One of India’ s greatest epics the kathasaritsagara is thought to have been compiled around 1070 CE by somadeva Bhatt during the reign of Raja Ananta of the lohara dynasty of Kashmir. Even though this extraordinary work is one of the longest creations in Indian and World literature It is considered to be only a small part of an even longer work called brihatkatha composed by gunadhya in a lost language known as Paisachi. Somadeva collected and retold the stories of the kathasaritsagara in Sanskrit to entertain Raja ananta’ s wife suryavati. This masterpiece is foundational for many of India’ s best-loved folk tale traditions such as Vetala pachisi and Panchatantra and it has influenced many of the world’ s best-known classics including one thousand and one nights the decameron and the Canterbury tales. In addition contemporary writers like Salman Rushdie have drawn from the work in Books like Haroun and the sea of stories. Within its vast frame the kathasaritsagara has several hundred stories that owe their origin to India’ s limitless storehouse of myth scripture and folklore. Snake gods rub shoulders with enchanted princesses and heroic warrior-kings battle Rakshasa tall as the sky and wide as the ocean. Celestial apsara seduce handsome princes wise prostitutes counsel errant husbands fools parley with ghouls and riddlers and talking monkeys pace through the tales. Here you will find talking birds and swindlers beggars and conjure sages and polymaths divine beings and semi-divine vidyadharas yakshas and Yoginis walking corpses and sleeping giants and a host of other remarkable creatures mingling with ordinary men and women in a multitude of magical kingdoms enchanted islands and forbidding forests in the three worlds— heaven Earth and the Netherworld. And through this skein of stories contained in eighteen books somadeva spins tales of love infidelity death rebirth sacrifice fulfilment courage cowardliness honesty untruth separation togetherness joy sadness and much much more. The central story of this epic revolves around the son of the famed Raja udayana naravahanadatta and his marital quests in the course of which he acquires numerous wives encounters a host of memorable characters and wins supremacy over the mystical vidyadharas. Meena Arora nayak’ s brilliant new retelling of the kathasaritsagara the first major rendition of the epic in a quarter century closely follows the adventures of naravahanadatta and brings these ancient tales to new and enthralling life.
This book title, THE KATHASARITSAGARA OF SOMADEVA, ISBN: 9788194874157, by Meena Arora Nayak, published by Rupa Publications (December 10, 2020) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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