The Newsletter on Indian Literature
From the Vedas to the present
3 mins read
Long ago, a tale was told, of a penniless young man called Shaktideva who went in search of a golden city. The way was long and arduous, and it didn’t help that no one knew where this city was located. At last he was advised to go to the island of the fisherfolk, and their seek the help of Satyavrata, their king. Shaktideva set sail for the island in a sturdy and well-stocked merchant ship. Now, as luck would have it, the ship ran into a furious hurricane and sank with all the crew. But the gods had other plans for Shaktideva: as he fell into the sea, was swallowed whole by an enormous fish! And there he remained, quite uninjured, inside the fish’s belly. Till one day the fish happened to swim by the island of the fisherfolk. It was caught and cut open — whereupon out stepped Shaktideva, alive and well!
I found this tale nestled within the marvellous 11th-century collection of stories known as the Kathasaritsagara (‘Ocean of the Rivers of Story’) while translating the work some years ago. Shaktideva’s unfortunate predicament stayed with me. His tale came to epitomise all that I love about the vast and varied world of Indian literature, a world which can be quirky, philosophical, comic, serious, romantic, tragic, and, above all, fun. And so, when I decided to write this newsletter, this was the title that immediately came to mind.
So hello and welcome — into the belly of this fish to explore India’s vast and varied literary heritage!
This newsletter attempts to introduce you to this wonderful world: to playwrights, poets, and philosophers, ancient and modern, and their works; to its many genres, from the magnificent poetry of the Rig Veda to present-day detective fiction; and to the languages, cultures and traditions that make up and inform this literature. We will also consider the literature of other countries — Persia, China, and Renaissance Italy to name a few — that have in some way influenced, or been influenced by, the literature of the Indian subcontinent. I hope that you will enjoy the journey.
In putting this newsletter together, I have drawn upon my more than twenty years of writing, translating, and researching, and a lifetime of reading and thinking about India and Indian literature. It has also taken innumerable brainstorming sessions with friends, family and fellow-writers to give this newsletter shape. To all of them, my gratitude. And to Ashok Raj, writer, illustrator, and always an enthusiastic supporter of all my writing experiments, who has brightened this newsletter with his lovely graphics, a huge thank you!
(Ultimately Shaktideva does find the golden city and wins the hand of not one, but four princesses. And no, in case you were wondering, it was not a whale, it was most definitely a fish! But of all that, another day, in another post!)
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