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Kashmir has an inexhaustible fund of folk-tales - the popular component of the
"literature of the people", as folklore has been aptly characterized.
Folk-tales of Kashmir, like "Himal and Nagraya" and "Zohra Khotan
and Haya Bund" are distinctly Kashmiri in origin. Naga or snake also means
a spring in Kashmir, both feature picturesquely in the Nagraya tale. The snake
and the spring recur in the "Magic Ring" story. "Shabrang, the
Prince Thief" has delightful replicas in Dravidian and Chinese tales. In
the Zohra Khotan tale, Zohra, a famed beauty, is relentlessly pursued by a rich
merchant; she shapes a clay head and invokes God to transform it into a replica
of her own head. The miracle dummy, complete with dripping blood, is presented
to the merchant.
Altogether, the collection of these folk-tales should prove a source of abiding
pleasure to all those, in India and abroad, who are interested in the folk
literature of the northernmost state of our country as part of our rich national
cultural heritage.
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FOLKTALES BY S.L. SADHU
