Article
REVIEW ON DEVDUTT PATTANAIK’S WORK: THE PREGNANT KING AND SATI SAVITRI
Devdutt Pattanaik is an internationally acclaimed Indian mythologist and author, known for his creative re-imagining of Hindu mythology from a modern perspective and for successfully weaving age-old stories into contemporary social observations and critiques. This research paper examines two of the most important works written by him: the absorbing works The Pregnant King, published in 2008, which explores gender fluidity and dharma, and Sati Savitri, published in 2024, a collection of myths curated by him from a feminist point of view to debunk deep-rooted patriarchal traditions. It examines closely the summaries, thematic dissections, and insightfully comparative discussions that reveal the manner in which Pattanaik engages in the discourses of gender, questions of identity, and agency in the infinite matrix of Indian mythology. Apparently, the work The Pregnant King upsets traditional notions of gender roles, but actually it subsumes them, offering a subtle critique of gender fluidity. On the other hand, Sati Savitri overtly upholds women's intrinsic agency as a dynamic cultural factor, thereby fuelling important discussions about the position of women and their empowerment within mythological narratives. Drawing from a wide array of scholarly critiques and reviews, this analysis shall underline Pattanaik's progressive trajectory toward a more overt feminism, emphasizing the crucial role mythology plays in shedding light on and engaging with contemporary discourses of gender.
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