सैरंध्री

by नरेंद्र कोहली, Narendra Kohli

130 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Padmashree Narendra Kohli is one of the most eminent and well-known Hindi writers of our times. His novel based on the Ram-Katha, Abhyuday, shifted the course of Hindi novel-writing. Another of his novels, Mahasamar, based on the Pandava-katha went on to become just as popular. His novel-series, Todo Kara Todo is considered the greatest and foremost novel in any language on the life of Swami Vivekananda. Abhigyan, Vasudev, Sharnam, Aatmaswikriti, Varunaputri, Sagar-Manthan, Ahalya etc. are his other well-known works. Apart from the Padmashree, he has also been awarded the Hindi Akademi award; Delhi Salaka Samman; Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthaan award; Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Samman, Lucknow; K.K. Birla Foundation award; Vyasa Samman, New Delhi; Madhya Pradesh government and Bhopal’s Maithili Sharan Gupt Rashtriya Samman, among numerous other honours.

डॉ॰ नरेन्द्र कोहली (जन्म ६ जनवरी १९४०, निधन १७ अप्रैल २०२१, चैत्र शुक्ल पंचमी, नवरात्रि) प्रसिद्ध हिन्दी साहित्यकार हैं। उन्होंने साहित्य के सभी प्रमुख विधाओं (यथा उपन्यास, व्यंग्य, नाटक, कहानी) एवं गौण विधाओं (यथा संस्मरण, निबंध, पत्र आदि) और आलोचनात्मक साहित्य में अपनी लेखनी चलाई है। उन्होंने शताधिक श्रेष्ठ ग्रंथों का सृजन किया है। हिन्दी साहित्य में 'महाकाव्यात्मक उपन्यास' की विधा को प्रारंभ करने का श्रेय नरेंद्र कोहली को ही जाता है। पौराणिक एवं ऐतिहासिक चरित्रों की गुत्थियों को सुलझाते हुए उनके माध्यम से आधुनिक सामाज की समस्याओं एवं उनके समाधान को समाज के समक्ष प्रस्तुत करना कोहली की अन्यतम विशेषता है। कोहलीजी सांस्कृतिक राष्ट्रवादी साहित्यकार हैं, जिन्होंने अपनी रचनाओं के माध्यम से भारतीय जीवन-शैली एवं दर्शन का सम्यक् परिचय करवाया है। जनवरी, २०१७ में उन्हें पद्मश्री से सम्मानित किया गया।

Reviews

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sairandhri by Narendra Kohli- Books by Narendra Kolhi based on the epic Mahabharata are popular because the book portrays them not as characters from the epic but as normal living humans. The Book disucsses their way of thinking which is based on natural law and based on being good humans. Drupad son of King Prashatha King of Panchal and Dronacharya son of Rishi Bhardwaja both are being educated in the Ashram of Rishi Bhardwaya. Dronacharya and Drupad are friends. In their friendship, Drupad promises Dronacharya that when he is crowned as king of Panchal, he will share half his kingdom with Drona. Later on when Drona goes to meet Durpad then King of Panchal, Drupad refuses to part with half of his kingdom in favour of Drona. Drona feels dejected. Drona comes to know that Parashuram was gifting all his acquired properties and assets. Drona went there but was late Parashuram had disposed of his property and had only his weapons remaining. Drona accepted and Parashuram taught him the use of weapons. In order to continue the legacy of weapons, Drona became a military teacher at Hastinapur for Kaurava and Pandavas. After completion of education, Drona asked for Guru Dakshina. Both agreed to pay. Drona wanted that Kauravas and Pandavas to arrest Drupad and bring him before him. Kauravas failed but Pandavas especially Arjuna succeeded. Drona took half the kingdom of Drupad and released Drupad. Feeling insulted, Drupad organised a Putrakamesthi yagna with the aim that he be granted such progeny that would be able to kill Drona, marry Arjuna. From the fire of Yagna, son Dristadumna, daughter Draupadi and son Shikhandi were born. In the story, Draupadi marries Arjuna. Pandavas get Khandavprastha as kingdom. They loose all, kingdom, brothers and Draupadi in a game of dice.Later, King Dhritrashtra return all on condition of play one last game of dice. The condition is who ever looses will go for 12 years exile in forest and one year incognito. Pandavas loose the game of dice and proceed to the forest. After completing 12 years in exile in forest, the Pandavas moved for incognito period. Sairandhri is a typical character who has taken birth after the success of a yagna. In the beginning years, the Pandavas are brought up initially in forest and later on at Hastinapur. Draupadi is brought up in Panchal. They can be identified by their language. When they decide to spend one year in Matsya Kingdom they pose as farmers from Hastinapur and Draupadi as a maid from Panchal area.. Yudhistar is Kank who plays a person who plays dice with King Birat. Bhim is named Vallabha, chief cook for the palace. Arjun is Vrihannala the dance teacher for Uttara daughter of Birat. Nakul is Tantpal, keeper of cows and other animals for the King. Sahdev is Granthik for the King. Draupadi is Sairandhri, maid to Queen Sudeshana wife of king Birat. Kauravas are on the look out for Pandavas living incognito. There is no end for voes of Pandavas at Matsya also. Here the Commander in chief of the Matsya Army is Kitchak. While visiting her sister, Kitchak meets Sairadhanri and is enamoured by her beauty. Sairandhari informs Kitchak that she is a married woman and if he tries to molest her, her husband will take revenge. Sudeshana knows that her husband is weak and Kitachak has helped to keep enemies away from borders of Matsya. She orders Sairandhri to take wine plate to the room of Kitchak. Kitchak catches her and insults her. Next day, Sairandhrii informs Bhim about the incident. Bhim knows that Kitchak is a known mace fighter and can be competed by Balram, Duryodhana and Bhim himself. They ask Sairandhri to invite Kitchak to the dance hall. The hall has only one lamp. Kitchak enters and sees a lady whose face is covered. He lifts the veil and finds Bhim in place of Sairandhri. The fight begins. Vrihannala plays the drum loudly so that the noise of mace fight is not heard outside the hall and palace residents think that dance practice is going on. Vallabha kills Kitchak was his hands without using mace. Ktichak's face is not recognizable because of the beating. In the morning, the palace people are disturbed. Funeral of Kitchak, they tie Draupadi to be burned alive as his wife. Bhim uproots a tree and kills all the brothers and supporters of Kitchak. Funeral is completed. Duryodhana comes to Matsya on hearing about Kitachak's murder but he is unable to trace the Pandavas. Later, Queen Sudeshana informs her husband that it is possible that Draupadi has a hand in the killing of her brother Kitchak and she must be punished. At the same time, the Kauravas come to understand that king of Matsya is now weak kindgom. Therefore, from one border of Matsya kingdom, King Susharma and Trigart attack Matsya and gather the cows and other dairy animals and start taking them away. Sudeshana sends King Birat to encounter and reply to the attack. With the help of Brihannala, the Kurava army is defeated . One year period of incognito is over and Panadavas disclose their identity. The story of Sairandri and the Pandavas by deceptive looks remain unidentified. The brings out many morals relevant today. Undivided families are being converted to single unit families. Family members want to win and show other family members low. For this they forget principles of justice. The book is relevant today. It must be translated in Indian languages and in foreign languages so that readers can know about Indian values and philosophy. It is must read for all.

[Vikalp Trivedi · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Sairandhri' is my second novel by Narendra Kohli. One of the best things about his writings is the way he discribes the intimate thoughts of his characters. The way his different characters react in a situation and the long series of thoughts which his characters think before and after an event is a great way of building characters. It also makes his characters human beings. Originally they may be characters of one of the greatest epics but when they are in the hands of Mr. Kohli they are who reacts differently in a situation, and they all have their own thinking, their own thoughts and their own interpretations of a situation.

The novel is based on the Virat Parv of the Mahabharat where Pandavs along with Draupadi were staying in concealment as per the conditions laid by Duryodhan. It is also the part of the epic where Draupadi suffers one of the humiliations in the series of humiliations she suffers throughout the epic. Draupadi is staying in Virat as Sairandhri- as hairdresser of the queen Sudeshna. The biggest problem of Draupadi is her own beauty, whoever sees her gets carried away because of her beauty and they want her to be their lover. One of those awestruck people is Kichak who is commander-in-chief of Virat's army and brother of queen Sudeshna. By request or by force Kichak wants Draupadi to fulfill his physical desire.

Though the entire Sairandhri-Kichak episode is well known yet what makes this short novel a different one is it's subtle feminist tone and the relevancy of that tone. Draupadi's beauty is one of her attiributes she should be proud of. But due to Yudhisthir's foolishness her beauty becomes her own enemy due to her husband's foolish decisions which he took while gambling. But she still remains faithful to her husbands and is constantly advised to keep quiet even when Kichak hits her in front of her husbands. The only problem I found was that the book gets a bit dragged towards the closing chapters.

4 Stars.

[ajayveer singh chouhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book

[Monika Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed description of draupadi during agyatvas