Oral Traditions, Storytelling, and Knowledge Transmission: A Contemporary Analysis of Devdutt Pattanaik’s Jaya and Sita

Abstract

Abstract: Oral tradition has been shaping Indian story telling for centuries, and has been passing down knowledge and values through voices rather than texts. This paper explores how Devdutt Pattanaiks’s books Jaya and Sita continues this traditional legacy in the contemporary Indian backdrop. This paper explores and analyse how Devdutt Pattanaik has played an important role in reinterpreting and representing these traditional and mythological texts for a modern readership, offering a fresh re-engagement with our ancient and long-established traditions. The study also highlights his efforts to give voice to the marginalised and to question and even object these orthodox narratives with the introduction of cultural nuance which is often overlooked in mainstream retelling. The study also focuses that how retelling our ancient oral traditional ways of storytelling preserve and propagate ancestral wisdom while intervening it with the contemporary world shaped by new questions and new sensitivities. The paper also argues, that by blending traditional narrative techniques with modern sensibilities, Pattanaik ensures that mythological knowledge remains accessible and relevant, ensuring and highlighting the continued importance and need of oral heritage in contemporary society. Through Jaya and Sita, Pattanaik makes and delivers ancient epics accessible without degrading and diluting their depth. His narrative is conversational yet meaningful, allowing the modern readers to understand the meaning of our epics without understanding or learning Sanskrit, to fit in a modern environment with due respect to our traditions. Ultimately, Jaya and Sita embellish, that how our ancient knowledge can be passed down in respectable and acceptable ways that remains emotionally vibrant, intellectually engaging, and socially relevant, ensuring India’s ancient tradition and heritage continues to thrive in this modern world..