A sketch portraying Draupadi's vastraharan by the Kauravas

Hyderabad, Jan. 12: Amid the lull in the Telangana storm, passions in Andhra Pradesh have been incited yet again, this time by Draupadi.

Draupadi, a book in Telugu that has been chosen for the Sahitya Akademi award, has earned the wrath of the moral police because it has portions depicting Draupadi’s “amorous nights” with her Pandava husbands.

Pragnya Bharathi, a cultural organisation that owes allegiance to the RSS, has filed a petition before the Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission saying the book penned by Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad has “desecrated” the character of Draupadi, a revered figure from the Mahabharat.

The commission has directed the secretary of the Union information and broadcasting ministry to submit a report on the selection of Draupadi for the Sahitya Akademi award and ordered a stay on the presentation. The awards are to be handed out in New Delhi on February 16.

Commission chairman Justice B.S. Reddy said excerpts from the book, presented by the petitioners, had been taken up for investigation.

“I have directed the information and broadcasting ministry to keep the award presentation event, and also the process to translate the novel into 24 Indian languages, pending” he said.

The stay can be challenged in a court of law.

The petitioners have objected to the author’s portrayal of Draupadi as a “sex maniac”. The book shows Draupadi as a woman who relishes sex with some partners but dislikes physical intimacy with others, to the extent that she isn’t even willing to kiss them.

Prasad, a former Telugu Desam Rajya Sabha member and present chairman of the Dakshin Hindi Prachar Sabha, also portrays in the book Draupadi’s desire to marry and have sex with Karna, the great Mahabharat warrior who was, like the three eldest Pandavas, Kunti’s son but fought against them.

“I have been watching him practising the display of swords and other weapons. My body and mind craves his strong embrace,” Draupadi says in the book.

In the epic, however, Draupadi prevents Karna, who was one of her suitors at her swayamvara, from attempting to hit the fish-eye target with an arrow by saying she wouldn’t marry a “sootaputra (son of a charioteer)”.

Prasad’s book also shows Draupadi luring Bheema with her charms to rise against his brothers and depicts her manipulating the powerful brother to fulfil her needs.

The novel had first appeared in serialised form in the Telugu weekly Andhra Jyothi a decade ago. It had then sparked a controversy for its portrayal of Draupadi in a new light, culling her personality from five sensual nights she spends with each of the five Pandavas.

Contending that such a book questions the credibility of the Sahitya Akademi award, V. Nageshwar, one of the petitioners, said: “The author has distorted the mythological and historical events to his own advantage and to sensationalise the character.”

Prasad, the author of 33 works in Telugu and Hindi, said he was unfazed by the criticism.

“Such outbursts are natural when a character is interpreted from a new angle. More so if it is a strong and epic character like Draupadi for whom people have unquestioned veneration and of whom they have formed a certain image of their own,” he said.

But, Prasad insisted, he had had no intention of belittling Draupadi or hurting the religious sentiments of any community.

“One should take it as one takes the interpretations of the epics by the celluloid world,” he said.

The depiction of Draupadi in modern times has often triggered controversy.

Oriya writer Pratibha Ray, in her award-winning novel Yajnaseni (originally written in Oriya and translated into Malayalam) had come under fire for her depiction of Draupadi.

M.F. Husain had triggered a storm of protest with his nude painting of Draupadi.