Storyteller Spirit

About the Book

A ghost that giggles and tells stories on a moonless night, a king whose intelligence is as sharp as his curved sword, … meet them in this innovated yet authentic retelling of the Sanskrit classic Vetala-panchavimshati which goes back beyond the 11th century CE. Vetala Pacchisi (Twenty-five Vetala Tales) in Hindi is a household name. In Bengali, retold by educationist and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, it pre-dates India’s First War of Independence. For generations, these stories have entertained as well as intrigued. They have been read and retold numerous times and yet have remained relevant. In the world of today, globalised yet divided, advanced yet insecure, they continue to be so. This is because they contain revelations of human nature as well as socio-political events, and can help the governance of countries as well as everyday conduct. Remaining loyal to the Sanskrit sources, here the author has both abridged and expanded the Vikram and Vetal lore prevalent in India. ***

About the Author

Dipavali Sen, currently based in Gurgaon, Haryana, is Associate Professor in Economics in Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, University of Delhi. A Life Member of the Association of Writers and Illustrators (the Indian section of the International Board of Books for Young Readers), she has several publications for the young, e.g., Kusum (Children’s Book Trust, New Delhi, 1995), Jaya Stories from the Mahabharata(Children’s Book Trust, 2015), and has presented papers at the first and the second Asia Oceania Regional IBBY Congress in Bali, Indonesia(2013) and Putrajaya, Malaysia( 2015).