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The Seven Sisters by Kesar Lall: book review




I am currently in Nepal and purchased Lall’s anthology in Kathmandu. The Seven Sisters - and Other Nepalese Tales (2010 edition, first published in 1976) is a small 74-page book containing 13 short tales of Nepalese folk lore with line drawings by Tek Bir Mukhiya. Each one has been personally told to the author by farmers, housewives and lamas (Tibetan high priests) from 8 of Nepal’s 75 districts, from east to west and north to south. The collection of short stories aims to “give the reader some insight into our people.”

Most stories are drawn from within family situations: a family of sisters, a family of brothers, conflict between younger and older siblings, and, of course, disagreements with parents. Each tale has a moral based around deception, trickery, jealousy, envy, theft, laziness, poverty, bad advice, beatings, or murder. Animals are depicted too: dogs, cats, cows, buffalo, fish, mice, rabbits, elephants, frogs, birds, and especially the snake. Snakes are abundant in Nepalese culture and tradition as a divine power in Hinduism and Buddhism. They can be found in districts along the southern border, but also in the mountains.



A Nepalese anthology would not be complete without a folk lore about the yeti – the Sherpa word for abominable snowman of the Himalayas. There are also tales mentioning lamas, temples, Hindu gods, and religious castes. Two stories are believed to have Tibetan origins.
The Story of Tarkyaghyang, as told to the author by Jimi Lara, village panchayat chairman, born in Tarkyaghyang, Helambu in Sindhupalchok District is one of my favourites. The one-and-a-half page tale is the history of the village and how it received its name, meaning “one hundred horses of Tarkya.” Others are more gruesome, such as The Yeti about how its shrunken head may be seen to this day in a mountain village, so the tale goes.
A bonus is the customary song to signify the end of a tale:
       
            May who tells this tale get a wreath of flowers;
            He who listens to it a laurel of gold
            May the tale itself to heaven go;
            And may it return when it’s time to tell it again.






 

MARTINA NICOLLS

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Martina Nicolls is an Australian author and international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, and foreign aid audits and evaluations. She lives in Paris.

 

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