15, May 2025

Myth as Mirror: The Doppelganger Motif and Mythological Archetypes in Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night

VOLUME-9; ISSUE-5; MAY-2025

Author(s): 1 Ms. Bhuvana Udhaya Kumar, 2 Dr Sulagna Mohanty

Authors Affiliations:

1Assistant Professor, Department of English and Foreign Languages, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, India.

2Assistant Professor, Department of English and Foreign Languages, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, India

DOIs:10.2017/IJRCS/202505002     |     Paper ID: IJRCS202505002


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Abstract:   Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night (1992) uses myth to explore women’s identity in patriarchal India, yet its narrative complexity demands a fresh lens. This paper argues that Hariharan constructs protagonist Devi as a doppelgänger of mythological figures such as Gandhari, Amba and Damayanti. It reflects Devi’s fragmented self and employs the motif to navigate the tension between destiny and agency. Drawing on psychoanalytic and structuralist frameworks, the study analyses Devi’s journey through three doubles. Gandhari’s passivity evokes Freud’s uncanny in her alienating marriage. Amba’s rebellion is framed as Jung’s shadow archetype in her defiant affair. Damayanti’s choice is connected with Propp’s narrative functions in her autonomous return to Madras. By integrating these mythic parallels, Devi unifies her identity, unlike Sita and Mayamma, who lack such doubles and remain static. Existing scholarship emphasises the novel’s feminist and mythological themes but overlooks the doppelgänger motif as a psychological and structural device. This paper fills this gap and reveals how Hariharan reimagines myth to critique patriarchal fate and empowers Devi to redefine her role. By illuminating Devi’s transformative arc, this study highlights Hariharan’s innovative storytelling and suggests a new perspective on myth as a mirror for selfhood.

     
Keywords: Doppelgänger, Myth, Agency, Uncanny, Archetypes.

Ms. Bhuvana Udhaya Kumar, Dr Sulagna Mohanty(2025); Myth as Mirror: The Doppelganger Motif and Mythological Archetypes in Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night,. International Journal of Research Culture Society,    ISSN(O): 2456-6683,  Volume – 9,   Issue –  5,  Pp.8-12.       Available on – https://ijrcs.org/

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