麻豆约拍

Insight, wit and analysis from 麻豆约拍 correspondents around the world. Today, Tony Grant presents a special essay by Anu Anand on the new life coursing through one of India's oldest artforms: storytelling.

Rebirth of the Dastangoi tradition

Many of humanity's best-loved legends and folktales originated on the subcontinent. There are the Buddhist Jataka stories and the Pancha-tantra, the ancient Sanskrit collection of animal fables in verse and prose. There are the intricate, twining, religious epics like the Mahabharata. And the tradition continues to this day, with prize-winning novels and imaginative Bollywood screenplays enjoyed by millions.

Meanwhile, one of India's unique indigenous storytelling traditions, lost for nearly a century, is being rediscovered, as Anu Anand found out during a night in Delhi. The Dastangoi genre - "the telling of epic tales" - draws on a host of historical sources, and uses the full richness of the Urdu language, to capture its listeners' attention and draw them into the narrative.