Shakuntala and Other Stories from Ancient India

Author: Adithi Rao
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 167
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780143330394

Description

Six unforgettable stories of love and bravery, treachery and injustice, from ancient Indian literature.

Classical Sanskrit and Tamil writing teem with a myriad characters, and here we meet some truly memorable ones.

This collection of six plays, poems and epics retold for children includes Shakuntala, a heart-rending story of the love between the beautiful Shakuntala and King Dushyanta; The Little Clay Cart, where the evil designs of the king and his family are foiled by the righteous Charudatta and Vasantasena; The Story of an Anklet, about Kannagi, who wreaks a terrible revenge for the wrong done to her; The Dance and the Begging Bowl, the extraordinary account of a woman's search for her true calling; The Last Trial of Sita, in which the playwright gives a whole new ending to the Ramayana; and The Broken Thigh, about the final, desperate combat between Duryodhana and Bheema on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Accompanied by descriptions of the author's lives and the time when the stories were written, these lively retellings are an ideal introduction to some of the best-known stories from the Indian classics.

Contents

Acknowledgements

1. Abhijnanashakuntalam
Shakuntala
2. Mrichchakatika
The Little Clay Cart
3. Silappadikaram
The Story of an Anklet
4. Uttararamacharita
The Last Trial of Sita
5. Manimekalai
The Dancer and the Begging Bowl
6. Urubhangam
The Shattered Thigh