Analysis Of Jungian Archetypes in Select Reinterpreted Mythopoeic Novels of Anand Neelakantan

  • Unique Paper ID: 193204
  • PageNo: 9-14
  • Abstract:
  • Jungian archetypes are timeless patterns of the psyche found in the collective unconscious represented in stories, fables, and cultural narratives across cultures. In the 21st century, reinterpretations of these archetypes in literature reveal an evolving cultural consciousness that desires to humanize mythic figures and represents a dualistic lens of good and evil. This paper investigates how archetypal figures are reinterpreted in Anand Neelakantan’s Asura: Tale of the Vanquished and the Ajaya series (Ajaya: Roll of the Dice and Rise of Kali: Duryodhana’s Mahabharata). Neelakantan employs the narratives of the Indian epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata from the viewpoint of Ravana and Duryodhana, respectively. It also challenges normative mythic structure and restructures the archetypes of the ‘villain’ and the ‘hero.’ The study analyzes how these reinterpreted characters represent archetypes like the Shadow, the Outcast, and the Tragic Hero, underlining the cultural and psychological aspects of their inner challenges. These narratives reveal trauma of alienation, the burden of fate, and the quest for self-actualization, which highlight the notion that archetypal energies can be both destructive and transformative. By combining Jungian psychology with mythic reinterpretation, this paper argues that Neelakantan’s works serve as contemporary mythopoeic texts. Further it provides insight into the modern Indian collective psyche while redefining myth as a living, evolving narrative capable of communicating the complexities of the human condition in the contemporary era.

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Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{193204,
        author = {Padma Aiswarya GM and Dr. S. Lavanya},
        title = {Analysis Of Jungian Archetypes in Select Reinterpreted Mythopoeic Novels of Anand Neelakantan},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {},
        volume = {12},
        number = {no},
        pages = {9-14},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=193204},
        abstract = {Jungian archetypes are timeless patterns of the psyche found in the collective unconscious represented in stories, fables, and cultural narratives across cultures. In the 21st century, reinterpretations of these archetypes in literature reveal an evolving cultural consciousness that desires to humanize mythic figures and represents a dualistic lens of good and evil. This paper investigates how archetypal figures are reinterpreted in Anand Neelakantan’s Asura: Tale of the Vanquished and the Ajaya series (Ajaya: Roll of the Dice and Rise of Kali: Duryodhana’s Mahabharata). Neelakantan employs the narratives of the Indian epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata from the viewpoint of Ravana and Duryodhana, respectively. It also challenges normative mythic structure and restructures the archetypes of the ‘villain’ and the ‘hero.’ The study analyzes how these reinterpreted characters represent archetypes like the Shadow, the Outcast, and the Tragic Hero, underlining the cultural and psychological aspects of their inner challenges. These narratives reveal trauma of alienation, the burden of fate, and the quest for self-actualization, which highlight the notion that archetypal energies can be both destructive and transformative. By combining Jungian psychology with mythic reinterpretation, this paper argues that Neelakantan’s works serve as contemporary mythopoeic texts. Further it provides insight into the modern Indian collective psyche while redefining myth as a living, evolving narrative capable of communicating the complexities of the human condition in the contemporary era.},
        keywords = {Jungian Archetypes, Ravana, Duryodhana, Mythmaking, Anand Neelakantan.},
        month = {},
        }

Cite This Article

  • ISSN: 2349-6002
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue: no
  • PageNo: 9-14

Analysis Of Jungian Archetypes in Select Reinterpreted Mythopoeic Novels of Anand Neelakantan

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