He picks up the flute made of bamboo, and over six nights, sings songs that narrate the saga of 12 brothers who came down from the gods. One of those brothers was Kotrabaina.
You have probably never heard this saga as you do not belong to the Gaur community of cattle-herders in Western Odisha. The only reason we have access to this story is because of the tireless work of field anthropologists and folklorists, such as Mahendra Kumar Mishra, who document these oral tales.
Every caste and community in India have folklore, transmitted orally. But most of these are lost. Most Indians, especially the Hindus, are familiar with pan-Indian epics such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, even though they tell stories of kings who lived in the Ganga River basin over 3,000 years ago. This is because these tales were deliberately taken from North India to every corner of the land, through pilgrim routes, by the Brahmins seeking royal patrons. Through the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Brahmin-bards promoted their vision of good governance (dharma). In fact, the influence of these popular Hindu epics can be seen even in the sagas sung by the Gaur bards of Western Odisha.
Ramela goes to the market
Kotrabaina was a herdsman. He had cows, buffaloes, goats, and sheep. He sold milk, curds, and butter in the markets. His wife Ramela had borne him a son. Kotrabaina would never take his wife Ramela to the market with him because she was very beautiful, and the local king of Bendul was a womaniser, a powerful man whose lust did not respect the boundaries of marriage. But one day, when Kotrabaina was visiting a relative, Ramela decided to leave her newborn with her sister-in-law, and go to the market where she could sell butter, and buy some jewellery.
The gods tried to stop Ramela. The churning rod would not move, and so she could not make butter. But she decided to go anyway, carrying the milk instead. On the way she was attacked by a tiger and a bear, but she fought them away with her ladle-spoon. Finally, she reached the market, and soon word reached the king of her beauty. He sent soldiers to carry her to the palace, but she resisted fighting them off with her ladle-spoon. Finally, he used magic, and took her away.
When Kotrabaina heard this, he rushed to the capital with 12 cowherds and all his buffaloes, bulls, goats, and sheep. They drank all the water in the rivers and wells. They caught all the fish. The thirsty and starving people begged the king to release Kotrabaina’s wife. But he refused. As he waited for the king to respond, Kotrabaina went to sleep. To wake him, the 12 cowherds had to use red-hot sticks. He then brushed his teeth with the trunk of a tamarind tree and ate all the fish his cowherds had caught, leaving behind a giant pile of fish bones, high as a mountain.
News of this strong man reached the queens, who rushed to the mighty herdsman and told him of the stone house where his wife was held captive. Kotrabaina attacked this house with his cowherds and his cattle army. The bulls, buffaloes, sheep, and goats, numbering 12 lakh, head-butted the soldiers and broke the stone walls, and released Ramela, while Kotrabaina caught hold of the king and sacrificed him to the gods and the goddesses of his clan. He then told the 12 cowherds to select wives of themselves, and returned victorious to the village.
Back home, however, everyone doubted the chastity of Ramela. She was asked to walk through fire, which she did successfully. Her child left the cradle and rushed to suckle her breasts which were oozing with milk. All this proved she loved her husband and family, and had not succumbed to the king’s lust. Thus, all was well.
Mainstream influence
The story clearly shows the influence of both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. As in the Ramayana, we have a hero whose sleep and eating habit reminds us of Kumbhakarna. Like Sita, the heroine’s desire for the good things in life puts her in a risky situation. Like Sita, Ramela’s chastity is questioned even though she has been abducted. Only here the ending is happy. People believe her. The powerful king of this epic reminds us of Jayadratha, and Kichaka, the lecherous men of the Mahabharata. The cattle herding hero whose story is told by flute-bearing bards reminds us of Krishna, and his cowherd friends.
Be that as it may, the Kotrabaina-Ramela tale remains the unique lore of a unique community, binding them into a group. This is how tribes, clans, and castes came into being. This is how myth operates. Tells stories of gods and heroes, repeated ritually in every festival, over generations, to serve as a glue that binds a people. Through it, children learn values. This tale spoke about discretion, resistance, chastity, and justice — values that create culture and civilisation.
