Devdutt Pattanaik has long claimed to be a mythologist. Over the years, over many books, television shows and newspaper columns, he has become far more than that. One could say that a mythologist tells myths, perhaps s/he even creates them. But Pattanaik has transcended these functions and become an interpreter of our culture’s foundational stories. He elicits wisdom from both classical myths and folk tales and transmutes ancient ideas and principles into axioms and aphorisms for the 21st century. We see all his talents—as reader, teller, illustrator, interpreter, teacher—on display in his latest book, Shyam, in which he presents his eager English-reading audience with his version of the mighty Bhagavata Purana.