The Mythology Project (TMP) is an online platform for the study of myths, legends, folktales and ancient belief systems. It looks to foster understanding and encourage discussion and debate about the influence that these stories and practices wield upon us even today while preserving their vast intangible inheritance in a manner that it is authentic and accessible to future generations. The Mythology Project has been set up by TMP Centre that has been set up by Utkarsh Patel and Arundhuti Dasgupta.
While being located within India and focused on its traditions and myth and folklore, TMP and TMP Centre are not limited by or restricted to mythologies within the country. The Project considers the vast body of literature in the form of mythology, folklore, and legend to be a common good and the collective wealth of nations. It will study, build, teach and create awareness of the multiple facets of mythology based on an understanding of mythology as a shared inheritance of humankind.
Among the many activities that TMP is currently engaged in are: building an online archive of myth, folklore, legend and ancient belief systems, curating an annual international festival around myth, folklore and legend called MythoLogical and conducting regular public lectures offline and online on mythology and culture.
TMP aims to collaborate with institutions to nurture, preserve and spread awareness about myth, folklore and legend and their influence on the oral, written and performative traditions across the world. The idea is to create an informed understanding of the past as manifested in these stories and practices.
“To tell a story is to discover or reveal a secret”-
A.K.Ramanujan
UTKARSH PATEL
Utkarsh Patel is a corporate-professional-turned-mythologist and author of “Shakuntala – The Woman Wronged”, published by Rupa Publications, and “Satyavati”, published by Readify & Kautilya Books, and “Kannaki’s Anklet”, published by Indus Source. He is a lecturer of Comparative Mythology at the University of Mumbai and has qualifications in Mythology, both Indian and World from Mumbai University.
Utkarsh is a TEDx speaker and also a regular speaker and lecturer on varying subjects of mythology and other topics, at various forums, litfests, organisations and colleges. Along with Saregama he has launched a digital channel and a YouTube channel called Mythology Comes Alive where he narrates stories from the mythologies of the world
For more on his work, visit http://www.utkarshmp.com/
ARUNDHUTI DASGUPTA SINGHAL
Journalist and author, Arundhuti has been writing on a wide range of subjects ranging from marketing and advertising to the economy, as well as culture and mythology. She has worked with the country’s leading financial dailies; her last engagement, and longest tenure, was with Business Standard where she wrote a monthly column on myth and culture and led a publishing programme for books on business and economics.
She teaches comparative mythology on several online platforms and has published two books so far, The Weretiger: Stories of the Supernatural (released in the year 2002) by Penguin India and Spooked: Stories of the Supernatural (released in the year 2004) by Puffin India. The books were a collection of original stories that dealt with folklore about ghosts, magic and mystery.
She co-founded Talking Myths Project in 2015-16 and was involved with its development as an archive of myths, folktales and other stories from the Indian subcontinent. Arundhuti has a Master’s degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics and a diploma in Comparative Mythology from the University of Mumbai.