Amruta Patil, the author of the graphic novel – ‘Adi Parva: The Churning of the Ocean’ shares some of her thoughts on this what inspired her to revisit possibly the best known story in the subcontinent – the Mahabharat.
Interviewed by Nilakshi Sharma
In 2012 a very unusual book was published – ‘Adi Parva: The Churning of the Ocean’. A graphic novel, it delved into the origin stories that form the foundation of the subcontinent’s most sprawling epic – The Mahabharat. In a narrative that seamlessly blends beautiful original artwork with prose, Amruta Patil takes the reader on an unforgettable journey into the essence of story that has been told and retold many times. And yet, reading her graphic novel feels like entering a new world.
Amruta Patil, a writer and painter, is India's first female graphic novelist. She is the author of the queer cult classic 'Kari' (HarperCollins 2008), Mahabharata-based 'Adi Parva: Churning of the Ocean' (2012) and 'Sauptik: Blood and Flowers' (2016), and the Vedic/ecofeminist parable 'Aranyaka' (2019). In 2017, Patil received a Nari Shakti Puraskar from the President of India for “unusual work that breaks boundaries” in art and literature. She is currently working on her fifth book, an alternate ethnography featuring art, eros, and journeys; and painting large format.
Here she takes the time to answer some questions on ‘Adi Parva’.
Q: What inspired you to create Adi Parva, thereby taking on one of the longest and most complicated epics of the subcontinent - the Mahabharata, and presenting this age-old story in an entirely new format?
Ans: The graphic novel that preceded 'Adi Parva', 'Kari' (2008) was an intimate one. With its themes of queerness, friendship and big city life - it was well received, critically and commercially. But as an author, I made the decision not to repeat a formula just to safeguard readership and validation. Having already inhabited the deeply personal voice, I was now attracted to what was universal, owned by the multitudes. My gaze shifted from obsessively-inward to committedly outwards.
Q: Tell us little bit about the aesthetics that guided you in the visual creation of Adi Parva.
Ans: Quite simply, it was a desire for consonance and beauty that guided the aesthetics. When I started, I lacked the technical skills needed to bring alive the rich multiverse of the stories. There was the foundational matter of learning how to paint. But greater than that was the responsibility to evoke worlds; to find the right colours and compositions to evoke the nuanced psychological or philosophical concepts I was working with. 'Adi Parva' is very raw in this regard. Things got (slightly) better in its sequel 'Sauptik', and are hitting the truest notes in my current work.
Q: What did you want to achieve with Adi Parva?
Ans: The need to connect with the DNA of the subcontinent led me to its epics. I realised enroute that good mythology is, in fact, good psychology. And that in inhabiting those prototypes, I could learn timeless things, I could work through my own preoccupations and I could simultaneously play my part in aerating the stories for a changing world. The nature of my personal conundrums led to the choice of sutradhaars and stories.
Q: What would you like for the reader to take away from Adi Parva?
Ans: Readers can only take from the book what they are ready for. What readers can take from my person, is the detail that human beings are capable of great transformation. And that changing a sutradhaar will always transform a story, even if the plot is unchanged. Trust fluidity, don't stymie the flow!
Q: Who is your favourite character in Adi Parva and why?
Ans: Writers know that all characters contain an amsha (portion) of themselves. The characters of 'Adi Parva' are all from and of me. So it is like asking a parent who their favourite child is. You aren't going to get an answer!
