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From the Editor
For those in whom a local mythology still works, there is an experience both of accord with the social order, and of harmony with the universe.
-- Joseph Campbell
Winter evenings, “evenings of fires and legends,” could be the best time to recall old myths and folk tales. Winter is also a time when people are gearing up to “ring out the old and ring in the new”—but how much of the old should we really ring out?
From being “the highest religious truths” to “mere falsehood and superstition” we have a whole range of attitudes on the uses of myth. Whatever be the “practical” value of myth in contemporary society, it has to be conceded that for poets and artists they still do remain a source of inspiration, if not the fountainhead of humanity.
To make sense out of chaos, to find some semblance of order—be it in the life of the individual or the society at large—one cannot deny the power of myths and cultural codes. They are what give one a sense of identity and hence the necessity of preserving it even under circumstances of pressure. All our little tales and traditions in turn comprise what one may term the collective mythologies of humankind. Whatever that may be, it is abundantly clear that all that we need is a “common ethical space” which includes “humanity in its entirety.”
By discerning a common pattern in widely divergent myths from widely divergent cultures is it possible to find the real source of sympathy between human beings? Myths then are a rich source of achieving coherence and order in a chaotic universe. By being a social, moral and religious force they speak to the humanity of the essential principle of unity. That is also where one might forget “old quarrels” and “encounters” and begin anew.
Jews in Canada attempt to translate worlds. Isn’t there scope at times for much humour when certain native usages are translated into English? The British Raj has left a trail of romances; at the same time, colonial India has become a fertile ground for theorists and scholars to decipher the underlying agendas in the colonial project. Two native works come to mind—Krupabai Satthianadhan’s Saguna and Kamala. We also have here a relatively less discussed work on Dutch colonial policy in the East Indies. We read about human rights again in new forms. Where does all this lead one to? Somewhat naively perhaps, one hopes for a world free from violence and cruelty, so that one might at some point in history banish ‘human rights’ from one’s vocabulary. African-American women gangsta rappers tread new grounds as they try to raise questions on the politics of power, economic opportunity, racism, sexism and so on. While in Africa, Shona folk tales take on political, social and cultural overtones.
Another winter… A time to ‘withdraw’ a time to ‘reflect’… It is also Christmas time and time for pilgrimages in this part of the world—particularly the time for the tough ones to the hills for an ‘encounter’ with a lonely ascetic God.
I do hope we have put together here enough ‘meanings-that-matter.’
And there are poems and short stories too to remind one of one’s moorings…
-- Nirmala P G
Consulting Editor |
