Our Myths Blogfest: Winners and a round-up

We thank all the bloggers who participated in the blogfest. We enjoyed reading your entries. Sandhya and Rathina are the winners and will receive a free copy of It's All The Same!, the latest in the series.

A quick round-up of the entries for your reading pleasure:

Most know of the Sita who know Janaka discovered in his fields, but do you know the Sita born to Ravana? Find out more in this post by Mamma of Twins.

Why are serpents considered sacred? Interesting lore you may not have heard before by Reshmy Pillai.

Murugan and Ganesha – Bachelor boys or are they? Read Rathina Sankari's post to find out.

Sandhya discusses a strong counter-narrative to the well-known Shakunthala myth.

Ever wondered why Kali sticks her tongue out? Two myths from a post by 2A's Mom shed light.

Tulika book lovers in Chennai, do join us on Sunday, September 16 for a special storytelling session with Chitra Krishnan and Sandhya Rao in Just Books.

Celebrating Our Myths

We're celebrating Our Myths! This hugely popular series of books features timeless stories drawn from popular and marginal sources, which gently question stereotypes and rigid notions about myths.

Myths may share beginnings, meet in the middle or find themselves face to face at the end. Sometimes they're as multi-layered as nesting dolls, with one story concealed within the other. They unravel as they are told, and change as they travel from one place to another, one storyteller to another, one listener to another. And so there is always another version of the same story...

For instance, according to one version, Hanuman wrote his version of the Ramayana on banyan leaves. Another version tells how he wrote it down on the rocks of a mountain. Valmiki had to climb up and down to read it and was quite exhausted at the end of it! Picture Hanuman in a banana orchard. He's probably being a monkey and digging into a banana while Valmiki reads. Now picture him atop a mountain. Maybe he's swinging effortlessly from one rock to another adding doodles to his story while Valmiki pants...!

Celebrate Our Myths with us! Here's what you have to do:

1.Put up a post which features two (or more) versions of a myth. Share the link via email or leave a comment on our blog. If you don't have a blog, write to us at tulikabooks@gmail.com with the subject: Celebrating Our Myths Blogfest: Title of your entry. We will post it on the Tulika blog.

2.Keep it short  (between 300 - 500 words). If you can remember, tell us where you first heard (or read) the story. (Include this in a short note at the end of your write-up.)

3.Post your write-ups and send your entries by September 10.

We'll collect interesting responses and post samplings with links to original posts/publish other responses received via mail. Selected participants will win a free copy of the latest book in the series, It's all the same!, retold by award-winning animator and filmmaker Nina Sabnani and illustrated by artist Satyanarayan Suthaar. 

Coming soon...an exclusive It's all the same! book trailer!

In Bon Bibi's Forest

In Bon Bibi's Forest

In Bon Bibi’s Forest is the third book in the series Our Myths that seeks to re-visit well-known and less known stories that have come down to us over the ages. In the process of passing from mouth to ear, they have travelled far away from the circumstances in which they were born, and have acquired new and different meanings. Some have even been catapulted into the realm of ‘unquestionable truths’ fiercely protected by diehard fans. Hence, the furore over the idea of ‘300 Ramayanas’.

But we know that it is the nature of stories to change as people change, society changes, and the ways in which human beings tell or listen to stories in order to make sense of their lives, change. Hanuman’s Ramayana gently shifts the focus from heroic action to humane understanding, Vyasa’s Mahabharata humourously suggests that writing down this massive epic must have involved some moves and countermoves. 

While these first Our Myths titles reach into the two established epics of India, In Bon Bibi’s Forest dips into the ocean of people’s stories. It has an actual and still pristinely preserved setting: Sundarban spread across a vast delta that spills into the Bay of Bengal and across India and Bangladesh. The forests there are different, and the habitat difficult to negotiate, for both humans and animals. This is the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger. It is also the home of many families who live spread out over some of the inhabited mudflats and islands that are crisscrossed by river waters swelling and ebbing as the sea rushes in and out every night and day. These mangroves are some of the most biodiverse regions in the world and the least impacted by human development activities.

Bon Bibi, the 'Lady of the Forest'

Naturally, therefore, stories grew around the tiger as human beings discovered they were powerless before its might. This is how the story of Bon Bibi was born. And although she is today considered a goddess, she really doesn’t have any religious affiliation herself and those who worship her do so because she speaks to them of things that matter to their lives. 

Painting by six-year old Patachitrakar Sonal

As with all myths and hoary stories, this one too twists and turns with different elements. In Bon Bibi’s Forest focuses on the tiger of Sundarban which is smaller in size, researchers tell us, than the other tigers of India. It is also more aggressive, although researchers don’t quite know why. The people of Sundarban live in its shadow, but they also somehow feel protected by it. They regularly re-enact the story of Bon Bibi and Dokkhin Rai to renew an old promise to use the forest with a pure heart. This retelling reminds readers that if the tiger is healthy, the ecosystem will be healthy.

Just ask Vyasa & Valmiki: the 'Our Myths' series launch

Sparring with a brilliant scribe or being humbled by a gracious rival... creating epic stories can't be easy! Vyasa and Valmiki tell you all about that in Tulika’s latest series: Our Myths. Masquerade theatre company presents Vyasa’s Mahabharata and Hanuman’s Ramayan in a performance reading called Trunk ‘n’ Tails that stands myths on their heads and shows new ways of connecting with old stories.

Date: 23 January

Time: 5:00-6:00 pm

Place: Full Circle bookstore, 85 Chamiers Road, Above Anokhi, R.A.Puram