https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Madanakamaraja_KathaMadanakamaraja Katha - Revision history2026-08-01T04:25:34ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Madanakamaraja_Katha&diff=473368&oldid=prevVilianarij at 13:45, 14 February 20252025-02-14T13:45:46Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Collection of South Indian folktales}}<br />
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'''''Madanakamaraja Katha''''' is a collection of [[South India]]n folktales. It goes by several similar names, such as ''Madanakamarajan Kathai'' in [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and ''Madana Kamaraju Kathalu'' in [[Telugu language|Telugu]].<ref>{{citation|author=Golla Narayanaswami Reddy|title=The influence of English on Telugu literature, 1800-1950: with reference to translations and adaptations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pxPvAAAAIAAJ&q=%22madana+kamaraju+kathalu%22|year=1988|publisher=Professor G.N. Reddy Sixtieth Birthday Felicitation Committee}}<br />
</ref><ref>{{citation|author1=Charles Philip Brown|author2=Golla Narayanaswami Reddy|author3=Bangorey|title=Literary autobiography of C.P. Brown|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p47rAAAAIAAJ&q=%22madana+kamaraju+kathalu%22|year=1978|publisher=Sri Venkateswara University}}</ref><br />
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It collects stories told in South India, some of which are also found in Sri Lanka.<ref>{{citation | year=1997|edition=reprint | title = Village folk-tales of Ceylon | author=[[Henry Parker (author)|Henry Parker]] | publisher=Asian Educational Services | isbn=978-81-206-1164-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZRv7tNPvBMcC&q=madana}}<br />
</ref><ref>{{citation | year=1977|edition=reprint | title = Village folk-tales of Ceylon, Volume 2 | author1=Henry Parker | publisher=Ayer Publishing | isbn=978-0-405-10113-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MEdLCbYyex8C&q=madana}}<br />
</ref><ref>{{citation | year=1914 | title = Village folk-tales of Ceylon, Volume 3 | author1=Henry Parker | publisher=Luzac & Co. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zu1CAAAAIAAJ&q=madana}}</ref><br />
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The frame story, like that of the ''[[Arabian Nights]]'', involves the narration of stories to gain time. The prince Madanakāmarāja falls in love with two women he sees in a painting. He instructs his friend, a minister's son, to find them both and bring them to him, after which he will choose and marry one, and the minister can marry the other. The friend sets off, finds the two women, and starts bringing them home. As he does not know which of them will be his wife, he manages to keep them off by narrating them the several stories that make up the collection.<br />
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== Publication ==<br />
The Tamil text was published in 1848<ref>{{citation | year=1851 | title = A catalogue of the library of the Hon. East-India company: Supplement | author1=East India Company Library | publisher=Printed by J. & H. Cox | page=119 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADLlAjLsllEC&dq=%22madana+kamarajan%22&pg=PA119}}</ref> and 1855<ref>{{citation | year=1978 | title = English and India: essays presented to Professor Samuel Mathai on his seventieth birthday | author1=M. Manuel | editor1=M. Manuel | editor2=K. Ayyappapanicker | publisher=Macmillan | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOQNAAAAIAAJ&q=madanakamarajan}}</ref> and translated by [[Natesa Sastri|S. M. Natesa Sastri]] as "Dravidian Nights" in 1886. The translation contains twelve stories in all.<ref>{{citation | year=1887 | title = The Folk-lore journal, Volume 5 | author1=Folklore Society (Great Britain) | publisher=Published for the Folk-lore Society, by Elliot Stock | page=171 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3UcKAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22madanakamaraja%22&pg=PA171}}</ref><br />
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Author V. A. K. Ayer also translated the compilation as ''Stories of King Madana Kama'', published in 1962.<ref>{{cite book |title=Stories of King Madana Kama |translator=V. A. K. Ayer |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |date=1962}}</ref><br />
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Dravidologist [[Kamil Zvelebil]] provided another English language translation with the title ''The Story of King Mataṉakāma''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Two Tamil Folktales |series=UNESCO collection of representative works: Indian series |first=Kamil |last=Zvelebil |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |date=1987 |pages=1–171 |isbn=9788120802124}}</ref><br />
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== Legacy ==<br />
Although it was important as a collection of folktales, it did not have much effect on Tamil ''literary'' culture.<ref>{{citation | year=2006 | title = Print, folklore, and nationalism in colonial South India | author1=Stuart Blackburn | publisher=Orient Blackswan | isbn=978-81-7824-149-4 | page=203 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-BxrNKdwPMC&dq=madanakamarajan&pg=PA203}}</ref> The 1941 film [[Madanakamarajan]] was broadly based on this work.<br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[The Turtle Prince (folktale)]] (South Indian folktale)<br />
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==References==<br />
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==External links==<br />
* {{citation | year=1886 | title = The Dravidian night entertainments: being a translation of Madanakamarajankadai | author1=S. M. Natesa Sastri | publisher=Excelsior Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FgM-AAAAYAAJ}}<br />
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[[Category:Indian folklore]]<br />
[[Category:Tamil-language literature]]<br />
[[Category:1848 short story collections]]<br />
[[Category:Indian fairy tales]]<br />
[[Category:Indian literature]]<br />
[[Category:Indian legends]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian books]]<br />
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