Critical Evaluation of Revelation of Indian Cultural Elements in Selected Fictions Focusing on Indian Mythology

The present study is a critical commentary on the most recent phenomena witnessed at the Indian literary marketplace: the remarkable response received by works of fiction that are founded on mythology - Amish Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy, Anand Neelkatan's Asura and Ajaya, Krishna Udayashankar's Aryavarta Chronicles , Rajiv G. Menonn's The Ascendance of Indra, , Sharath Komarraju's The Winds of Hastinapur, Kavita Kane's Karna's Wife, and Shamik Dasgupta's Ramayan 3392 A.D. Series. The paper focuses on examining how these texts display an array of divergent attitudes towards the characters and incidents in the Indian Epics and Mythology, how these versions of ancient texts reinterpret the mythical past, and how the respective authors utilize myth creatively for coming to terms with the predicament of the present. The study of popular literature has gained importance since the advent of postmodernism and today the line between serious and popular literature is blurred. Popular literature has been accepted as a noteworthy expression of people's reading interests as well as a distinctive field of literary creativity. It is no longer rejected as trash. In this scenario it becomes important to look critically at some of the most significant contemporary Indian English popular texts. The focus of the present discussion is mainly on myth as it has been used by contemporary Indian popular writers. Myth has always given creative impetus to the authors over the ages. In this paper the significance of the reworking of ancient Indian myths has been brought to attention.