This book brings together a number of essays dealing with the interface between myth, gender, politics, and nationalism. The common thread that links the different chapters is the appropriation and reinterpretation of myth, and its weaponizing for the purpose of power or political gain. All chapters explore the various aspects of the ongoing process of the re-mythologizing of the present, as revealed in South Asian traditions. The essays in this collection respond to similar questions: how does one interpret the present? What is the meaning of ancient and venerated myths today? What are the ideological implications of the interpretation of myths and how do they reflect and influence the power structures of contemporary societies in South Asia? Thus, all essays approach the questions raised from the perspectives of mythological and ideological criticism.