Philippine Tales: The Indian Context

• Title Language: Hindi
• Total Pages: xvi + 352
• ISBN: 9788173055126
• Edition: 1st
• Publisher: Aryan Books International
• Book Size: 19 cm x 25 cm
• Year of Publication: 2014

"Multiple works have been done on the Ram Kathas of South East Asia in Hindi, English and other foreign languages, but the form of Ram Katha found among the Maranao speaking people of Mindanao province in the south of the Philippines had not come under the scope of research by Indian scholars till now. The first question that arose was how the stories reached there and how extensively their account was discussed in the studies available till now. This could not be discussed in detail in Father Kamil Bulke's Ram Katha nor the story came to light. Therefore, it was considered necessary to first bring the formats of this story and the research done on it in Hindi. All this has been presented in the first chapter as an introduction and in the second, the well-established maritime tradition of India has been highlighted due to which there was continuous movement for commerce in these islands and local families also kept settling there.

In ancient literature, a country named Philippines did not exist. The name of this archipelago is definitely found in a map by the name of Panyopayan, which was later named after the Hispanic king Philips.

Along with the golden idol of the goddess tied to the cover, other remnants of Indian connection have been pointed out in the third chapter, but there has been less discussion on these too. The primary script of these islands also came from India, which is a type of Eastern Brahmi. In the fourth chapter, the eastern mentality of this region has been highlighted through other folk ideas and folk beliefs, which have been forcibly covered by Spanish and now American cover. Obviously, many directions for research open up in all these directions, which will now be available to researchers of all languages ​​who read Hindi. In the fifth chapter, the fundamental difference of this story from other Ramakathas of South East Asia has also been highlighted and Hindi translation and analysis of both written forms of Maranao Ramakatha has been given. In short, this is the first and only book in Hindi of detailed material of Philippine Ramakathas researched in Indian context, which opens up many horizons of research.