Kathasaritsagara
Kathasaritsagara — 12 chapters, 120 questions. Somadeva Bhatta — the Kathasaritsagara (Kashmir, eleventh century), an abridgement of Gunadhya's lost Brihatkatha.
The Kathasaritsagara ('the ocean of the streams of story') is a great Sanskrit work by the Kashmiri poet Somadeva, believed to have been written in the eleventh century for Queen Suryavati. It has 18 books (lambakas), 124 chapters (tarangas) and hundreds of tales, woven one inside another. By Somadeva's own account it is an abridgement of Gunadhya's lost Brihatkatha. It is not a Purana but a work of story literature. This retelling is written from a direct reading of the text of C. H. Tawney's complete English translation (republished by N. M. Penzer in 1924–28), not from its notes.
- The Tale Shiva Told — On Kailasa, Parvati asked for a story no one had ever heard — and a gana who listened in secret paid for it with a curse
- The King Who Did Not Know Grammar — The queen caught a king's slip of a single word while he played in the water — and from that one humiliation came a wager, a boon and a new grammar
- Seven Hundred Thousand Verses and a Fire — Seven hundred thousand verses in the language of the pisacas, written in blood for ink — and the king for whom they were written sent them back as 'a pisaca's tale'
- The Artificial Elephant and the Lute Pupil — The king of Vatsa set out to catch an elephant with his lute and was caught himself — and the princess he had to teach music became the one he had to flee with
- Yaugandharayana's Gambit — A minister 'burned' his own queen — to make his king an emperor, and with the queen's own consent
- Jimutavahana — The prince who gave away the wishing-tree to everyone, and then put himself in a naga's place before Garuda
- The City of Gold — A princess said, 'I will marry only the one who has seen the City of Gold' — and a gambler first lied about it, then truly vowed to find it
- The Vetala's First Question — A corpse hanging in a cremation-ground tree, a vetala on the king's shoulder — and at the end of every tale a question, which he has barely answered before the vetala is back in the tree
- The Vetala's Boon — On the last night the vetala told the king that the ascetic really meant to sacrifice him — and the king turned the ascetic's own trick back on him
- Crows, Owls and Policy — The old crow had his own feathers plucked, sat down among his enemies the owls — and had them shut into their own cave
- Mrigankadatta's Quest — A prince who set out in search of a princess seen in a dream, ten ministers scattered by a serpent's curse — and one night in a temple at Ujjayini
- The Emperor and the End of the Tale — Seven jewels in a cave, an emperor across Kailasa — and the tale returning to where it began, down to a queen of Kashmir
Questions about Kathasaritsagara
How is Kathasaritsagara divided here?
This retelling of Kathasaritsagara has 12 chapters: The Tale Shiva Told, The King Who Did Not Know Grammar, Seven Hundred Thousand Verses and a Fire, The Artificial Elephant and the Lute Pupil, Yaugandharayana's Gambit, Jimutavahana, The City of Gold, The Vetala's First Question, The Vetala's Boon, Crows, Owls and Policy, Mrigankadatta's Quest, The Emperor and the End of the Tale.
What is Kathasaritsagara about?
A tale Shiva told Parvati, carried down to earth by a curse — and grown into an ocean of hundreds of stories.
What is the source of this retelling?
Somadeva Bhatta — the Kathasaritsagara (Kashmir, eleventh century), an abridgement of Gunadhya's lost Brihatkatha.
Is there a quiz on Kathasaritsagara?
Yes. Each chapter ends with 10 questions, and behind every right answer there is a short story that explains it. In all, 120 questions.