1. Introduction: locating the study of folklore in modern South Asian studies Part I. Historicizing Folklore
2. How stories lodge in lives
3. The scribal life of folktales in medieval India
4. Nameless in history: when the imperial English become the subjects of Hindu narrative Part II. Materializing Folklore
5. Standing in cement: possibilities created by Ravan on the Chhattisgarhi Plains
6. Tools and world-making in the worship of Vishwakarma
7. Pavitra Hindu homes: producing sacred purity in domestic diasporic settings
8. Shrines, stones, and memories: the entangled storyworld of a goddess temple in Assam Part III. Politicizing Folklore
9. Criminal ‘folk’ and ‘legal’ lore: the kidnap and castrate narrative in colonial India and contemporary Chennai
10. Folklore, politics, and the state: Kutiyattam theatre and National/Global Heritage in India
11. The amplified sacrifice: sound, technology, and participation in modern Vedic ritual