Vishnu Mishra

Inking the Epic: Subversive Aesthetics and Moral Recalibrations in Ramayana Graphic Novels

This research paper analyses how recent Indian graphic novels re-envision the Ramayana, not only as mythology but also as an empowering graphic-textual means of grappling with contemporary issues that concern identity, power, gender, and ethics. Using a critical reading of Vikram Balagopal’s Simian (2014) and Samhita Arni & Moyna Chitrakar’s Sita’s Ramayana (2011), the research explores how the interplay of visual composition, page layout, artistic choices, and narrative voice in both problematizes and reimagines traditional notions of dharma, heroism, and divinity. This research paper also explores how these graphic novels, evaluated through a multidisciplinary framework of graphic narrative theory, comparative mythology, and cultural studies, subvert hegemonic portrayals of Rama and recentre marginalized voices like Sita. These visual reinterpretations are not just retellings; rather, they are also acts of cultural intervention, questioning who is allowed to interpret the epic and for what purpose. By moving the visual perspective and narrative voice, they present readers with a morally nuanced and aesthetically rich encounter, prompting questions about what it means to reinterpret sacred tradition in a rapidly changing world.