An 11th-century timeless classic has been adapted and retold by Rohini Chowdhury Twist in the tale
Writer Rohini Chowdhury’s childhood was filled with folk and fairy tales that she heard from her grandmother. As she grew older, she was fortunate enough to have unlimited access to her grandfather’s rather extensive library and it was perhaps amongst his books that she would have first found a reference to Somadeva’s Kathasaritsagara. “I remember reading Chandamama which used to carry the ‘Vikram aur Vetala’ stories, which are perhaps the best known and most loved of the stories of the Kathasaritsagara,” says Chowdhury who has adapted and retold this timeless classic.
Somadeva was the court poet of King Anantadeva of Kashmir in the 11th century and his collection of stories was intended for Anantdeva’s queen, Suryavati's entertainment. Kathasaritsagara is quite a remarkable work. Its title, which means ‘The ocean of stories,’ is no exaggeration, for it contains more than 350 tales told across eighteen books in some twenty thousand stanzas. But at no point does the stories turn preachy. “Though Kathasaritsagara is concerned with life and living, its stories teach no moral lessons. Nor are the tales bound by any dominant theme, religion or point of view. This makes the work unique in Sanskrit literature.”
Little wonder then that the work remains unparalleled in its appeal and the undiminished in popularity over the centuries. Its stories are found all over the world – in the more or less contemporary Arabian Nights, in Celtic folklore, and in collections such as the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Its influence can be seen in later works such as Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (1387 CE) and Boccaccio’s Decameron (1353 CE). In continuing to inspire modern writers such as Salman Rushdie with his novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, it remains one of the most influential and best-known non-religious works of Sanskrit literature. “The stories would have spread in many ways – through word of mouth by travellers and traders, through scholars from other lands who might have come and seen the work and taken it or a version away with them, and through translations. For instance, one of its earliest translations was commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar, who came to know of the Kathasaritsagara on a visit to Srinagar after his conquest of Kashmir in 1589 and shortly afterward ordered it to be translated into Persian.”
Chowdhury’s book is also aimed at young readers and given its influence and importance and the universal appeal of its stories, the Kathasaritsagara is a perfect introduction to the wonders of Sanskrit literature for young readers. “Mine is a retelling, and a hugely abridged one at that, while Charles Tawney’s work is a translation, and a very faithful one, of the Sanskrit original. And by that very fact, Tawney’s work is much, much longer than mine,” says the author who reveals Somadeva’s work was not, by any definition, aimed at children. “And neither was Tawney’s translation. My retelling, however, is aimed at young readers – and my selection of stories has been primarily directed by that consideration. Also, the original is often longwinded and confusing –
Somadeva uses the narrative technique in which stories are contained within stories, sometimes to so many levels that it is easy to forget the beginning. Tawney retains this faithfully. I have retained Somadeva’s basic framed-narrative structure – because that is an important aspect of the work as a whole – but have simplified it considerably, keeping in mind both readability and accessibility for the young reader.”