May 23. Story of the Day: The Brahmin and his Small Gods

For today's story, I offer another contribution from Suniti Namjoshi (see her previous story here: The Cat Shrine). This time, she has taken one of the 19th-century stories and reworked it. You can compare the versions and see what you think! Here is the Mukharji version she started from: The Brahman and His Idols ... and her version is below. She has made so many important little changes, starting with the title itself: not "idols" now, but "small gods." Details matter.

She says:

I was trying to stay as close to the original as possible; but realised that in spite of myself I was altering it in accordance with my own mindset. For example, as a feminist I’ve given  the brahmin’s wife a greater role, and as someone with a Hindu background I’ve tried to make it clear that what is being worshipped is the divinity inherent in creation, not the objects themselves...  Rewriting someone else’s work, as opposed to writing one’s own stories – though I’m not sure there’s a hard and fast difference – is a strangely disturbing experience. Try it!☺

When stories are in the public domain, like all the 19th-century folktales and nursery rhymes you will find at this site, they are just waiting to be told again, made new by storytellers who change the old stories to suit themselves and to share with their own audiences. If you have a story retelling you would like to contribute to this site, let me know! There's contact information in the blog sidebar.

Now if only we knew something more about Mukharji's source(s) and other versions of this story from the farther past. If I learn anything more about that, I will be sure to add those versions to the site.

Want more? Click here for previous Stories-of-the-Day.

THE BRAHMIN AND HIS SMALL GODS

(by Suniti Namjoshi, from Ram Satya Mukharji)

There was once a brahmin who was happy enough worshipping the household gods. He would bring them flowers, light incense and bow his head in reverence. He and his wife led a contented life, until it occurred to him that he ought to find out which of his gods was the most powerful. The question obsessed him. He meditated, he worried, he even took to wandering the streets and asking people. They thought he was mad, which in a way he was.

He went to the forest [as people tend to do in Indian stories] and there he met a woodcutter. The woodcutter told him that the most powerful god was probably the one who could best withstand a blacksmith’s hammer. The brahmin borrowed a hammer and smashed all the gods, except a small Shri Krishna which was made of bronze. He started to worship the bronze god alone and threw the rest into a well.

This was desecration.  His wife tried to bring him to his senses, but it was no use.  As he saw it, he was doing his duty. He brought the god small offerings of fruit and milk and completely ignored everything and everybody. One day he noticed that his offerings were being consumed. The god had accepted them! He was overjoyed and he became more devout than ever.

Then he saw a rat in the little room set aside for the gods, and he realised that it was the rat who’d been eating all the food. He caught the rat, threw Shri Krishna into the well, and began to worship the rat instead. The rat was clearly more powerful than the god had been. What’s more, now the brahmin could actually see his offerings being accepted.

This went on for a while till a cat got the rat. Obviously, the cat was more powerful, and the cat got installed in the rat’s place.  The cat enjoyed being a goddess. She drank huge quantities of milk. She drank so much that the brahmin’s wife got more and more annoyed. And when the cat overturned a pan of milk, the brahmin’s wife threw the kitchen knife at her. The cat died.

The brahmin’s wife worried about this; she needn’t have. Her husband decided instantly that his wife was more powerful than the cat had ever been.  He made her his goddess. She hated it. She had to sit absolutely still. One day when she shifted her knees a little, the Brahmin hit her so hard she was knocked unconscious. He did his best to revive her, but it was evident to him that she wasn’t all that powerful. He must be the most powerful one! He must look within.

When he did so, he understood at last that it was the Divine Power – the Great Force or  Maha Shakti – within him and in all things that ought to be venerated. He learnt to respect himself and the whole of creation. Gradually the small gods returned to their household, and in the course of time both husband and wife achieved liberation.

(Mahashakti)

CHAIN: man worships bronze god - rat - cat - wife - self