Resonances of Power and Nature: Exploring the Intersection of Architecture and Ecology in The Palace of Illusion

This paper explores the symbolic and environmental dimensions of monumental architecture in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions (2008), with a focus on the Maya Sabha. As a mythic structure born of human ambition and supernatural artistry, the palace serves as a potent metaphor for humanity’s fraught relationship with nature. By retelling the Mahabharata through Draupadi’s perspective, Divakaruni critiques anthropocentric worldviews and exposes the ecological and social costs of grand human enterprises. The narrative reveals how spaces like the Maya Sabha not only reflect power and prestige but also entrench social hierarchies and ecological imbalance. Through an ecocritical lens, this study examines how Divakaruni reconfigures an ancient epic to foreground contemporary concerns about sustainability, domination, and the environmental consequences of unchecked human desire.