In Quest of Indian Folktales

Cover

Download PDF (1.3 MB)
 

Contents

Download PDF (45.3 KB)
pp. v-vi

Preface

Download PDF (53.1 KB)
pp. vii-viii

In 1996, I located the handwritten manuscripts of William Crooke’s famed collection of the folktales of northern India in the archive of the Folklore Society, London. They were not catalogued, but were listed in the archive as “Indian Legends (William Crooke?).” As the two archival boxes were opened, many signs confirmed that their contents were William Crooke’s materials. The tales were still...

Acknowledgments

Download PDF (65.1 KB)
pp. ix-xiii

One of the readers to whom Indiana University Press sent the manuscript of thisbook called it a piece of “scholarly detective work,” accurately characterizing the research process, which involved suspense and revelation. While thanking the reader for the comment, I must say that the choice to carry out such work was not always mine; matters demanded it. The help of academic institutions, colleagues,...

Part I. The Quest

Download PDF (88.7 KB)
pp. 1-5

William Crooke (1848–1923) in his doctoral robe. Courtesy the Crooke family, especially Hugh Crooke, Pat Crooke (grandsons), and Roland Crooke (great grandson and sonof the late John Crooke, who kept the library of the late Dr. William Crooke for years with...

1. Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke

Download PDF (218.5 KB)
pp. 5-18

Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube met William Crooke sometime in 1891 or 1892, and somewhere in the then North Western Provinces and Oudh. Chaube was a graduate of Presidency College, Calcutta. To compatriots in his village of Gopalpur, Gorakhpur district, and to scholars of Hindi and Persian in the region, he was known as a linguistically and poetically talented man, able to turn even newspaper...

2. The Golden Manuscripts

Download PDF (280.7 KB)
pp. 19-37

One of the main features of the colonial British collection and publication of Indian folk narratives in the second half of the nineteenth century was the transformation of orality not just into written words, but into the written words of another language. As Indian folklore has been textualized, it has moved from dialects to foreign language(s). The reason for and implication of this were the same: the pub...

3. Crooke, Chaube, and Colonial Folkloristics, 1868–1914

Download PDF (206.8 KB)
pp. 38-55

In 1871, when Crooke came to India, the first collection of Indian folktales in English, Mary Frere’s Old Deccan Days, was three years old and selling well in England (Frere 1868). The second half of the nineteenth century was not only when folklore collection in India began, but also when it peaked. Pandit Chaubeand William Crooke produced their works only in the century’s last decade, when...

4. Post-colonial Conclusions

Download PDF (90.3 KB)
pp. 56-60

Does our knowledge of Chaube, his role in Crooke’s work, and his self-perception have any meaning today? What does it add to the history of Indian folklore research? Are we only setting the records straight? Why does that matter? Definitive answers to these questions may emerge over time, and some possibilities can be the emergence of Chaube affects the way we perceive the history of Indian...

Part II. Tales from the Manuscripts of Chaube and Crooke

Download PDF (35.7 KB)
pp. 61-62

Colors of Life: Tales 1 to 87

Download PDF (968.7 KB)
pp. 63-187

Colors of life fill the narratives in this section. Narratives of everyday lives, social practices and structures, questions and dilemmas, and matters of life and death are the subjects of the tales in this section. They are the tales of the rich, the poor, the ordinary, the special, the thieves, the spies, the wise, the cunning, the learned, the pretentious, the kings. There was once a certain King who had a wise and able vizier. It so happened after...

So Wise Some Women Are: Tales 88 to 103

Download PDF (316.0 KB)
pp. 188-221

Lady Sweetmeat felt that a great wrong was being done her by the people; everyone ate sweets and this was very hard on her. So she went to the Kotw�l and complained, but he could do nothing for her; in fact he could not resist the temptation and was just about to eat her himself, when she made her escape...

Magical Mind: Tales 104 to 125

Download PDF (509.8 KB)
pp. 222-281

In a certain city there was a Gaur Brahman Bag Datt by name. He had two wives named Manoram� and Satya Bh�m�. These two wives were sisters born of the same parents. Both of them were great witches. They amused themselves often in the house with magical performances. One day Satya Bh�m� said to the Brahman...

Corrective Measures: Tales 126 to 158

Download PDF (252.7 KB)
pp. 282-310

The Rájá was once walking in the streets of his city and met a beggar to whom he gave a gold Muhar. The beggar said “I won’t accept alms till you first give me a slap in the face.” The Rájá did so and then his alms were accepted. He asked the cause of this strange matter and the beggar...

Appendix: Aarne-Thompson Tale Type Index Numbers

Download PDF (46.0 KB)
pp. 311-312

Glossary of Indian Terms within Tales

Download PDF (33.0 KB)
pp. 313-314

Bibliography

Download PDF (71.6 KB)
pp. 315-318

General Index for Part I: Chapters 1–4

Download PDF (50.1 KB)
pp. 319-320

Index: Contributors of Tales

Download PDF (51.2 KB)
pp. 321-322

Index: Places That Contributed Tales

Download PDF (31.5 KB)
pp. 323-325

Index: Numbers and Titles of Tales

Download PDF (75.1 KB)
pp. 326-332