Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts

3 Feb 2014

Book Review: Folktales from India by AK Ramanujan

 Folktales from India by AK Ramanujan, Image Art Scene IndiaFolktales from India by AK Ramanujan, is a selection of oral tales from 22 languages offering a delightful platter of one hundred and ten stories originating from different parts of the country, yet sharing a collective ethos which is bound to resonate with every Indian.

As the well-known poet and author, Ramanujan describes it; the book presents ‘examples of favorite narratives from the subcontinent’. The selected tales are from actual tellers, rather than from literary texts and some were personally collected or recollected by him.  Essentially, these are then stories which have not been published in English earlier.  Readers interested in Indian folklore and culture will be aware that Ramanujan has contributed immensely to these subjects. 

A scholar, author and folklorist, he published significant works on both classical and modern variants of literature in several regional languages and is widely referred to in folklore studies. Given the author's  credentials and scholarly contributions, this book becomes an important effort in documenting oral traditions and folklore. For several years I have been planning to read his books but had an opportunity only now.

The introduction by Ramanujan helps in contextualizing the stories from the perspective of a folklorist - to understand the context and function of a tale, its significance and meaning and its fitment amongst other texts and performances of a specific culture.  The stories are categorized not by region, but by their theme so we have stories which are male-centered, women centered, about fate, death, gods and demons, humour, animals and stories about stories!

Many of the tales are familiar as we have heard them in our childhood, some in the form presented here and others with minor variations.  Each story captures the specificities of the region and the cultural idiosyncrasies, and thus on ‘migration’ every tale adapts to local peculiarities and morphs to assume different shapes and forms, while retaining its original structure. Therefore as is intrinsic to oral traditions, which tend to travel far and wide some stories here may also sound familiar to people residing in different parts of the world.  

Akbar and Birbal, Tenali Rama, Hiraman parrot are familiar protagonists; the evil queen, the cunning sister, the penniless Brahman, the clever princess, the tortured daughter-in-law are characters around which many oral tales have been woven.  Here there are stories of victimization, chivalry, selfless service and other human/superhuman strengths and flaws as situations unfold to prove a point.  A ‘moral’ lesson is not mandatory at the end; often it is enough to outwit another.  Excessively violent at times, some of these tales can be read by children only with adult guidance and supervision.

Told in a simple colloquial language, these are stories describing a forgotten era which seem to be far removed from our present world. Gods, demons and ghosts have a form and animals talk and converse with humans, interestingly their actions are often as clever and silly as humans! 

A delightful read in most parts, you will find the book entertaining on a lazy afternoon with a hot cup of coffee!  It describes India - the vastness, diversity, traditions and the myths, superstitions and folklore. A cultural cauldron that reminds you of an ancient time!



Let me know if you have read the book. What did you think of it?  Please mention it in the comments section below.

You can purchase the book here

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Also Read,
26 Best Books: The A to Z Must Read Book List 
Book Review: Between the Lines: Identity, Place, and Power 
 

18 Dec 2013

Top 10 Posts of 2013: Time to Wrap Up and More

It is mid-December already and it is time to look back at the year gone by and take stock of things - most of which were good!  Indian Art blog saw some major changes this year, some of which were cosmetic (design and layout), some linked to SE optimization, social media presence, content organization and opting for advertisers.  Fortunately, most of these changes have worked out well, although SEO is going to require a lot more effort since the recent updates from Google have had an impact which I’m yet to sort out!
Image-Indian art-Nalini Malaviya
2013: Top Posts on Indian Art blog

Click on the image to zoom
I have made a list of some of this year’s popular posts which were featured on this blog – these are based on the number of pages views, your comments and the number of shares.

24 Sept 2013

Book Review: Between the Lines: Identity, Place, and Power

The publication accompanying the exhibition of selections from the Waswo X. Waswo‘s collection of Indian printmaking traces the growth of Indian art in a sociological and historical context. The scale of the exhibition and its significance in mapping the evolution of printmaking from 1916 onwards makes this publication much more than a catalogue. And, as Jyoti Bhatt has aptly pointed out in the introduction that a book has a much larger reach as compared to an exhibition which becomes limited by time and geography, this publication becomes an important documentation effort.  

In this survey of Indian print making, art historian and curator Lina Vincent Sunish explores notions of identity, place and power that shape artistic creation.  The exhibition of prints (from Waswo’s collection) held at NGMA earlier in the year, represented 79 Indian artists from diverse geographical regions and featured woodcuts, etchings, lithographs and screenprints spanning an almost 100 year period from 1916 to the present. “The thematic distribution of works according to the interconnected concepts of identity, place and power originates from the desire to take advantage of the time span the collection represents, and the Indian histories that directly and indirectly played a part in the creation of the works.”

During this phase, the transformations in the Indian landscape have been enormous and the collection attempts to ‘generate connections of thought between artists disparate in time and space, and make them visible to a viewer in the context of an exhibition’ while rejecting chronology.  The emphasis is on exploring imagery and meaning in the printmaking practice of various artists.

The works by some of the finest printmakers are a part of Waswo’s collection and are therefore featured in the book.  One cannot help but recall the exhibition and appreciate the effort behind it.  From senior artists such as Mukul Dey, Haren Das, Nandalal Bose, Jogen Chowdhury, KG Subramanyan, Laxma Goud, Krishna Reddy, Somnath Hore, Anupam Sud, Bhupen Khakhar and Chittaprosad Bhattacharya to works by the new generation of Indian printmakers like Maripelly Praveen Goud, Kurma Nadham and Jagadeesh Tammineni, the vast collection presents a remarkable selection of prints across time, location and artistic sensibilities.
 

The afterword by Waswo is a fascinating account of his collecting journey detailing his passion for artworks on paper; a modest beginning which soon grew into an extensive and noteworthy collection.

One of the highlights of this book is definitely its readability factor and this book is as much for the lay person curious about Indian printmaking as for the art connoisseur. In a sense, a large format coffee table book would have perhaps done more justice to this publication.


Between the Lines: Identity, Place, and Power can be purchased here

Consider sharing this post if you liked it.

Also Read,
26 Best Books: The A to Z Must Read Book List 
Book Review: Folktales from India by AK Ramanujan