Hey readers, welcome back to my blog!
Today I'm going to review Tales from the Kathasaritasagara by Somadeva, translated from Sanskrit to English by Rohini Chowdhury. I really enjoyed reading this book and has poured my heart out in this review.
Tales from the Kathasaritsagara is a Sanskrit text, written by Somadeva, around 1070 CE and this retelling is translated from Sanskrit, to English by Rohini Chowdhury. 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘢, translates to ‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺’.
The story begins with Parvati demanding Shiva to tell her a story that no one has ever heard. Afterwards, begans a tale of wonder and amusement. As you'll read through it, you'll be amazed, shocked, bewildered, surprised and this book will continue to evoke in you these emotions throughout it. The book follows a story-within-a-story pattern. I warn you, for you need to be extremely focused while reading this book, otherwise you'll be lost between the pages of this book. I'm not joking, because this book really needs you to be focused while reading it, as it opens several stories within the ongoing stories. The half of the book narrates the adventures of a 𝘝𝘪𝘥𝘺𝘢𝘥𝘩𝘢𝘳 prince, 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢.
The english translation is vibrant. The writing style is engrossing and lucid. If you want to know how beautiful and wonderful is Sanskrit Literature, then this is the book, you should begin with!
𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘢 was a sci-fi kind of story and although, I liked all the stories equally, this ought to be my most favourite one. I can't believe that a tale like this, written over almost thousand years ago, is similar to a modern sci-fi tale. Towards the end of the book, you'll get silly stories of silly people and these silly stories are as short as a paragraph. The stories behold humorous titles like 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘔𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘏𝘢𝘥 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘖𝘹, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘋𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. I also liked these stories in particular as I read them laughing heartily. In the 12th chapter, you'll get something of Vikram and Vetala. But the thing is that the king's name, here, is not Vikram, but Trivikramasena.
I highly recommend this book to everyone!
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