Paper: 08; Module No: 31: E Text (A) Personal Details: Role Name Affiliation Principal Investigator: Prof. Tutun Mukherjee University of Hyderabad Paper Coordinator: Prof. Ipshita Chanda EFL University, Hyderabad Content Writer: Ms. Soumita Das Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad Content Reviewer: Dr. Sayantan Dasgupta Jadavpur University Language Editor: Dr. Sayantan Dasgupta Jadavpur University (B) Description of Module: Items Description of Module Subject Name: English Paper No & Name: Paper 08: ‘New’ Literatures in English Module Id/No: 31 Module Name: Myth, History and New Popular Fictions Pre-requisites: Interest in Hindu Mythology and popular re-workings Objectives: The study based on the interdisplinarity and interdiscursivity suggest a urbane way to think about our past. Key Words: Myth , history, Epic, Retelling, Popular culture Content of the Module: Myth, History and New Popular Fictions 1. Introduction 1.1. Scope of the study 1.2. Contemporary relevance of the study 2. Theories of Myths 3. Remembering the past(s) 4. Other Retelling(s): Villains or Victors! 5. Modernity 6. Challenges 7. Conclusion 8. Works Cited The module endeavours into the theoretical insights while focusing on the historicisation or creation of the discourse and the medium. The intermediality and interliterariness employs the co-relations between the different media results into new comparative approaches to a refined literature. A picture of an imagined past will be re-created and considered to be an ideal one. The meaning provided by the generic quality of mythology is the grandeur. It is relevant to study it through an interdisciplinary approach where many texts emerge and help each other for a better understanding of the field. When literature is adapted into visual translation, ‘myth’ is revived with much more appeal from the audience. The politics of de- mythifying as well as de-mystifying history through the study of this genre of ‘myth’ has been a significant process. A study of socio-cultural works, their politics and their association creates a discourse. In the future study, the employment of this discourse can be further researched upon. Myth, History and New Popular Fictions 1. Introduction The past is reconstructed through the lenses of myth and history. Re-working of myths is a systematic study of facts and evidences that creates a particular ideology. The paper will try to investigate the popular notions of Hindu ‘myths’ through textual and visual analysis. This work focuses on the modes of traditional ‘culture’ and its connection to popular discourse. Stuart Hall in Cultural Studies: Two paradigms (1930) discusses how culture relates to the ‘social practices’(Hall,59) and ‘social consciousness’ (Hall,62). The scope of further research can study the general trend to associate folk into popular culture. Gazing upon the periodization of mythology, traditions, ‘god’ and religion, new parameters are being discovered. 1.1 Scope of the Study The purpose of this doubling process questions the popular myths which are deeply indebted to Indian culture. India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, collectively known as Indian religions. According to 2002 census, Hinduism is the major religion in India. In relation to the structural composition of the Indian society Hinduism can be termed as the most influential. Religion and culture are interrelated. Key components of ‘culture’ are values, norms, institutions and artefacts which often derive from religious beliefs and practices. Myths or folktales talk about traditions practiced by small homogeneous groups-- localized lifestyle and its history--depicting a certain aspect of a particular society. Conflict may arise when it encounters other heterogeneous institutions. In these days, media plays a critical role in the dissemination of culture and therefore offers another area of articulation. Media is invariably connected to and is associated with popular culture, certainly shaping/transforming new ideas into preferred and celebrated renditions. 1.2 Contemporary Relevance of the Study When the “ancient” is interpolated into “modern” life, it is necessarily reworked and is deepened with various interpretations. Modern life is founded upon science and freedom. A myth may grip us with its imagery; science and technology relentlessly reproduce the ancient in a medium of thought provoking ideals. Individual perception is experimented in retelling the tales of antiquity. Modern productions are rendered through visual culture. As Derrida said there is nothing outside the text so any cultural product can be a ‘text’ for study and analysis. Postmodern society emphasizes that the “authority” – or the power of meaning- making-- rests on the readers and audiences. When re-told/recreated through print and media, the Hindu myths are not contested but receive prominence and receptive attention. Amish Tripathi, Devdutt Pattanaik, Deepak Chopra, Siddharth Kumar Tiwari (Swastik Pictures, Star Plus) and Anirudh Pathak (Life Ok) are few of the names who incorporate the “infinite consciousness”(The Perception Deception, 2014) of the human body and soul into their creative oeuvre. Hindu mythology and its re-presentation in the 21st century is constructed through popular media interventions have helped in creating new sub-generic formations and identities. 2. Theories of Myths Myths and popular culture spread through mass media, print media and television industry which create a bestseller or a super hit. When culture is crafted as expression of religion, belief and philosophy, there is an urge to study the historiography and politics of different kinds of language which are at play. Myths are ideas or present concepts of a thought process. These principles or concepts have been written down to structure ‘reality’. Socialism talks about the good governance, and introduces the discourse of power (Utopia, 1516). Foucault when says that ‘power is everywhere’ and ‘comes from everywhere’ is a ‘regime of truth’ that pervades the society (Power, 1954-1984,Vol.3). Foucault uses the term ‘power/knowledge’ to signify that power is constituted through accepted forms of signification and scientific understanding. Devdutt Pattanaik refers to this discourse where human beings are meant to abide by certain rules and regulations. The folktales, Vedas, and Puranas are constraints which tie the knots of fractured reality. Institutions are created to rule the lives of its inhabitants. Hinduism as a religion is vast and complex. Indian myths describe the intervention of ‘33 crores of gods and goddesses’ in human affairs and situates these entities with different capabilities. D.D Kosambi writes about “myth and reality” (Myth and Reality:Studies in the formation of Indian Culture, 1962) and sketches the process of development of a society as composed and structured in clusters. Sheldon Pollock writes about the rise and fall of Sanskrit language as a vehicle of poetry and polity and how Sanskrit as the sacred language of the Aryans became the medium of sacred, social and political expression. The language and its reception are important here. Thus in The Language of the Gods in the World of Men (2011), Pollock explores the shifting processes of exchange within cultures. The change is brought into and shapes various kinds of discourse. The idea of sub-generic ideals within a particular structure appealed to the modern mind, and in fact, has never ceased to appeal. The recasting of the already existing patterns are juxtaposed with the creation of the universe from where all it started. Indian philosophical thinking identifies Hiranyagarbha as the source of the creation of the Universe or the manifested cosmos in the Indian philosophy. This is termed as the 'golden womb' or 'golden egg', poetically rendered as the 'universal germ'. The Upaṇiṣhad calls it the Soul of the Universe or Brahman and elaborates that Hiraṇyagarbha floated around in emptiness and the darkness of the non-existence for about a year, and then broke into two halves which formed the Swarga and the Pṛithvi. Further Rigveda (Rig10.121) hymn known as the HiranyagarbhaSūktai suggests a single creator deity identified as Prajāpati who manifested the creation of the cosmos. The concept of the “golden womb” is again mentioned in Viswakarmasuktha, (Rig 10-82) but there are other versions also. In a survey, 77% of the respondents in India agreed that enough scientific evidence exists to support Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, and 88% of God-believing people said they accept evolution as well. According to the survey conducted by Pew Forum in the United States, 80% of Hindus agree that evolution is the best explanation for the origin of human life on earth. Here science and philosophy are merged in spite of its disciplinary differences. The beginning of life is referred as the Big Bang Theory.( A Brief History of Time from the Big Bang to Black Holes, 1988). The conscience and consciousness are constantly revisited into the epic tales of Hinduism. If The Mahabharata is regarded an Indian saga, The Ramayana is rather the epic of Indian sensitivity and Indian womanhood. 3. Remembering the past(s) Roots of Indian Past(s) continue to inspire re-interpretations and re-views. Dadasaheb Phalke made the first motion picture Raja Harishchandra in 1913, the first silent film, and mythology was chosen to present social issues. Now in 2013/2014 same ideas are used but there is hardly any difference other than obvious technological advancements. In