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Literature, the most creative and innovative stream of intellectuals has always been a glaring -glass for society. India, ever been a land of pluralism, has believed in diversification of views. This multiplication is publicized in literature in many forms - Poetry, Fiction, Drama, Short stories and many more. Fiction of today is highly realistic on one hand, and on other, is alluring towards roots. In search of roots, a new fragrance of mythological trend started to spread in the garden of literature. It created a great enthusiasm in writers as well as in readers. A new army of mythological pop stars - Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Ashok K. Banker, Chitra Banerjee and Devdutt Pattanaik is marching with their vivid imagination and gripping words. Myth is today not mithya, it’s a logical study of facts in the light of archetypal criticism. It is a thriving cultural resource that people are actively re-engaging and re-involving with, in new ways it gives meaning to them and satisfy their rational mind. It is a culture conduct or an idea that represents the common understanding of masses. Myth is basically a conception or an ideology which emerges after centuries from the fight, flight, fright and substantial reactions of a community to establish a structure of perfection. So, this paper is an attempt to see myth from the third eye, from the perspective of Devdutt Pattanaik.

Myth, since a long time, has been in veil of mist and is misinterpreted. In this mad running world of modernization, man is urgently feeling a need to connect himself to his roots and find some meaning in life. It is an emerging quest and a motif in literature. So, a clear meaning of myth can guide this search in right direction. The aim of present paper entitled as “Emerging Form of Literature: Myth- not mithya”, is to dig out the real meaning of myth and differentiate it from mithya. It is an attempt to see it through the lens of various mythological writers and valid researches. Myth is basically not a concept of a day; it is the reaction of the community after centuries of struggle. It stands as a defensive wall and gives a mental solace to the society. It is an effort here to research various pros and cons of myth and see it in a new light of rationality.

Mythological reading has been a great attraction for masses. Researchers have been curious to dig out the real meaning of ancient myths and even tried hard to solve this ever-reverberating enigma. Shalini R. Sinha (2013) researches out the contemporary trend in mythological reading and emergence of legendary stories in “Resurgence of Myths and Legends in Contemporary Literature of Indian English in an Emergent India”. Vibha Sharma (2013) in The Sunday Tribune gives a link of connectivity of man to his long-forgotten roots in “Despite growth in technology, we are no different from humans a thousand years ago” and reminds the great culture of India. Swati Sharma (2015) in “Reviving Ancient Symbols” brings forth a new interpretation of ancient mythological symbols and develops a new perspective. Vikram Singh, (2017) a scholar on myths, connects this trend with popular fiction and gives a new face to this trend in “Modern Retelling of Indian Myths: A Study of Rehasing Mythology through Popular Fiction.” Nirmla Rani (2019) in paper entitled “Myth and Reality in Amish Tripathi’s Novels” exposes the relation between myths and reality in the depiction of lord Shiva by Amish Tripathi. Sneha Tripathi and Tejal Jani (2020) give a complete change of meaning to myths and links it with the language heard and language seen concept of Pattanaik in “Devdutt Pattanaik’s Exploration on Myth”. Mythological reading is not an untouched field now. Various writers equipped with their solid research are madly researching and trying to find out the real meaning behind myth and eliminating the mithya notion.

Ancient India is prime interest of people and Hindu mythology is chief attraction of literary genius. Present writers of mythology are called charioteers of the Gods. They are armed with solid research, vivid imagination and gripping writing style. Marching with powerful tales as their weapons they are the pioneer of mythological writing. In India it became the lime light of the day that army of writers are marching towards mythological research. They are absolutely called flag holders of myths. New writers studied myth in new perspective. Before emergence of this trend myth is considered as mithya. Mythology is demystified in myths but dumbed down in mithya. A concept that has no real basis, no roots, an idea near to lie, a quick or blink thought of mind is mithya. As Ramsetu was considered a mithya, a false or an imaginary concept. But today when literature has taken form of digital humanities, it became obvious that myths are studied rationally and in an elaborated sense. Today mythological writings are not based on mithya concept. They presented myth in different colors. Greek philosophers considered it mythos. Mythos were the concepts that gave drive, denotation and authentication to existence. First, it is necessary to have meaning of myth and its aura. Defining the notion of myth M. H. Abrams writes:

…a system of hereditary stories of ancient origin which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group, and which served to explain why the world is as it is and things happen as they do to provide the rationale for social customs and observances, and to establish the solutions for the rules by which people conduct their lives (Abrams, 2009, p. 170).

From this definition of Abrams, it is very vibrant that the idea of myth is having a close relation with the concept of mythology, religion, culture and rituals. Rajgopalachari articulates, “Mythology is an integral part of religion. It is as necessary for religion and national culture as the skin and the skeleton that preserve a fruit with its juice and its taste. Form is no less than substance…” (Rajgopalachari, 2013, Preface). Myth is basically a notion which is significantly different from concepts of folktale, folklore, legends and rituals. Though it cannot be studied separately from these notions but it has its different impression. Myth is considered the literary expression of rituals which represent the functional form of truth or values that are endorsed by general belief. There is specific but minute differences exist among these concepts and it can be studied under myth criticism. So, mythology is always well knit with legend, myth and folktale to make a beautiful design of culture and so it is not easy to differentiate them and establish word to word. But it has become quite easy to differentiate myth from ancient mithya concepts. Mythological stories are frequently accessible for the masses and presented for them; it necessitates a deep mind and fantasy for the visual interpretation and requires a visual medium. Hence the best apt way for artists is to paint or sculpt these stories. As in Indian art and history, the early evidences of Indian mythological tales appeared in various art forms. Archaeologists and anthropologists claimed that these early manifestations are basically the starting point of man belief in some supernatural power and forming of common beliefs. Later these beliefs form the basis of religion and culture. These beliefs are embellished with stories which later on became the basis for mythological tales and enriched it. In fact, these Mythical stories have a firm root in historical accounts and differentiated well from mithya concepts on the basis of these testimonies.

In the field of myth and archetypal criticism, Northrop Frye holds a distinguished position and articulated the notion of myth well. In his definition of myth Frye is quite close to Abrams but it’s required to mention here that he permits authors of mythology a certain level of independence while exercising mythical pattern in their literary creations related to mythological fields. However, myths face a challenge on the ground of its origin, utility and authenticity. There was a time when scientists disregarded this form of rituals and related myths as waste and illogical and required to throw into debris. Carl Jung, a Swiss psychoanalyst preoccupied with psychological aspect of myth and proclaimed that myths are basically expression of the “…collective unconscious, and, as the bases of its symbolical products, I postulate the existence of primordial images, the archetypes” (Jung, 1992, p. 384). Man had certain form of images in his mind which are called archetypes of the collective unconsciousness. But Hatab describes it rationally and diminishes mithya and support the real and genuine meaning of myth as quoted by Dr. Ashish:

The shift from mythical disclosure to rational and scientific thinking cannot be seen as a correction of myth because it was a shift to a new intention… To see a myth as an error is an anachronistic misunderstanding of the function of myth. Myth presents more than natural things alone; it presents the arrival/withdrawal of sacred meaning within the world (Gupta, 2020, p.15).

          All mithya concepts or notions which flows, with passage of time lose its strength and diminishes but myths remained so, though they changed their clothes and presented a different view of the same picture. Pattanaik clears it, “Mithya was truth seen through a frame of reference… Mithya gave a limited, distorted view of reality; sat a limitless, correct view of things. Mithya was delusion, open to correction… Myth is essentially a cultural construct, a common understanding...” (Pattanaik, 2006, Introduction).  Shashi Tharoor quoted in The Great Indian Novel that Mahabharata, the great Indian epic has lost its significance now. A work of art is sacred if it has some relevance in present otherwise its dead. So, myth can be defined as a popular belief that is supplemented by tradition and history. They are abstract constructs that are evolved with time and sustained to loom large in society as an indispensable part of its culture, history and traditions. Myths carry a deeper meaning and become the bearer of cultural and religious conscience that have entered the collective experience of a specific community and continue to persist as an indispensable part of their everyday reality rituals. Rudolf Bultmann, a German theologian and New Testament scholar’s spectacle is somewhat different here:

The real purpose of myth is not to present an objective picture of the world as it is, but to express man’s understanding of himself in the world in which he lives. Myth should be interpreted not cosmologically, but anthropologically, or better still existentially (Bultmann, 1984, p.10).

Myths, as history of mythology show, do not remain static, however their meaning and significance altered in accordance with changes in surroundings and environment. They circulated and survived in changed forms in narratives. It is the beauty and nature of myths that they flowed with current and every time enjoyed new look.

India, a land of pluralism has given a wide scope to myths to flourish and advance multiple variety of interpretations and possibilities. Universality of myth has attracted and allured more and more thinkers to engage and explore new dimensions. The soul of every myth is a story that is embedded in it. Cotterel points out that myths directly communicate to the unconscious and travel across different culture. There are some common myths that get its relevance in various cultures as myth of mother link with fertility, God and man born son Hercules and Karna. There are so many more examples that exemplify the observation that myths trekked across time and generations and survived its spirit only on the principal of universality and continuity. Myths of heroism and chivalry survived through certain genres, faced generic division and empowered their continuity and mobility.

It is evident that literature and myth carry forward a timeless connectivity. The interchangeability of myth and literature is highlighted by Laurence Coupe in his book Myth. He has enlisted various myths according to their areas as Egyptian fertility myth of Isis and king Osiris, in ancient Israel deliverance myth in Yahweh, Marduk myth of creation in Babylon, in ancient Greece myth of hero in Perseus and the most captivated is the literary myth in a popular Shakespearean play The Tempest. In this play, variety of mythical and supernatural figures showed their presence in form of Caliban, Ariel, Sycorax, Iris, Ceres and Juno. Myths are always used in literature in abundance to show an insight of correlative significance of life and livings. In this process of evolution of myth, though some myths are modified and mixed well with fantasy to provide a new interpretation and significance to the routed stories as Frye tongued, “In literature, what entertains is prior to what instructs, or, as we may say, the reality-principle is subordinate to the pleasure principle” (Frye, 2020, p. 75). Through the medium of myths writers try to elaborate the facts which are otherwise not easy to comprehend. Mythical stories cover a wide variety of subjects and areas like Gods, devils, immortal creatures and abstract virtues but they implicitly present the joy, sorrow, conflicts, resolution, revelation and all reflections of human existence. In Sir James Frazer The Golden Bough a variety of myths are interpreted in terms of rituals, as in reference of human sacrifice, slaying of man-god in primitive societies is explicated well.

In India, a blend of divergent cultures and religions has unceasingly predisposed Indian mythology. Mythology unveils an astounding plethora of mythical stories which are the most intriguing and world's most interesting. It carries prosperity and complexity of early Indus Valley civilization of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro that were recognized around 2400 BC. The people have constant confidence in the multitude of gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. In the heart of the matter, India divulges a kaleidoscope of various cultures and religions with considerable influence on the early writings of Hindu religion. Indian mythological writing seems to start from four essential and basic scriptures of Hindus: four Vedas - Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, Atharvaveda. The complete conception of universe revolves around great grand trinity- Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Mahesh the destroyer. Puranas, the second-hand explanation of Vedas came into presence later on. The classical period of literature gave birth to the most astonishing epics in the history of the world, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These great works were compiled into their present form during this time, but their origins go back at least to Vedic times. The Puranas were also composed at that time. However, the age of Buddhism and Jainism placed Hinduism at deteriorated place and led to the composition of the Upanishads. India, a productive land of rich, speckled and infinite mythologies has paved way for myths and it became the part and parcel of Indian way of life. Religious mythologies of great kings, warriors, saints, donors, Rishis etc. are spread everywhere and these alluring and mysterious stories form the backbone of Indian mythology.

Naturally, storytelling is considered the best intermediate for transmission of even powerful messages. These mythical stories actually fluctuate from maxim enriched tales of Panchtantra and Jatak-tales to subtle life architype defining stories of the Bhagavad-Gita, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. Hindu mythology is more than mythology and aptly called a living religion. It is essentially a religion of variety and worship from blood thirsty Kali to nurturing Durga, therefore, each variety is right in its own distinction. Most of the Vedic deities undertook a complete transformation in the Puranas and epics of later age. Indra, the most significant deity of the Vedic pantheon, is reprobated into a second-rate otherworldly profligate, in the epics. Thus, this emerged transition of Hindu mythology from Vedic Gods to Purnanic Gods who took more substantial form and have been adored in various forms ever since. Devdutt Pattanaik discloses a tendency in human nature about attributing of ‘historicity to mythical narrative’ and comments well on the blurred relation between a legend and a myth:

                The Epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are traditionally considered history, or itihasa. This is established by making the writers of the epics participate in the plot, turning them into reporters, not authors of the story. Valmiki, who wrote the Ramayana, gives refuge to Sita in the forest. Vyasa, who wrote the Mahabharata, is the biological grandfather of the protagonists, the Pandavas… Thus, history becomes sacred when placed within a divine plot (Pattanaik, 2003, p. 16).

 Fluidity of myths and legends is highlighted in the observations of Northrop Frye and how they turn into 'plots of more or less realistic fiction' and became an inseparable part of the 'literary form' with the occurrence of the productive principles of story-telling' dormant in them. He declares: “Myths of gods merge into legends of heroes; legends of heroes merge into plots of tragedies and comedies; plots of tragedies and comedies merge into plots of more or less realistic fiction” (Frye, 2020, p. 51). From Vedic time to present day world, Myths are the undying source of motivation for the creative writers. Legends turn into mythical tales. Hanuman, a character from the Ramayana, is a potent example of cultural phenomenon where he took different form in various sub cultures and local folktales and transcended from being legendary to mythical. Draupadi, the root character of the Mahabharata is also worshipped as one of the many manifestations of the Shakti by some communities, (the Vannivars Konars and the Velala Mutaliyars) in South India. In those communities, Draupadi is not seen as a submissive, helpless woman as portrayed in the epic; rather bold and fighter. C. B. Divakaruni portrayal of Draupadi is also appealing and distinguished in Palace of Illusion. Alleyn Diesel admits that she is taken as another powerful goddess of the 'Shiva Tradition' and revered as 'village goddesses of South India'. Thus, Draupadi attains a divine status in the religious discourses and no longer remains a legend from the pages of an epic.

It is quite obvious that novels in its early stages of development depended upon myths; the myths provided the fables and characters to early writers. Even with advancement of time and techniques, novel gets its shape through myths, legends, historical events and happening. In Indian context, Natyashastra, the first ever Indian treatise on dramaturgy by Bharata Muni pronounced the proximity to myths. From Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo to Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Ashok K. Banker, Chitra Banerjee, Devdutt Pattanaik and many more writers of mythological field are advancing and holding the flag of myths which are related to Indian culture. Devdutt Pattanaik, a lead head of mythology gives a fresh minted version of Indian mythology in his grand book Myth = Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology. His Indian Mythology: Tales Symbols and Rituals is a key book of ancient myths and symbols originated in Hinduism. Why is Hindu mythology in present scenario going so popular? In response to this curious question Sharmila Chand quoted comments of A.S. Chitrak who in a lyrical style recreated myth and depicted narrative in pictorial way, “I feel that Indian mythology is not confined to the old rituals that are blindly being followed or the flights of imagination of the grandmother tales…It is deep philosophical thinking and interpretation of a universal science” (Chand, 2000). Dan Brown - an American author, William Dalrymple- a Scottish historian, Alain Daniélou-a French historian, Wolf-Dieter Storl- a professional anthropologist, Francisco Bujan- a top pro-life coach, Sanjeev Sanyal- an economist, R.K. Murthy, Dr. B.R. Kishore and Mahasweta Devi are the iron pillars of mythological temple and from east to west this new trend of mythological reading is alluring the masses. Ashok K. Banker reinvents Sita, Ram and Ravan in his books of Ramayana series, while more recently Devdutt Pattanaik settled himself as first pop mythologist of India. He explains well in an interview, “Indian mythology aims to evoke thoughts that are already present in our mind. The stories, symbols and rituals are like the rays of the sun that seeks to help the lotus of mind bloom” (Sharma, 2013). His Jaya, a retelling of Mahabharata is a perfect display of wisdom and enchantment. Author of heart gripping books - The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant and The Krishna Key –Ashwin Sanghi feels a change of taste and aroused interest of common man in Indian mythology. He favors the retelling tradition by saying, “The retelling has led to the blurring of lines between mythology and history” (Chaudhuri, 2012, p. 12-13). Manreet Sodhi Someshwar’s The Taj Conspiracy though a bit cynical yet has been a big hit at this time, in the field of mythological reading. Shashi Deshpande also applied hand along with Namita Gokhale in this trend and wrote short stories related to Mahabharata characters Draupadi, Kunti and Duryodhana’s perspective. N. Gokhale re-opens a debate on Sita in her In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology and explores her life in a new angle along with a fresh interpretation of this enigmatic figure.

It is quite required today to completely make over the classical concept in modern way and it is definitely creating a great wonder in literary scenario. As banker claims, “retelling mythology requires a life style change and a completely new way of thinking and living” (Chaini, 2014). On the other hand, Devdutt Pattanaik claims in an interview that despite so much growth in technology generation of present era are not different from human of thousand years ago. Amish Tripathi is also mad on myths. From the time of Kalidas to the present era of Devdutt and Amish, myths has been the luminous field for writing. People are spell bound by the representation of Shiva by Amish as Tibetan protagonist who immigrates to distant land and by his own decisions and karma attains divinity. Thus, all these writers interpreted and reinterpreted myths and tried hard to bring out the varied facets of myths which are far away from mithya. Myths have a serious underlying purpose in multiple layers juxtaposed with cultural traditions. There is actually a thin thread between myth and mithya which is evident in words of Pattanaik: “Everybody lives in myth. This idea disturbs most people. For, conventionally, myth means falsehood… Myth is truth that is subjective, intuitive, cultural and grounded in faith” (as cited in Tripathi & Tejal, 2020, p. 263) but demarcation is clear.

It is the need of the hour that myths also to transform its form according to time and interest of people. Vikram Singh (2017), a scholar of literature, in his paper on myth mentioned it, “The mythical stories across cultures are viewed as an embodiment of beliefs, values and philosophies that serves the nation interest of the people” (p. 171). The circle of tradition keeps on rotating but never make the process suffocating.  Somerset Maugham in The Summing Up (1938) also says that tradition is a guide and not a jailer, is worth mentioning here. This displacement of tradition to modernity is a natural phenomenon which gives a wide space to multiple layered myth. Pattanaik words here crystal clear the scenario: “Myth conditions thoughts and feelings. Mythology influences behavior and communication. Myth and mythology thus have a profound influence on culture. Likewise, culture has a profound influence on myth and mythology” (Pattanaik, 2006, Introduction, p. xv). In real sense, myth and mythology are one of the precursors of tradition. As Pattanaik observes “From myth come beliefs, from mythology customs” (Pattanaik, 2006) and establishes notion of myth as the breath and fine spirit of literature and culture.

In a brief conclusion, it can be specified that myth is really a way of life and it best presents Indian tradition in tales of past which has some historical or regional truth; this is the very thing which makes it differentiated from mithya. These are not false stories, or ill conception that flourish in air only, nothing sort of illusion is neither included in it, nor it goes away from the local psyche. Amish believes, “Myths are nothing but jumbled memories of a true past. A past buried under mounds of earth and ignorance” (as cited in Gupta, 2017). It has a firm base which is so elastic that gets modified in various forms according to changeability of time but Magnificence of the character of lord Ram remains the same in time travels. Though Ram of Ashok K. Banker, Amish Tripathi and Devdutt Pattanaik are strangers to each other; like twins from different environment, they present an amazingly diverse point of view. But still the roots remain the same, such is the beauty of myth and mythological writings. So, it’s here justified to conclude in tongue of Devdutt Pattanaik, “Myth is all about communication; it is a special kind of communication that establishes a relationship between the macrocosm (universe), mesocosm (society), and microcosm (human)” (Pattanaik, 2003, p.14). In addition, myths may be seen as the vocabulary of a religion and paradigm, the mutual belief that binds people. Every myth gives a better understanding of human life and carries behind a truth: ‘a truth about life and death, about nature and culture, about perfection and possibility, about hierarchies and horizons.’ Pattanik also accepts this eternal truth about myth in almost every book by saying, “Within infinite myths lies the eternal truth, who sees it all? Varuna has but a thousand eyes, Indra has a hundred, You and I, only two” (Pattanaik, 1997, p. ix). So, the field of mythological reading is quite alluring and it promises a deep quest and long journey of man in future.

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