The making and mastering of m

Indian and Australian writers discuss the importance of myth in literature and its importance in shaping mindsets

" -=r influence on Indian meatre for "' many years. But during die '60s when writers starced looking for 0 " ::, 3

Many of us are familiar with Girish Karnad, the accomplished actor and film director. ln a career spanning 40 decades, Karnad has acted in innumerable films across languages such as Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalan1 and Telugu.

But it is as a p laywright thac Karnad is most acclaimed. He has writcen fourteen plays in Kannada, his adopced language, including Yqyati, Tughlaq, Naga!llm1da/a, Hqyt1vad,ma, Ag11i Nfott11 Nlcili! and Tt1leda11da. They have won him some of India's cop awards and honours including the Padma Bhushan and che Padma Shri, d1e Jnanpid1 for Kannada in 1998, amongst several od1ers.

This multi- faceted wricer was in Sydney recently m participace in me Australia India Llteramres International Forum (AILIF). He was part of a panel of four writers discussing 'Jv[yth and the 117,ite,·' on Sepcember 5 at tl1e State Library of SW.

Girish Karnad pioneered the use of rny d1 and fol k.Jore in Indian ilieatre, and many o f his plays make extensi\'e use of myths m highlight social ii.ls. A stridem critic of the Hindurva movement and the rise of religious fundamentalism in Ind ia, Karnad's speed1 focused on d1e m.isuse of myths for political purposes by these agencies

The audience hung onto his every word, while he briefl y outlined the development of religion and myth in India from die Vedic ages to the Bhakti movement. ''}.,fyth was d1e background to an enormous tragedy mat coo k place in 1992," he said, referring to me demoli tion of Babri Masjicl. Describing the events leading up to this tragic episode, Karnad elaborated saying, "This is a perfecc example of how a m yducal subject is caken, policicized and turned imo a policical event how Rama a mythical figure was transformed into a political figure."

Karnad spoke of me changes tlus event had wrought, bow it was now acceptab le for respectab le journalists and writers to engage

Paul Sharrad a nd Subhash Jaireth in anci-Muslim writing in the mainstream med ia. Also, people now felt mey had a tight to break me law in order to uphold their personal beliefs and m yths

On a lighter noce che mulci - furilier inspiration, tl1ey nuned to Indian myths and used mem to express meir anguish and passion. "That is how l wrote my play Ytl),ali," said Karnad.

The eminent writer said he chose to focus on di.is issue rather d1an llis own writing, as over me years, die use of m yilis has reduced to insi gnifi cance in Indian writing and we are inscead starting to witness its increasing use in policies.

Nexc on the podium was Subash Jaired1, an lndian writer based in Canberra. The aumor of mree books of poetry and a work of fiction, Jaireth joked about how he was a "writer of very minor significance", compared co Karnad who has himself been turned into a m ythical figure.

He spoke about d1e importance of m yilis and dieir reality. "The epics sucb as Ran1ayana and Mal1abbarata are sore o f older vers ions of \Xfikipedia. They are stories buil t upon scories upon stories. So there are always gaps and cleaves wluch provide d1e wricer an entry point, where d1ey can enter and cull out pearls," he noted myms where they can find themthey have to be magpies".

The author talked abom his experiences with me world of m yths, reading from his firsc book of poetry about Yashodhara, d1e wife of Buddha and lus recent book To Silence, a collectio n o f diree fictional autobiographies.

Th e tl1ird wricer of d1e day MalcoLn Knox is an award wiuning Australian writer and journalist. A former licerary edicor of the Syd111y Morning H erald, he has won se\7 eral awards including the Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing, the Colin Roderick Award and the Walkley Award for journalism. His works of ficcion include Jamaica, A P1i11ate A1.a11 and S11m111erland. His mosc recent work called The Life is about a surfing legend cal.led DK, past lus prin1e, who is now overweight and Living wich bis m other.

A ccording co him, d1e surfing wo.rld offers an opportuni ty for m yth creacion. Surfers are always searching for that elus ive perfeccion referred to as the ' m ythi cal l eft' and they create "scory upon story" abouc smfing champions, elevating mem to d1e status of m ythical figures. Knox talked about d1e humorous side of surfer terminology, peppered widi terms lil<e 'epic', 'legend', 'legendary', 'the stu ff of legend', all referring m that greac surfing experience.

Knox cook the example of a real-Ii fe surfe r Micl1ael Peterson, on whom his main character DK is based, who was transformed into a figure of legend. TI1e wealth of stories about me surfer was compiled into a b iography; but his biographer Sean Doher ty had to admit mat although many of them were embroidered, d1ey were too good co leave om of his biography. This is a perfect example o f how communities create their m yths tl1rough sco rytelling faceted wricer scaced, "S ince I have to talk about m yself, I wiU do so for two minuces", whid1 brought a bout of laughcer from the audien ce. He talked of Bernard Shaw being an overwhelming

The last speaker l icholas Jose is aumor of seven novels including lus most receor, Tbc Red Thread, and two colleccioos of short stor-ies He is Professor o f English and Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide. Jose spoke abom many aspects of myth, including the di fferences in myms across different cultures and the experience of communicating across die differences.

"The element of myth comes from one culnu:e co anomer, a powerful borrowing that must be haudled wim care We need to experience it from d1e inside noc as somed1 ing recorded by an outsider bm as something made real by objects in d1e story, someduog lived and living. Stot:ies and images d1at speak across this space have a mysterio u s capacity to change and shift even as they retain meir core energy," be s tated.

The sharp contrast between d1e focus of the first two speakers aod che third was almost conlicaJ. While che Indian wricers focused on d1e abundance of legends in lndian culture, their use and mis u se, Knox l ooked at the lack of myilis in Australian culnu:e. "Australians have co get their

The questions raised by d1e audience ranged from the unifying namre of m yths to me e:xistence of countries wid1out myd1s. The panellists each broughc in the ir own perspectives, reflecti,,e of the vase cul tural differences between countries Bur d1e discussion also highlighted the wlifying role of d1e writer across culnu:es and brought into focus tbe importance of myd1s in writing