India is a rich land of stories. We have stories from Hindu epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana, moral stories like Panchatantra and Jataka tales, and clever and humorous stories like Tenali Raman and Akbar-Birbal stories. India also has a rich culture of oral storytelling. Before the advent of books, oral storytellers were an integral part of Indian villages. From generation to generation, these storytellers propagated folklore.
There is a wide range of Indian folklore from different Indian states, and many writers have collected them into books. A.K Ramanujan’s ‘A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India’ is an admirable collection. The collection has stories that showcase a large variety of motifs. Humans changing into animal forms and human-animal hybrids are two prominent motifs across these stories. Indian mythology also has Gods with human-animal hybrid forms, like Narasimha, and mythical human-animal hybrids like Navagunjara.
Navagunjara in Kalamkari by K. Lakshminarayanan
Here’s an engaging story from A.K Ramanujan’s collection. It’s about a prince who can transform himself into any animal and how he uses his powers to defeat his cunning guru. This story also has motifs like guru-disciple rivalry and a fallen king regaining the kingdom through his children. This is a child-friendly retelling of this folklore.
Folklore of the Shape-Shifting Prince
King and Queen sitting on a swing in Phad by Kalyan Joshi
Once upon a time, a wise old king ruled a prosperous kingdom. The king and queen were sad because they did not have children. They offered many prayers to God and were blessed with two sons. However, their happiness was short-lived. Enemies attacked the kingdom and defeated the king. The king and queen escaped to a distant kingdom with their two young sons. They had lost everything and resorted to begging.
The king became worried about the education of his sons. They didn’t have money or gifts to offer to a guru. The king searched and searched and finally found a guru who was willing to teach the two boys for free. As a gift, the king offered to give one of his sons to the guru after their education. The guru agreed.
The two princes started staying in the guru’s house. However, the guru did not teach both of them as he had promised to the king. He sent the elder prince to herd cows and do household chores. He taught the younger prince Vedas, eighteen mythologies, and six sciences. Later, the guru taught him magic tricks. The prince could read other people’s minds and shape-shift into animals. He learned about the guru’s cunning plan. When the time came, the guru was planning to return the elder brother to the king and retain the clever younger prince. The prince shape-shifted into a bird and flew to the distant city where his parents lived. He informed his parents of the guru’s evil plans.
A Bird In Gond by Kailash Pradhan
“When our education is over, the guru will offer to give my brother back to you. He will want to retain me with him, but don’t accept his offer. Insist that you want me. The guru will try to change your mind but don’t. Once I am back with you, I will help you out of poverty and free my brother,” said the younger prince, now in the form of a bird. The poor king and queen were bewildered but agreed to follow the younger prince’s advice.
Soon, it was time for the parents to take back one prince. The guru offered the elder brother. However, the king insisted that he wanted the younger one. The guru had to give in to the demand, but he knew the younger prince was behind it. Reluctantly, the guru sent the younger prince with his parents but pledged to take revenge on the younger prince for spoiling his plans.
Once back with his parents, the younger prince used his magical tricks to make money. Once, he heard that the king was looking for a rooster to fight the palace rooster. The prince changed his shape into a rooster and asked his father to take him to the palace. The king was impressed and gifted them a lot of money. They put the rooster in a coop. Once he was alone, the prince shape-shifted into a rat, made a tunnel out of the palace and escaped.
Rat in Khovar by Manikchand Mahto
Next, the prince heard about a wealthy merchant looking for a rare breed of horse named Panchakalyani. The young prince shape-shifted into a beautiful horse with five special features. His father, like the last time, took him to the merchant. Little did they know that a danger was lurking around. The cunning guru was present at the merchant’s home.
Mystical Symphony: Equine in Foam Art, Sea foam Art by Harsh Verdhan Chhajed
The guru examined the horse, and he instantly knew that this was his pupil but he pretended not to recognize his disciple. Instead, the guru told the merchant, “This horse is very special. Look at this whorl on its head. It means only a sage should ride it. If you buy me this horse, I will be delighted.”
The merchant gifted the horse to the guru. He climbed onto the horse and rode it really fast, through bad roads and over pits and stones. When the horse was about to die, the guru stopped at a creek so that the horse could drink water. The moment the horse touched the water, it changed into the shape of a fish and escaped.
Fish In Bhil by Shersingh Bhabor
The guru was furious and asked his students to poison the creek. Just as they added the poison into the water, the young prince saw a buffalo’s dead body lying on a nearby field. The prince entered the body of the buffalo and tried to escape. With the help of farmers, the guru caught the buffalo and tied it to a tree. As he was about to kill the buffalo, the prince saw a beautiful parrot sitting on the tree. He entered into the parrot’s body and flew away. The guru took the form of a brahminy kite and chased the parrot. The prince escaped yet again and reached the palace of a beautiful princess. The princess saw the parrot and was smitten by its beauty. “I want that multi-coloured parrot. Capture it and bring it to my room,” she commanded.
Nature's Crown: The Avian Guardian Gond Painting by Kailash Pradhan
The princess put the parrot in a golden cage and hung it in her room. She took very good care of the parrot. The princess and the parrot became great friends. After a few days, the prince told her his story and changed into his human form. The princess was shocked at first, but then, she too fell in love with this clever prince.
One day, the prince saw in his mind’s eye that the guru would come the next day to the palace as an acrobat, perform in front of the king, and demand the colourful parrot as a gift. He instructed the princess on what to do.
The next day, the guru came as an acrobat and impressed the king. As per the plan, the princess herself appeared in the court with her parrot. However, she wasn’t ready to give up her beloved parrot. When the king insisted, the princess pretended to get angry, twisted the neck of the parrot and killed it. The guru knew that the young prince had shape-shifted into a pearl necklace that hung from the princess’s neck. The guru asked for the pearl necklace. The clever prince had foreseen it. So, as she was instructed, the princess yanked at the pearl necklace. It broke, and pearls fell onto the floor.
The pearls soon turned into worms and started crawling away in every direction. The guru assumed the shape of a hen and started pecking at the worms. The prince suddenly changed into a cat, jumped at the hen, and caught it by its neck.
Cats, Gond painting by Venkat Shyam
The guru accepted defeat and promised never to bother the prince again. The princess told her father the whole story. The king was impressed by the prince’s skills, courage and intelligence. He decided to get the prince and princess married. The prince brought his parents to his new palace. Then, he freed his elder brother from the guru. Together, they attacked their original kingdom and regained power. Everyone, even the guru, was happy. The prince and princess lived happily ever after.
Kachi Bijay: Pattachitra painting by Gitanjali Das
Animals and Shape-Shifting in Indian Folklore
Just like the story of the shape-shifting prince, many Indian folk tales depict shape-shifting and human-animal hybrids. For example, the story of the turtle prince. This story also starts with a childless king and queen who pray to God for a child. God blesses them with a child, but it’s a turtle. As the story progresses, the turtle prince turns into a human being and marries a beautiful princess. A similar story is that of the serpent king. It depicts the story of a king who turns into a serpent due to the curse of the king of serpents.
A coiled snake in Mandana by Vidya Soni
In ancient days, people lived in close connection with nature and worshipped plants and animals. The human-animal hybrids and shape-shifting stories might have been inspired by this close human-nature connection. This connection is also evident in our mythology, where we see Gods in human-animal hybrid forms like Narasimha, Ganesha, and Hayagriva.
The child-friendly versions of these ancient folklores will help children feel empathetic towards plants and animals around us. It will teach them the importance of living in harmony with nature.
Story reference: Ramanujan, A. K. A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India. Berkeley London: University of California Press, c1997 1997. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft067n99wt/
