Published Paper Details:

This study examines whether retelling myth actively contributes to cultural evolution or merely reproduces the same narratives again. It argues that myth persists because the flexibility in its structure rather than its preservation. The study focuses on two cases - the Ramayana and the Varaha avatar within Vaishnava mythology. Drawing from comparative myth analysis and A.K. Ramanujan's framework of "tellings", the study shows that narrative and ontological variability are inherent features of mythic continuity. The Ramayana illustrates a continuing shift in narratives depending on region, devotion, performance, and ideology. For example, Rama's gradual divinization, and the shift to a symbol of morality, can be seen from ancient texts to tribal, vernacular, and sectarian texts. A similar examination of the Varaha avatar reveals ontological fluidity. The Varaha avatar takes many iconographic forms, such as zoomorphic, anthropomorphic, and Yajna forms, while maintaining a cosmological significance of destabilization, descent, correction, and restoration. In the initial Vedic texts, the Varaha form takes a more cohesive religious connotation. Building on these findings, the study introduces a speculative reinterpretation of Varaha - The Deep Foundation - as a conceptual test of the adaptability of myths. This reimagining stretches the structure of Varaha to include a higher-dimensional infrastructural ontology. It maintains cosmological functionality of the original myth but removes the anthropocentric aspects. Critical evaluation of the reimagining demonstrates that identity of a myth remains intact even with radical reinterpretations. The results suggest that retelling functions as cultural production, and not distortion. Mythic identity uncovers underlying potential meanings when reinterpreted with coherent cosmologies. In fact, reinterpretation does not undermine tradition; it emphasises the depth and strength of mythic systems.