Narratives of Forgotten Women from the Mahabharata in the Postmodern Indian Literature: A Critical Study of Priyanka Bhuyan's Chronicles of Kuru Woman, a Trilogy

<p>Bharata is a rich reservoir of narratives, and it contains a vast collection of literary works penned down in a variety of genres and languages. Priyanka Bhuyan’s trilogy Krishna’s Sister, Duryodhana’s Queen and Pandu’s Other Queen is the reimagining and reframing of the greatest Indian epic, The Mahabharata, with the feministic perspective. Mythology has often depicted history in the light of its male protagonists, being penned down mainly by male authors. So, the female characters usually lost their identity and had their stories told by others. In Bhuyan’s trilogy, in spite of building the narrative paraphernalia around the male protagonists, the storyline is constituted around the female protagonists. This study explores how the stories and lives of the “forgotten” daughters-in-law of the Kuru dynasty, Subhadra, a younger sister of Lord Krishna and beloved wife of Arjuna; Bhanumati, the wife of Duryodhana; and Madri, the second wife of King Pandu, have been reinterpreted in the contemporary literature. This paper examines Subhadra, Bhanumati and Madri, not only as ordinary and unnoticed female characters of the greatest epic but as the women who made needful sacrifices out of the love and duty in the course of history. This study concentrates on the values of love, devotion, loyalty and self-sacrifice shown by the Kuru daughters-in-law and tries to listen to the voices that have remained unheard for ages. This study also aims on how these strong female characters, although being an epitome of the femininity, have played a key role during the Third Age of Man, Dwapara Yuga. The focus of this research paper is on analysing Bhuyan’s trilogy with the metanarrative lens with a view to examining how these characters have been portrayed in the postmodern era by an Indian feminist author.</p>