• Gauravi Khaunte

Mythology and mythological narratives are at the very base of the literary cannon across the world. In India, the two great Epics Ramayana and Mahabharata have played a pivotal role in shaping up the socio-cultural discourse in the country. Narratives and anecdotes from these epics are told and retold and they are a source of primary texts for various popular cultural retellings of the same. There are certain texts of the Ramayana or Mahabharata that have been considered as the central sources and the other narratives are often labelled as “versions” of these central sources. Characters like Surpanakha, Ahalya, Shikhandi, Aravan are often not included in mainstream discourse either. This paper aims to stress on the relevance of revisiting mythological texts to derive meanings that are relevant to the society in the given space and time and questions the concept of absolute truths while striving to encompass diverse narratives within mainstream discourse. The characters of Surpanakha, Ahalya, Shikahndi and Aravan are explored to achieve the above mentioned ojective.

Mythology, popular culture, re-reading, social conditioning, mainstream narrative

"Beyond the Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Exploring Various Narratives on Ahalya, Surpanakha, Shikhandi and Aravan", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 4, page no.601-603, April-2021, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2104174.pdf

"Beyond the Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Exploring Various Narratives on Ahalya, Surpanakha, Shikhandi and Aravan", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 4, page no. pp601-603, April-2021, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2104174.pdf