Vol. 5 No. 8 (2008): The Girl in the Rock: A Telangana Tale and Vasistha’s Retelling - By Katikaneni Vimala and Davis Shulman

The rock in the Telengana tale narrated in this article is friendly, allows transitions, shelters, nurtures and can accommodate two people quite comfortably within it. The literal power of the spoken word and the cultural anxieties around the maternal act of feeding a child are also touched upon in the analysis of the tale. The rock in another Indian tale, told by Vasistha in Sanskrit, then is taken up for scrutiny – again, it is an elastic, expansive space that possibly contains worlds within. The composite and porous rock brings to view a similar ‘self’, the authors note, underlining the role of imagination as a recalcitrant force that has the potential to create moments of wonder in both tales.