Many decades back I wrote a story on Amba, a character from the Mahabharata. The story travelled around, collecting rejections all the way. Only one editor gave me a reason: when most readers would not know who Bhishma is, why would they be interested in a story which centred round an almost unknown character like Amba? Would I write a brief note explaining who Amba was? An explanatory note to a short story?
Today such a problem would never arise. We are swamped with books, either retelling the stories of the two epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, or about a character from the epics – quite often a much lesser-known character, taken out of an obscure corner, dusted and put under the spotlight. Obviously, neither writers nor publishers worry about readers not knowing any of the characters.
What has brought about this change? (I am speaking only of writing in English.) Is it only a trend which will soon pass? Or are the English writers discovering what the…