Description
The book provides a unique glimpse into the medieval world in the Kongu area of Tamil Nadu. This epic-length legend, locally tape-recorded some sixty years ago, mixes three contrastive styles: narrative prose, evocative songs, and everyday conversational passages. The result is a lively and very readable whole that depicts rural life as it once was, long before electrification began to challenge the popularity of local story-telling bards and flood the world with mass media. This account features three generations in a single family, and describes its members’ evolution from hard-working plough-dependent peasants into a landed family preoccupied with political power. Still later, two horseback-riding warrior-grandsons roam the countryside in search of personal heroism and family fame. The scenes described present an engaging blend of mythical scenes, emotive interactions between family members, and frequent encounters, both with varied animal characters and with well-known divinities. Fields are ploughed, the crops harvested, and children study, all against a backdrop of clan rivalries, palace intrigue, and fierce warfare. Gods and goddesses intervene frequently and a nearby group of forest dwellers leave their mark on the times as well. This rich metaphorical legend can be viewed and studied from many perspectives, not the least of which is the key role that women play in each of three generations of this deeply family-centered story. About the Author Brenda Beck is an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, and President of the Sophia Hilton Foundation of Canada, a charitable foundation that promotes the use of storytelling in education at all levels. She has spent a lifetime studying South Asia and, in particular, the Kongu Nadu area of Tamil Nadu. The story of Ponnivala Nadu or ‘The Land of the Golden River’ is about this area and its wealth of imagery has held her interest throughout her adult life.
