Book Review - Jaya - Devdutt Pattanaik

The tales of the great epic Mahabharata retold in a form which can be understood be every reader. Being passionate about Bhagavadgeetha and Mahabharata for a very long time now; picking this book certainly made me fall in love with the epic again. Doing justice to every book he writes is the style of this author is what I have known after reading this piece of his work. Every tale has been depicted in a way which allows the reader to draw his own perceptions about every character of Mahabharata.

The illustrations, a blend of Zentangle and Madhubani art forms is another interesting aspect to the book. An effort of introducing the reader to various other versions of Mahabharata has been done along with the drawings of the family lines to get a better understanding of the Kuru and Yadu clan respectively. Helping the reader understand the difference between the emotions and Karma has been written with great ease.

My personal favorite chapter in the whole book is the, “Draupadi admits a secret”. Despite having everything with her, the leading lady of the epic could not be satisfied by even the most powerful Bhima or the most handsome Nakula because of the truth that was hidden deep inside her heart. The concept of questioning her chastity comes into the picture and how the guilt in the sub-conscious mind comes in the form of tears and then gets wiped away. So, in simple terms, chastity and honesty are two different faces of the same coin and the one who stands by Dharma performing the Karma without any expectations at all times is the one who gets closer to the Universe.

Every human-being born will have their treasure of secrets closely hidden in their heart. So did Satyavati, Kunti and Gandhari also had a lot of secrets but why was Draupadi cleansed of that guilt? Why did Kunti lose Karna and Gandhari all her children? This still leaves me perplexed.

Though it is a little difficult to understand it right at the first read, we may have to go back and re-read a few sentences again to understand the depth of the emotion and the character.

Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata, Abhythanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham!