This presentation will examine a popular anthology of Sanskrit riddle-tales, the Vetāla- pañcaviṃśati or "25 Tales of the Animated Corpse," which appears to have been specially written for the amusement and edification of scribes-those custodians of premodern Sanskrit literary culture. What roles, we will ask, did this text-and these scribes-play in the formation of a Sanskrit public culture in medieval India?
