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A Reading of Amish Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy

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A Reading of Amish Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy Dileep 1 Appropriation and Commercialization of Mythology: A Reading of Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy in English Studies by Lakshmi Dileep Reg. No. 1334104 Under the Guidance of Renu Elizabeth Abraham Assistant Professor Department of English CHRIST UNIVERSITY BENGALURU, INDIA DECEMBER 2015 Dileep 2 Appropriation and Commercialization of Mythology: A Reading of Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy in English Studies by Lakshmi Dileep Reg. No. 1334104 Under the Guidance of Renu Elizabeth Abraham Assistant Professor Department of English CHRIST UNIVERSITY BENGALURU, INDIA DECEMBER 2015 Dileep 3 Approval of Dissertation Dissertation entitled Appropriation and Commercialization of Mythology: A Reading of Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy by Lakshmi Dileep, Reg. No. 1334104, is approved for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy in English Studies. Examiners: 1. ___________________ ___________________ 2. ___________________ ___________________ 3. ___________________ ___________________ Supervisor(s): ___________________ ___________________ Chairman: ___________________ ___________________ Date: ___________ Place: Bengaluru Dileep 4 DECLARATION I, Lakshmi Dileep hereby declare that the dissertation, titled Appropriation and Commercialization of Mythology: A Reading of Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy is a record of original research work undertaken by me for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy in English Studies. I have completed this study under the supervision of Ms.Renu Elizabeth Abraham, Assistant Professor, Department of English. I also declare that this dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associate ship, fellowship or other title. It has not been sent for any publication or presentation purpose. Place: Bengaluru Date: ………………… Lakshmi Dileep Reg No. 1334104 Department of English Christ University, Bengaluru Dileep 5 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the dissertation submitted by Lakshmi Dileep (Reg. No. 1334104) titled Appropriation and Commercialization of Mythology: A Reading of Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy’ is a record of research work done by her during the academic year 2013-2015 under my supervision in partial fulfillment for the award of Master of Philosophy in English Studies. This dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associate ship, fellowship or other title. It has not been sent for any publication or presentation purpose. Place: Bengaluru Date: Signature of the Guide Ms Renu Elizabeth Abraham Assistant Professor Department of English Christ University, Bengaluru Signature of the Head of the Department Department of English Christ University, Bengaluru Dileep 6 Acknowledgement The last two and half years of being a research scholar have both been a rewarding and a humbling experience. This experience taught me a lot in life not only in terms of academics but also time management and juggling my personal and professional life along with the research. First and foremost, I wish to thank Almighty God for giving me the strength to keep going in spite of the hardships along the way. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Christ University, Bengaluru as well the Department of English for providing the opportunity to be part of the institution. I wish to thank Professor John Joseph Kennedy, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences and Dr Abhaya N B for their support and guidance. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my guide Ms Renu Elizabeth Abraham. This thesis would not have been possible without the able guidance of Ms Renu. Her constructive criticism, though overwhelming at times has made me a better student and researcher and helped me widen my knowledge. Thank you maam for being patient with me and I would also like to apologise for the inconvenience caused due to my negligence. I am also grateful to Mr Biju I P and Ms Anupama Nair, my internal examiners for their valuable suggestions and ideas. I would also like to thank Mr Joseph Edward Felix and Mr Joshua G, MPhil Coordinators for their support and patience. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Sushma V Murthy, Assistant Professor for her kind words of comfort and encouragement and for inspiring me to be a teacher like her. I am grateful to Ms Shobana Mathews and Ms Sreelatha R for their valuable inputs. I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to my place of work Mount Carmel College. I am grateful to Ms Mary Mathew, head of the department for inspiring me to be better research scholar and a teacher like her. I would also like to thank all my colleagues in Dileep 7 the Department of English for supporting and encouraging me. Special thanks to Ms Mabel Cynthia Mascarenhas, Ms Sheryl Puthur and Ms Priya Sunil for critiquing the initial drafts of my thesis. My sincere gratitude to Ms Gargi Dutta for being my person. I would also like to acknowledge the wonderful group of friends from my MPhil batch, Rajarajaeshwari Ashok, Durga Nayar, Divya R, Laxmi Pant and Vidya Balakrishnan. Raji, I am sincerely grateful for the words of encouragement and support and I will miss our chatting session. Durga, I am inspired by your mental strength and would like to thank you for the support. Vidya, thank you so much for being my partner in crime. Words cannot express my gratitude towards my family. My parents and my brother have always been my source of comfort and strength. I am equally grateful to my parents in law for their encouragement and support. I would also like to thank my cousins for their support. My utmost gratitude to the most special person in my life, my husband Suman. Thank you so much for being my pillar of strength and support. Your words of encouragement truly inspired me to be a better scholar and a better person. Dileep 8 Abstract This dissertation titled Appropriation and Commercialization of Mythology: A Reading of Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy examines the appropriation of mythology and the commercialization of mythology. It seeks to examine how the author has appropriated the ancient mythology into the popular fiction genre as well as the impact of commercialization on mythological fiction and the positioning of the author in today’s commercialized society. The dissertation employs theories related to popular culture and commercialization and uses textual and discourse analysis. It argues that Tripathi’s appropriation of the mythology resulted in the commodification of the mythology as well as the commodification of the author. Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy is a retelling of the Shiva myth and has foregrounded the human side of Shiva. The author has adopted a contemporary style of narrative and has used simple and common place language. The relatable characters and the incorporation of the contemporary issues popularized the Trilogy. The author was also instrumental in undertaking a promotional drive that revolutionized the Indian publishing industry. The dissertation examines the socio- cultural and ideological indoctrination used by Tripathi so as to appropriate the ancient mythology into the contemporary narrative framework. It also looks into concept of commercialization, commodification and culture industry and how it has impacted the mythological fiction genre. The dissertation will also examine the process of commodification of the author and the concept of the author as a literary celebrity. Terry Eagleton’s essay “Author as a Producer” and Wenche Ommundsen’s essay “From the Altar to the Market Place and Back Again: Understanding Literary Celebrity” will be examined to study the position of the author in the present commercialized society. John Fiske’s essay “Commodities and Culture” will be examined to understand the popular texts and its requirements. Dileep 9 Mythological fiction is gaining popularity in India in recent times. Hence a study conducted in this area is relevant and it falls under the domain of popular culture studies. Keywords: Mythology, Popular Fiction, Shiva Trilogy, Appropriation, Commercialization, Commodification, Culture Industry, Marketing, Celebrity Author. Dileep 10 Table of Content Approval of Dissertation i Declaration ii Certificate iii Acknowledgement iv Abstract vi Chapter I: Introduction 1-22 Chapter II: Appropriation of Mythology 23-40 Chapter III: Commercialization of Mythology 41-56 Conclusion 57-61 Bibliography 62-66 Dileep 11 Introduction Myths and mythology hold an important role in shaping our consciousness and provide an understanding of the world around us. Devdutt Pattanaik in his book Myth= Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology (2006) describes myth as a cultural construct, a common understanding of the world that binds individuals and communities together and mythology as a vehicle of the mythic idea and constitutes stories, symbols and rituals that make a myth tangible. Myth and mythology casts an important influence on culture and at the same time the culture also profoundly influences myth and mythology which is emphasised by Pattanaik when he says in his introduction to the book, “People outgrow myth and mythology when myth and mythology fail to respond to their cultural needs” (Pattanaik xv). Mythical stories are psychologically relevant for the development of a community. Myth and mythology has been a source of inspiration for artists and writers all over the world and has now emerged as one of the popular genres in literary fiction and non-fiction writing. In India, the two great epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata serve as both religious scriptures and as a rich source of philosophy and morality. Ramayana originally believed to be written by Valmiki, has being retold by various writers over the years, interpreting and modifying the original in accordance with the changing mores of their society. In the history of world literature, the numerous Ramayana retellings and reinterpretations have attained an almost canonical status.
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