Fiction. Foklore. South Asia Studies. Translated from the Tamil by Pritham K. Chakravarthy. Ki. Rajanarayanan has spent three quarters of a century collecting the weirdest and wildest tales from the karisal mannu, the scorched, drought-stricken land of Tamil Nadu. This colorful and often hilarious collection includes a gallery of conniving goddesses and jealous husbands, pious sparrows and randy mice, jewel-crazy girl ghosts and angry star demons. WARNING: Includes a chapter of "naughty & dirty" tales!

Author City: Pondicherry IND

Ki. Rajanarayanan (b. 1922), popularly known as Ki. Ra., is a powerful writer and teller of tales rooted in the soil of Tamil Nadu, and has been a recipient of the prestigious Kalaimamani and Sahitya Akademi awards. His 1958 short story "Mayamaan" is often seen as marking the beginning of the Golden Age of modern Tamil literature. Veering away from the European influences which characterized much of the fiction from the Tamil revivalist period, Ki. Ra. chose to relate tales in the spoken dialect of the land in which he was born. He lives in Pondicherry with his wife, Ganavathiammal.

Reviews and Other Links
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=93aa700e-86b2-4957-8914-304cb746d7f8
http://jaiarjun.blogspot.com/2009/03/short-sweet-and-subversive-blafts-tamil.html