Paper short abstract:

After a survey of the numerous mock-myths and narratives of displaced gods and divines, I will discuss such satirical inversions with reference to the notion of counter-narrative and try to position and interpret satirical counter-mythology in modern South Asian literary culture.

Paper long abstract:

It is well-known that mythologies in modern (and also premodern) South Asia have time and again been challenged by counter-narratives in socio-political discourses of

self-assertion (e.g. by certain Bhakti authors, by the Dravidian movement, by Dalits,

Marxists, feminists etc.). But since the 19th century, the majority of literary

"counter-mythologies", I argue, is not of any such programmatic kind but rather belongs

to the unruly field of satirical and quite often humorous literature. It is part of one

specifically modern way of engaging with the realm of mythology on the part of mostly

(but not only) Hindu authors.

I propose to look into such diverse materials as Vedic hymns to the railway (Radhacharan Goswami), Shiva's visits to contemporary Chennai (Putumaippittan) or North Ireland (Jayanta V. Narlikar), Ganapati hiding his trunk under a burqa while travelling on a bus through post-Independence Maharashtra (C.V. Joshi), or a variety of anti-Ramayanas (Michael Madhusudan Datta and others).

In the ensuing analysis, I will discuss these satirical inversions with reference to the

concept of counter-narrative. After generally distinguishing various kinds of

transpositions and inversions I will try to position and interpret satirical counter-mythology in modern literary culture.