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This marks the beginning of ‘Kothoma’ that is a tripura word meaning story. Kothoma is a storytelling segment where you can learn about folktales and cultural assets of ethnic communities. Stay tuned and subscribe to our newsletter to get the stories straight in your inbox.
“দূর! দূর! দূর!”, exclaimed the old man and within no time his wife turned into a tortoise. How? It all happened in the satya yug (era of truth/সত্য যুগ). This is a grievous, heart-breaking story of Chakma mythology.
As per legend, during the age of truth, uttered words would simply come true.
On a sunny day, when an old man didn’t want his wife to drink his share of water from a natural well, he impulsively told her to stay away. In Chakma, a tortoise is called দুর. Thus, his words became true turning his wife into a tortoise who now lived in a river.
Hobi, daughter of the old man and woman, wailed when she learned about the incident. She would often sit near the bank of the river and talk to her mother who was trapped in the body of a tortoise. The man remarried and had a stepdaughter of the same age as Hobi named Dhobi. Hobi fell in the hands of malignant fate- stepmother compelled her to do all the household chores, stepsister became envious of her beauty, and father remained oblivious to her plights. The stepmother even forced Hobi to catch the tortoise(biological mother) and cook it. The stepmother threw the cooked dish in her backyard and there grew a bottle gourd tree. This was actually the reincarnation of Hobi’s mother.
So, Hobi would find solace in the shadows of the tree. The stepmother was intolerant of this sight as well. So, she would kick the tree every day. When the tree died, a new kind of tree grew from the seeds of the bottle gourd. This was Hobi’s mother in the guise of a birikh tree as well.
Hobi’s stepmother was wicked. She was always devising ways to get rid of Hobi. One day she feigned sickness and sent Hobi and Dhobi to the mountains to bring the legendary remedy to her sickness, tiger’s milk. She told Dhobi to sprain her ankle at the base so that Hobi had to go alone. Dhobi did so while Hobi set out alone for the mountains. This was the stepmother’s plan for Hobi that she would get attacked by any ferocious animal in the mountain. Hobi shuddered at the sound of bears and wolves while she was walking. Then a tiger came at her abruptly and began to attack her. To her horror, Hobi exclaimed- “Oh, tiger! If you savor me then your hunger shall be satiated. My miseries will come to an end too! Oh, tiger!”
The tiger stopped at her outcry and asked her about her miseries. After hearing about the despondent life of Hobi, the tiger embraced her with sympathy. It gave her its milk and took her to a place dumped with ostentatious clothes that belonged to former victims of the tiger. Hobi could take whatever she wanted from the dump. So, she took an ornate set of Pinon-Hadi and precious jewelry with her on her way back home. Hobi kept all these belongings on the birikh tree so that no one finds out.
The stepmother was filled with rage at Hobi coming back alive. She couldn’t help but wonder how Hobi survived dreadful situations. However, the tension was alleviated when the Prince of their kingdom began to search for a lady to marry in their village. The stepmother wished to make Dhobi the Princess. In such an attempt, Dhobi was going to the palace to meet the Prince. She took Hobi in the guise of a servant for the meet. However, she had left Hobi before she entered the palace. Hobi then went to the place where she buried her belongings. She wore the ornate Pinon-Hadi along with the jewelry. Hobi became fully ornamented and looked elegant as she made her way into the palace to meet the Prince too.
The Prince became very pleased to see Hobi and proposed to marry her. At this, Dhobi became malicious and came up with a scheme to kill her. Hobi didn’t understand Dhobi’s spiteful behavior and fell into the trap. When Dhobi and the stepmother killed Hobi brutally, a yellow bird witnessed it and flew towards the palace letting a cry out. Then Dhobi disguised herself as Hobi and began to lead her life as a Princess. The people of the palace couldn’t differentiate though she couldn’t imitate the graceful movements and skilled handwork of Hobi. When the yellow bird reached the palace and confronted Dhobi about it, Dhobi murdered the bird barbarically as well. Later, she took the ashes of the bird and planted a tree on the veranda of the prince.
The Prince was not easy to fool. He became wary and remained on guard. He decided to pretend to be asleep to see the matter on his own one night. At that time, a lady suddenly bloomed from a delicate yellow flower on his balcony. The lady wore a Pinon-Hadi, walked around the room of the Prince, watered the plants, and ate a betel leaf. She took care of a few household works in the room gladly. Suddenly, it seemed clouds overcast her. She seemed gloomy and began to walk toward the balcony. Before going, she cast spittle of chewed betel leaf in the cloth of the Prince. The Prince got up and held her hostage at this. He wanted to know her identity. Then it was revealed that the lady from the yellow flower was Hobi. Hobi wailed for an indefinite time when the Prince asked about everything. After knowing every incident, the vexed Prince went to Dhobi and ostracized her. With fury, the Prince punished the stepmother. The Prince left no stone unturned to make Hobi happy.
Following this story, in Chakma culture, a legend got established that the yellow birds of our country are girls with the fate of Hobi.
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