Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Kashmir as a field of folklore literature is, perhaps, not
surpassed in fertility by any other country in the world; and yet, while every
year witnesses the publication of books on the subject from Bengal, Bombay,
Madras, Punjab and other parts; and while each successive number of The Indian
Antiquary, Indian Notes and Queries and lately The Christian College Magazine
and The Indian Evangelical Review, presents to us articles more or less
relevant, this field, ripe for the harvest, has remained almost ungleaned. No
doubt its isolated position and the difficulty of its language have had
something to do with this apparent neglect. I am more glad, therefore, to have
availed myself of the opportunities afforded me through a year’s residency in
the valley.
However, I hope the reader will not consider that I suppose
the science of folklore should not include Comparative Mythology. On the contrary,
I firmly believe that several tales must be attributed to a mythological
origin. But I am also as firmly convinced that many tales must be attributed to
a historical origin. “What seems to be demanded from every interpreter of old
tradition, every explorer of the dark field of popular fiction, is a wariness
that will not allow itself to be hoodwinked by any prejudice in favour of this
or that particular theory.
I would draw the attention of the folklorists to the notes
in connection with these different stories. They have been gathered and
arranged with some care, in the hope that they may help the reader to turn up
readily to variants of the tales, or of different incidents in the tale. All
Kashmiri or Hindustani words have been fully explained – at the end of the page
on which they occur; and if they are ordinary, in the Glossary at the end of
the book.
Book: Folk- Tales of Kashmir
Author: J. Hinton Knowles
ISBN: 978-81-8339-004-0
Number
of Pages: 401
Language: English
Price: INR 750/ USD $ 22.95 (Shipping/Courier Charges Extra)
For order contact - Utpal Kaul (Please SMS -
+91-9818447636)
Email: utpalpublications@gmail.com
