Aleph to Publish ANIMALIA INDICA: THE FINEST ANIMAL STORIES IN INDIAN LITERATURE Edited by Sumana Roy

Fiction (INR 699, 304pp)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Extraordinary stories for readers of every stripe.

For centuries, the animal kingdom has captured the Indian imagination. And the land of the Panchatantra and the Jataka Tales continues to give rise to literary masterpieces. Some of the greatest stories in modern Indian literature have animals as protagonists.

Picture Credit: Aleph
Picture Credit: Aleph

In Animalia Indica, Sumana Roy collects the best fiction written about animals from the past hundred years or so. Beginning with Premchand’s classic, ‘A Tale of Two Bullocks’, and taking in its sweep some of the greatest pieces of literary fiction to have originated in India

including ‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’ by Rudyard Kipling, ‘Mahesh’ by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, ‘The Mark of Vishnu’ by Khushwant Singh, ‘A Horse and Two Goats’ by R. K. Narayan, ‘Poonachi’ by Perumal Murugan, ‘The Crocodile and the Monkey’ by Vikram Seth, ‘The Reflections of a Hen in Her Last Hour’ by Paul Zacharia, ‘The Last Tiger’ by Ruskin Bond and ‘Elephant at Sea’ by Kanishk Tharoor, the stories in Animalia Indica are guaranteed to dazzle the reader.

These stories, centred on animals, and written over the last hundred years or so, are among the greatest feats of creation in the annals of modern Indian literature. Once read, their flaming brilliance will ensure they are never forgotten.

A Tale of Two Bullocks by Premchand

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling

Mahesh by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

Jumman by Shripad Narayan Pendse

Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell

The Flood by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai

The Mark of Vishnu by Khushwant Singh

Bulbuls by Habib Kamran

A Horse and Two Goats by R. K. Narayan

The Copper-tailed Skink by Manjula Padmanabhan

The Last Tiger by Ruskin Bond

The Owlet Who Craved the Sun by Achyutananda Pati

The Crocodile and the Monkey by Vikram Seth

Labour by R. R. Borade

The Reflections of a Hen in Her Last Hour by Paul Zacharia

The Summer of the Crows by Nilanjana Roy

Poonachi by Perumal Murugan

A Tale of Animals by Moti Lal Kemmu

Elephant at Sea by Kanishk Tharoor

Snake by SujathaAnd Then Laughed the Hyena by Syed Muhammad Ashraf

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sumana Roy’s first book, How I Became a Tree, was shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize, 2017, and the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award, 2017. Her first novel, Missing, was published in 2018. Her latest book is entitled Out of Syllabus: Poems. She lives in Siliguri.

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