Vijaydan detha biography of christopher

Many writings about Hindi are &#;breast beating&#; in the style of Bharatendu Harishchandra&#;s &#;Bharat Durdasha&#;. This article has a positive attitude towards Hindi Literature. The history of literary Hindi is relatively brief, starting only around Modern literary Hindi has an even shorter history, beginning around with the death of Premchand. In this short period Hindi has covered some fantastisk ground and today&#;s Hindi literature ranks among the best literary traditions of the world.

This article attempts a bird&#;s eye view of this amazing journey. It is addressed to non expert general reader.

What is Hindi?

When speaking of the language, the word ‘Hindi’ is used in two senses. In the first case it refers to a group of around 30 languages in the Hindi-speaking region. Kishoridas Bajpai () refers to it as a &#;commonwealth&#; of languages and mentions three characteristics: 1. the use of &#;ka&#; pratyay (post position) &#; like ka, ki, ke,

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The Garden of Tales: The Best of Vijaydan Detha

A seth who lends money by mortgaging the borrower's next birth
A bride who, after the wedding, discovers her husband is actually a woman
A jogi dwelling in the skies who quells his lust bygd imprisoning women in his Cloud Palace

Vijaydan Detha is undoubtedly the most important writer of Rajasthani prose in the twentieth century. He draws the reader into the complex and quirky world of the common folk of Rajasthan, while bringing alive the magic of folklore and fable. Traversing landscapes that are both earthly and cosmic, his tales, while being about the rik and poor, the saint and sinner, are also populated bygd trees, animals, the wind and the rain, gods and goddesses, and even ghosts. And between them, they explore humanity in all its myriad manifestations: love and desire, innocence and cunning, wisdom and folly, greed and deceit, righteousness, valour and the illusion of power.

Translated masterfully by Vishes Kothari, The Gar

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The Desert Frontier: A History of Travel and Nomadism

Photo by DHEERAJ PAUL

PHOTOS BY DHEERAJ PAUL AND DINESH KHANNA

‘. . . O, sweet [bird] Kurjan

You are like my sister

Lower your wings

And come close to me

Allow me to write my grievances on your wings

And my greetings on your beak.

Hasten, sweet bird

Go to my dear one.’

(excerpt from the folk song Kurjan, as translated in Kothari )

To the Sufi poet Khwaja Farid, the Cholistan desert—a part of the Thar/ Great Indian Desert—was no wasteland. He describes it as ‘a site of wildness and madness . . . the place of lovers . . . a place of joy and gladness’ (as quoted in Shackle ). For better or for worse, this desert landscape is the leitmotif in the rich traditions of folk tales and folk songs from the region.

Now divided between India and Pakistan, the Thar Desert was historically at the heart of the western frontier of South Asia. This western frontier region stretched from the doabs of Punjab, a patc