These words of H.R. Ellis Davidson, in her Gods and Myths of Northern Europe pave way to see the myths in a different perception. It explicates the modern world of science how myth is essential and their functions in the lives of the people. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores and creates a new world through her novels which are based on the platform of myth. Is myth essential? What is the importance of myth in day to-day life? How does myth act as a moral instructor? How does it heal the problems of human being? How do myths help the people? These questions are interpreted and analyzed in this study with reference to the selected novels of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
Most myths are instructive and act as a guide to social norms, taking on cultural taboos such as incest, fratricide and greed. They are the explanation of facts, whether natural or cultural. They describe the ritual and cultic customs. Through the stories the man kind can heal and renewed their strength to fight against their problems. Myths give self confidence, and they inspire human to attain their goals like supernatural heroes, who faced many obstacles in their journey. They linked with psychological aspects of human, so they can modify the moral behaviour of the people.
Divakaruni has written seven novels, they are: The Mistress of Spices (1997), Sister of My Heart (1999), its sequel, The Vine of Desire (2002), Queen of Dreams (2004), The Palace of Illusions (2008), One Amazing Thing (2010) and Oleander Girl (2013). They are all dealt with the theme of self-quest, identity, marital problems, alienations, the problems of immigrants, rootedness, feminism, cultural and traditional crisis, and so on. Myth is a unique writing style of Divakaruni, which made her works famous. In an interview to Preeti Zachariah on April 24, 2013, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni said, “I came from a traditional family (…) the world around me was suddenly so different. Immigration was certainly a transformational experience and I tried to explore its intricacies.”
Divakaruni explores and discovers her own world and society by writing novels. She creates a universal appeal of togetherness through her novels. By presenting women characters as the protagonist of each novel she has elucidated the dilemma of women in this modern world of science and the way they tolerate and accommodate themselves in a society and how they try to be a part of that existence in this world. In all her novels, Divakaruni employs myth not only as a theme but also as a medium to convey her ideas vividly.
Myth can be collaborated and presented with any subjects and all subjects have some mythological impacts in them. So research regarding mythology need attention. Truly serious study of mythology has the potential to be the work of a lifetime. The study of mythology is needed. While it may invite dabbling at the start, before long it demands commitment across the boundaries of many disciplines. Mary Barnard noted, in her book The Mythmakers:
There is something to be learned from the simple fact that no enlightened university has established a Chair of Mythology. Mythology is not a field in itself, but a patchwork of the corners of other fields. The students of literature, linguistics, religion, archaeology, anthropology, psychology (two or three schools), folklore and philosophy must think of mythology to learn furthermore.
Divakaruni is the one, who centers and concerns more on mythical aspects in all her novels to prove the world how does myth serve in all times? through her women characters. San Francisco Chronicle praises Divakaruni’s first novel The Mistress of Spices, “A marvellous combination of myth and romance, social critique and poetry.” Her choice of myth gives her the glory as a path maker in the field of mythological novels. The title of the novel ‘The Mistress of Spices’ denotes that the woman who sells spices but in this novel she is not an ordinary woman who sell spices. Tilo is the mistress of sproblems of the people and helps them to recover from them wih the help of the spices and the special chanting’s of Tilo. They are Ahuja’s wife, Haroun, the taxi driver, Jagjit, a retired couple, Daksha, Geeta, the old man, Raven, the lonely American and many people when they visit her shop. Without their knowledge, she puts the spices into their bags with her chanting and prayers. She warns people and tries to protect them. She advises and regulates the people in the right path. She changes the mind of the pirates, who abduct her for her special powers, she uses the power to instruct and make them to understand their mistake and correct. She modifies herself by analyzing her own. She needs to be loved, so she makes her relationship with Raven. In that time too, she thinks of the welfare of the people who live in an alien land, she wants to serve for them. In the end, for her self-identity as an ordinary woman, her love, for her desires as a woman, she decides to lead a life as ‘Maya’ with Raven.
Throughout the novel, Tilo is presented as the finest example of mythological woman character who leads her entire life for others. The mythological spices instruct Tilo What must she do and not? With the help of that Divakaruni portrays the teachings to the readers, how myth regulates mankind. She leads all her life like the proverbs “Love thy neighbour” “Humanity is love”.
All philosophies of the world are combined together and named as Bhavat Gita from the great Indian epic The Mahabharata. Divakaruni, one of the most renowned mythological writers chooses the Indian epic The Mahabharata’s story, to write a novel in the female point of view. Duwabar Yug, an age, when the gods and goddess lived among humans as men and women. The Lord Krishna, himself guided Arjuna, one among the Pancha Pandava brother’s his guidance is known as ‘The Bhavat Gita’. To touch a religion in its base is critical but Divakaruni has done that with almost care and presented the story in female point of view. That is fabulous.
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is the product of her childhood memories, which is the cause for her love for myths and spiritual writings. A woman with five husband’s? is a big issue today also. But in Hindu Mythology, a woman Panchali with five husband’s who are the Hero’s of that age, the Pancha Pandava’s have been worshipped for many centuries and at present too. She is considered as the women of ‘purity’. Divakaruni presents the story through Panchali’s narration.
Divakaruni portrays Panchali, as a woman of ancient times with revolutionary thoughts more modern than the woman of today. She is very stubborn and bravely opposes the wrongs, firmly stands on her will. For honouring the words of Kunti only, Draupadi marries all the five. When she is asked to marry to five husbands and critically comments:
To keep me chaste and foster harmony in the Pandava household, Vyasa designed a special code of marital conduct for us. I would be wife to each brother a year at a time, from oldest to youngest, consecutively. During that year, the other brothers were to keep their eyes lowered when speaking to me. (Better if they didn’t speak at all.) they were not to touch me, not even the tips of the fingers. (…) Each time I went to a new brother, I’d be a virgin again.
I can’t say I was surprised by Vyasa’s verdict. (TPOI 119-120)
Apart from the revolutionary spirit of Draupadi, Divakaruni focuses how the Pandava’s struggle more to survive but they didn’t go in the wrong path. They went on the righteous path at the extreme. The Mahabharata is full of teaching and morals which are created to make the man perfect. Panchali’s revolutionary thoughts regarding her marriage, choice of husband, her protest against her father’s decision to her sister, her inner courage, outspoken, her power ove
r the man, her love for leadership, her love as a queen, and so on are the moral aspects learnt from Panchali. Her questions throughout the nTeaching, regulating the humans from evil behaviour, do good to the needy, god is in the name of love, nature is the real god which heal the inner and external wounds, save the nature, nothing is more than kind heart, all are equal, respect the women and adore them are some of the elements and aspects of myth.
One Amazing Thing is another amazing novel by Divakaruni which deals with the story of nine people of different origin and culture who are united by the earthquake unfortunately. It is just like the Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. They happen to meet by chance at the visa office of the Indian consulate after a massive earthquake and each one shares an interesting story. Uma Sinha from India, Caucasian couple –Mr and Mrs Pritchett who are affected by the past in the present, an Afro –American, Cameron, who wants to go to India to adopt a girl child Seva, Jiang, an old Chinese woman, who lived in India and during the Indo-China war of 1962, and her grand-daughter Lily, Tariq who was a suspected victim of racist attacks after the 9/11, Malathi who works at the Consulate office and has an adulterous affair with Mangalam, Mangalam is an officer at the Consulate are the people who trapped at the Indian Consulate office due to the earthquake. The novel begins with third person narration and Uma indulged in reading Chaucer against the backdrop of an earthquake which kind of traps all the people present in the Indian consulate office. 9/11 incident and its impacts on the immigrants and how the people come over from the problems through their own mythological aspects, the effects of earthquake are presented in this novel.
Each one’s story of their life is only not to indulge into the stress being there. Jhumpa Lahiri says about One Amazing Thing, “One Amazing Thing collapses the walls dividing characters and cultures; what endures is a chorus of voices in single room.” In this novel, simple myths of daily life and different cultures combine together to give a picture of those nine people. Divakaruni, by the stories of nine people, she teaches the people about the different cultures and the incidents of life and how myths change the lives of the man.
Writing helps Divakaruni to examine and explore her culture, tradition, the intricacies in relationship, and the problems of women in an alien land. She uses myth to preserve the culture and its heritage, religion, and ecology and she presents the mythological stories to teach, instruct, and regulate the mankind. All her novels have the touch of myth. History, myth, society, racial issues, magical realism, diversity all get blended together. Since the writer belongs to Bengal, most of her women protagonists are also shown to be hailing from Bengal. There are a lot of references to the food being cooked in Bengal and characters are seen to be humming songs and folk music. Her close association with her grandfather and his passing away when she was in America made her realize of the people and things she was missing. In order to not let her past slip away, it was her conscious decision to write and bring back memories to keep her associated with the country of her birth. She felt she could not afford to forget her motherland. For her writing is a way of reconnecting. The difference in the life style and values made her rethink and to some extent immigration made her into a writer.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni employs myth in all her novels to give a vivid picture of the story and how myth is mixed with their life in all ways. She uses myth as a medium to teach the people how to live, what is the part of women in the life of man, and the women must be respected and honoured. She presents the story of the Mahabharata, the treasury of Hindu mythology in the female point of view to analyze the importance women in ancient and modern society critically in The Palace of Illusions. Her novels are the presentations of morals to make the mankind lead a successful life on the righteous path.