Khirer Putul

Did You Know?

• Abanindranath Tagore was Rabindranath Tagore's nephew.
• Abanindranath found the story in Rabindranath's wife Mrinalini Devi's diary after her death.
• The story was adapted into a film of the same name by Indian writer and director Purnendu Pattrea in 1976.
• An Indian television soap opera based on the novel aired on Zee Bangla in 2020.

Analysis

According to scholar Sanjay Sircar, the story can be classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 459, 'The Make-Believe Son (Daughter)', a tale type 'widespread throughout North India and other Asian areas, but never found in Europe'. German scholar Ulrich Marzolph listed four Iranian variants of the same type, which he named Der Prinz verliebt sich in eine Puppe ('The Prince falls in love with a Doll'). In a tale collected by Sunity Devi, Maharani of Coochbehar, with the title 'The Monkey', a Maharajah has two Maharanis: the elder good and the younger jealous.

The younger threatens to leave or kill herself if the elder remains in the palace, so the king moves the elder to another house outside the kingdom. When the king goes on a journey, the younger wants emeralds and rubies, while the elder asks only for a monkey. The king acquires the monkey, and the elder treats it like a son. The monkey learns to speak, and when the younger Maharani bears a son, the monkey lies that the elder also had a son.

The monkey requests lavish gifts and money for the elder's supposed child. Years later, the younger Maharani's son is old enough for a wedding. The monkey goes to another kingdom and arranges a wedding between a princess and the elder Maharani's false son. The animal returns and tells the queen to fetch milk, cook it into khir, and fashion a doll out of it.

A palki is brought, and only the monkey and the queen arrange the finished khir doll inside, dressed with a red silk costume. On the road, a cat enters the palki and eats the khir effigy. The monkey wakes, chastises the cat, and the cat offers a deal: he can give the monkey a boy from his goddess (since cats are 'carriers' of deity Shashthi, who brings children to Earth). The feline takes the monkey to a cave full of living boys, and the monkey chooses one to replace the missing khir doll.

The youth marries the princess. The Maharajah banishes the younger queen and her son, and names the elder Maharani's son as his rightful heir.