Publication

Abstract : The paper focuses on the ancient Indian epic - The Mahabharata – highly reflexive of the Indian socio-cultural convention. It has been a definitive cultural narrative in the building of masculine, feminine and alternate gender norms. Its core follows Pandavas from their birth, childhood and polyandrous marriage to Draupadi, through their penetrating breach with their cousins, through the eighteen-day Kurukshetra war and its after- effects to their deaths and even to their life after death. Although numerous versions of The Mahabharata have been penned by different authors, many of the versions seem to focus only on male champions. Such categories marked prejudice against the female sex. Renowned writer Pratibha Ray, through her novel, Yajnaseni, narrates The Mahabharata through the eyes of Draupadi, thus shattering this prejudice. This paper aims at analysing this novel in the light of female subversion and the Androcentric approach to the story.