Mahendra K. Mishra, Visioning folklore, Bhubaneswar, Lark Books, 2002, 206 pp.ISBN 81-7375-089-0

Mahendra Kumar Mishra is a well-known Indian folklorist who specialized on the language and culture of Western Orissa. The present book entails a description and interpretation of a number of rituals, epics, songs and traditions from the districts of Kalahandi near Western Orissa, in Central India, in their specificity as well as in the light of mainstream traditions (as in chapters 1, 2 , 5 and 6). It would seem that “many races of this land [Western Orissa], in order to keep their cultural identity alive, have associated themselves with the great epics of solar and lunar mythology i.e. the Ramayana and the Mahabharata [...] each and every race of this country has tried to identify with Indian mythology and dynasties” (p. 102)