Forgotten Gods and Legends: Voices of Marginalised Myths through Podcasting and YouTube

Abstract

This paper explores the resurgence of marginalized and “forgotten” gods, myths, and legends through the medium of podcasts and YouTube videos and shorts in contemporary India, with particular attention to marginalised perspectives. It examines how digital platforms enable the re-narrativization of mythological traditions that were historically suppressed, excluded, or reinterpreted within dominant frameworks. Engaging with theories of myth (structuralism and post-structuralism), subaltern studies, and digital media, the paper argues that podcasts function as democratized narrative spaces where myth is not merely revived but contested, reconfigured, and politicized. The study highlights how marginalised reinterpretations challenge hegemonic mythologies, foreground alternative cosmologies, and reclaim cultural memory. Ultimately, the paper proposes that podcasting, YouTube videos, and shorts enable a “counter-mythic discourse” that destabilizes canonical narratives and opens new epistemic possibilities. This research intends to explore how Podcasts work as a performative and archival medium, giving voices to the voiceless and creating a space for marginalised voices, thoughts, and beliefs to be interpreted, and is being used to reclaim, reimagine, and preserve within the interdisciplinary field of digital humanities. This study seeks to examine the aesthetic, ethical, and political dimensions of mythic storytelling in the digital era. This paper intends to work with a few questions, like- 1. How do Podcasts functions as counter archives? 2. How do listeners interpret and engage with podcasts? 3. Can Podcast mythologies become a tool of cultural diplomacy or resistance in global politics? 4. What myths and legends are globalised via Podcasting?