Myth as Cultural Memory: Rewriting Indian Epics in Post-Millennial English Fiction through Memory Studies

Abstract

This paper examines post-millennial Indian English mythological fiction as a dynamic practice of cultural memory rather than merely a revival of epic narrative, popular genre fiction, or historical fantasy. Drawing on Cultural Memory Studies—particularly the theoretical interventions of Jan Assmann and Aleida Assmann—the study conceptualizes contemporary rewritings of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as mnemonic sites where collective remembrance is preserved, reinterpreted, and transmitted in response to present socio-cultural and ideological conditions. Situating its analysis within the critical framework articulated by Soni, the paper argues that post-millennial mythological fiction marks a significant shift in Indian English writing from postcolonial historiography towards an inward engagement with indigenous civilizational memory.

Through close textual analysis of selected works by Amish Tripathi, Anand Neelakantan, and Ashok Banker, the study demonstrates how these narratives mediate between canonical epic memory and archival reinterpretation. By foregrounding ethical ambiguity, humanizing divine figures, recuperating marginalized perspectives, and rationalizing the supernatural, contemporary epic retellings destabilize singular moral authority and collapse rigid distinctions between myth and history. These narrative strategies align with Hayden White’s theory of narrative emplotment, foregrounding the constructed nature of both mythic and historical knowledge.

The paper further contends that the relocation of epic narratives into popular English-language fiction constitutes a process of memory democratization, enabling cultural memory to circulate beyond ritualistic, religious, and scholarly domains. Writing myth in English is read not as cultural dilution but as a strategic act of transcultural memory transmission that facilitates the global circulation of Indian cultural memory while retaining its symbolic core. Ultimately, the study positions post-millennial Indian English mythological fiction as a living archive—one that sustains epic traditions through preservation, transformation, and transmission—thereby affirming its significance as a vital literary and cultural practice in twenty-first-century India.