• Dr. Thammaiah. R. B.
• Dr. Indhu M. Eapen

The Indian mind is always obsessed with the epics of their land. The Indian writers try to identify the happenings of the present with those told in the two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. In fact, they justify the actions of the present with those found in the epics. John Vickery’s assumption that myth is a “matrix out of which literature emerges both historically and psychologically” (Vickery 1966, ix) is being considered here in this paper. The matrix is being identified to have taken two different forms and it will be discussed with reference to select Indian novels in English. Firstly, as a complete re-narration of the classical epic, with the author naming his chosen mythological characters and settings according to the original ones and taking the postcolonial stance of questioning the role of the colonized or marginalized. In the second type, we have a juxtaposition of sections narrating a myth and the others concerned with the contemporary world wherein a part of the mythology is dealt with explicitly and it is given a contemporary setting. The authors have dramatized the novels in such a way so as to make the past a vital part of the present. However, a pattern could be seen to emerge. Several attitudes on the part of the writers can be discerned. The main contention is that there has been an attempt to re-write the past, especially the colonial past and deconstruct the colonial framework. Epics have largely contributed to the portrayal/interpretation of incidents in the novels; the postcolonial condition, an additional support in the process of interpretation. In the process, the primary characters of the epics are seen in a new light. The repressed characters in the myths have also been given a voice.

Myth, Epics, Matrix, Re-narration, Postcolonial, Repressed characters

"“Indian Epics re-visited: A Study of Select Indian Novels”", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no.257-266, June-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1908B36.pdf

"“Indian Epics re-visited: A Study of Select Indian Novels”", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no. pp257-266, June-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1908B36.pdf