Reading of Draupadi as 'The Celestial Astra, the Feminist Weapon Invoked with Special Chants' in Chitra Banerjee's the Palace of Illusion

Draupadi is the epitome of feminine excellence and the single representative of the entire novel The Palace of Illusion. Divakaruni makes Draupadi as the “Celestial astra, the weapons that must be invoked with special chants! They come from the Gods and return to them after being used. The most powerful ones can be used only once in a warriors lifetime.” She is used as a “Brahmastra” to destroy the evil things in the entire world. Because cleansing is the essential factor for the overall social change. Here Draudpadi also “ascends the pyre” not to die but to live with her husband with the purity of heart, mind and soul. Fire cleanses her physically, emotionally, and mentally to start a fresh life with her husbands. A woman could create the kind of transnationalism in her own country with her binary efforts discarding the power and the western ways of Eurocentric dominance. She is the combination of all ve elements so as to live with all the ve husbands representing all the ve elements. She becomes the atma of all the ve husbands who represent the ve elements