“It is only in her final decision that she exercises clear, and rather unexpected, agency and thus frees herself. I wondered: What would she have been thinking? She is depicted in the original story, as also in its adaptations, as a submissive creature, mutely complying with the wishes of the different men who ‘control’ her: her father, the king Yayati, the Brahmin to whom she is given away, the four kings who beget heirs by her. She says Drishadvati’s “silence spoke volumes to me. Mahadevan sensitively focuses on Drishadvati’s radical character instead of projecting her as a helpless woman, as in earlier adaptations. So I would describe this book as a reclamation, a refashioning and a reinterpretation.” “When one juxtaposes it with the stories of associated characters, the networks of societal relationships are held up to our view, fresh layers of meaning suggest themselves. As such, it has to be retrieved and pieced together to make meaning of it,” she goes on to say. “This could be due to the fact that the story of Drishadvati itself is never presented as a whole, but lies fragmented with parts of it in Book 1, ‘Adi Parva’, and parts in Book 5, ‘Udyog Parva’. Though the central episode, about the bartering of a woman’s fertility for rare horses, has inspired modern playwrights and short story writers, it has never been anchored to other stories that can be clustered around it.” However, there is no tale as heartbreaking and dark as that of Drishadvati, who is exploited for her fertility.”Ībout the book’s subtitle – The Untold Story of Yayati’s Daughter – the author says: “Here ‘untold’ is the operative word, implying not only a first of sorts but also something unspeakable. Consequently, their tales, though inspirational to many, are usually tragic. Women in the epics have little agency in their lives. In the Ramayana, Sita is banished to Valmiki’s ashram.
“In the Mahabharata, Draupadi and Gandhari lose all their sons in the war.