‘Voices in the Wind’: These Himalayan folktales remind us of the value of moderation and coexistence

Voices in the Wind: Folktales, Folklore and Spirit Stories from the Himalaya push against the anchors of geography and time. It is extremely relevant today, when volatile ideologies seem to permeate all hope. The editors Namita Gokhale and Malashri Lal bring together folklore, both popular and obscure, and from languages dominant and extant, into an anthology of folk stories for grown-ups. Most of these tales are previously unrecorded and originate from a myriad of languages, including Dogri, Mizo, Bhadarwahi, Dzongkha, Lepcha, Bhutia, and Limbu, to name a few.

These stories seem to represent all things good and all things bad, while the editors caution against reducing them into a course pack for moral education. Gokhale writes in her introduction, “These are stories for children to know and adults to remember. They arm the young to unblinkingly understand the harsh truths of life, without the sanitised retellings of the Disney universe. And they remind the older generations of the enduring ways of the world.”

Blatant truths

A gory Balti folktale recounts the early origin of the game of Polo in the community. Etee Bahadur narrates the lore in detail: it is said that King Gesar of Ling killed King Baakar at the battle of the Kunlun mountains. The...

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