Multinational Research Society Publisher

MRS Journal of Arts, Humanities and Literature

Issue-5(May), Volume-3 2026

1. RECLAIMING NARRATIVES: DECONSTRUCTING PATRIARCHY THROUGH SITA AND DRAU...
4

S. Bala Kumari*, Dr. B.V. Rama...
Research Scholar, GIET University, Gunupur, Odisha
1-6

The present research paper aims at two feminine epic characters- Sita & Durapadi in Indian English literature from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata for analysing patriarchy deconstruction in modern literature. Since traditional interpretations have limited these characters to perform obedience while making devotion and sacrifice their primary functions, they faced patriarchal evaluations that uphold social gender rankings. Contemporary Indian English writers have taken control of traditional stories to subvert original interpretations which leads to social structures becoming unstable. This paper examines the portrayal of female mythological characters and their resistance and desires through critical analysis of The Palace of Illusions and The Forest of Enchantments by author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Through these texts Sita and Draupadi have become popular among young professional writers who began to interpret instead of object status to tell their own story rather than become background characters. Through first-person narratives and introspective storytelling, the authors critique the silencing mechanisms of patriarchy and foreground the emotional and intellectual complexities of these women. The author uses feminist literary theory with postcolonial discourse to explain why these revisions matter during Indian sociocultural development. Through their revision of mythology these works engage in two interconnected activities which confront patriarchal traditional beliefs of religious text and combat European literary institutions that suppress native identities along with gendered expressions. This research paper demonstrates the restaging of Sita and Draupadi in Indian English literature creates a strong form of feminist intervention in Indian cultures. These works achieve two objectives by modifying traditional interpretations as they continue to spark critical analysis regarding modern issues between gender and power structures.

2. Magic Realism as Postcolonial Strategy in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's...
3

Dr. Sanjiv Ranjan*
PhD (English) Vill. Chhawai Taki, Gopalganj, Bihar
7-9
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20177590

Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children (1981), winner of the Booker Prize and the Booker of Bookers, stands as one of the most celebrated and critically examined works of postcolonial literature in the English language. This paper examines how Rushdie employs magic realism not merely as an aesthetic device but as a deliberate postcolonial strategy — a mode of narration that challenges the epistemological authority of colonial historiography and asserts the validity of alternative, subaltern ways of knowing. Through the figure of Saleem Sinai, the telepathically gifted narrator whose personal history is inextricably bound to the history of independent India, Rushdie constructs a counter-narrative to the official discourses of nationalism, modernity, and progress. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, Frantz Fanon, and Wendy Faris's scholarship on magic realism, this article argues that the novel's fantastical elements — the Midnight's Children's Conference, Saleem's permeable sinuses, and the Sundarbans episode — function as sites of epistemic resistance, enabling the recovery of marginalized histories and the destabilization of monolithic national identity. The paper further contends that Rushdie's self-reflexive narrative style enacts a politics of hybridity that exposes the fictionality of all grand narratives, colonial and nationalist alike, proposing instead a pluralistic, provisional, and embodied understanding of history and selfhood.

3. Queer Voices in Contemporary Indian English Literature: Identity, Resi...
7

Dr. Sudeek Kumar Singh*
PhD (English) Dr. R N. Singh + 2 School Chapra, Bihar
10-13
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20177697

The emergence of queer voices in contemporary Indian English literature represents one of the most significant and politically charged developments in the nation's literary landscape since liberalization. This paper examines the ways in which queer writers and texts in India negotiate the intersecting pressures of colonially inherited legal structures, postcolonial nationalism, caste and class hierarchies, and the imperatives of global LGBTQ+ visibility politics. Focusing on selected works by authors including Vikram Seth, R. Raj Rao, Mahesh Dattani, Ismat Chughtai (in translation and critical discourse), and emerging contemporary voices, the paper argues that queer Indian English literature does not constitute a monolithic tradition but a richly plural field of contestation — one in which desire, gender, caste, religion, and regional identity intersect in ways that resist assimilation into Western queer frameworks. Drawing on queer theory, postcolonial feminist criticism, and Dalit-queer scholarship, the study traces the evolution of queer representation from coded, euphemistic textual strategies under conditions of legal and social prohibition to the more explicit and politically assertive literature that followed the decriminalization of homosexuality in India in 2018. The paper also interrogates the politics of language, arguing that the choice to write in English implicates queer Indian authors in complex negotiations between global legibility and local specificity. Ultimately, it contends that queer Indian English literature constitutes a crucial archive of dissent — a body of work that challenges not only heteronormative social structures but also the exclusions produced by nationalism, casteism, and postcolonial modernity.

4. Beyond Gender and Dharma: A Critical Study of Devdutt Pattanaik’s The...
4

S. Saikripa*, Dr. K. Viji & Dr...
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Vels Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies (VISTAS), Chennai
14-16
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20302735

This article critically examines The Pregnant King by Devdutt Pattanaik as a significant work of contemporary Indian mythological fiction that reinterprets ancient narratives to address modern concerns regarding gender, identity, and social structures. The study explores how Pattanaik transforms the lesser-known myth of King Yuvanashva into a philosophical and socio-cultural narrative that challenges rigid binaries of masculinity and femininity. Through the protagonist’s unusual experience of pregnancy, the novel questions patriarchal definitions of gender roles, motherhood, kingship, and power. The article further analyses the concept of dharma as presented in the text, emphasizing its contextual and flexible nature rather than its rigid moral interpretation. In addition, the paper discusses the representation of gender fluidity, masculinity, feminism, and social exclusion within the framework of Indian mythology. Pattanaik’s narrative style, symbolism, and use of mythological references are also examined to understand how mythology becomes a medium for contemporary social commentary. The study argues that The Pregnant King not only revives ancient Indian myths but also demonstrates their relevance in present-day discussions on identity, inclusivity, and human experience. Ultimately, the article highlights the novel as a progressive literary work that advocates empathy, acceptance, and the recognition of diverse identities beyond conventional social categories.

5. Cultural Heritage and Childhood Adventure in Sudha Murty’s The Magic o...
1

S. Saikripa*, Dr. M. Sivaselvi...
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Vels Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies (VISTAS), Chennai
17-18
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20302840

The Magic of the Lost Temple by Sudha Murty is a remarkable contribution to contemporary Indian children’s literature. The novel presents the story of Nooni, a young city girl who spends her vacation in her grandparents’ village in Karnataka. Through her experiences, the narrative explores themes of curiosity, cultural heritage, friendship, environmental awareness, and the importance of preserving history. The discovery of an ancient stepwell becomes symbolic of reconnecting with forgotten traditions and indigenous knowledge. Sudha Murty uses simple language and vivid storytelling to bridge the gap between urban and rural life while teaching moral and cultural values to young readers. This article examines the novel from cultural, social, and literary perspectives and highlights how the text promotes identity, community bonding, and appreciation of Indian traditions. The study also focuses on the representation of childhood adventure and the educational significance of storytelling in shaping ethical values among children. The novel ultimately emphasizes that true learning comes through observation, exploration, and human relationships.

6. Prompting as a New Medium: Greenbergian Medium Specificity and the Ite...
1

Samantha Shapiro*, James Hutso...
Marlborough School, Los Angeles, USA
19-28
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20320824

This article argues that AI prompting should be understood not as a tool, technique, or accessory to image generation, but as a medium in its own right. Drawing on Clement Greenberg’s theory of medium specificity, it contends that a medium becomes legible through the operations peculiar to itself, namely, the constraints, affordances, and formal procedures that distinguish it from neighboring arts. Existing scholarship has asked whether prompting counts as art, whether prompt engineering constitutes a creative skill, and whether the prompt itself can be aesthetic; however, these accounts often stop short of a sustained theory of prompting as medium. This essay addresses that gap by identifying the medium-specific property of AI prompting as an iterative exchange structured by probabilistic unpredictability. Unlike painting, sculpture, or filmmaking, where resistance may be material, embodied, and progressively masterable, prompting confronts the artist with outputs generated through opaque statistical processes that cannot be fully anticipated or reasoned with. The prompter therefore works through recursive reformulation, selection, and response, shaping the work by negotiating deviation rather than executing intention in a linear fashion. This generative interface, rather than any single prompt or isolated output, constitutes the core artistic practice of the medium. The article further argues that objections concerning prompt shareability or the instability of AI authorship mistake the art object for the process.

7. The Architectural Foundations of Indian Linguistics: An Analysis of An...
2

Dr. Indu Rani*
Ph.D. in English, Veer Kunwar Singh University, Arrah, Senior Secondary Teacher (English), Plus 2 School Karari, Bhojpur, Bihar, India
29-31
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20328826

One of the oldest and most sophisticated intellectual legacies in the world, the Indian linguistic tradition predates Western formal linguistics by over two millennia. This paper explores the philosophical and structural underpinnings of Indian grammar, beginning with Pāṇini's seminal work Aṣṭādhyāyı, which established a generative framework compatible with both modern computational linguistics and Chomskyan generative grammar. By examining the evolution from Vedic Sanskrit to the Prakrits and the eventual divergence into the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian language families, this study highlights the unique phonological and morphological characteristics—such as retroflexion and agglutination—that define the South Asian linguistic region. The article also explores the connection between contemporary speech science and Indian grammatical theory, arguing that more recent structuralist advancements were preceded by earlier concepts like "sphoṭa," or the psychological reality of the phoneme. The MLA-compliant analysis of this study demonstrates that Indian linguistics is not merely a historical artifact but rather a living scientific framework that continues to impact theories of universal grammar and language processing worldwide.

8. Queer Voices and Gender Fluidity in Indian Writing in English
3

Dr. Bisheshwar Ray*
Ph. D In English (JPU, Chapra) Managing Director, Rebel: A School of Personality Development, Chapra
32-36
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20380179

This paper investigates the articulation of queer voices and the representation of gender fluidity in Indian Writing in English (IWE) from the late twentieth century to the present. Situating itself at the intersection of queer theory, postcolonial studies, and feminist criticism, the paper examines how writers such as Vikram Seth, Vikram Chandra, Arundhati Roy, R. Raj Rao, Mahesh Dattani, and Anjali Joseph have engaged with non-normative sexualities and gender identities within the specific cultural, legal, and historical contexts of the Indian subcontinent. The paper argues that queer Indian writing in English cannot be adequately understood through Western queer frameworks alone; it must be read in relation to indigenous traditions of gender multiplicity — including the figure of the hijra, the concept of tritiya-prakriti (the third nature), and pre-colonial erotic cultures — as well as through the legacy of colonial law and the postcolonial state's ambivalent relationship to LGBTQ+ rights. The paper traces the movement from coded representation to explicit self-articulation in IWE, analysing the aesthetic strategies through which queer subjectivity has been constructed, contested, and celebrated.

9. HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY: HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CONSTRUCTIVIST PEDAGOGY
2

Dr. Avi Abner*
Burgas State University "Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov", Republic of Bulgaria
37-40
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20566241

The historical development of constructivist pedagogy is closely connected with broader changes in philosophical and educational thought concerning the nature of knowledge and learning. Over time, the understanding gradually emerged that learning is not limited to the passive reception of information, but involves the learner’s own activity, experience, and interpretation of the world. Certain philosophical and pedagogical ideas compatible with later constructivist interpretations can already be identified in ancient philosophy and medieval thought. The views of Plato and Aristotle may be regarded as important historical preconditions for later learner-centered and constructivist-oriented educational theories. Increasing attention was directed toward experience, observation, personal development, and the learner’s participation in the educational process. Particular importance for the later development of constructivism belongs to Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky, whose theories provided a more systematic explanation of learning as an active and socially mediated process. Their ideas played a major role in changing traditional views of education and in establishing new understandings of the relationship between teaching, experience, and cognition. Viewed in historical perspective, constructivist pedagogy appears as the result of a long process of philosophical and pedagogical development rather than a directly continuous tradition originating in Antiquity. The evolution of these ideas reflects broader changes in the understanding of knowledge, the learner, and the purpose of education itself.





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