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Folk Tales from the ...
Folk Tales from the Bards Mouth
by: Jhaverchand Meghani , Ashok MeghaniThis book, translation of ten stories by the famous Gujarati writer Jhaverchand Meghani, reflects the rich folklore culture of both Kathiawad and Saurashtra regions. These stories are of much currency in Gujarat.
$20.00
ISBN: 9788124608739
Year Of Publication: 2016
Edition: 1st Edition
Pages : xv, 223
Bibliographic Details : Bibliography
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 23
Weight: 500
The Kathiawad peninsula in Western India boasts a rich heritage of oral traditions. The Charan and Barot communities were especially known for their unique storytelling styles. Jhaverchand Meghani, the author, suggests that much of the main subject matter comes from stories in the Sanskrit epics like Panchatantra and Kathasaritsagar, as also from legends created around historical figures like King Vikram of Ujjain. These orally told stories were handed down from generation to generation, and were further enhanced by each storytellers creativity in injecting elements that would help the story move forward while holding the listeners interest.
This book contains ten stories told in such unique style, collected in the 1920s, and published in Gujarati using the exact words as used by the storytellers. The objective of this English collection has been to preserve the original oral style and content as much as possible in a translation to culturally so different a language form.
The authors two scholarly treatises analyse this storytelling style, and provide a comparison with similar stories from other parts of India as well as the West. The author also draws conclusions of his own about the origins and the spread of these stories. These treatises may be of great interest to students and scholars of folklore, perhaps leading to further research.
The Co-publishers Statement
From the Vice-Chancellors Desk
Translators Note
Dadaji-ni Wato
Foreword to Dadaji-ni Wato
The New World of Folk Tales
To Grandpas Land!
Manasagaro
Simhasan : The Throne
Vikram and Vidhata, the Destiny Writer
Veeroji
Phoolsaudagar and Phoolvanti
Rang Chhe, Barot!
Foreword to Rang Chhe, Barot!
The Four Maxims
Occupying Someones Body
Daughter of the Sea God
Chandan-Menangari
Khaniyo
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Lalita-Sahasranama A Comprehensive Study of One Thousand Names of Lalita Maha-Tripurasundari $50.00
In the Hindu sacred literature, Sahasra-namas: the texts embodying literally “the Thousand Names” of a deity, constitute a genre in their own right. And Lalita-Sahasranama (LS) is a veritable classic in the traditional writings of the kind — a classic widely acknowledged for its lucidity, clarity and poetic excellence. A medieval work of unknown authorship eulogising Shakti: the Mother Goddess, this Sahasranama is not just a masterly exposition of Shri Lalita’s cult, but also sets out the deity’s diverse epithets — like, for instance, Kundalini, Nirguna, Saguna, Parashakti or Brahman — which continue to evoke reverence as mantras with ‘mystic powers’. Also included among these names are the goddess’s other panegyric descriptions that have come to have profound, esoteric connotations in tantric practices — epitomizing, thus, the fundamental tenets of tantrashastra. Here is a brilliant critical edition of Lalita-Sahasranama meticulously analysing, for the first time, each of Shri Lalita’s thousand names — by a variety of themes, like the Goddess’s conceptual representations, anthropomorphic forms, disposition, abodes, kinships/consorts, ritualistic worship, and her supremacy in pantheonic hierarchy. Also explaining and interpreting anew these thousand names on the basis of time-honoured commentaries, Dr. Joshi under-scores the high importance of Lalita-Sahasranama in philosophy, tantra, yoga, sahasranama literature, and rituals of various descriptions. The book includes the original Sanskrit text of LS, its romanised transliteration and, additionally, an Appendix listing Sri Lalita’s thousand names in the A-Z sequence.
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Aesthetic Textures $60.00
The fascinating world of multiple Bharatas that this book introduces its readers with is that of a perennial tale discovered and created afresh at each juncture of time; at each moment of self-doubt and self-exploration; at each rejoicing of self-discovery and self-recovery. If one does not come across a seamless continuity here, one does not encounter apparent ruptures either. The Bharatas, as narrated here, present us with amazing diversity with palpable consubstantiality expressed in myriad forms and multiple hues; tradition belonging as much to its contemporaneity as to its past; belonging as much to the spokes as to the axle; centrifugal and centripetal at once; a tradition old and new at the same moment of time.
The book is based on the proceedings of a seven-day international conference organized by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) on the living traditions of the Mahabharata in the year 2011. The conference explored the multiple tellings and retellings of the Mahabharata story as sung, danced, and celebrated in festivals, inscribed on to geographic landscapes, committed to memory as sacred genealogy, embodied in rituals, and sculpted in shrines and temples. The presentations ranged from issues of poetics and ethics to translations, adaptations, and variations to folk and tribal traditions as sung, recited, and performed. Rather than exploring the Mahabharata as a book or a singular narrative, these papers focus on the multi-tradition of the Mahabharata in all its multidimensionality, multiplicity, and above all, in its fluidity. The book would certainly interest the scholars engaged in the study of the living heritage of Indian epics, folklorists, indologists, and anthropologists. -
Vada in Theory and Practice $44.00
Vada, meaning debates, dialogues, discussions, was the quintessential of Indian spirit, enabling and promoting the growth of different philosophical and knowledge systems of India. It percolated deep into our mindset and enriched the moral, ethical, religious and sociocultural edifice of anything that was essentially Indian in nature. As continuation of Anvikshiki from the bc era, vada helped thrive Indian traditional knowledge systems. It subsists on diversity and its tradition envisages pluralism.
Most of our Sanskrit works, covering a wide gamut of knowledge systems, are structured in the techniques of debate. This reality applies not only to the philosophical writings, but to Indian medical systems (Ayurveda), Arthashastra of Kautilya and Kamasutra of Vatsyayana as well. Even great epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are no exceptions.
Vada culture involved verbal duals, attacks and even violence of speech, and all major religious systems — old or modern — were parties to it. This book also elucidates how vata was vital and critical for the growth of our socio-political fabrics. It shows how some of the major conflicts in philosophical systems were centred around karma, jnana, choice between violence and non-violence, pravritti and nivritti. It also presents the manifestations of vada on a vast canvas during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Modern spiritual and religious gurus like Ramana Maharshi, J. Krishnamurti and Vinoba Bhave were men of dialogues. Our scholars have applied the varied techniques of vada against the philosophical and scientific systems of the West to prove them correct.
This collector’s issue should enthrall a wide audience of philosophers, scholars and believers in Indian knowledge systems. -
Ancient History of India $20.00
This is a fresh look at the history of Ancient India, centering on the Law Code of Manu (Manusmriti / Manu Dharmashastra), and its relationship to Rigveda and its possible relationship to the Indus/Harappan Civilisation of 4000 to 5000 years ago. It also throws light on Aryan society and culture, castes and guilds, use of technology and related practices in the Indus Valley Civilisation.
Dr. Charles Naegele, a practicing lawyer in Silicon Valley, California, USA, and a lifelong student of classical Indian knowledge, has written a work that will be certain to stir up controversy regarding the re-dating of the Law Code of Manu and the well-documented research concerning almost no possibility of Aryan Invasion Theory and the numerous similarities between the text of the Law Code of Manu and the archeological finds from the Indus/Harappan Civilisation.
Scholars and history buffs, as well as everyone who is proud of Indian heritage will enjoy not only this work, but also his future works. -
Ancient Indian Scientific Thought and Modern Theories $20.00
The experiences and knowledge from our past are recorded in manuscripts which have been handed down to us over several thousand years. The Government of India, through the Department of Culture, took note of the importance of this vast tangible heritage and, in order to preserve and conserve as well as to make access to this wealth easy, established the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). In order to disseminate the knowledge content of manuscripts, the Mission has taken up several programmes such as lectures, seminars and workshops. The Mission has published the proceedings of the above-said programmes under the following series: Samraksika (on conservation), Tattvabodha (comprising lectures based on manuscripts delivered by eminent scholars), Samiksika (research-oriented papers presented in the seminars), Krtibodha (transcribed and edited texts prepared at advanced level manuscriptology workshops conducted by NMM) and Prakasika (publication of rare, unpublished manuscripts).
Ancient Indian Scientific Thought and Modern Theories makes one revisit the development of Indian science and technology in varied fields since the Vedic period, and suggests that we have a living tradition which is vivid and dynamic, inheriting at the same time claiming freedom from the past. It is the proceedings of a three-day seminar held during 25-27 March 2017 in Kolkata, organized by the Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad, Kolkata, and sponsored by NMM. This volume bears testimony to the fact that Indian sages, philosophers and scholars had a grip on all the topics that the modern-day scientists deal with, including complicated surgery and quantum mechanics. Our Vedas, Upanisads and other literary works were the storehouse of scientific wisdom, though the prevailing socio-religious conditions impeded its widespread dissemination.
This volume is expected to invoke keen interest among all who wants to know about a scientific past that Indians inherit, be a scientist or a layman.
