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This paper examines how female authors in the 21st century construct retellings of the myths. It compares Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions (2008) and Volga’s The Liberation of Sita (2016). Using Elaine Showalter’s theory of gynocriticism, Gilbert and Gubar’s feminist revisionism, and Jan Assmann’s view of cultural memory, this paper examines how 21st-century women writers are reexamining myths and narratives from a different perspective. The study shows how modern women writers take back control of their stories within established epic traditions. The Sita by Volga and Draupadi by Divakaruni are transformed from symbols of virtue and sacrifice into self-aware individuals who navigate desire, agency, and identity. By emphasising personal experience, memory, and female unity, both texts confront the patriarchal structures found in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
Sebanti Das. “Myth, Memory and Modern Womanhood: Rewriting the Epic Female in 21st Century in India.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 564–576. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.35.
Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · Crossref DOI ·
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