Questioning Culture through Postmillennial Indian English Novels: A Study of Asura, the Tale of the Vanquished and The Oath of Vayuputras

Abstract

Literatures after the millennial-turn retreated to the cultural wisdom in search of the thread for fiction. In addition to grafting the old ideas with the new tongue, recent writers such as Anand Neelakantan and Amish Tripathi explored the possibilities of reinstating Gods in manly light. This typical strategy has also broken the codes of traditional positioning of genres like criticism, creative writing or history in separate cubicles. Asura, the Tale of the Vanquished by Anand Neelakantan and the Oath of Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi convincingly substitute Rama and Shiva, the Avatar and the God, with men, the King and the leader of certain cultural groups. In this way the works seem to celebrate but problematize worship existed in the brahminical culture. A closer view gives the impression that they subvert the brahminical views and re-sacrilize the marginalized cultural heroes of folk tradition. A third glance will draw our attention to the stirring of culture of destruction, in favor of construction. The present study, moving beyond the normative ways, focuses on these pluralities. The major objective of the study includes finding out the answers to the questions, history can answer, about the survival of certain kinds of belief in the cultural erosion. The paper by comparing the matter and manner of these fictional narratives opens up a promising way to read fiction for critical insights on culture and history.