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@article{190258,
        author = {Dr. Ajey Kumar S},
        title = {From Villain to Protagonist: Reimagining Ravana in Contemporary Indian English Literature},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {8},
        pages = {581-584},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=190258},
        abstract = {Recent decades have witnessed a significant resurgence of mythological retellings in Indian English literature, marked by a deliberate shift in narrative perspective and moral emphasis. Among the most striking transformations is the reimagining of Ravana, the traditional antagonist of Valmiki’s Ramayana, as a psychologically complex and ethically ambivalent protagonist. This article argues that contemporary rewritings of Ravana do not merely humanise a mythic villain but actively participate in a larger cultural project of counter-narration, wherein dominant epic histories are interrogated through the voices of the defeated and marginalised (Ramanujan 46). Analysing Amish Tripathi’s Ravana: Enemy of Aryavarta, Anand Neelakantan’s Asura: Tale of the Vanquished, Radha Vishwanath’s Ravana Leela, and Gaurav Kataria’s Ravana: A Mistaken King, An Unmistaken Leader, the study examines how mythopoesis, narrative reversal, and modern ethical sensibilities reshape Ravana into a tragic anti-hero. The article contends that while these retellings democratise myth by challenging moral absolutism, they also raise critical questions about relativism, power, and the limits of ethical reinterpretation.},
        keywords = {Ravana; Ramayana; Indian English literature; mythological retellings; mythopoesis; counter-narrative; moral ambiguity},
        month = {January},
        }