The Heroine of a Thousand Faces

The Tamil Feminine and the Monomyth

Authors

  • Dinesh K. Ramoo Cag University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.36444

Keywords:

Cilappatikāram, goddess, Joseph Campbell, monomyth, mythology, Tamil

Abstract

The hero’s journey or monomyth of Campbell (1966) has been a source of much analysis both in ancient literature across the world as well as modern ones such as the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. The hero’s journey is an oft-cited archetype of storytelling. This article illustrates how this archetype could be applied to an ancient Tamil epic (the Silappathikaram or Lay of the Anklet) and its female protagonist. It also shows how the monomyth could be used to harmonise the three parts of the epic, the last of which had often been claimed to be a later addition. However, looking at the epic from the perspective of the monomyth, it is clear that all three parts are integral to understanding the heroines journey. Further explorations into South Asian epic literature might yield new information on the divine feminine and its role in the heroic cycle.

Author Biography

  • Dinesh K. Ramoo, Cag University

    Dinesh Ramoo completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of Birmingham, on the role of syllable structure in word-form encoding, using computational models and neuropsychological patient data. His research has included work in English, Tamil, Hindi, Sinhala and Turkish. He has worked as consultant linguist for Google Incorporation on Tamil speech synthesis. His research interests include language production, language comprehension, and linguistic metrical analysis. He is Assistant Professor at Ҫağ University in Turkey.

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Published

2019-04-25

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Ramoo, D. (2019). The Heroine of a Thousand Faces: The Tamil Feminine and the Monomyth. Religions of South Asia, 12(2), 154-184. https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.36444