is on her deathbed, Panchaali remains in the woods. She refuses to enjoy any part of her life in exile, saying, “To be happy anywhere else was a betrayal of my beautiful palace” (206).
Sages also come to visit, and they tell the Pandavas stories. Panchaali’s favorite story is of Nal and Damayanti. During her swayamvar, Damayanti chooses Nal over the gods, which angers them. The god Kali uses a game of dice to trick Nal into losing his kingdom, and Nal decides to leave Damayanti in the forest to spare her his hardship. She goes back to her father’s palace but continues to look for Nal. They are finally reunited at her second swayamvar.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Lotus”
Panchaali reflects on her relationship with Bheem. Of all her husbands, he is the most devoted. During their marriage, he enjoys being around her, and “he told me things he’d never told anyone” (210). For example, when Duryodhan poisoned him as a child, Bheem traveled into the netherworld, where he was bitten by snakes whose venom counteracted the poison.
However, Panchaali notes that her affection for Bheem is not as strong as his affection for her, and it is still Karna who “had the power to agitate [her]” (213). She takes advantage of Bheem’s affections so that he will do her bidding. One day, she sees a golden lotus floating in the Ganga. When she smells it, her “fractious thoughts subsided” (214). However, the odor fades, and her thoughts return. She commissions Bheem to find her another lotus, and he goes on a mission to bring her back many.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Visitations”
For Panchaali, “The years passed like molasses, suffocating and formless” (216). Arjun avoids Panchaali and focuses on vengeance. He decides to leave camp to do penance and please Shiva so that he can obtain Pasupat, an astra, or supernatural weapon, that will make him invincible. At first, Shiva does not answer his penance, and a wild boar charges Arjun. He tries to kill it, but another hunter beats him to it. The hunter is Shiva, and the two embrace. Arjun receives the astra.
Indra and other gods appear to Arjun, gifting him with more astras. The goddess Urvasi wants to have sex with Arjun, but he refuses. As a result, he must spend a year as a eunuch, though he can choose the year.
The final year of the Pandavas’ exile is “filled with divine visitations” (221). For example, Yudhisthir is visited by an invisible being of power. The being forces him to answer 100 philosophical questions, which he does.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Disguise”
After their 12 years of exile are over, the Pandavas must spend an additional year in hiding. If Duryodhan discovers them in hiding, they must go back into exile for another 12 years.
The Pandavas go to Matsya, and they all start working in the palace of King Virat in disguise. Panchaali works for Queen Sudeshna, and she has no contact with her husbands or Krishna. Arjun becomes a eunuch for a year and lives in the women’s quarters.
Panchaali is lonely and notes she “felt the year would never end” (227). One day, Sudeshna’s brother, Keechak, notices Panchaali in the garden and takes an interest in her. He starts to pursue her constantly. One month before the year is up, he corners her and threatens to rape her if she does not give in to him. Panchaali makes contact with Bheem, and they beat Keechak to death.
News of Keechak’s death reaches Duryodhan, who attacks King Virat’s kingdom. Arjun vanquishes them, and the Pandavas’ year in hiding ends. The Pandavas reveal themselves to King Virat, who gives Princess Uttara to Arjun’s son, Abhimanyu, in marriage. The Pandavas’ royalty is restored.
Chapters 25-30 Analysis
Nature as a motif is featured throughout these chapters. When the Pandavas spend their exile in the forest, they are forced back into nature, which forces them to confront their true desires. There is a deep connection between the characters and the forest, and Panchaali notes, “As we went deeper, I thought it watched us” (198). While her husbands enjoy their time in the forest, Panchaali spends their exile focusing on her need for revenge. Stripped of all her luxurious trappings, Panchaali is able to fixate on her deepest desire—vengeance. To echo this transition into nature, the Palace of Illusions disintegrates into “bones, hair, sand, and salt” (198). All of its fantastic and magical elements are reduced to basic natural elements. To commemorate the palace, Panchaali carries around a pouch of salt.
Fate persists as a theme in these chapters. After Duryodhan attempts to humiliate her, Panchaali says, “All of you will die in the battle that will be spawned from the day’s work. Your mothers and wives will weep far more piteously than I’ve wept” (194). In this way, she echoes the prophecy she heard from Vyasa when she was younger. Thus, she solidifies the prophecy by putting it into her own words and by instituting a curse against the Kauravas. Instead of trying to fight destiny, Panchaali leans into it. She holds onto the past and lets her need for revenge consume her. Krishna encourages her to challenge fate by letting the past go. However, at this point in the novel, Panchaali is unable to do so.
Gender roles also continue to be explored. When Yudhisthir loses a game to Duryodhan, he has the power to give Panchaali to his rival. She notes, “The wife is the property of the husband, no less so than a cow or a slave” (190). Even though Panchaali is a queen who has slowly earned respect in her family, her gender allows her to be reduced to the level of property. Panchaali realizes that she has not gained as much respect as she thought she had. None of her husbands come to her defense when Duryodhan claims that he owns her. In response, she says the following about her husbands: “Their notions of honor, of loyalty toward each other, of reputation were more important to them than my suffering” (195). As men, they innately value other aspects of life above their wife.
Panchaali challenges gender dynamics in a new way in these chapters. She leans into typically masculine virtues and embraces revenge. After being exiled, she swears vengeance on the Kauravas, making her bloodlust a primary focus of her life. She admits that this makes her like her father, whose primary driving force is revenge.
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By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
