About the Book
"Myths of Middle India" by Verrier Elwin is a collection of folk tales and legends from central India, published in 1949. Elwin delves into the rich oral traditions of various tribes, exploring their myths, beliefs, and rituals. The book provides insights into the cultural diversity and spiritual worldview of central Indian communities, offering readers a glimpse into the folklore that has shaped their identities and perceptions of the world around them.
About the Author
Verrier Elwin (1902-1964) was a British-born Indian anthropologist, ethnologist, and writer. He extensively studied and wrote about the indigenous tribes of India, advocating for their welfare and cultural preservation. Elwin's work influenced Indian policies on. Tribal rights and education, and he is known for his empathetic portrayal of tribal life and customs.
Introduction
THIS book assembles specimens of myths of origin from widely verse localities in Middle India. As the main title series suggests, it attempts nothing more than to present samples and specimens of an oral literature whose variety and extent is still largely unsuspected by scholars. No one individual could cover the whole area or investigate the ideas of so many million people diversified into so many castes and tribes. But the samples given here, which are taken from a very large area, will give at least an impression of how these people think and live.
There are no formal geographical boundaries of Middle India. In the text I have confined myself to myths from the Central Provinces, the Chhattisgarh and Orissa States and western Orissa. This is a compact block of territory in which I have toured widely, though not, of course, exhaustively. All the numbered texts have been recorded by me in the course of my ordinary field-work and nearly all are new; in a few cases where, for the sake of completeness I have reproduced passages from my other books, I have indicated the fact immediately below the heading.
But this territory is not the whole of Middle India and in the introduction to each chapter I have included such additional myths as have been recorded by other writers. I have drawn these from the adjacent areas of Bihar, Central India, Mirzapur, Rajputana and neighbouring Districts. In a few cases I have drawn parallels, where these have seemed relevant, from the Punjab, Bombay, Southern India and Assam. There has been a considerable amount of diffusion throughout India. Even Assam has now begun to have its influence on the Middle Indian tribesmen, for many of them go for shorter or longer periods to work in the Tea Gardens and there come in contact with their fellows from different parts of India.
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