Śakuntalā and the Politics of Mythopoeisis

Reimagining Gender, Power and Nation through Narrative

Abstract

This paper explores Śakuntalā as a dynamic site of mythopoeisis, investigating how the narrative has been continually reimagined to reflect shifting discourses of gender, power and nationhood. Tracing the evolution of the Śakuntalā myth from its earliest appearance in the Mahābhārata to its classical reformulation in Kalidasa’s Abhijñānaśākuntalam, and further into its modern and postcolonial adaptations, the study reveals how the figure of Śakuntalā has been mythopoetically reconfigured to embody diverse ideological agendas. The paper interrogates how the narrative rearticulates patriarchal and monarchical authority in classical Sanskrit aesthetics while also offering a subtle negotiation of female agency. Through feminist, postcolonial, and cultural lenses, it examines how contemporary reinterpretations – by writers such as Rabindranath Tagore, Bhasa and adaptations in Western Orientalism‒ transform Śakuntalā into a symbol of national identity, cultural memory, and resistance. Ultimately, the paper argues that the myth of Śakuntalā is not static but is continually remade through mythopoeisis of gender politics and nation-building across temporal and spatial registers.