FOLK LORE
Weird and wonderful tales
R. KRITHIKA
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Stories from the animal kingdom, of gods and goddesses, humans, demons, ghosts… in short, the works.
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Where Are You Going, You Monkeys?: Folktales from Tamil Nadu; Ki. Rajanarayanan, Blaft Publications, Rs. 350.
The first thing that catches your attention about Ki. Rajanarayanan’s Where are you going, you monkeys?: Folktales from Tamil Nadu is the red ribbon knot. As you look for an explanation, what catches your eye is “Warnin
g: Includes a chapter of naughty and dirty tales!”
So of course, you turn to that section first, which means you have to undo that afore-mentioned knot. And you learn that our forefathers had quite a robust attitude to sex and sexuality; the stories are told by an elderly man (again there is a warning: “don’t ever go near thatha... he tells stories with all kinds of dirty words in them”.) But thatha is quite cheerfully matter of fact and ribald.
Edited versions
Once you move on, you encounter stories from the animal kingdom, of gods and goddesses of humans and their frailties, demons, ghosts… in short, the works. Some of these stories have been told before, with some editing you now realise. For instance, the story “Shiva’s Rain” tells how the god saves the world from drought by taking a leak. Countless grandmothers, including mine I now realise, have taken author Rajanarayan’s footnote to heart: “When this story is told to children, it is not advisable to use the word piss. Instead you can say the rain was Shiva’s sweat”.
Some stories give you an alternative view of the epics and of gender relationships thereby showing that the conservative “Indian culture” being perpetuated today was not always the norm. Now, more than ever, these stories are essential reading.
Pritham Chakravarthy’s translation is breezy, occasionally wicked, but always urging you to read on. Folklore buffs will love this one and so will other general readers.
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