This volume of essays with papers by anthropologists, Sanskritists, scholars of religion, historians, literary scholars and folklorists, explores the many ‘tellings’ of the story of Damayanti and Nala, giving us new understandings of this well-known story.

1. ‘Nala: The Life of a Story’ by Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman
2. ‘The Story of Nala’ by David Shulman and Velcheru Narayana Rao
3. ‘An Indo-Persian Retelling of Nala and Damayanti’ by Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam
4. ‘Nal and Damayanti’s Reversals of Fortune: Perspectives on When a Woman Should Know Better’ by Lindsey Harlan
5. ‘Damayanti’s String: Epic Threads in Women’s Ritual Stories’ by Ann Grodzins Gold
6. ‘Pandvani Heroines, Chhattisgarhi Daughters’ by Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger
7. ‘Raja Nal’s Purana and the Jat Kingdoms of Braj’ by Susan S. Wadley
8. ‘The Performative Context of Nala in Late Medieval Kerala’ by Rich Freeman
9. ‘Nala’s Weakness and Damayanti’s Powers: Jain Tellings of the Great Love Story’ by M. Whitney Kelting
10. ‘Leaving Damayanti Again (and Again): Jain Retellings of the Nala Story’ by Phyllis Granoff
11. ‘Nala Unhinged: Pukalentippulavar’s Nalavenpa’ by David Shulman