The term Mythology comes from myth, and like our ancient Indian epics, many characters are lost in myths. Priyanka Bhuyan is one such writer who is trying to delve into the characters of India’s past which were never spoken before.
Her latest offering-Duryodhan’s Queen is the first book to be written on Bhanumati, wife of Duryodhan and is the second book in the series Chronicles of Kuru Woman. “There is more to Mahabharat than Draupadi and her vengeance. But there were many sub-plots and characters which eventually led to the downfall of the Kurus. I am only trying to tell their story. Like there are two sides to every coin similarly even the antihero of Mahabharat had many layers of his character but nobody speaks about it.”
The first book in the series-Krishna’s Sister was published in 2019 and was a bestseller on Amazon. “I was really intrigued how someone overlooked the fact that it was Devi Subhadra who continued the lineage of the Pandavas and is the only Kuru Queen who is worshipped along with her siblings Krishna and Balarama.” However, writing about lesser known characters were always difficult. Apart from the regular epics, she also had to rely on local folklores and legends to bring their stories to the people “In India, many stories were passed down from mouth to mouth, Like for Bhanumati, except in Stree Parva there is no specific mention about her in Mahabharat however local legends and stories about her children helped me frame the main plot.”
So why not Draupadi or the more famous Characters? “Well there are already many books written about them and some of them are really good. What I aim to attempt is to bring forward our brave woman stories who stood resilient and handled the aftermaths of the war. I believe the current times are also very challenging and maybe we can be inspired from our past to overcome any situation with the same dignity and resilience.” Not surprisingly Duryodhans Queen is currently nominated for the Criticspace Literary Awards
So what’s next? Who is the next Kuru Queen? “Well I haven’t still thought about it although I have a few ideas.” And how do you manage your writing passion while having a fulltime job? “Well if you have dedication and passion everything is possible although it is a bit demanding” Priyanka loves horse riding apart from her riding which she answers “When you write about Queens, you live like one…sorry just kidding. But the bonding with the animal helps me destress.” However she states that the most difficult part is drawing upon the emotions about the characters with not much information. Like I feel Duryodhana was one of the most emotional character of Mahabharata because he was very well aware that he was not going to win the war. So what made him go ahead then?
For this you can get a copy of Duryodhans Queen from Amazon.
You can follow the author in Instagram @authorpriyanka
