Echoes of Fire and Earth: Feminist Reimagining of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Draupadi and Sita

Abstract

The epics Mahabharata and Ramayana have long shaped Indian cultural and moral frameworks, which supports patriarchal norms through their portrayal of women. In her novels The Palace of Illusions and The Forest of Enchantments, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni revisits these texts through a feminist lens, granting narrative agency to the silenced women, Draupadi and Sita. This research article titled, “Echoes of Fire and Earth: Feminist Reimaginings of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Draupadi and Sita” proposes to explore how two mythological women, long confined to the margins of epic narratives, are given voice to their inner world. It also aims to show how Divakaruni reimagines Draupadi and Sita not as idealised symbols of virtue or sacrifice, but as complex, feeling, thinking women navigating love, duty, betrayal, and inner conflict. Draupadi burns with questions and anger, while Sita endures with quiet strength, yet both emerge as courageous women.