Modernizing Indian Mythology in Amish Tripathi’s The Immortals of Meluha

Abstract

Mythology has always been a part and parcel of a country’s culture and tradition. The mythical stories across cultures are viewed as an embodiment of beliefs, values and philosophies that serves the national interest of the people .Likewise Indian Mythology is one of the richest elements of Indian Culture, which enriches it further and makes it a unique one in the world. Through generations, different stories in Indian mythology have been passed from generation to generation either by word of mouth or through carefully stored scriptures. This reworking of mythological subject matter through new modes of expression has proved to be an effective strategy that connects one to the cultural past on the one hand and helps to assert the present cultural and socio-political identity on the other. The different elements of Indian mythology were brought forth by a number of contemporary writers through myriad of articles and stories which not only make educational reading, but also make a good source of recreational reading. They bring forth the Myth not in its traditional form but in a modern form with a mixture of imagination and fiction. The contemporary writers make use of mythical framework in its complete form with historical settings, mythical characters and themes to explore its scope. Since modernization is concerned with the rejection of the traditional methods and adaptation of new modes and techniques, the contemporary Indian writers like Amish Tripati, Anand Neelakantan and Rajiv Menon etc., infuse their alternative, subjective views of modernity into traditional Mythology. When a part of a mythology or one aspect of a mythology is fancied by an author and is used in the literary work as a base, we could determine the usage as revisiting the mythology. In the realm of reconstructing mythology, it is questioned and criticized and is attempted to be reconstructed altogether.