Somadeva's Katha Sarit Sagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story is a work of early medieval literature. The work itself is a symbol of continuity of literary process, as it stems from the rather mysterious Brihat Katha or Gunadhya. The Katha Sarit Sagara deals not so much with concrete historical events but with problems and processes of life, not so much with concrete historical personalities but mostly with concrete types of people, specific to the time in which Somadeva lived. But as he in his remarkable work reflected life of his time, we are in all earnest right to look for a real historical landscape in his work. We are very much helped by author himself who inspite of certain literary traditions, already canonized in his time, selected the way of Auchitya, the way of realistic imagery, so eloquently propounded by his predecessors. Somadeva collected and presented to us in this work more than 350 stories-fairy tales, novels, short stories, fables, anecdotes etc., which were current among the people. He gave them brilliant form with full sense of Auchitya and also the appropriate dress. And from the literary point of view the Katha Sarit Sagara is real embodiment of the best achievements of the art and literature in early medieval India.
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