This is an odd collection of so-called myths and legends from all over India, seductively packaged, as always, by the wonderful designers at Aleph. Lopamudra Maitra is an anthropologist focusing on India and the subcontinent, and a collector of stories from popular culture and history. Many of these are included in this volume, one hundred and eight of them, to be precise, paying attention to and representing the cardinal directions and the centre. The collection goes well beyond cosmologies which tell us ‘how the world was born’ and why things are the way they are.
It is eclectic and wide-ranging as it seeks to cover diverse religious and cultural traditions, narratives from indigenous peoples, the lives of saints and bhakti poets, the gods, trees, birds, animals, lakes and the ocean.
There is something in here about everybody and for everybody. There are Notes to the stories and an impressive Bibliography, primarily of essays and journal articles in which these stories have been previously brought together, often from oral traditions. This material suggests the kind of research that stands behind this collection.