Chaman Lal 
Spiritual Stories from India 

This classic collection of Indian fables and spiritual stories offers an intimate and joyful glimpse at the deep, mythical tradition of India.


India is the Home of Fables, which are usually associated western mind with the Greek slave mentioned by Herodotus, by the name of Aesop. Few people realize that these stories, their special form and technique can be traced to very remote sources in India. The same can be said of Gypsy stories all over the world. The Gypsies are forgotten sons and daughters of India, almost all speaking the North-Indian language, Hindi.


Ernest Rhys in his introduction to the Fables of Aesop and others justly remarks, ‘We have to admit that the best fables did not begin with Aesop or in Greece at all. We have, in fact, to go East and look into India and burrow in the ‘Tales within tales’ of Hitopdesha to get an idea how old the antiquity of the fables actually is.’