Devdutt Pattanaik’s ‘Shikhandi and Other Tales They Don’t Tell You’ is an odd book. Not odd because of its
subject matter, but because it touches upon many things, which were in our
face, but just not getting inside our heads.
I thought I had read enough
of the ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharta’ before I discovered this book. Vedic,
Puranic literature and also South Indian, Bengali, as well as the oral traditions
are a part of these stories. This book told me of so much more.
Pattanik touches up on characters
such as Shikhandi, Brihanalla, Bhima, Samavan, Chudala, Mandhata, as
well as Urvashi, Skanda, Krishna, Narada and Shiva. These are only a few of them, the book contains many more.
I remember reading some
of these stories, perhaps through other means, but I do not ever remember reading of anything with so much honesty. The LGBT
factor and queerness, which have never struck me before, all seem to be an integral
part of the mythologies.
In this 176 page space,
Pattanaik serves us up with almost thirty stories. The best things about these
stories are the simplicity and plainness of facts. He uses commentary and illustrations
to bring together these stories.
The amount of research
can be understood through the bibliography, but the
sensitivity can only be
gotten in a Pattanaik’s book. The book is familiar but you have all these nuances
to so many characters that are truly amazing.
I must say that this book
definitely deserves a read, and probably the age old books, which deserve
another read, with an altogether new perspective. The cover illustration by Arundyuti Basu gives us a glimpse into what is inside the book, but the author's own illustrations are altogether fascinating.
Author: Devdutt Pattanaik
Genre: Mythology
Publisher: Zubaan and Penguin Books
ISBN: 978-9-383-07484-6
Price: Rs 299/-
No comments:
Post a Comment