In Hundred Tamil Folk and Tribal Tales we have a rich variety of tale-types of a major South Indian oral tradition. Sujatha Vijayaraghavan’s lucid English translation here beacons a serious engagement in Indic studies. It locates this body of work at the interface between folklore, anthropology, sociology and public culture of a by-gone era. This handy collection provides an easy access to the cultural registers and linguistic mores of a tribal/folk population at a crucial juncture of colonial modernity. Furthermore, she translates not merely the tales as she finds them in the Tamil original (naatupura kathai kalanjiyam), but distinguishes and recognises the tribal tale, otherwise unnoticed in a proverbial ocean of Indian folklore. As a vibrant vein of wit and wisdom in Dravidian lives and traditions, the tribal-tale receives the first-ever straight look in these pages.
Acknowledgements Translator’s Introduction Excerpt from the Preface of the General Editor to the Tamil Volumes I Translator’s Preface 1. Anandayi 2. The Foolish King 3. Who Can Be Trusted? 4. Has the Merchant Gone Mad? 5. How Did You Reach Here Before Me? II Translator’s Preface 6. Speak After You Look Before and Behind You 7. The Taali and the Koorai Saree 8. The Story of Sleepy-Head 9. About Giving Alms 10. A Knock with the Pestle 11. Kuttiandavar III Translator’s Preface 12. Upbringing 13. The God Who Tested His Wife 14. The Woman Who Pushed Her Husband into the River 15. In the Guise of a Chaste Woman 16. When Are You Going to Die? 17. Neither Mother nor Father 18. Serving Food in a Clay Bowl 19. The Clay-Doll Mother-in-law IV Translator’s Preface 20. The Girl Who Laughed at the Moon 21. The Mendicants 22. The Mondi’s Tale 23. I am Going to Sneeze! 24. What Was Not Seen 25. Footprints V Translator’s Preface 26. Her Father’s Gesture of the Hand 27. A Tale of Lies 28. A Beating with the Broom 29. The Sesame-Oil Trader’s Daughter 30. Kapila, the Cow 31. The Sparrow’s Arrogance 32. The Pleasure with Madhavi VI Translator’s Preface 33. Don’t Lose Sight of Your Work 34. Karuppsami’s Origin 35. The Boon of a Child 36. The Elephant Trader 37. The Rice-Cake Granny’s Tale 38. For Whom is the Bride? 39. The Smart One 40. The Tale of the Kurumbagownderu 41. “Thillalae, Did the Song Come!” VII Translator’s Preface 42. The Story of Ayyanar 43. Lava Kusa 44. Jakkamma 45. Jallikattu 46. The Debt 47. Neither Live nor Die 48. You Man of Poor Wisdom! 49. The Seven Virgins VIII Translator’s Preface 50. Athiri Badcha . . . Grab! 51. The Tale that Never Ended 52. Half-Hag, Three-Fourths Hag, Whole-Hag 53. The Dowry from Mother 54. Goat or Dog? IX Translator’s Preface 55. The Tale of Tales 56. The Origin of the Potters 57. Kamban’s Oath 58. The Story of Rahu and Ketu 59. The Story of Bhogar 60. The Woodcutter’s Greed 61. How the Mendicant Became a Householder X Translator’s Preface 62. Listen, Donkey, Listen! 63. The Paramour-Crow that Went to Tiruchendur 64. The Story of the Brahmin 65. The Daughter-in-law Who Chewed Rice Grain 66. Raakan 67. Go to Kasi if You Will, but Your Karma Follows You XI Translator’s Preface 68. How Vishavaidyam Began 69. The Story of Kathakali 70. The Story of the Kurup Community 71. It Is All for the Good 72. The Story of the Great Thief 73. The Fisherman and the Ghost 74. Is This Earth? 75. Plucking Grass from the Coconut Tree 76. How the Rat Was Set Afire 77. The Theft of the Jewel Box 78. How Maadasami Bought Bulls XII Translator’s Preface 79. Small Kaani, Big Kaani 80. The Lazy Fellow 81. The Fools 82. The Hasty Woman XIII Translator’s Preface 83. The Creator’s Knot 84. The Coward’s Trick 85. The Story of the Lame Ghost 86. The Tale about the Fish that Laughed XIV Translator’s Preface 87. The Story of the Colt 88. Fish Kozhambu 89. The Deaf Family 90. Ponnusami the Wise 91. The Tale of the Nuts 92. Catch the Tuft 93. The Tale of the Mirror 94. The Story of the Potter and the Washerman 95. The Story of the Stout Stick XV Translator’s Preface 96. The Tale of the Solar Eclipse 97. The Mother-in-law and the Daughter-in-law 98. How the Deity of Vellingiri Came into Being 99. When Cows Could Speak 100. How the Elephant Came into Being Suggested Reading