Abstract: This paper examines contemporary feminist retellings of Indian epics against the framework of angel/monster (madwoman) binary as referred to in The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. This concept of binary is taken into consideration to study The Forest of Enchantments (2019) and The Palace of Illusions (2008) by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni to argue how these mythological novels challenge patriarchal representations of women, predominantly through Sita and Draupadi, in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata respectively. Sita in the former novel emerges as a questioning and self-aware narrator, while Draupadi’s anger and ambition in the latter are portrayed as a form of resistance rather than moral failings. The paper demonstrates how feminist retellings revise and update traditional myths by recovering marginalized female voices and perspectives and also redefine womanhood beyond such patriarchal binaries.

Keywords: Binary, angel, monster, retellings, patriarchy.