Description
Book SynopsisBrave and vivid.New York Review of BooksThese enchanting stories from early modern Bengal reveal how Hindu and Muslim traditions converged on timeless themes of human morality, social culture, and survival. The Bengali stories in this collection are first and foremost tales of survival. Each story in Needle at the Bottom of the Sea underscores the need for people to work togethernot just to overcome the challenges of living in the Sundarban swamps of Bengal, but also to ease hostilities born of social differences in religion, caste, and economic class. Translated by award-winning scholar of early modern Bengali literature Tony K. Stewart, Needle at the Bottom of the Sea brims with fantasy and excitement. Sufi protagonists travel through a world of wonder where tigers talk and men magically grow into giants, a Hindu princess falls in love with a Muslim holy man, and goddesses rub shoulders with kings and merchants. Across religion, class, and gender, what binds these fabulous stories together is the characters' pursuit of living honorably and morally in a difficult, corrupt world.
Trade Review"Brave and vivid . . . [Stewart's translation] helps the anglophone reader enter this world in which karma supplies the ultimate explanation of the often bizarre adventures of the human spirit so richly explored in these stories." -- Wendy Doniger * The New York Review of Books *
“
Needle at the Bottom of the Sea allows access to local stories of quotidian struggles of common people and their belief system. The kathas in this anthology are useful for locating the time and space in South Asian history that led to the incorporation of Islamic cultural strands into the socio-literary corpus of Bengali. The translation of these tales entailed meticulous research. . . . Overall, this is a work of great scholarship, which will interest literary historians as well as avid readers having interest in traditional South Asian romances.” * Asian Review of Books *
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction
The Auspicious Tale of the Lord of the Southern Regions
The Rāy mangal of Krsnarām Dās
Scouring the World for Cāmpāvatī
Gāji kālu o cāmpāvatī kanyār puthi of Ābdul Ohāb
Glorifying the Protective Matron of the Jungle
Bonbibī jahurā nāmā of Mohāmmad Khater
Wayward Wives and Their Magical Flying Tree
Satya nārāyaner puthi of Kavi Vallabh
Curbing the Hubris of Moses
Khoyāj Khijir’s Instruction to Musā in Nabīvamśa of Saiyad
Sultān translated with Ayesha A. Irani
Glossary
Acknowledgments
