This work decidedly remains the best example of the record of a collection of folklore taken straight from the mouth of one to whom they had been handed down accuracy, in this case the Rawis or reciters. The stories and songs in this book were recited to Sir Aurel Stein in Kashmir by Hatim Tilawon of Panzil in the Sind Valley, a professional story-teller held in particular esteem throughout the region. They were taken down at his dictation by sir Stein himself, and, simultaneously, by Pandit Govinda Kaula. The complete work was edited linguistically by sir George A. Grierson. The efforts of these three most respected scholars culminated in the publication of this master-work which has not been surpassed since its first appearance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Aurel Stein
Stein (Sir Mark Aurel Stein) was born on November 26, in 1862 in Budapest, (Hungary). After his graduation, Mark Aurel Stein felt interested in the archaeological studies of Iran and India when his teacher G. Buhlar, himself a great orientalist, kindled in him an irresistible passion for the rich classical passion for the rich classical learning of India. After getting his doctoral degree in 1884, he went to the Oxford University were he continued his studies in the field. In 1885 he was appointed as the Registrar of the Punjab University and the Principal of the Oriental College Lahor. In 1888 he visited Kashmir to get an entire and the oldest manuscript of the Rajatarangani. During his Central Asian tours he made an indepth study of the archaeology of Khotan and published his studies under the title Ancient Khotan. Stein's interest in language and the folklore of Kashmir arose during his first tour to Kashmir during the years 1888-98 when he was preparing a critical edition of Kalhan's Rajatarangani, with its commented translation. After several accomplishments, the great expeditions in the Central Asia and China, Sir Aurel Stein died on 26th of October 1943 at Kabul at the age of eighty-one. Stein's Hatim's Tales, edited by George Abraham Grierson, is a monumental work in the field of folklore. Besides being a record of the original text of some of the most fascinating folk tales of Kashmir, it is an indispensable work for the students of history, anthropology and poetics.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR George A. Grierson
Sir George Abraham Grierson (January 7, 1851 -March 9, 1941) Irish linguistic language scholar and civil servant who conducted the Linguistic Survey of India (1898-1928), obtaining information on 364 languages and dialects. While a student of mathematics at Trinity College, Dublin, Grierson took prizes in Sanskrit and Hindi. Grierson went to Bengal in October 1873, wherein addition to carrying out his duties in a succession of government posts until 1898 – he devoted much time to language research. The first of his enormous out put of papers, reviews, and books appeared in 1877. One of his most important works is Seven Grammars of the Dialects and Subdialects of the Bihari Language (1883-87) reprinted by Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi. His research also extended to Hindi, the northwestern Dardic languages, and Kashmiri.
There are no reviews yet.