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MYTHOLOGICAL GASLIGHTING: A FEMINIST STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION IN CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI’S THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS

AUTHORS:
Nancy
Mentor
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This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Indian mythological narratives have traditionally privileged male heroism while marginalizing female consciousness. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions (2008) rewrites the Mahabharata from Draupadi’s perspective, exposing not only patriarchal structures but also subtler forms of psychological control. This paper introduces the concept of mythological gaslighting to examine how Draupadi is emotionally and psychologically manipulated by familial, marital, and social forces that constantly invalidate her perceptions, desires, and moral judgments. Drawing on feminist literary criticism and psychological theories of gaslighting, this study argues that Draupadi’s suffering is not merely a result of overt oppression but of sustained emotional invalidation that compels her to doubt her own agency. By foregrounding gaslighting as a narrative strategy embedded within myth, the paper seeks to demonstrate how Divakaruni transforms Draupadi into a modern feminist consciousness resisting epistemic injustice. This study contributes to contemporary feminist mythological studies by reframing Draupadi not as a tragic victim but as a woman navigating and exposing psychological manipulation within sacred narratives.
Keywords
Mythological Gaslighting Feminist Retelling Draupadi Psychological Manipulation Patriarchy The Palace of Illusions
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Nancy, (2026). Mythological Gaslighting: A Feminist Study of Psychological Manipulation in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions. International Journal of Science, Strategic Management and Technology, 02(7). https://doi.org/10.55041/ijsmt.v2i7.006

Nancy, . "Mythological Gaslighting: A Feminist Study of Psychological Manipulation in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions." International Journal of Science, Strategic Management and Technology, vol. 02, no. 7, 2026, pp. . doi:https://doi.org/10.55041/ijsmt.v2i7.006.

Nancy, . "Mythological Gaslighting: A Feminist Study of Psychological Manipulation in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions." International Journal of Science, Strategic Management and Technology 02, no. 7 (2026). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.55041/ijsmt.v2i7.006.

References

  1. Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. Translated by H. M. Parshley, Vintage, 1989.

  2. Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. The Palace of Illusions. Picador India, 2008.

  3. Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own. Princeton UP, 1977.

  4. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, U of Illinois P, 1988, pp. 271–313.

  5. Stern, Robin. The Gaslight Effect. Broadway Books, 2007.

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This article has undergone plagiarism screening and double-blind peer review. Editorial policies have been followed. Authors retain copyright under CC BY-NC 4.0 license. The research complies with ethical standards and institutional guidelines.
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