Transmutation Of Hindu Myth

AbstractHindu myth and its literature provide a profusion of formal and thematic archetypes for modern Indian-English novelists. Based on two of the Indian-English novels that Harold Bloom appends in the bibliography of his The Western Canon-The Guide and Midnight's Children, this thesis expects to investigate the abundant mythological elements in both novels with special reference to classical Hindu myth, and with the aid of the texts and knowledge of classical Indian epics, myth, philosophy and religions. The first part shall probe the makings and narratives of two great Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, and discuss how the two novels borrow and deviate from the epic paradigms of narrative-such as the narrator-scribe mode and the authority of narrator. Next, this thesis shall look into the recurrent mythological figures in the two novels-Ganesha, Shiva and Parvathi, and with their archetypes in classical Hindu myth, discuss the strategies and significance of Narayan and Rushdie in appropriating and reshaping them in the modern political and social contexts. The next part shall study the growths of the two protagonists with Hindu beliefs of Atman-Brahman and karma-samsara connections, and the existence and loss of the spirit that Hindu myth sings for. Belonging to two generations of Indian writers with distinct cultural backgrounds, Narayan and Rushdie are active respectively before and after Indian gained her independence. Their mythological strategies demonstrate a marked progress of transmutation. And the differences in their strategies exhibit their disparities in languages, cultures and religious beliefs. The discussions shall resort to the postcolonial theories of Salman Rushdie's "imaginary homeland" and Homi Bhabha's "The Third Space", and reveal the process that the modern nation receives both the heritage of ancient India and the impact of western civilization, and breeds new features that deviate from both. And with their different mythological and literary strategies, major shifts in the Indian intellectual's perceiving and acceptance of colonial rule before and after independence are revealed. The process of transmutation may well serve as a mirror to observe the changes and crises of India, Indians and Hinduism before and after that critical period of her history.