Bengali Culture and Society through its Riddles

It is a comprehensive volume on Bengali riddles and their socio-cultural background. The author has devotedly collected there riddles from different corners of West Bengal and Bangladesh through extensive field study and classified, and analysed and evaluated their sociological importance. In the light of this study, an inquisitive reader would be able to form an in-depth impression abaut the social as well as familial life of the Bengal people. Even a casual browsing would convince the reader to acknowledge the author’s comprehensive study in this regard. It may also be noted that this book on Bengal riddles is the first of its kind in English or any language other than Bengal. About The Dr. Sila Basak was born in Kolkata in 1947. She earned her Ph.D. degree from University of Calcutta and D. Litt from Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta, India. The area of both the researches was Folkloristics. Working as an academic attached to the Dept. of Folklore and language studies with various Universities. Dr. Basak is also associated with the training and research programmes in Folkloristics of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, where she is a life-member. She is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, London and a member of the Asiatic Societies of both Bangladesh and Japan. Dr. Basak is also a member International Society of Folk Narrative Research, Finland and also a member of International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, U.K. She has addressed several International Seminars in different countries. She is recipient of the prestigious Ananda Puraskar and Folklore Research Medal. Dr. Sila Basak is the author of number of books and research papers on the various aspects of Bengal’s folklore and life. She lives with her family in Kolkata, India. Contents # Introduction : Literary Riddle : Popular Riddle : Rural Life in Riddles : Larger Social Life and riddles : Social Analysis : Comparative Study : Field Survey : Bibliography : Index. Th