Book Review: Tony K. Stewart, trans. Needle at the Bottom of the Sea: Bengali Tales from the Land of the Eighteen Tides

Needle at the Bottom of the Sea is a collection of five enthralling and inspirational kathas or tales of miracle-working Sufi saints from the early modern period of Bengali literature, ranging from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, translated into English (with collaborations from Ayesha A. Irani in the last of the five tales) by Tony K. Stewart, a renowned scholar and translator of Sufi Islamic literature from the Bengali-speaking world. The five translated tales include Krsnaram Das’s The Ray mangal (The Auspicious Tale of the Lord of the Southern Regions), Abdul Ohab’s Gaji kalu o campavati kanyar puthi (Scouring the World for Campavati), Mohammad Khater’s Bonbibi jahura nama (Glorifying the Protective Matron of the Jungle), Kavi Vallabh’s Satya narayaner puthi (Wayward Wives and Their Magical Flying Tree) and Saiyad Sultan’s Khoyaj Khijir’s Instruction to Musa in Nabivamsa (Curbing the
Hubris of Moses).