This talk will give an introduction to a new postdoctoral project within the NRC/MF project MYTHOPOL. The project addresses Mythopolitics in South Asia through a study of contested and controversial Hindu myths in contemporary Indian politics. The project seeks to generate new perspectives on classical texts and their alternative readings by studying Sanskrit myths vis à vis their contemporary political counterparts, and to understand how these myths are expressed, constructed, negotiated and deconstructed in struggles for myths of identity and belonging.