Harry potter or Thakurmaar Jhuli?

Or,Why Global sacrificing the Glocal?

Indranil Sarkar
Like earlier ones, when the Final book of the much awaited Harry Potter Series launched
worldwide last year with much fanfare, the Indian media gave it a very big publicity. The crazy
sycophancy or a mere ankle-biting, I believe, was not really a worthy act of the Indian media.
As a Bengali, I cant help drawing parallel between the fantasy tales from JK Rowling and our
very own Bengali Rupkatha -- a collection of Bengali folk tales/fairy tales. Even today most of
the Bengalees grow up listening those fairy tales / folk-stories from their Grandmother's /
Grandfather's mouth in their childhood.
The collection in Thakurmar Jhuli is classified into four distinct categories
i. Dudher Sagar or Tales of adventures,
ii. Roop Tarashi or Tales of demons,
iii. Aam Sandesh or Animal Tales and
iv. Chang Bang or Humorous tales and poems;
The stories are as if, prose lullabies that open the door of a mysterious dream land and put the
children to sleep at the end of the story.
The stories have been travelling orally from generation to generation in this way. And
obviously, they got changes in this process of retelling from ages. But, they have preserved their
literary values and hold their appeal even today to present generation kids. It must be
admitted, in terms of literary worth/appeal, that they are no way inferior if not better
compared to much publicized and much hyped Harry potter's stories.
Like Potter stories, the Bengali Rupkathas also narrate accounts of unbelievable and impossible
and fantastic deeds that take place in an imaginary world or a remote land. The very beginning
of these stories: Once upon a time there lived a very good king who had a pretty daughter---
or Long long ago there lived a daitya at the outskirt of a thick forest--- takes the child mind to a
fantasy world where nothing is impossible; where the mind gets enough food for thought and
imagination.
An Anecdote: The very technique of arresting the child mind in such a manner had given
Gabriel Garcia Marcos the credit of inventing the modern prose narrative style of Magic

Realism. Marcos in an interview admitted that he got the idea of Magic Realism from his
grandparents, especially from his grandmother Doa Tranquilina Iguarn Cotes.
Folklore forms an integral part of culture across regions and time. It was the noted Bengali
writer Dakkhinaranjan Mitra Majumdar who did a pioneering job of collecting and compilation
of a huge floating mass of folklore. He titled his collection, Thakurmar Jhuli (Grandmothers Bag
of Tales). It was first published in 1907; the book celebrated its centenary in 2007.It has
remained one of the best loved collections of childrens stories with characters such as fairies
(Pari), witches (Dainies), demons (Daitya), princes (RaajPutra), and princesses (Raajkannya). He
had undeniably done what Sir Walter Scott did for Scottish Songs and lyrics or Jean Bodel did
for Medieval Romances.
Besides this, Majumdar has another three books entitled Thakurdadar Jhuli or Grandfathers
Bag of Tales, (1909), Thandidir Thole or Maternal Grandmothers Bag of Tales, (1909) and
Dadamoshayer Thole or Maternal Grandfathers Bag of Tales, (1913). Like the first one
(Thakurmaar Jhuli), these books also are collections of fairy tales, folktales, ritual tales, and
comical tales respectively.
To make generic distinction each of these collections is also subtitled.Thakurmar Jhuli is
subtitled Banglar Roopkatha (Fairy Tales of Bengal); Thakurdadar Jhuli is subtitled Banglar
Kathashahitya (Narrative Literature of Bengal);and Dadamoshayer Jhuli is subtitled Banglar
Rasokatha (Humorous Tales of Bengal).Thakurmar Jhuli, however, remains through
generations, the best loved among the entire body of Majumdars work.
In general, the stories revolve around Ghosts, Demons, Animals, gods and goddesses, Kings and
Queens, prince and princess, sons of minister (Mantri-putra), Army Head (Senapati) and their
sons (Kutal-putra) etc. with a touch of Indianness. Miracles and magic abound -- animals foretell
the future, princes disguise themselves as birds or animals, perform heroic deeds, fight and win
over the evil forces etc. Each story usually has a moral at the end.Evil is punished and good is
rewarded or at least the end is noted with a final proclamation ---and they live happily
thereafter ----. Here we get the underlying theme of 'Satyamebo Jayate'(Truth wins at last) or
'Madhureno Samapayet' (Alls well that ends well) which provides a universal appeal as well!
An Anecdote: The idea of animals talking like man was originally a characteristic of Indian
folktales or Rupkathas written in the Sanskrit texts like Niti Sataka Slokas (Hundred Rhymes of
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Wisdom), Panchatantra by Vidyasagar or the epics The Ramayana and The Mahabharata. The
incidents of Ramayana were real happenings that took place nearly 8000 years ago while the
incidents of Mahabharata practically happened nearly 5000 years ago. The French travelers
took the idea to France and from there it spread all over the world as Fabliaux or fables.
Again, like Harry potter, we have also some legendary characters here in Thakurmar Jhuli.
These are namely Lalkamal-Nilkamal, Byangoma-Byangomi, Sat Bhai Champa (seven brothers
and a sister named champa), and common character like Rajputra /Rajkanya etc.
Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder (1877-1957) was the pioneer who tried to collect those stories
for the first time and edited and published them under the name of Thakurmar Jhuli
(Grandmother's bag of stories, 1907) and Thakurdadar Jhuli (Grandfather's bag of stories,
1909). Other persons to be mentioned here is Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Premendra Mitra,
Sukumar Roy and Upendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury (1863-1915), and also Satyajit Ray,the
famous world-acclaimed film maker. The contribution of erstwhile prestigious publishing House
named Dev Saahitya Kutir incorporated as a PLC in 11th November 1955 is also unforgettable in
this regard. They provided dual services(i) Published the Fairy tales/folktales of unknown
authors and (2) Kept the price of these tales very low so that anybody could afford to have a
copy of their own.
But alas! Rupkatha or other fairy tales have never received spontaneous acclaim like Harry
potter even in India; neither do they get any media-publicity even in this day of revolution in
print media and publicity. Most probably it is because, India's well-educated, upper-middle
class and so-called elite people usually prefer reading foreign books rather than their age-old
folk-stories. This attitude is also seen in case of comic tales like, Nante-Fante, Handa-Bhoda;
Batul the Great etc. Keeping aside these classic books Indian elites (i,e Capable readers) hand
Batman,Taarjaan, Spiderman, Phantom stories etc to their kids. It is really a debatable matter
whether it is a snobbish obsession for becoming Global or simply an impact of 200 years of
Colonial subjugation.
Whatever the geographical boundaries are, the realm of folklore and oral narratives occupy a
distinct category of importance. A generally accepted notion about folklore is that it survives
within a particular society because it fulfils certain social functions which can be many and also,
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on the other hand, be specific to certain cultures. D.K.Bhatterjee in his book on the topic
published in 2005, has noticed the following importance in folktales/fairy tales--- Recreation or amusement
Education
Socialization
Protest or propaganda
Communication of knowledge
A more surprising aspect of Harry Potter, which I believe, not known to the Potter maniacs, is
its similarities with the age old Hindu god lord Krishna. A close parallel between Harry and Lord
Krishna is discernable in almost all the episodes of Harry Potter Books. The parallels between
Harry and Lord Krishna are so distinct that sometimes the reader would feel that they are
reading the postmodern adaptations of the life and works of Lord Krishna.
So, there is no justification of being Potter maniac forgetting our age old indigenous tales of
wisdom and entertainment. Truly speaking the very problem is rooted in Postmodern
snobbishness. In order to be global, we Indians, have lost sight of our very own Glocal
treasures.
If Colonialism is the root, then Globalization is definitely the provider of nourishment to this
Potter mania. The only way to regain the independent outlook and be thoughtful about our
indigenous Thakurmar Jhuli and paying due respect/attention to it, demands an obligation to
local cultural heritage or in other words, a necessity for Glocalization. And it is high time to do
so. Otherwise the very existence of our already endangered indigenous cultural heritage will be
lost, and lost for ever.
So, with due respect to Indian Potter maniacs', it may be said that they should check their very
own folk tales/folk-stories as well to test/enjoy Indias age-old treasure trove hidden in
children literature along with the tales of Ramayana and Mahabharata before passing their
sage comment that Rowling is Superb!
[1430 words]

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