Devdutt Pattanaik at India Today Conclave East 2022: I would advise future politicians to go to drama schools

Speaking at his session titled The Myth Of India’s East: Going Beyond the Divisive Binaries of Fact and Fiction, Devdutt Pattanaik spoke about the Kaali controversy and many other issues. 

Mythologist-author Devdutt Pattanaik addressed several questions during a session at the India Today Conclave East 2022 in Kolkata’s Grand Oberoi on July 4. Speaking at his session titled The Myth Of India’s East: Going Beyond the Divisive Binaries of Fact and Fiction, Devdutt Pattanaik spoke about the Kaali controversy and many other issues.

Here are excerpts from Devdutt Pattanaik’s session:

ON GODDESS KAALI CONTROVERSY

Anger is a political dividend. It’s a currency. If I get angry, I get votes. Bhagwan bhi leela krte hai. Natya shashtra is more important than dharma shashtra.

I would advise politicians to go to drama schools. It doesn’t matter what you genuinely care for. Mythology is somebody’s truth. To study it you have to accept somebody’s truth. We will vote for you if you appeal to our emotions. It doesn’t matter if you’re giving us jobs.

ON HINDI LANGUAGE CONTROVERSY:

50 percent of the country live on the Gangetic plain, that is why all the Gods are from the Gangetic plain. Nobody cares for Kerala. The Hindu civilization in their minds is the Hindi civilization. The gods are also North Indian. We never talk about the rest of India. Why Hindi? Bhagwan toh sanskrit bolte the. Shri Krishna toh braj bhasha bolte they. Everything is not Mughal Rajputs.