Exploring Revisitation of Myth and Shifting Significance of Myth in Selected Contemporary Indian Popular Fiction

Abstract

Fascination towards ancient knowledge through re-visitation of Myth happens to be newlinethe new acquired fashion of majority of recent novelists of Indian English Literature. The newlinesudden shift in the trend has motivated the research to study and explore the changing newlinesignificance of myth due to the revisitations. The research intends to study the purpose, the newlinepattern and analyze how the revisitations are attempting to bridge the past and the present. The newlinemain focus is to explore the relevance of revisited myth in the current context. The newlinemethodology used is qualitative research and has chosen The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret newlineof Nagas, The Oath of Vayuputras written by Amish Tripathi; The Mahabharata Secret written newlineby Christopher C. Doyle and Chanakya s Chant written by Ashwin Sanghi as the primary newlinesources to evaluate how Myth is revisited by the recent writers to rationalize it, to influence newlinethe readers by using the mythical archetypes to refine the social construct, to understand how newlinethe authors are reinterpreting myth as ancient knowledge and thereby promoting mythical newlinestudies. newlineThe research has found that the selection of Myth as the source of inspiration for the newlinewriters is a conscious choice and they believe in using myth as a tool to refine society. The newlineselected authors have given a call to look at mythical knowledge with a fresh perspective and newlinethereby have increased the scope of study. The research has identified that myth is the popular newlineculture and the benefits of revisiting is multifold. Since the number of revisitations are newlineincreasing, the research identifies the need to institutionalize mythical studies in India. The newlineresearch has found that the selected texts have boosted the confidence of Indians by eradicating newlinethe image of judging Indians as superstitious by reasoning our ancient practices and beliefs. It newlinehas emphasized on the fact that Indian myth is unique compared to the other myths and the newlinestudies on it cannot be generalized with the theories put forth so far by the Theoreticians. The newline newlineSastry 2 newline newlinelimitations include the fact that it is not a complete study of all the contemporary mythical newlinewriters. newline