From Epic Margins to Narrative Centre: Female Agency in Contemporary Indian Mythological Fiction

Abstract

In recent years, mythological fiction has become a significant literary arena in India for reviving the image of women in the traditional epic. In this paper, I’ll look at the ways in which contemporary retellings of myths have shifted the focus of the marginalized female figures into the central story, reconstructing their experiences, identities and abilities to act. The book is mainly devoted to the reinterpretation of the characters like Draupadi, Sita, Urmila, Surpanakha, Uruvi etc. of the works of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Kavita Kane, Pratibha Ray and Volga. The study uses a qualitative method of close textual reading and comparative literary analysis and is informed by feminist literary criticism, revisionist mythmaking, Indian feminist historiography and adaptation theory. It explores the various narrative techniques including first-person narration, changing locations of focalisation, flashback and re-imagining of previously unexplored experiences that disrupt the common understanding of epic events. Focusing on female subjectivity, bodily autonomy, marriage, motherhood, resistance and gender and social hierarchy. The analysis shows that the retellings have made women more visible on the literary stage and more powerful than ever in terms of their moral authority, but have also exposed the constraints of literary empowerment. Women have more opportunities to express themselves, but they are often limited by aspects of their culture, romantic rules and commercial interests to be able to change the social structure in which they live. The study also highlights the under-representation of women who are members of the caste families as one of the major weaknesses of the genre. It argues that modern Indian mythological fiction is a kind of complex feminist literary revision which critiques the authority of the narrative, but does not necessarily challenge the institution that upholds it. The paper highlights the distinction between voice of the narrative and agency of transformation and calls for a more inclusive understanding of the reinterpretation of a myth.