LIKE MOST CHILDREN in Bharata, the four of us grew up listening to stories-be it from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the various Puranas, or the Pancatantra. The tales that lit up the pages of Chandamama and Amar Chitra Katha were the staple diet of our childhood years. Our interest in literature, theatre, and films stems from this deep-rooted love for stories. It is this self-same love that also motivated our quest to bring out an English translation of Prof. A R Krishnasastri's Kannada classic, Kathamrta.
The present work has been five years in the making. We started working on the translation in early 2020 and began posting it as episodes on the Prekshaa online journal (www. prekshaa.in). It was published weekly from April 2020 to March 2023. During the course of the past year, we further polished the text, re-checked with the original Kannada work, added additional notes wherever necessary, and included a detailed glossary and several indices.
The experience of translating the Kathamrta itself was both enjoyable and eye-opening. Many stories seemed so familiar to us and yet felt fresh. It appeared to be a far more nuanced retelling of tales that we had heard as children. Our life, which is filled with so many episodes and anecdotes, so much gossip and hearsay, seemed to be reflected in the stories of the Katha-sarit-sagara.
Our humble salutations to Bharata's ancient storytelling tradition and to its beacon-lights which include Adi-kavi Valmiki, Bhagavan Veda-vyasa, and Gunadhya-the author of the now unavailable Brhat-katha. They are the brightest stars in the literary firmament along with Kalidasa. We also offer our respects to the poets who have retold the stories of the Brhat-katha-the most celebrated of them being Somadeva, the author of the Katha-sarit-sagara.
Prof. AR Krishnasastri's treatise Kathamyta is an abridged rendition of the Katha-sarit-sagara in Kannada. The original work, composed in the Sanskrit language, has a meandering structure. It may be likened to a conversation between friends, which does not follow a strict path but rather goes all over the place the objective itself being to entertain and enjoy. This, however, does not mean that the treatise is without structure.
The story of Nara-vahana-datta, the illustrious son of Udayana and Vasava-datta, serves as the large receptacle that holds within its belly hundreds of stories and sub-stories. Akin to a Russian doll, there are stories within stories in the Katha-sarit-sagara-and often the lines blur as to where one story ends and another begins. Even so, there is a stand-alone value in each tale; the sub-stories are often complete in themselves and can be savoured independently.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are unparalleled for their appeal both at the macro-level and in their finer details. In the Brhat-kathā, however, the beauty lies in the individual stories at the micro-level. The narrative arc is often of secondary importance-the value we derive from individual stories is paramount. As a result, it might be futile to try and painstakingly keep track of the larger plot at every step, at the cost of missing out on the impact of the individual accounts. A case of missing the trees for the forest!
What are the kinds of stories we encounter in this colossal treatise? Are these only paeans of gods, sages, and kings?
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