Myth as Social, Political, and Psychological Discourse (1980s–1990s)

Abstract

The period from the 1980s to the 1990s marks a decisive phase in the evolution of Indian English drama, wherein myth emerges as a potent discursive framework for interrogating social structures, political ideologies, and psychological conflicts. During these decades, playwrights increasingly employed myth not merely as narrative material but as a dynamic interpretive mode that mediated between tradition and contemporary realities. By revisiting mythological and historical narratives, dramatists transformed them into symbolic structures that critiqued caste hierarchies, gender oppression, political disillusionment, and existential anxieties. Myth thus functioned simultaneously as social commentary, political allegory, and psychological exploration. This paper examines how myth operates as a multifaceted discourse in Indian English drama during the 1980s–1990s, focusing particularly on playwrights such as Girish Karnad and the broader theatrical movement that reinterpreted mythic narratives in response to socio-political upheavals and changing cultural identities. The study argues that myth in this period was not static or reverential but revisionist and interrogative, enabling dramatists to challenge inherited norms and reveal the complexities of modern Indian consciousness.