Devdutt Pattanaik is one of India’s leading mythologists and culture experts, writing on the relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in management, governance and leadership. He defines mythology as cultural truths revealed through stories, symbols and rituals.
Trained as a medical doctor, he spent 15 years in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry before turning full-time to Indian and world mythology. Over the past 30 years, he has brought ancient stories and ideas into contemporary conversations about culture, business and society.
He has written more than 70 books and over 2,000 newspaper columns for publications including The Indian Express, The Economic Times, The Hindu and Dainik Bhaskar. His books include Myth=Mithya, Business Sutra, The Book of Ram, Jaya, Leader, Culture and Eden.
His television shows Business Sutra and Devlok have introduced mythology to wider audiences. He has also served as Chief Belief Officer at Future Group, story consultant to Star TV and culture consultant to Mukesh Ambani at Reliance Jio, spending five years in each role.
Myth and Mythology
“No society can exist without myth as it creates notions of right and wrong, good and bad, heaven and hell, rights and duties.”
For Devdutt Pattanaik, mythology is not merely a collection of ancient stories. It is the framework through which cultures understand the world and establish their ideas of morality, identity, duty and belonging.
“Different people will have their own mythology, reframing old ones or creating new ones.”
His work explores Indian and world mythology, examining how stories, symbols and rituals express the beliefs of different cultures. His aim is “to get Saraswati out of the closet. Saraswati belongs everywhere, she has to flow everywhere” — a commitment to making knowledge accessible beyond the confines of academia.
Business
Devdutt believes that leadership is about paying attention to the other, and enabling people not to mimic or pretend, but to be genuine/authentic about their fears. If a leader cannot sense fear in people around him, if a leader feels good when people around him are frightened into pretending, there is a problem. Power flows towards the leader or, rather, boss rather than towards the organization.
In his book, Business Sutra: An Indian Approach to Management, “the central theme is that when individual beliefs come into conflict with corporate beliefs, problems surface in organisations. Conversely, when institutional beliefs and individual beliefs are congruent, harmony is the resultant corporate climate. It is when people are seen as mere resources meant to be managed [read manipulated] through compensation and so-called motivation; it is when they are treated like switches in a circuit board; it is then that disharmony descends causing disruption.”
Fiction
Devdutt Pattanaik distinguishes between mythological fiction and the study of mythology itself. While mythological fiction uses familiar traditional stories as the foundation for imaginative narratives, mythology examines the cultural worldviews that give those stories meaning.
“Most writers I know focus on mythological fiction. Study of mythology still remains rather academic,” he told IANS.
Through his books and illustrations, Pattanaik seeks to make the study of mythology accessible to a wider readership, encouraging readers to look beyond the stories themselves and explore what they reveal about the cultures that tell them.
Political Stance
Devdutt Pattanaik approaches political and social questions through the lens of mythology, belief and cultural assumptions. His writing examines perspectives across the political spectrum, including the Left and the Right, secularism and religion, capitalism and communism, and patriarchy and feminism.
His approach questions the assumption that any ideology is entirely free of its own beliefs or narratives. He has criticised both the influence of self-appointed “white saviours” and religious radicalism, as well as forms of hyper-nationalism disconnected from Indian realities.
He also challenges secularists and atheists who regard themselves as wholly rational without examining the beliefs and ideological frameworks that shape their own positions. His work encourages readers to question assumptions across ideological boundaries rather than accept any worldview uncritically.