MYTH-BASED LITERATURE TO STRIKE AT THE PREVAILING CULTURAL HEGEMONY

DOI:https://doi.org/10.56815/IJMRR.V2.I2.2023/34-39

Abstract

With the rise of the dalit consciousness, that has so far been consciously kept muted through the authoritative hold over cultural hegemony, as emanating from the religious ambience, in which the dalits have been operating for the last thousands of years, the dalits writings of both the non-dalit and dalit writers have started recreating the myths upon which the prevailing brahminical or Hindu religion is supposed to operate. Whereas, the non-dalit writers like Neelakantan may have the tendency only to show the potentiality of interpreting the primary myths like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in the context of caste and merely to cater to the popular demand of the readers, keeping in mind basically their economic interest, the organic dalit writers are in a mood to expose the hidden agenda of subjugating the Bahujans with the hegemony of the myths upon which the prevailing religion is based. Hence, the first category of writers consciously inculcates literary aesthetics and the propaganda comes in-between, the second category of writers consciously effects propaganda, the aesthetics come, if any, in-between; but, both, unconsciously or consciously, strike at the myth-based cultural hegemony of the privileged castes that may lead to the realisation of political hegemony of the Bahujans.