About the book (from dust jacket):
The number of books written on Kashmir during the last hundred years is fairly large but few works give us as intimate a glimpse of the life and culture of the people as a book of folk tales. Folk Takes from Kashmir, therefore, fills a long standing want.
The book takes us directly to the people, their prejudices, and their problems. We meet all sorts of men and women: the simple cultivator who is innocent of everything beyond his land, the sharpwitted landlord who thrives on the labour of the cultivator, the swindling trader, the snobbish collector of the land tax, the domineering wife, the proud damsel intent upon avenging an insult, the clever burglar and the unabashed narrator of fantastic tales – these are just a handful of the multitude of people who move across the stage in front of us.
