Study of Tales of Supernatural Powers from Select Revisionist Texts of The Ramayana and The Mahabharata

Abstract

Nature is full of secrets, suspense, mystery as well as occult and celestial powers. It contains extraordinary powers also. Natural world possesses instinctive and innate behavior. Beyond this there are superpowers in nature. These powers cannot be explained by scientific logic or laws of nature. If we combine the two words Super + Nature, then this describes some extraordinary meaning. Now, let us analyze the word ‘Supernatural’. The word Supernatural is a combination of two words, Super and Natural. It means the behavior, the powers, the nature or anything that contains some occult and phenomenal instinct. In the Hindu Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads we can see many examples of this extraordinary power. To explore the same, this paper uses references primarily from three revisionist texts – “Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana” by Dedutt Pattnaik, “The Palace of Illusions” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and “Yagnaseni” by Pratibha Ray.