From time immemorial myth has an incredible consanguinity with human imagination and psyche. As Armstrong has pointed out that from a very ancient time it was the mythmaking man that had always had the special faculty to form perception whatever went beyond the commonplace events and ordinary understanding (2). With the fertile freedom for deep and varied symbolic values often attached within, myth allows and inspires man to be speculative about the unknown, the unreached in this great universe. Mark Schorer looks at myth as “fundamental, the dramatic representation of our deepest instinctual life, of a primary awareness of man in the universe, capable of many configurations, upon which all particular opinions and attitudes depend” (355). Myth, as true cultural documents, has never ceased to inspire creative minds in all possible forms of art.

The word ‘myth’ etymologically stems from the Greek word ‘muthos’ meaning “simply something that is said” (Mikics 195). A myth is generally considered to be a traditional story having a religious origin and centering on a distinct hero or a natural or cosmic event within a culture. Considering the ambiguous and manifold dimensions of myth, it can be defined from a great many sides. Vickery tries to connect myth with literature in his effort to define the term, as he says, "a myth is a story, myth is narrative or poetic literature"(68). We do not know how exactlymyth and literature negotiate with each other, but on one hand, it is myth that has always helped literature add symbolic values within the text, deepen its appeal or earn new meaning, and on the other hand, literature has helped myth rediscover, re-orientate and re-present itself over the centuries. D. H. Lawrence, in this regard, makes an important observation: “Myth is an attempt to narrate a whole human experience of which the purpose is too deep, going too deep in the blood and soul, for mental explanation or description” (49). Myth being based on oral tradition for thousands of years needs other modes of artistic expression including literature to sustain its breath and being through the evolution of civilization.

Myth has always made its presence felt in every possible yard of art - be it primitive paintings in the caves, tombs rocks etc. or magic realism, metafiction in postmodern literary outputs. In spite of having an unknown origin myth with its strong symbolic expressions under the veil of religious beliefs and cultural colouring can effectively articulate the ultimate reality of human experience through symbols (Batto11). Elizabeth Drew finds myth’s justified position in modern literature in terms of its metaphoric capacity as she observes, “The mythical method is the representation of experience in symbolic form, the earliest and still the most direct and immediate form of human experience” (2).

Joseph Campbell finds that it is myth that helps us find meaning in our apparently meaningless world. Down the line of civilization, as Campbell feels, myth has been almost a constituent part of individual consciousness that has found expression in one’s effort to bring forth meaning. To justify his idea Campbell questions, “What is the secret of the timeless vision? From what profundity of the mind does it derive? Why is mythology everywhere the same, beneath its varieties of costume? And what does it teach?” (4). The answer Campbell emphatically presents is meaning; the meaning that relates one’s existence to the timeless flow of human odyssey. Psychiatrist Carl Jung goes to the extent of saying that myth is an inherent phenomenon of human psyche per se. Jung having admitted that though myth as a phenomenon is shared by collective unconscious of the humanity, principally it is subject to personal unconscious. Contrary to Freud, Jung posits that myth operates in order to satisfy one’s personal psychological thirst for self-realization and in this process of self-realization, myth can play a vital role as a psychic key. The process is an actuality that helps one connect our unconscious with the outer world, but this connection is only possible through finding true meaning and order in an apparently meaningless and disordered world. But at the same time Jung points out that since such efforts are finite they can never succeed to reach the infinite:

The psyche, as a reflection of the world and man, is a thing of such infinite complexity that it can be observed and studied from a great many sides. It faces us with the same problem that the world does: because a systematic study of the world is beyond our powers, we have to content ourselves with mere rules of thumb and with aspects that particularly interest us. Everyone makes for himself his own segment of world and constructs his own private system, often with air-tight compartments, so that after a time it seems to him that he has grasped the meaning and structure of the whole. But the finite will never be able to grasp the infinite. (23-24)

Therefore, according to Jung, myth, in spite of being told and retold by a group of people in a community belonging to a certain culture, is essentially meant for an individual who finds in it an instrument that assists him discover meaning he strives to express. Thomas Mann analyzes myth in its transcendental nature as he believes that myth as an eternalvehicle functions to translate an individual’s personal concerns into universal ones. Mann feels it is myth in which life may discover its self-awareness as he states, “The myth is the foundation of life; it is the timeless schema, the pious formula into which life flows when it reproduces its traits out of the unconscious” (371).

There are many thinkers who find that myth and ideology are historically linked with each other. Ideology as a dominant set of ideas, beliefs, attitudes, customs etc. seeks to interpret some of the social, historical, political, economic or cultural aspects of reality and proposes some kind of philosophy or world-view. Many critics think that myths are some set of poetic imaginations that a group of people share with themselves for generations, often in the service of a particular ideology. M. H. Abrams puts it well when he remarks,

In classical Greek, "myths" signified any story or plot, whether true or invented. In its central modern significance, however, a myth is one story in a mythology– a system of hereditary stories of ancient origin which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group, and which served to explain why the world is as it is and things happen as they do, to provide a rationale for social customs and observances, and to establish the sanctions for the rules by which people conduct their lives. (178)

It is often argued that structurally both myth and ideology may be different, but as far as their functions are concerned, one may essentially be akin to the other. It is the historical approach to the culture of a given civilization that can be held responsible for such interlaced position of the two. The mutually dependent location of myth and ideology in history is analytically stated by Jeremy Hawthorn when he says, “In recent usage, then, the concepts of myth and of ideology are interlinked: myths perform an ideological function while ideologies function by means of myths” (222). Pattanaik looks at myth as an idea that is carried through by the vehicle called mythology and together the idea and the vehicle define the truth of a certain culture: “If myth is an idea, mythology is the vehicle of that idea. Mythology constitutes stories, symbols and rituals that make a myth tangible. Stories, symbols and rituals are essentially languages – languages that are heard, seen and performed. Together they construct the truths of a culture” (xvi-xvii).

In view of the preceding considerations it can probably be safely stated that myth is not merely folk beliefs developed in the pre-historic times but it is essentially a key to the very identity of human emotions, dreams, imaginations, cultures for thousands of years. It transcends the limits of time and space in its ceaseless efforts to explain the meaning of human existence. Now if we pay our critical attention to Indian literature in English in general and Indian poetry in English in particular, we find that myth has always had an undeniably contributing presence there. In India myth is the very foundation of Indian psyche and culture. V. S. Naipaul referring to his second visit to India observes, “Religious myths touched every part of the land ... story within story, fable within fable: that was what people saw and felt in their bones. Those were the myths, about gods and heroes of the epics, that gave antiquity and wonder to the earth and people lived on” (144).Contemporary Indian poets making the most of the generous and fertile background that Indian mythology offers, not only reinterpreted traditional Indian values, ethos, cultures, philosophy but also dealt with contemporary social, religious, political milieus with remarkable artistic achievements. The rich heritage of Indian mythology - be it Vedic texts or the great Epics or pre-historic Puranas –“takes diverse shapes and forms, different phases and levels, ultimately, envisioning a state of harmony between the inscape of one’s inner life and the landscape of outer life” (Sahoo 51). Besides Indian poets like Toru Dutta, A. K. Ramanujam or Nissim Ezekiel who, in some measure, administer mythic materials in their poetry, the avant-garde figures who exploited the possibilities and potentials of Indian mythology to the full in Indian English poetry include Sri Aurobinda, Rabindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu, Kamala Das, Anand Acharya, Puran Singh, J. Krishnamurti. P. Lal, Jayanta Mahapatra and many others. In the final and conclusive section of this paper we would explore some of the mythical narratives as reflected and echoed in the select poems of Syam Sudhakar, one of the most promising, gifted and youthful figures in today’s Indian poetic panorama.

Syam Sudhakar (born October 16, 1983 in Kerala, India) is an award-winning bilingual poet who writes in English and Malayalam. His first volume of poetry titled Earpam (Damp) was brought out in 2001 followed by Syam Sudhakar Kavithaikal (Poems of Syam Sudhakar) in 2008, Drenched by the Sun in 2013, Slicing the Moon: A Screen Book of Poems in 2013 and Avasanathe Kollimeen (The Last Meteor) in 2014. His poems have already been translated into many Indian and foreign languages including Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, Manipuri, French and Danish.One of the stamped features of Sudhakar’s poems lies in his brilliant treatment of myth in his works. He has copiously but carefully borrowed myth from religion, folklore, fable, legend or epicwith insightful implications. The two poems selected for this critical scheme are ‘Kaaladeepakam’ and ‘Water and Earth’.

The poem ‘Kaaladeepakam’ opens with a dark and heavy image - “the procession of death” (Sudhakar line 1) followed by a line that goes further in deepening the shadow of death already presented and looming large in the readers’ mind. Interestingly here the idea of death that the poet purposefully and preciselyplaces, does not get illustrated in singularity but in a collective entity-“the procession of death.” The hint of his being purposeful is subtly attested in the second line itself as the words applied ‘ribs’, ‘leaves’ (Sudhakar line 2), all connotes the sense of death in plurality. Now we may go a step or two forward to look at this idea of collective death as the spiritual demise of a generation. The generation may have failed to live upto its own expectations resulting in a heaped decadence in its very essence and spirit.  

Sudhakar adopts the legend of Lord Muruga with all the concerned accessories to not only add a mythical dimension to the poem but also convey his message encoded in symbolic implications. Aa quick glance at this mythical character widely adored in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in India reveals that as depicted in Skanda Purana Lord Muruga also known as Karthikeya, Shanmuga, Subramanya or Skanda, adorned as a warrior with his Vel (lance) held in one hand accompanied by his mount peacock and snake, is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.

Having earned the unique boon from Lord Shiva that no one except a son of Lord Shiva would be able to kill him, mighty demon, Surapadma defeated the Devas and went on deadly rampage committing atrocities against Devas and humans. Under the guidance of Lord Brahma, Devas with the help of Kamdev made Lord Shiva get into the worldly life and the divine child Muruga was born.

Before Lord Muruga went out to challenge demon Surapadma, Goddess Parvati had handed over the Vel to her son Lord Muruga which played a decisive role in the battle against the demon and his evil associates. On the sixth day when demon Surapadma was almost defeated he tried to fool Lord Muruga with his illusory craft by metamorphosing himself into a colossal mango tree. But Lord Muruga forcefully threw his Vel and split the tree into two parts. The demon resorted to his last trick of transforming himself into a peacock and a rooster out of the two halves of the split mango tree. Finally, the compassionate Lord Muruga took pity on the demon and accepted the peacock as his mount and converted the rooster into his flag’s symbol.

Now let us make a re-entry into Sudhakar’s poem ‘Kaaladeepakam’ in the light of the legend of Lord Muruga. As peacock is Lord Muruga’s mount or vahana or vehicle, it embodies motion and mobility which is something that modern generation badly misses due to its paralyzed spirituality and immobile spirit. But silent yawning of the sleeping heart of the peacock probably suggeststhe possibility of an end to this stagnant state of human temperament. This frozen sleep seems to be breaking off with a note of promise.

With this good omen the death of Death is hinted, for the colour ‘blue’ (Sudhakar line 5) itself denotes an approaching death by poison. And then the word ‘writhing’ (Sudhakar line 5) is used to describe how dying Death itself feels. “The blue-neck of writhing death” (Sudhakar line 5) holds the assurance of a spiritual resurrection. We may not even feel uncomfortable to consider the “writhing death”as representing the deadly demon Surapadma who had been the ultimate cause of “procession of death” (Sudhakar line 1) on the mythic earth. The next image “Snakeskin entangled the legs” (Sudhakar line 6) is just corroborating the cause of Death’s neck being ‘blue’ (Sudhakar line 5). Now the dying Death itself is shackled, motionless.

The concluding image holds the ultimate hope in stating that though the mighty Vel may have been rust-covered, it is still very much there. The image of Vel is generally implied to be a symbol of wisdom or knowledge. So though that wisdom or knowledge may have been rusted with spiritual degeneration to some extent, but as long as the Vel is there, there is a possibility of its getting effectively operational against spiritual ruination of modern society. The three veiled agents of the darker side of human impediments that contribute to this spiritual sterility in modern human society, are Karma (destiny), Maya (illusion) and Ahankara (ego). In this hour of spiritual crisis the legend of Lord Muruga who is described to be the master of divine qualities such as gallantry, confidence, resolution, wisdom, intellect – may prove to be of great help in dealing with these veiled agents of human impediments. Meenakshi Mukherjee’s insightful observation while commenting upon the conscious adoption of myth in the works of T. S. Eliot, James Joyce and O’Neill seems to be highly relevant here as she notes that they applied “mythical situations and characters in a modem context, thereby seeking to illuminate the predicament of contemporary man, viewing him in a larger perspective of time” (128).

In the second poem titled ‘Water and Earth’Sudhakarin the line of creation myth, splendidlypresents a sculptor’s artistic journey in the richness of an almost epic disposition, though in a nutshell. The poem inaugurates its voyage with the idea of creationism or creation myth that melds with the artist’s urge for creativity.At the outset, the artist carves letters which embody wisdom and knowledge and in the next very line “under the full moon she carves the dance of / tripurasundari” (Sudhakar line 4-5).Here we find a mention of the legend of the Hindu goddess Tripura Sundari, often described in mythological literature Lalita Sahasranama as Lalita Maha Tripura Sundari. Goddess Tripura Sundari is often hailed as the most powerful incarnation of goddess Parvati. As per Lalita Sahasranama she is recognized as Lalita. She is three-fold in her manifestation of the Trinity of Hindu scripture – Brahma, Visnu and Shiva in her respective roles as the supreme creator, sustainer and annihilator of the entire universe.

In the following lines in the divine presence ofthe supreme creator Tripura Sundari the genesis of the world is depicted “into rivers, clouds and waterfalls...” (Sudhakar line 6) followed by the sculptor’s efforts in constructing consciousness and movement as “she carves purity, / light, simplicity, / within the ocean she carves movements” (Sudhakar line 6-8). As the creation myth continues to unfold in sequential poetic perfection, the sculptor’s creative journey from microcosm to macrocosm makes progress by carving contours of flora and fauna:

from each ray of the sun she carves a man
and into each of his eyes the pulse of the sun,
drawing the blueprints on the leaves of palms and the
sands of streams (Sudhakar line 9-12)

The sculptor in the role of the Supreme Sustainer, Tripura Sundari, maintains her creation by perfectly designing antiquity as “she carves the ages in memories” (Sudhakar line 13) but once “in fire she carves butterflies” (Sudhakar line 14) the situation and setting take an ill turn. Here Sudhakar seems to have applied Judeo-Christian and Islamic myth in which Adam and Eve are imagined to be the original human couple (Kolatch 64). If ‘fire’ and ‘butterflies’ symbolize male passion and female beauty respectively, the idea of original sin and fall of man are very much at work. The sculptor with accurate immediacyconveys the consequences of that ill event in the following lines where intense human suffering is unmistakably revealed:

still the city edges on madness
and hunger hides on the other side of night;
she carves depth in the figureless,
food in the figured,
and the cry of a child in the heart (Sudhakar line 15-19)

The succeeding section of the poem can be understood from both Hindu and Biblical myth for the sculptor’s decision to “carve a ship from stone and wood” (Sudhakar line 21) does indicate the flood myth or deluge myth as mentioned in both the mythic traditions. In fact, flood myths often described as a divine intervention for the cleansing of humanity, are a shared phenomenon in various mythic traditions across the world involving a cultural hero who “represents the human craving for life” (Leeming 138).

Now the identity of the “sailor with unshadowed face” (Sudhakar line 22) who “arises from the ship” (Sudhakar line 23) could easily be related to both Noah and Manu as mentioned in Biblical and Hindu myth respectively.  In spite of some structural discrepancies both the legends share fascinating correlation in terms of their purpose and implications. As mentioned in the Book of Genesis God having been upset with the corruption and evil practices in the earth, decided to annihilate it and instructed Noah to build an ark so that the male and female specimens are protected for the purpose of restoration of civilization hereafter. In the Hindu myth it is Manu who was advised to build a similar boat for exactly the same purpose of safeguarding earth’s all species of animals from the forthcoming devastating flood. Sudhakar depicts a splendid picture of Manu/Noah in the midst of that disastrous flood:

he swims
over sunken sculptures
through mighty waves (line 24-26)

In the concluding lines Sudhakar seems to have exclusively turned to Indian mythology when he refers to the drawing of “a new orbit for the moon” (line 29). According to Hindu legend after the great flood when waters receded, Manu, the only human survivor felt bitterly alone and to overcome his life of solitude, he performed a sacrifice with oblations of butter and sour milk to the Lord of heaven. After a year he found a woman named Shraddha coming down the waters and they met “with his fingers in hers” (Sudhakar line 28) and eventually became the progenitors of the subsequent human race. The ten children, Manu and Shraddha had between them, include Ila and Ikshvaku who in the course of time would become the origin of the Lunar and Solar line of dynasties (Thapar 308-309). So here the sculptor herself in the role of the mythic character Shraddha units with the mythic persona Manu to give birth to Ila who would be the progenitor of Chandra dynasty: “With his fingers in hers / she draws a new orbit for the moon” (Sudhakar line 28-29). One can understand that Indian English poetry, many a time draws onthe rich tapestry of myths and one such illustration is Sudhakar’s poetry. One can comfortably and consciously claim that along with his use of myth and legend, Sudhakar’s verses are technically sound and resonate with a wide range of themes.

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———. “Water and Earth.” Drenched by the Sun. 1^st ed, New Century Book House, 2013.

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