Indian Folktales

Hey fellow adventurers! I love folktales! Some of the most creative and interesting stories are folktales. My favorite book as a girl was a kids’ version of One Thousand and One Nights (more commonly known as Arabian Nights). My favorite story being one of the lesser known “The Prince and the Tortoise.” However, even though Indian folktales influenced the Arabian Nights, maybe even slipped in to the books, that’s not what we’re talking about today. I’m going to talk about some of the more popular Indian folktales but I’m also going to leave out a lot of stories too. There are a lot of Indian folktales!

Jataka Tales

Originally written in Pali in 300 BCE, the Jataka Tales has since been translated and spread across the world. The stories were written to impart knowledge and morality on the reader. The tales mostly focus on the many births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form.

Panchatantra Tales

Originally written in Sanskrit and Pali, the Panchantantra Tales have been translated into multiple languages. These tales were compiled in the 200 BCE. It is believed that the stories were written by Vishnu Sharma and other scholars for the purpose of teaching moral values and governing skills to the young sons of the king. The tales consist of animal stories told in prose and poetry.

Hitopadesha Tales

The Hitopadesha Tales are a compilation of short stories composed by Narayana Pandit. Translated from Sanskrit, the stories are told in prose and poetry. A lot, if not all, of these stories are over 1,000 years old. The Hitopadesha Tales are often compared to the Panchatantra Tales. Unlike the Panchatantra Tales though, the Hitopadesha Tales was written for the common folk.

Ramayana

Translated from Sanskrit, “Ramayana” is an epic poem that narrates the life of Prince Rama. The story follows him as he gets banished from his kingdom, travels across India with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, rescues his wife with an army of monkeys after she was kidnapped by Rakshasa the demon king of Lanka, and then eventually returns to his kingdom to be crowned king. Considered by many to be one of the most important literary pieces of ancient India, this piece has been influencing art in Southeast Asia for centuries. This story has been retold in multiple different art forms countless times. Below is the story being told through dance.

Mahabharata

Also translated from Sanskrit, “Mahabharata” is made up of almost 100,000 (ten times longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey combined), making it the longest epic poem known. The story follows the Kurukshetra War, the war between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, over the throne of Hastinapur. It was announced earlier this year that Dr. B. R. Shetty invested $150 million (American) to produce “Mahabharata,” making it the biggest Indian motion picture ever. It’s going to be directed by V. A. Shrikumar Menon and will come out in two parts. The first part is planned to be released in 2018 and the second part in 2020.

If you want to read some Indian folktales:

http://www.worldoftales.com/Indian_folktales.html

http://fairytalez.com/region/indian/

If there were any folktales that you believe deserve mention, please tell me in a comment below. I would love to read about it! Until our next adventure!

1,016 thoughts on “Indian Folktales”

  1. My family all the time say that I am killing my time
    here at net, except I know I am getting familiarity every day
    by reading thes pleasant posts.

  2. I really love your site.. Excellent colors & theme. Did you develop
    this amazing site yourself? Please reply back as I’m looking to create
    my very own website and would love to find out where you got this from
    or what the theme is named. Thanks!

  3. Hi, i believe that i noticed you visited my blog thus i came
    to return the prefer?.I am trying to find issues to improve my site!I suppose its adequate to
    use a few of your concepts!!

  4. I just couldn’t leave your site prior to suggesting that I really enjoyed the standard
    info an individual provide for your guests?
    Is gonna be again ceaselessly to investigate cross-check new posts

  5. Having read this I believed it was rather informative. I appreciate you finding the time
    and effort to put this short article together. I once again find myself spending
    a lot of time both reading and leaving comments. But so what, it was still worth
    it!

  6. I like the valuable info you provide in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and check
    again here regularly. I am quite certain I’ll learn lots of new stuff right here!
    Best of luck for the next!

  7. Oh my goodness! Awesome article dude! Thank you, However
    I am encountering issues with your RSS. I don’t understand the
    reason why I am unable to join it. Is there anybody having
    identical RSS problems? Anyone that knows the answer will you kindly respond?
    Thanks!!

  8. I think that what you posted made a ton of sense.
    However, think about this, suppose you wrote a catchier title?
    I ain’t suggesting your content isn’t good, however suppose you
    added a post title that grabbed a person’s attention? I mean Indian Folktales – Bryanna Vs The World is
    kinda vanilla. You could look at Yahoo’s front
    page and note how they write news headlines to grab viewers to click.
    You might add a related video or a pic or two to get people
    interested about what you’ve got to say. In my opinion, it
    would bring your website a little livelier.

  9. What i do not realize is in fact how you are now not actually much more smartly-preferred than you may be right
    now. You’re so intelligent. You understand thus significantly in terms
    of this subject, produced me individually believe it from numerous various angles.
    Its like women and men aren’t interested until it’s something to do with Girl
    gaga! Your personal stuffs outstanding. All the time take care of it up!

  10. It’s nearly impossible to find well-informed people about this subject,
    however, you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
    Thanks

  11. Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you happen to be a great author.I will always bookmark
    your blog and may come back in the foreseeable
    future. I want to encourage you to continue your great writing, have a nice
    afternoon!

  12. Hi! This is kind of off topic but I need some advice from an established blog.
    Is it hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal
    but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thinking
    about creating my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any tips or suggestions?
    With thanks

  13. Hi there, I found your blog via Google whilst looking for a comparable subject,
    your website got here up, it seems to be good. I have bookmarked it
    in my google bookmarks.
    Hello there, just was alert to your blog thru Google, and found that it’s truly informative.

    I am going to be careful for brussels. I’ll be grateful for those who continue this in future.
    Numerous people will likely be benefited out of your writing.
    Cheers!

  14. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the
    video to make your point. You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting
    videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something enlightening
    to read?

  15. Superb website you have here but I was curious if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article?

    I’d really like to be a part of online community where I can get responses from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest.
    If you have any recommendations, please let me know.

    Appreciate it!

  16. Heya i’m for the primary time here. I came across
    this board and I find It really helpful & it helped me out a lot.
    I am hoping to present one thing again and aid others such
    as you helped me.

  17. You’re so cool! I don’t suppose I’ve truly read something like that before.

    So great to find someone with a few original thoughts on this subject matter.

    Seriously.. thank you for starting this
    up. This site is one thing that is needed on the internet,
    someone with a bit of originality!

  18. Thanks , I’ve just been looking for information about this subject for
    a long time and yours is the greatest I have came upon till
    now. However, what concerning the bottom line? Are you sure in regards to the source?

  19. Hi, I do think this is a great web site. I stumbledupon it ;
    ) I will return yet again since I bookmarked it. Money and freedom is the greatest way to change,
    may you be rich and continue to guide others.

  20. It’s perfect time to make some plans for the
    future and it is time to be happy. I have read
    this post and if I could I desire to suggest you few interesting things or tips.
    Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article.
    I desire to read even more things about it!

  21. I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was curious what all is needed to get
    set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours
    would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m
    not 100% certain. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks

  22. Greetings! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I
    could locate a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one?
    Thanks a lot!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *