An Aesthetic Analysis of Socio-Mythical Representation of Hunger in Indian Graphic Novels: A Study on Amruta Patil’s ‘Aranyaka’

Abstract

This paper examines Aranyaka: The Book of the Forest (2019) by Amruta Patil and Devdutt Pattanaik, reimagining ‘hunger’ as a multi-layered aesthetic, philosophical, and socio-mythical construct. Drawing upon Indian aesthetic theory (rasa–bhava) and Upanishadic philosophy (ksudha, anna, atman), along with visual semiotics of panel composition, chromatic use, and spatial rhetoric, the study situates hunger as bodily desire, ethical anxiety, and metaphysical quest. Methodologically, the paper combines (i) intertextual analysis of the Taittiriya and Brhadaranyaka Upaniṣads, and (ii) close readings of selected panels to trace the interrelationship of gender, ecology, and spiritual striving through the protagonist Katyayani. The graphic text presents hunger as a law of life rather than a moral lapse, expressed through five thematic lenses: elemental appetite, cosmic maw, feminine agency around food, rejection/gift, and sacred feeding. These strategies re-center feminine subjectivity and eco-spiritual reciprocity. The paper argues that Aranyaka transforms hunger from a stigmatized appetite into a mythopoetic principle of becoming, thus positioning Indian graphic novels as sites of philosophical reflection beyond their narrative surface.