‘How the World Was Born’: The 108 Indian myths in this book take readers on an unusual tour

Myths signal humanity’s insatiable desire for meaning-making. From the infancy of human civilisations to our individual childhoods, mythical stories have been a means of explanation and exploration of the world, the universe and our place in it. Lopamudra Maitra’s retelling of 108 different myths from across India is, therefore, aptly titled How the World Was Born. The pages of this book vividly capture how the celestial bodies that freckle the night sky, the rains brought by monsoon winds, or even the origins of certain civilisations have been made sense of through myths, folktales, and legends.

Maitra succeeds in accumulating and compiling stories that simmer in the hearths of grandmothers’ kitchens, as well as legends that govern the fates of entire communities, into a mosaic that can confidently be called “pan-Indian”. The book is categorised into six distinct geographic zones: Northern, Northeastern, Eastern, Western, Central, and Southern regions. Additionally, an entire section is dedicated to myths about water bodies, reflecting their abundance and centrality in an agrarian and tropical country like India. However, perhaps what sets this collection apart is that it aims not just to represent or entertain, but also to be a means for studying and analysing culture. Maitra, a scholar with an...

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