Myth, Tradition and Indian Beliefs in Shashi Deshpande's "The Dark Holds No Terrors"

Abstract

Shashi Deshpande is one of India's most well-known novelists today. Women's writing in India has a shorter history than male writing, but we are seeing a rise in the number of women authors whose fiction is being recognized internationally. They have won a slew of national and international awards and grants, and it now appears that women's writing will rise to prominence shortly as they catch up to their male counterparts. While many other women authors, such as Kamla Markandaya, Nayantara Sehgal, Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, Anita Desai, Santha Rama Rao, Attia Hussain, Padmini Sen Gupta, Nargis Dala, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Gita Mehta, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, enrich Indian English Literature, Deshpande occupies a special place She is one of the few authors working today who incorporates literary allusions, myth, and mythology into her work, effortlessly blending it with earlier results.  

Deshpande has used Indian myths, legends, and people in many novels as metaphors for events, incidents, happenings, and characters. In many of her books, she incorporates Western folktales. Shashi Deshpande's writings, especially her novel "The Dark Holds No Terrors" (1980), paint a startlingly vivid picture of Indian womanhood's inner world. For too long, it has been made to stay quiet. Deshpande's use of myth and folklore in her novels exemplifies the decolonization of the Indian literary imagination. These devices are handy to the author for illuminating the inner world of women's minds since many of her novels contain female protagonists.