The Tenth Rasa : An Anthology of Indian Nonsense/edited by Michael Heyman,
Sumanyu Satpathy and Anushka Ravishankar. New Delhi, Penguin, 2007, lvi, 228
p., illus., (pbk). ISBN 0-14-310086-6.
The Tenth Rasa : An Anthology of Indian Nonsense/edited by Michael Heyman,
Sumanyu Satpathy and Anushka Ravishankar. New Delhi, Penguin, 2007, lvi, 228
p., illus., (pbk). ISBN 0-14-310086-6.
Contents: Acknowledgements. A note on the translations. Uncovering the Tenth-Rasa: an introduction: an Indian nonsense naissance/Michael Heyman. Tradition and modernity in Indian nonsense/Sumanyu Satpathy. Is nonsense?/Anushka Ravishankar. I. Literary nonsense: 1. Kabir (Hindi). 2. Tenali Ramalinga (Telugu). 3. Sukumar Ray (Bengali). 3. Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali). 4. Annada Sankar Ray (Bengali). 5. Bauddhayan Mukherji (Bengali)..... II. Nonsense in Hindi film: 1. From Ashirwad. 2. From Namak Halaal... III. Folk nonsense: Nursery and folk rhymes: 1. Bengali. 2. Bhojpuri-Hindi. 3. Gujarati. 4. Malayalam. 5. Hindi.... IV. Folk drama: 1. Assamese. 2. Kannada... V. Folk tale: 1. Thado-Kuki.... VI. Never-ending tales and chain verses: 1. Malayalam. 2. Oriya.... VII. Game rhymes: 1. Assamese. 2. Gujarati. 3. Kannada.... VIII. Festival and ceremony verse: 1. Gujarati. 2. Malayalam... IX. Lullaby and folk song: 1. Assamese. 2. Punjabi. 3. Mizo... X. 'Thorn' texts: 1. Marathi. 2. Urdu. 3. Gujarati.... XI. The rising stars: 1. Kaushik Vishwanath. 2. Arpita Shah. 3. Pooja Jhunjhunwala.... Appendix: Edward Lear's Indian Nonsense. Notes on contributors. Copyright acknowledgements.
"For the last eighteen hundred years Indian arts have been seen in terms of strictly classified emotional effects known as the rasas. The Tenth Rasa: An Anthology of Indian Nonsense celebrates, for the very first time, what Sukumar Ray called the 'Spirit of Whimsy', or the Tenth Rasa, through the topsy-turvy, irreverent, melodic genre of nonsense literature.
This fabulous selection of poetry and prose, brilliantly translated from seventeen Indian languages across India, includes works by Rabindranath Tagore, Sukumar Ray, Vinda Karandikar, Gulzar, Dash Benhur, Manoj Das, Navakanta Barua, Mangesh Padgavkar, Sri Sri, Vaikom Mohammad Basheer, Kunjunni and other known, lesser-Known and previously unpublished authors. In forms as varied as stories and songs for children and adults, lullabies, folk tales, Bollywood song lyrics and medieval court verse, the writers open doors to wildly imaginative worlds populated by peculiar characters and fantastical creatures, where only nonsense makes perfect sense.
Crackling with wit, wordplay and riotous rhymes, and frequently revelling in pure gibberish, this immensely entertaining collection will delight you from start to finish." (jacket)