Abstract
This book studies the representation of Hinduism through myth and discourse in urban Hindi theatre in the period 1880–1960. It discusses representative works of seven influential playwrights and inquires into the way they have "imagined" and "reimagined" Hindu tradition. The major questions that I seek to answer are: What are the Hindu myths that the authors have appropriated and reworked in their plays and what are the ideological discourses that we can discern? Why are the ancient myths relevant to the contemporary and modernist agenda of the playwrights? What are the ideological implications of the interpretative discourses and how are they informed by the power structures of society?