A seth who lends money by mortgaging the borrower's next birth... A bride who after the wedding discovers her husband is actually a woman... A jogi dwelling in the skies who quells his lust by imprisoning women in his Cloud Palace...
Vijaydan Detha is undoubtedly the most important writer of Rajasthani prose in the twentieth century. He draws the reader into the complex and quirky world of the common folk of Rajasthan while bringing alive the magic of folklore and fable. Traversing landscapes that are both earthly and cosmic his tales while being about the rich and poor the saint and sinner are also populated by trees animals the wind and the rain gods and goddesses and even ghosts. And between them they explore humanity in all its myriad manifestations: love and desire innocence and cunning wisdom and folly greed and deceit righteousness valour and the illusion of power.
Translated masterfully by Vishes Kothari The Garden of Tales is a definitive selection of Detha's work that will amuse and absorb you until the very last page.