Shikhandi and Other Tales They Don’t Tell You is the latest book by Devdutt Pattanaik. This time Devdutt has rather chosen a strange topic for his book. Queerness which means deviating from the expected or normal, an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities as I found in Google Dictionary. The author has discussed presence of queerness in the mythology stories of many countries like Greek, Chinese, Hindu, Biblical, Jain, Buddhist, Persian, Mesopotamian etc. He has sought out examples from Hindu Mythology about lesbians and gays and likewise.
There are stories Shikhandi, who became a man to satisfy her wife; Mahadeva, who became a woman to deliver his devotees child; Chudala, who became a man to enlighten her husband; Samavan, who became the wife of his male friend and many others. These enchanting stories of mythical characters of God is not restricted to the male form. Fertility is not restricted to women.
In a way, Devdutt has touched upon stories of those characters which we don’t come to hear very often and that to in completely different line of thinking. It is a interesting theme to read about.
The review is coming soon.
