Spectacle of Wrestling: The Narrativization of Nation-State and Citizenship in Gopinath Mohanty’s Short Story ‘The Somersault’

This article examines Gopinath Mohanty’s short story, ‘The Somersault’, within the framework of Bhartiya Kushti’s cross-pollination with the postcolonial Indian nation-state’s politics of inequality and disparity. Mohanty’s narrative is analysed in relation to the politics of spectacle and the notion of the public sphere, highlighting the plight of poor citizens within the democratic practices of the nation-state. What this essay showcase is the divide between wrestling (Bhartiya Kushti) as an ethico-somatic framework articulated through Mohanty’s protagonist, Jaga Palei, and wrestling’s encapsulation as a commodified spectacle—drawing attention to issues of political governance and challenges created by a hypermedia-dominated public arena.