Retelling the Mahabharata: Yajnaseni as Archive of gender and power

Abstract

This article examines Yajnaseni by Pratibha Ray as a powerful retelling of the Mahabharata that functions as an archive of gender and power. By narrating the epic through the voice of Draupadi, the novel revisits a well-known story from a woman’s perspective and brings forward experiences that were largely silenced in the original text. Through Draupadi’s reflections, emotions, and personal struggles, Yajnaseni preserves and reinterprets the cultural and social realities of its time, especially the position of women within patriarchal structures.
The study argues that the novel acts as a literary archive by recording how power operated within family, marriage, policies, and war. Draupadi’s life becomes a lens through which issues of female agency, humiliation, duty, and resistance are explored. Her relationships with the Pandavas, Krishna, and other characters reveal the unequal power relations that shape her destiny. At the same time, her voice challenges these structures by questioning norms of obedience, honor, and sacrifice imposed on women.
By retelling the epic from Draupadi’s viewpoint, Yajnaseni not only revisits mythological history but also connects it to contemporary debates on gender justice and identity. The novel shows that epics are not fixed stories, they can be rewritten to highlight hidden perspectives and alternative meanings. Thus, Yajnaseni becomes both a cultural memory and a critical space for examining how gender and power continue to influence society.