"Of course, it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"
The last thing one expects to hear while attending a session at Zee Jaipur Literature Festival 2020, one’s favourite quote from Harry Potter, but in retrospect, one should’ve seen it coming given that it involved Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, creator of the popular Mythology for Millennials column for Firstpost. And Harry Potter – despite all of Rowling’s post-hoc retconning (is Dobby non-binary queer now?) – remains one of the best myths of our times.
In a way, Dumbledore’s epic line to Harry before the finale of the series captures the eternal wrestling match between different interpretations of mythology. Just because one accepts one version of a myth doesn’t mean the others cease to exist.
Mythology for Millennials
With an introduction by Jaishree Periwal, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan and Anand Neelakantan (author of the best-selling Asura) who is also writing a three-book prequel to the blockbuster Baahubali. The books will also be converted into a Netflix series. The two were in conversation with Malashri Lal and crafted a fascinating conversation that vacillated from consent in mythology to telling tales from the perspective of subalterns.
And it was a fascinating debate, rift with insights. Both Neelakantan and Reddy are from two different school of thoughts –genders and generations – and meant an interesting exchange of ideas without the fight degenerating into an ad hominem name-calling that we have come to expect from social media or TV channels.
Myths have always promoted ideas that we have named in modern times. For example, Ganesha is an example of body positivity, whilst Sita and Draupadi are beacons of women’s empowerment.
The discussion also reached the phase which Carl Jung liked to call the collective unconscious which explains why so many of our myths – Indian or Western – have similar storylines.
After all, Achilles’ heel sounds a lot similar to Duryodhan’s waist, the only two areas where they are vulnerable. Add the fact that both their mothers were involved, and you wonder if plots remain with the characters changing.
The session had its usual deprecating moment with Anand Neelakantan complaining that no one noticed him last year since Rana Daggubati was there.
The author also rejected the notion that modern Indian storytelling about myths was borrowed from the West and said he loved to rationalise what he saw. It wasn’t so much about aping the Planet of Apes as creating our own stories.
He noted how the politics remained the same though, creating an ‘other’ and stating that vanquishing the others would create a better tomorrow much like Acche Din.
Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, meanwhile, noticed how even a modern-day HBO drama like Succession had a similar storyline to the Mahabharat, noting that while people changed, the plots remained the same.
She went on to explain why she called ancient sages Harvey Weinstein, explaining how #MeToo was always around but with different names.
There was some debate over whether Ahalya gave Indra consent – even when he posed as Gautama though legend has it that the celestials had a different scent so Ahalya should’ve known that the man in front of her wasn’t her husband. While one wondered if this was a breach of consent, Anand Neelakanthan argued that both individuals had consent, Indra was ‘punished’ by morphing into a being with a thousand vaginas.
The conversation veered into how Shikhandi was the first transman and LGBT representation in our myths.
However, there was a consensus that no matter how we viewed our stories, no single group – whether they proclaim to be the forbearers of Hindutva or otherwise – had exclusive rights to myths.
Whatever the ruling party might believe, as Meenakshi points out, the stories that are of mythologies belong to all of us. Hindutva can come and go but the stories belong to us all.
Ancient sages were like Harvey Weinstein which led to a debate on Vishwamitra, whether Ahalya knew Indra was posing as Gautama. Was it taking consent by deception or was it only later versions that took away Ahalya’s agency?
And did Indira also get punished for his immoral dalliances with a thousand vaginas on his body? Is that a punishment?
An interesting anecdote into alternative myths led us to a Kannada version where Ravana was Sita’s father. In that timeline, Sita is born after a greedy Ravana gobbles up a mango meant for his wife – one given to him by a mendicant who’s actually Shiva – and he gives birth to Sita in 9 days. But the lack of a vagina meant that Ravana conceives Sita through his nose, which is why in Kannada Sita also means to sneeze.
The real takeaway from the entire session, though, was there will always exist different strains of the same myth and we see that playing in our lives even today. As Anand points out, the same news will be flashed on rival news channels with different pegs.
Therefore, it becomes imperative for us to see things with the full picture whether it’s the present day (instead of viewing it in a black-and-white pro or anti prism) or our myths.
And as for what’s real or not, Dumbledore definitely has that covered. Just because it’s happening our head doesn’t mean it’s not real. After all that’s the whole point of mythology.
