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Draupadi (10M)

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20 views

Draupadi (10M)

Uploaded by

rayanaprolegand
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Draupadi

Mahasweta Devi’s Draupadi is a metanarrative, capturing the life and times of its protagonist
Dopdi, a Santhal tribal, at the intersection of modern developmental state and subsistent subaltern
survival. It raises the issues of class, caste and colonialism, and their collusion in the formation of
hegemonic patriarchal nation state and how this mainstream formation maintains itself through
violent ‘othering’ of the margins. The author transforms the mythological into a tribal Dopdi, the
agent of a potential unmaking of gender and class containment.

The character of Dopdi allows us to view the subaltern’s identity vis-à-vis the hegemonic
structures seen through the policemen and Officer Senanayek. Thus, Dopdi’s body becomes a site
of both the exertion of authoritarian power and of gendered resistance. Dopdi bears the torture as
she is raped by many men through the encouragement of the voice of another man Arijit, that urges
her to save her comrades and not herself. However, the attack on her body fades this male
authority’s voice as she candidly reacts to the police. Her refusal to be clothed goes against the
phallocentric power, and the exploitation of her body gives her the agency to step away from the
hegemonic patriarchy of the policemen.

Devi illustrates how any conflict or war results in the women’s body being the primary targets
of attack by men. In the contexts of both the Naxalite movement and the Bangladesh Liberation
war, both men and women are tortured, but it is much worse for women as they additionally
undergo sexual abuse. Thus with Spivak’s concepts on the subaltern in mind, through Dopdi, Devi
represents the gendered subaltern subject who exists at the periphery of society and dares to go
against the existing patriarchal structures. Spivak has shown concern regarding the representation
of the subaltern in the mainstream discourse on the basis that the subaltern cannot be represented;
only re-presented. However, Devi’s use of polyphony not just re-presents the subaltern, it also
explores the politics around the category of the ‘subaltern.’

Although there are many facets to the mythical Draupadi’s character, Devi focuses on the
infamous incident where the princess is almost disrobed and subverts it to suit Dopdi’s context.
Devi has always said that she is interested in the stories of ordinary people which is evident through
thesubversionofDraupadi’srape. Towards the latter part of her life, she focused on presenting the
narratives of ordinary people. In Draupadi, Devi has not allowed her female protagonist, Dopdi,
to be submissive and conquered by the male-dominated society, unlike Draupadi from
the Mahabharata.

Draupadi is a narrative that is universal in its portrayal of women as the most brutal victims
of conflict and war. This approval on the part of Officer Senanayak in the story for the officers to
‘make her’ is reminiscent of the situation of Bangladesh’s Birangona and Japan’s comfort women.
At the end of the story as she confronts the army officers with her bare body, the body that was
violated and tortured is also in reverse used as a weapon. Even though Dopdi has been physically
abused, she refuses to be emotionally wounded.
Hence, Draupadi, Devi presents a strong woman who despite being marginalised and exploited,
transgresses conventional sexual and societal standards. Dopdi subverts the physicality of her body
from powerlessness into powerful resistance. She does not represent the tribal woman by
romanticising her depiction of Dopdi but instead realistically re-presents her through simple
language and complex emotions. Draupadi recognises a woman’s body as an asset through which
they can resist the socio-political objectification of their bodies and overcome oppression.

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