Song of Draupadi Quotes

“Krishna sees her looking at him and Draupadi nods slightly at him and then looks back at the pyres, for she has understood a small, insidious truth. She remembers their precipitous flight from the camp in the middle of the night while her sons and brothers were left behind to be murdered in their sleep. There is no Vrishni pyre at this mass funeral and while all the major clans of the river valleys are laid low, Krishna's clansmen are unscathed. Moreover, the only heir with a claim to the throne of Hastinapur to have survived is the secret that Uttara hides in her frail body. So Krishna's nephew is dead but through his hastily arranged marriage to Uttara, the clan of the Vrishnis finally has a claim to kingship and the eternal kingmakers will at last be rajas.”
― Ira Mukhoty, Song of Draupadi: A Novel

“Under the vaulting sky in this place where all stories end, the Woman suddenly finds she can’t walk any more. Each step has been an agony of effort and will and now she can do it no more.”
― Ira Mukhoty, Song of Draupadi