Proliferation of Mythological Novels in Contemporary Indian English Fiction

Abstract

Myths have been used in Indian literatures since time immemorial as a significant tool to expose some crucial debates like casteism, poverty, men-women relationship, social injustice, politics, various movements. In the present era of globalisation, there is an emergence of a new tradition of re-writing, re-telling, re-imagining the myths with contemporary perspective. Writers like Amish Tripathi, Ashok K Banker, Devdutt Pattanaik, Nilanjan P Chaudhari, Anand Neelakantan, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Anuja Chandramouli, Shinde Sweety, Vamsee Juluri, Rashmi Chendavankar, Gautam Chikermane, Madhvi Mahadevan, Indirabai M Rao, Aditya Iyengar, Vikas Singh, Manoshi Rawal, Vineet Agarwal, Kavita Kane, Shatrujeet Nath, Saiswaroopa Iyer, Krishna Udayasankar, and many others turn towards myth. They use myth in a prominent way. In their works, myths operate in contemporary Indian context to evolve its new discourse in Indian fiction in English.

The present paper tries to read the phenomenon of proliferation of Mythological novels in the age of globalisation and the emergence of new English speaking elite class. Globalisation has heralded the emergence of new English speaking elite class in India. This class regularly consumes western fantasy thrillers and best sellers to which these mythological novels prove to be Indian counterparts. Apart from this, there is a certain kind of cultural identity crisis. Indian myths can be the space - an artistic zone, where the idea of the nation and identity can be re-negotiated by this elite class. The English speaking community endeavours to create a niche in the global sphere by using the myths as one of the strong bases of their identity.