Book Review : Shikhandi & other tales; Devdutt Pattanaik.

Tags

alternate sex, arjun, arjuna, bheem, ghatotkacha, indra, Krishn, Mahabharata, mythology, shikhandi, shiva, transgender

Oven–fresh offering by mythologist Devdutt (which means God-gift; and  ironically, is a namesake for Arjun’s conch in Mahabharata)

Devdutt takes up the unexplored theme of ‘queerness’ or alternative gender in Mythology. In Part I, he tracks the universal existence of ‘queerness’ across Indian, Persian, Aztec, Viking, Japanese, Mesopotamian and Greek mythology.

Part II is a carefully chosen plethora of ‘queer’ tales. I could discern an interwoven pattern