India is a country of
diversity in almost all respects, but the cultural roots are the same. This applies to the children literature of
Indian languages( Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Hindi and other
Indian languages) also. For anyone, it
is almost impossible to say who composed folklore and oral tradition and when
exactly they came into existence which are origin of all Indian poems for
children, but no matter what the language , the Indians share a common culture
and heritage, values and beliefs. As per the researchers, there are number of
similar poems, songs, stories etc. in every Indian language.
Here I must confess
that being and Hindi author and in the absence of availability of enough
children’s contemporary literature of all the Indian languages in Hindi or
English through translation, I can cite few examples only. Further, even
in one Indian language like Hindi or Bengali or Marathi etc. the literature is now available in such a large volume that
it is again almost impossible to cover the whole in a short paper and time.
Even then I shall try to justify to some extent. I may also mention that even
in Sanskrit, children’s literature (though rarely) is being written. A story,
‘Mosquito and Wind’ written by Jagannath can
be cited as an example. The Indians are particularly grateful to Sahitya
akademi and National Book Trust, India who are doing wonderful job in the field
of translation also.
The Nature, which
includes plants, trees, flowers, mountains, springs, water, sky, sand, animals and
birds is not only an inspiring force but also a good company of the men , it is also the best, natural and essential company of children after the
mother. Gulzar, an eminent author of Urdu language and a filmmaker has
proudly shared his experience related to his grandson’s natural and special
love for animals. In his words, “We go out to eat out on Sundays and when he
sees the security dogs at the hotels, we feel scared but he rushes towards
them. Animals too have an instinct where they will not attack a child. He loves
feeding toasts to Rakheeji’s cow and copies his nani (grandmother). He
loves his fish and his rabbit . He loves pets just like Bosky (his
mother) used to and like his nani and dadi.” (Delhi Times, The Times of
India, Sunday 26 April, 2014). It
reveals clearly that generations change but not the love for animals and birds
and other natural gifts of the nature among the children in particular. It has
been rightly said and I quote from an article “Animals as People in Children’s
Literature (Carolyn L. Burke who is a retired professor of education,
Indiana University and Joby Ganzauge Copenhaver who is a lecturer in reading and literacy
education, State University of New York at Genesco, New York) that “Most
children are curious about and fond of
animals. Many of us share our
homes and our hearts with our pets.
Certainly our local environments, whether we live in a city, a suburb or the
country, are filled with a vast variety of animals both large and small. So, it
would seem rather intuitive that these same creatures would find a place in the
stories that we tell.” I must say that this is true in the literary
scenario of India too. Those who believe in dividing the children literature as
per age-groups think that up to the age of 7-10 the children are attracted with
animals and birds in their literature. One may agree to the fact that as the
child grows older, the pattern and themes of verses and rhymes (including other
genres) also change- keeping pace with his growing interests. Although in the
opinion of some of the Indian children authors, which include prominent ones
too, Kings and queens, animals, birds, fairies, plants and flowers etc. have no
place in contemporary children
literature because they have become stale, outdated and irrelevant for today’s children who are living in scientific age yet there are many who
dispute the rejection in absolute form . There are many Indian authors who have
written a number of beautiful stories etc. to establish natural love and liking
of children towards animals and birds. Devendra Kumar, a prominent
fiction writer of Hindi, has
written many stories related to love of animals and birds with new
approach. For example, I may cite his
story -“Whose toy” which is a very
sensitive towards birds is a story of a child who naturally loves birds and
animals. An adult brought a toy parrot in cage to home and hanged on wall. The
child Shailly is attracted by it very much. One evening the adult came to home
and found the cage of parrot missing from the wall. He noticed with anger that
the child had broken the wires of the cage and brought out the parrot in her
hands. He had to be quiet when he saw that the child kissed that toy parrot
with her lips. Anybody can be stunned to watch such a love .
In spite of the fact
that children love animals and birds so much that they want to look at them;
they want to play with them; they want
to live with them, there are many Indian parents and adults (particularly of
the middle class) who are not in favour of keeping the animals in their homes for
various reasons including the one that the animals like cats who eat rats and spoil
their things. But many Indian authors have taken the side of children in their
writings. In this regard, I may quote three stories for now: 1.’Cat’ written by
Hindi author Shriprasad; 2.’Small cat of Anima ‘by Aasamiya author Navkant
Barua and 3. ‘Three friends of Aashwin Raja’ written by Maithili author Lili Ray. The theme
and frame of these stories are almost same. The details, of course differ. In
the first story a children want to have a cat as pet but the mother does not
like it. The mother thinks that the cat is a dirty animal because that eats
mouse and drink the milk. However the mother prefers dog because that may
protect the home from the thieves. The children started feeding the cat and the
cat starting visiting the home but the mother always opposed. One night at
about 1 a.m. the cat started crying .
The mother requested the husband to shunt away the cat. The husband got up and
found a thief there. Other people also
joined. The thief ran away. Now the mother was happy and permitted the children
to have the cat as a pet in the home. The second story is a beautiful
story in which a girl Anima brought a kid cat at her home. Nobody liked the
cat. They all were irritated because of
naughty acts of the cat which are described by the author in a very
interesting way. In this story also the cat was accepted by all when that
became the reason for saving the home from a thief. In the third story, presence of cat is accepted by all but the
entry inside the home was prohibited because of
the mother who otherwise liked the play and other interesting actions of
the cat and her two kids. She was also kind enough to provide milk for them.
One day two big mouse entered the home and they spoiled many valuable things by
biting them. Ultimately, the Cat killed the two mouse. Realizing the utility of the cat the mother
permitted the entry of the cat inside the home happily. The added beauty of
these story is their language. The
animals do not use human language to express themselves. We know that love for
not only animals but even for the insects who live in a home is natural among the children. In one of the
poems of Hindi poet Divik Ramesh “Sabka Ghar yah Payara” ( The sweet home of all) this kind
of love among children is expressed very artistically. A male child argues with
her mother- You always say mom/this home belongs to us only/But how can I
accept mom/ this home belongs to so many others. Then he showed the rats,
lizard, ants, birds playing in the court yard etc. who are the part of the home
. The children like the rats when they
play and run and chase. Ruskin Bond, a famous Children’s author who
writes in English and in whose writings love for all living things is well reflected,
has shown his understanding towards the psychology of children in his stories.
In Visitors from the Forest, he writes, ‘I make things easier for all
concerned by leaving most of my windows open. I like to let in plenty of fresh
air, and if a few birds, beasts, and insects come in, too, they’re welcome (Growing up With Trees…, National Book
Trust, India). There are very good stories in which acceptability of animals in
home by all members is portrayed very nicely. In this regard, I may cite a
story “Appu Ki Kahani” (Story of Appu (elephant) written by Aasamiya author Nav
Krishna Mahant. Care of children’s psychology has been taken very much in
this story. An injured baby elephant was
brought home by a child Ajaya’s father. Doctor
treated him. Milk was given to drink through a nipple. The baby elephant
started recovering. He and Ajaya started playing. In fact naughty deeds of baby
elephant are very fascinating for children. Of course the elephant has acted as
person also. There are very emotional moments like meeting of baby elephant with his mother
which are added attractions of the story. The baby followed the (elephant)
mother and the father of Ajaya did not stop. Ajaya became sad. One day, all of
a sudden the baby elephant appeared again and everybody in Ajaya’s home was
surprised and happy. The baby elephant helped in rescuing another strong
elephant out of the hands of hunters. Ajaya’s father and elephant became very
famous. The father was promoted and the govt. transferred him to some other city.
‘Where to leave the baby elephant’, was the question before him. Ultimately he
got a happy solution. On behalf of the President the baby elephant (Appu) was
gifted to the children of Japan.
The traditional way of using the nature which is generally visible in
folktales may not attract the children of this era. It is also true that the Indian literature has been written with
different approaches . Lakshminath
Bezbaroa
(1868–1938) who was a great Assamese personality and pioneer of modern Assamese literature has also written stories for children many of
which are related to the animals.
Approach of this author seems to be quite spiritual which may look like
obsolete in spite of morals like a
saying, as you sow so shall you reap therein. Even then it
will not be a wise step to deprive the children of the nature altogether.
Instead the authors must work on the new treatment. By treatment or approach I
mean a new style with new tools of expression. I agree that the literature
which promotes blind beliefs, undemocratic values, feudal outlook,
absurdity ( unreasonable) and so and so forth are not required for the present child but to throw out the above i.e. animals, birds, insects etc.
blindly out of the world of the children
treating them merely as subject is also
not desirable. Why? Because we must understand that the process of creative
writing (poems, stories etc,) for children and adults is almost same. No one
write on the subject but it is the writer’s experience of the subject which
inspires the writers to write and the artistic expression thereof matters more.
To simplify, we may call that expression a subject too but in real sense the so
called subject no more remains in its real physical existence in creative
writing. To elaborate this I may say that an animal or a bird or a tree or a
season or even king etc. are subjects in their natural world but when they take
place in the creative children writing they become something else. A power
of imagination, a new treatment or approach , author’s vision
, new way of expression etc. transform the ‘subject ‘ to something else which
can be named as original creation. Moreover, not only in the case of nature but
in the case of other source material also
the authors must take care of the fact that whatever they write that
should be trustworthy for the
children. In fact the ‘original creation ‘ must
have foundation of reliability
and logic for which scientific outlook also contribute. So long element of reliability prevails, any
kind of imagination becomes acceptable and to bring reliability along with
imagination in the creation is a great
challenge which any aware author faces. In the name of science literature one
cannot afford absence of creative imagination to favour stereotype monotonous
dry informative literature. Eminent
children’s authors of Bengali Ashapurna Devi and Lila Majumdar have
underlined the need for more and more children’s literature for the Shishu or
child who is not a teenager and who is being neglected in the present Bengali
children’s literature. In the absence of this, the literature is flooded with
mystery, detection, adventure, science fiction, and information . Therefore, such literature is
threatening to drown children’s imagination, and wash away their quality of
innocence. Where is the fancy-free child or a child with a child-like sense of
wonder? It is said that literature’s prime purpose is to save humanity in the
human beings. In the same way we may say that children’s literature’s main
purpose should be to save innocence of childhood in the child who is being
loaded with so called harsh realities in the name of psychology, science etc.
In the words of prominent children’s author from Orrisa, Manoj Das, “ …no scientific or
technological discovery or invention can alter the basic human emotions,
sensations and feelings. Social, economic and political values may change, but
the evolutionary values ingrained in the consciousness cannot change---values
that account for our growth.” As per a great Hindi children’s author and well
wisher of children, late Sh.
Jaiprakash Bharati, “the main voice of the children’s literature has been
courage, faith, will to live, inspiration to struggle in difficulties. The
children’s literature has played a great role in awaking the sensitivity not
only towards human but also towards animals and birds in human beings.” “ Manushiya Puthiran,
an
important voice in the new generation of Tamil poets
thinks that children must grow as children. . It is good that now
many authors agree that along with the help of science and technology, role of
feathers of imagination which brings freshness and originality is also vital in
today’s children’s literature which includes the literature with flavor of
animal and birds too. No doubt, as one of the leading fiction
writer of Hindi Amritlal Nagar who has written a number of stories including stories related
to the animals etc. has said that the children like freshness in their
literature. And the freshness can be brought in the stories etc. by the alarmed
authors by using the fresh yet believable imaginations. Amritlal Nagar’s
story “Monkey in Space-suit” is a good example from this point of view t. In this story, a monkey
used to see a girl of the space wearing and putting off her space suit. She
came on the earth with help of a space machine and was helped by a ‘baba’
(saint) in her need. One day the monkey took away the suit and wore the same
and started the space machine. Somehow the monkey was escaped. The girl left
for her place. After sometime, she came along with her parents on the earth and
meat the saint. They offered a space suit to the saint and requested to enjoy a
space journey. But the saint declined the same politely saying that he would
enjoy the journey in future after discovery of the space suit by Indian
children. The story no doubt suggests so many other virtues also like love for
nation, care of the guests, self confidence, faith in one’s own children but
the imagination part is also very powerful and central force of the story. It
is generally agreed that Bangala, Kannad and Malyalam languages are very rich
from the point of view of Science fiction. Now Hindi language is also not very
behind. Here I may say very humbly that these are not the scientific or
technological equipments but the scientific outlook which matters more in the
children’s literature. I may quote my
own poem ‘Fire Engine –the Extinguisher’ as an example. In this poem a
child visits Zoo and see an elephant
there. The elephant takes water in his
trunk and showers on the visitors.
Looking at this the child reacts
joyfully—Look o brother Ranjan/ there is animal’s Fire Engine!’ The scientific
outlook can be seen in literature of many Hindi authors of today. For example
we may read a story “Rakhani Hai Saaf Safai” ( We have to keep cleanliness)
related to louse written by Manohar Chamoli ‘Manu’. In this story the
author shares even historical information related to louse but he has knitted
the same in such a way that it does not look like an imposed one. If an author
creates literature keeping keen observations
of an animal in centre then that literature too may come under the science
fiction. There is story “Our Cat” written by eminent Marathi author Vijya
Tendulkar. In this story one can find the natural behavior of animals based
on keen observation in a very
interesting way, yet it speaks a lot beyond that. For example, about a cat who liked to sleep on the top of a T.V. to enjoy
warmth of the same the author writes, “As soon as the T.V. started…, the
cat used to climb on the top of and
enjoyed sleep without any botheration. She had nothing to do with the
programmes. She left the issues of quality, characters, direction, TRP etc.
with us.”
Animal and birds rhymes
have been very popular in Indian languages which have been very lovable to children
for their fun . Have a taste of some of them: ‘Oh Mithu popata (parrot)/ why is your mouth
so red?/ From where did you eat a paan( betel leaf)’ (Marathi), ‘Oh, cat, you look like a tiger,/But do not
boast that you are one./ I know your power/ you can merely catch mice’ (Kannada,
Ch. Vasudevayya), ‘How much innocent, How much lovable/ Unique is cow among
the animals/ she gives us whole milk / let us give her tea to drink (Hindi, Sherjung
Garg). For other poems popular with tiny tots, I may refer to animal
fantasies by Bengali author Jogindranath Sarkar. His poem ‘The wedding of Mr. Grasshopper’
reads as ‘Ah, it is the wedding day of the grasshopper/ The lizard has put a
cap on and is playing the drum./ The cockroaches have turned bearers and they
are carrying the palanquin… ‘. One of the pioneers poets of Hindi, Vidyabhushan
Vibhu’s poem ‘Ghoom Haathi Jhoom Haathi’ (Rotate Elephant, dance Elephant) is full of
music and is still liked by children. To enjoy its music I may put few lines of
it in roman script: Haathi Jhoom-jhoom-jhoom/ Haathi Ghoom-Ghoom/ Raja jhoome
raani jhoome, jhoome raajkumar/ ghore jhoome Faujein jhoome/ jhoome sab
darbaar!/ joom jhoom ghoom Haathi, ghoom jhoom-jhoom Haathi!/ Haathi
jhoom-jhoom-jhoom!/ Haathi ghoom-ghoom-ghoom ) . Hindi poet Balswaroop
Rahi’s poem ‘Camel’ is full of fun
which has introduced the strange shape of camel innocently. Great grandfather of Hindi Children’s
literature, Nirankar Dev Sevak has written many beautiful poems making
animals and birds as characters . One of his such poems is ‘Chiriya’ (sparrow) which reads as: ‘One sparrow came and sat on the wall of
roof and said- how beautiful is the house , how beautiful the boy who lives in
the house. I will marry him and will give butter and biscuit to him’ . I may also quote a beautiful
poem with grand imagery , Titali (Butterfly) written by poet of Malyalam language,
Kumaran Aasan(1873-1024) who is known as the first modern malyalam poet: Ei
Valliyil ninu chamme/Pukkal pokunnita parnnmme./ Tetti ninakkunni! Chollaan/Pumpaatt
kallleyitella (The child tells his mother that look, so many beautiful flowers are coming
from creeper. The mother tells that son, you are mistaken! These are not
flowers but butterflies). This image has reminded me a description made by Ruskin Bond(1934- ) in another context.
We all know that trees are the integral part of birds and animals. The man keep
on cutting them for selfish motive which harms the cause of animals and birds
too. In his book Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, he writes, “Rakesh calls
the maples the butterfly trees because when the winged seeds fall, they flutter
like butterflies in the breeze.” Well, these are few examples to have an idea. Otherwise
I may quote several beautiful poems of
several poets. I may also add that
particularly in rural and tribal India
the animals and birds like dogs and cats
etc. belong to the community and the community take cares of them.
I may say that nobody can deny that animals
and birds have always been a great attraction for the children. Their shapes, their
behavior, there sounds etc. astonish them. They become objects of entertainment
for the children. The children like to copy them and also imagine something new
about them. One can experience this fact in their drawing books too. The Indian
authors understand this interest of the
children and try to create such literature which may increase their
entertainment and love for the animals, birds etc. as fellow living beings. They have made the
animals and birds as participants of the festivals and many other events in
their literature. Generally, the Indian authors have realized and expressed
the same in their literature that man has been cruel to animals. He is the only animal who has
been hunting for pleasure while all the other animals hunt for food. Paro Anand who writes in English has
conveyed this fact through her story ‘Now I am old.’ in which a Lion tells
about the cruel and war-loving nature of man, who does not fight for food like
animals, in autobiographical style. Of course, through their literature the
authors may suggest some good ways of life also without making them so loud
that the children run away .It is good that in Indian contemporary children’s
literature much care of this is being taken. In fact, Indian authors of today
are opposed to imposition of moral or education or preaching, if any, and
consider this an outdated style. It
should be inbuilt and look like natural.
Moreover, emphasis on entertainment or joy is being given more. As an example,
I may cite one of the stories, ‘Shabash Cuckoo!’ ( Bravo Cuckoo!) written by
Oriya writer Das Benhur . The
story is written in a dialogue form. It is a small story, I quote: Early one morning, when the sun was still half asleep, a
cuckoo sat on the branch of a mango tree, Singing.
"Ku-oo,
Ku-oo !" the cuckoo sang.
Just then, a
little sparrow flew down and sat next to the cuckoo.
"Come,
Let's go !" the sparrow said to the cuckoo.
"Go
where ?" the cuckoo asked.
"Oh.
nowhere !" the sparrow said. "We'll just wander around, hop around,
play, have
fun !"
The cuckoo
said "No, I can't come with you, sparrow. It's time for me to
practice my
singing."
"What
good will that do ?" the sparrow asked, "I don't practise anything,
and I never
have any problems."
The cuckoo
laughed and said "There is a time for everything, sparrow.
There is a
time to practise singing and a time to play. Why should I listen
to you ?
"People
love me because I can sing sweetly, and that's because I spend
so much time
practising !
"You
can do what you like, but let me do what I am supposed to do. Now
go
away!"
And a tender
leaf of the mango tree said: "Shabash, cuckoo ! Well said !"
The sparrow
said nothing and flew away.
And the
cuckoo went back to his singing practice.
"Ku-oo
! Ku-oo !"
We may notice that what we
learn from this story is noticeable but it is not imposed at all. And there is
no direct interference in other’s thinking. This is an modern approach.
Well, now we all know
that Nature (trees, flowers, birds, animals, the sun, moon and the like) plays an important role in the world of
children along with new themes. The child tries to establish dialogue with
animals, birds, flowers etc. I may also add that as per a survey, we have in
India 68,300 species of animals of which 60,000 are insects, 1600 species of
fish and 372 species of animals. An animal which is on the endangered list and
is found only in our country is the black buck. The black buck is a creature of
the open plains and avoids forests or hilly areas.
Whenever a talk related
to animals and birds in Indian children’s literature begins, we cannot remain
without mentioning some of our great
world fame classics written in Sanskrit and
Pali languages. These are considered as the source of children’s
literature of all the Indian languages. These classics are “Panchatantra”(divided
in 5 parts written by Vishnu Sharma more
than 2000 years ago to educate mainly the politics including
manipulative powers, importance of human intelligence etc. to 3 idiots or
ignorant young princes of a king in six months through stories with animals and
birds as characters. There are 87 stories. ) , ‘Hitopdesh”(a short or little
changes form of Panchatantra written by Narayan Pandit) ,
“kathasaritsagar”( written by a resident of Kashmir, Somdev)
in Sanskrit and “Jataka” (refer to a voluminous body of literature native to India concerning the previous births of the Bodhisattva. These are the stories that tell about the
previous lives of the Buddha, in both human and animal form. The future Buddha
may appear in them as a king, an outcast, a god, an elephant—but, in whatever
form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates.)
in Pali. At the same time great epics
like Mahabharata and Ramayana etc.
are also big source of stories
for children and animals and birds have played
an important role in them.
If we look at the
children’s literature as whole, we will find that
it falls under two broad categories
. Under first category we may put that literature which was not
specially written for children but still has capacity to entertain and educate
the children after some editing and
rewriting and thus making them relevant for today’s world of
children. There is a story from
Ramayana in which intelligence of a dog is shown in such a way that
intelligence of highest cast persons and officials proved dim. The dog was
abused, insulted and beaten up by a Brahmin (Priest) out of high anger for no
fault of him to the highest extent. His fault was only this that he came on the
way of the priest. The dog went to Rama, the king, for justice. The Priest was
summoned. After hearing the side of the Priest, Rama fixed his crime because
his act was due to his anger. Rama consulted members of his court to suggest
punishment but no one could suggest because as per the tradition the no
punishment could be given to a priest. It was only King who could give any punishment.
Then the dog was allowed to suggest a punishment. The dog requested the king to assign the
highest post of a learning institute to the priest. Everyone there was
astonished to know such a punishment which was like a reward. The king laughed
at the innocence of the members of his court and said that do not think the dog
as insignificant because he is a dog. He is very intelligent and knowledgeable.
He has understood the psychology of the priest. Then he requested the dog to
reveal the mystery behind the punishment. The dog revealed that before this
birth he was the head of the same institute. Perhaps, unknowingly he committed
a mistake and for that he is a dog in this birth. Now you may understand what
will happen to the priest who is in a habit to act as per his anger on this and
that small thing. Everyone was surprised on the intelligence of the dog. By
interpretation this symbolic story is quite relevant to the present Indian
society also which is still struggling with so many contradictions related to
harmony of relationship. The second
category of children’s literature is that written specially for
children. In the modern children’s
literature we may locate both the
categories. For example there are some stories of leading Hindi fiction
writer Premchand which are written for the adults but can be enjoyed by
the children too. Only some editing will be required. In my opinion they must
not be treated as children’s stories as it is. Premchand was the first Hindi
author who wrote first novel of Hindi for children and the title of which is “Kutte
Ki Kahani” (story of dog). His 12 stories in which role of animals is
prominent are collected in his book “Jangal Ki Kahaniyan” (Tales of
Jungle). Hunting is one of the dominant factor in some of these stories.
Somehow I could not appreciate a story “ Hunting of Crocodile”.
No doubt the story is full of
thrilling and adventure and one can learn how to hunt a crocodile but from the
point of view of children it becomes a very cruel scene of hunting for hunting
sake of an innocent crocodile and cruel use of a goat for the same and that too
in this age of ban on cruel hunting. But there is another story “Mitthu” who is
a monkey. Monkey belongs to a circus. Gopal , a child, liked him much. He used
to feed him bananas and other fruits. One day he came to know that circus is
going to be moved from there. He became sad and wished to buy the monkey and
got the money from his mother. He went to circus and tried to locate the
monkey. While he was searching the monkey here and there his hand was about to
reach in the cage of a tiger. All of a sudden the monkey jumped and saved him.
In this operation the monkey was injured and even became unconscious. The
monkey was alright after getting the treatment. The owner of the circus gave
the monkey to Gopal free of cost. They both were very happy. This is a good
story of mutual love, sense of
belonging, friendship, importance to obligations between an animal and human being. The story
is not at all unnecessary loud in its message and hence without extra burden.
In
the opinion of Premchand , children
should be taught how to defend their lives themselves. They should have wisdom
to differentiate between good and bad. If we study the opinions of other
stalwart authors of other Indian languages we will find them similar to the
above opinion. Giju Bhai( 1885-1939) of Gujarati who himself a very
popular children’s story writer, felt
that the personality of child is independent.
In his words, “ Do not tell stories as scholars. Do not try to nail the
wisdom (in children). Do not impose. It is a flowing Ganga (river). First you
take a dip in it and then allow children to take bath”. I may also mention that there is also a non
Indian great book ‘Aesop’s fables’ the stories of which have strong resemblances
with the stories of Panchatantra and the
same were translated in many Indian languages long back. This is a collection of tales from the
Greek story teller, Aesop. Aesop was a slave in ancient Greece. He was a keen
observer of both animals and people. Most of the characters in his stories are
animals, some of which take on human characteristic and are personified in ways
of speech and emotions. Each fable has an accompanying moral to be learned from
the tale. Aesop, believed to have lived in ancient
Greece between
620 and 560 BC. The stories have also influenced the
Indian children’s authors. We may easily say that Panchantra,
kathasaritsagar, jatak kathayein etc.
on one
hand and Western children literature which was made available in
translation from the very beginning and
classics of so many other languages of the world on other hand has influenced
the Indian children’s literature. Literature of Russia, China, Japan and
Korea etc. have also influenced the Indian children’s literature.
I must mention that some authors including the prominent ones, though
they are exceptions, still write
under the strong influence of the stories of Panchatantra , Katha
Saritsagar etc. Sometimes they seem to copy the idea and some details of those
stories in the name of their own stories which is unfortunate in my humble
opinion. I think in such cases credit must be given to the source books.
Otherwise for the enlightened readers that may give an unfavourable reaction.
We may take the example of two stories “speaking Cave” and “Bride in
Box” written by a very respectable Oriya author Manoj Das and which are complied in his book of
stories, the Hindi title of which is “Sanduk Mein Dulhan Tatha Anya Kahaniyan”
(Bride in Box and other stories). The
first story is available in Panchatantra and the other story is available in
Katha Sarit sagar. If you compare the two texts, we will find that except some
expansions in the description there is nothing new. However, in both the stories role of animals like
Lion, Jackal and monkey is very interesting. There is another example of an Asamiya story “Saha Aru Kachar Daur (Race of Rabbit and Tortoise ) written by Kiran
Tamuli. This story is based on a story “ The Tortoise and the Hare” from
the Aesop’s fables through which a lesson of ‘slow and steady wins the
race’ has been taught and which is very popular among the Indians. One day a hare was bragging
about how fast he could run. He bragged and bragged and even laughed at the
tortoise, who was so slow. The tortoise stretched out his long neck and
challenged the hare to a race, which, of course, made the hare laugh. The proud rabbit who could run very fast was
defeated by a tortoise who could run very slowly. Thinking that tortoise walk
very slow, the rabbit liked to take a nap
in the race whereas the tortoise kept on walking and ultimately won the
race. The author first of all gave the
indication and credit to the old story and then keeping the main frame as it is
changed the description and angle in such a way that it has become a fresh
story for today’s children. In this story the Rabbit was determined not to
commit the earlier mistake i.e of sleeping during the race. But this time, he
started preparing himself for the race by eating more and more. He became very
fat and due to the fatness he started panting during the race. He felt
giddiness and could not move. Again the tortoise won the race. Preparation of
the race and active participation of other animals which are very closed to
Indian children like squirrel, bear,
dear, lion, elephants, crocodile, monkey,
porcupine (Sahi) is very interesting. The presence of these animals are
missing in the source story .Vishnu Prabhakar, a prominent Hindi author
who has written some stories related to animal and birds has also direct
influence of the classics. Some stories are quite similar to Panchantra’s
stories. But because of little new style they have become interesting. Vishnu
Prabhakar’s main contribution is a character ‘Gajnandan’ based on symbol
of Asiyad Games, ‘Appu’, the elephant. The stories of Gajandan are very humorous.
This character also shares something useful also to the children. Sometimes the
authors have used light glimpses of the characters of stories from classics like Panchatantra in their stories in a new way. For example we take example of
a beautiful novel “River and Jaungle”
related to animals and birds
written by Vinayak in Hindi. Here , in a light mood, an
animal character, Lioness of this generation want to remind a crocodile
jokingly of his ancestor who tried to pursued a monkey to go to his home in the water on dinner on request of his
wife who wanted to eat delicious heart of the monkey who used to eat and offer
delicious fruits to the crocodile. The old story has been used only as an hint.
Another young generation Hindi author from Rajasthan, Dinesh Panchal has also
used the same story in his novel ‘Flying
of tortoise’(कछुए की उड़ान) but in a little changed way. In fact, mainly these novels depict the
problems of animals which they are facing for their existence. Animals have
their own world and importance and need sensivity. Briefly I may say that children’s literature inspired
by the stories of above mentioned classics have been repeated and rewritten
with a brush of local colours and the powerful writers know how to use the
source material effectively and appropriately.
If we look at the history of modern Children’s literature (in its real sense) of major languages of India
like Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, Oriya, Assamese etc. we
will find that it started at the end of the 19th century and early
20th century. In some other languages it came later. For example in
Manipuri, a North-East language, the need for children’s literature in printed
form began to be felt in the early 1940s to 1950s. After 1947 a number of books
on children’s literature were brought out.
In the case of major languages one of the reasons of beginning of
Children’s literature was the need of preparing the text books for education.
The Christian missionary schools were established and due to them new type of education
system inspired to write stories of new style. Further, Kavi mani Desikavinayagam Pillai and Subramania Bharati tops the list
of Tamil
modern authors who gave the lead to contemporary poetry for children. Truly
speaking, without any prejudice towards the best part of classical and early
writings for children, the children’s
literature which can be said as the most suitable literature and which is not
didactic like the old literature and
which includes the literature relating to animals and birds etc.
too for the contemporary children, is
written in the post independence period of
India. It was not wrong if the great Hindi Children’s author and editor
late Jaiprakash Bharati declared, that era after 1970 should be accepted as
golden period of Hindi children’s literature. We may apply the same to the
children’s literature of many other Indian languages too. It does not
mean that the children should be deprived of
the knowledge of classics of Children’s literature. Now India has the
best type of children’s literature which may compete the
best literature of any language of the world.
Like Sanskrit , Tamil is also an ancient
Indian language. An ancient female poet Avvaiyyar (औवैयार) is the
mother of Tamil children’s literature as in the case of Panjabi it is Guru
Nanak, Amir Khusro and Surdas( if we ignore the debate that who shold be named as first children’s
author) in the case of Hindi . Avvaiyyar gave education of morals etc.
In the case of Bengali, a book of stories ‘Hansi o Khela”
(laughing and playing) written by Jogindernath
Sarkar in 1891 was the first to break away from the class-room tradition
and was solely for the pleasure it would give to children. What the child would
incidentally learn was an extra benefit. Rabindranath Tagore wrote about this
book in the periodical Sadhana in 1893 that “ The book is for little children. Bengal needed
such a book, all our children’s books are for the class-rooms. There is no
trace of tenderness or beauty in them….” This comment was a new inspiration and
direction to the Indian authors. As per Bengali scholar and author, Shri
Shekhar Basu, “ The Calcutta Schoolbook society was set up in 1817. It
employed a host of writers whose primary job was to write textbooks for
newly-founded missionary schools. Nitikatha, a moral text, published in 1818
was considered the first textbook in Bengali for school children. Children’s
literature found a solid base in the hands of Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, a stalwart of this
age. He created lucid, well-knit, attractive Bengali talks for children. With Rabindranath
Tagore the golden age in Bengali children’s literature emerged. Tagore wrote
stories which were free from moral lessons. Reading became an activity for
pleasure only.” (Aspects of Children’s Literature VolumeII, National Book Trust,
India). The children
literature written as part of textbooks to teach them is
separated from the children’s literature created for them as their friend to
enjoy the company of the same. I can draw your attention towards
a story through which one can understand what a non-educational or academic
story means. The story is “Flower of Camel’ written by Hindi author Prabhat.
In short, in this story , one day, a
camel went to a village of different flowers. Looking at strange creature one
kind of flower asked him, “What are you and from which world you have come. I do not
know any world except the world of flowers?” The camel replied, “I am of the
same world?” The flower asked again,” If you are of this world then tell me
whose flower you are” After a long discussion, the flower could convince the
Camel that he was a flower of Camel. The Camel went to the place of Camel to
tell the same with a great joy. When he told that “We all are flowers of
Camels”, the camels denied to accept this. This story is unique and capable to
give pleasure of surprise and new type of imagination. There is another famous
story “And Ballu Dada Was Freed” written by Divik Ramesh in which the animals of jungle got a strong
and kind elephant, who had never quarreled with anyone unnecessarily, freed
from the prison of hunters. He loved to
take care of the children of the animals. The whole operation looks like a
operation done by animals and not by people. Beauty or art of the story lies in
the pleasure full enthusiastic functioning of various animals and birds. They
act as per their accepted natural strength and behavior . For example, an eagle
who can fly high and see from a long distance informs the animals, “When I was
returning home I saw some people taking Ballu Dada (the elephant) away.” The
rats nibble away all the ropes tying Ballu Dada, the vultures confused the
guards by hovering on the elephant as we
know vultures normally circle a dead body, wolves raised clouds of dust by
thrashing their hind legs vigorously and
so and so forth . This kind of animal’s world can be enjoyed more in a drama “Ballu Haathi Ka Balghar”( Creche of
Ballu Elephant) written by the same author and published by Rajkamal
Prakashan Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India. An eminent Bengali author Lila Majumdar (1908-2007) has written a number of stories related to the animals,
birds and insects etc. She has shared
factual knowledge related to animals etc. in a very artistic. Her outlook is
also scientific. I quote few lines from his book “Large Water’ to have an idea
of her outlook- “ Spiders are very bad,
they eat flies. Sparrows are also bad, they also eat insects.” Kanu said. The grandpa replied, “Small children are also
bad, they also eat fish and chicken and goat. In this world, this and that keep
on eating someone other. Drink milk and go to sleep quietly.”This can be termed
as a logical treatment.
Before summing up the various forms and styles of
existence of animals and birds in the contemporary children’s literature of
Indian languages, I would like to introduce some more fine pieces of the
literature which I have come across . First
of all. Let me take up the story “Laughing Dog”
written by grate Bengali author Satyajit Ray (grandson of another great
author Upendrakishore) who introduced
Professor Shonku –a character who is an
inventor, and wrote wonderful science fictions. He has also introduced
another character Feluda (fictional private investigator) in his
stories. Feluda’s distinguished presence can be seen in one of his very famous
story “ Search of Tiger”. I must mention
that contributions in the Bengali
Children’s literature of Upendrakishore’s own family are greater and
more varied than those of any single family. Well, ‘Laughing Dog’ runs on multi
layers. It gives taste of satire, metaphor, humor etc. When readers see
Asmanjas Babu so serious again and again
about the laughing of his Dog-Browny , they cannot remain without laughing.
First of all the title of the story itself attracts the children. The name of the human character
Asmanjus (suspense) itself is very
suggestive. Dog also laughs, it is a new imagination. It was a matter of
surprise for the people who came across this information because
as per their understanding except man no other living one laughs. Once Asmanjus
tried to hit a cockroach by his slipper but could not get success. At this, the
Dog laughed loudly with joy. We know even the human beings may laugh in this
situation. I must say that this is an
imagination imposed on the dog by the author but in such a way that it looks
like natural and trustworthy and hence enjoyable. Asmanjus talks to the Dog but
the dog do not use the language of man which is another beauty of the story. The
author gives another flavor to the story by a spice of various references of research
related to laughing of a dog. Towards the end of the story, last incident of
laughing is very sensitive and suggestive. An American wanted to buy the dog . The dog laughed. The American
asked reason of the laughing. Asmanjus replied-“ Sahib (Sir) thinks that he can buy whatever he
likes with the help of money and thinking this the dog is laughing.” Another
powerful story is “Rat and Me” written by very famous Hindi author Harishankar
Parsai who is known for his satires. In this story, the author has shown
how a fat rat thinks his right to live in his home and eat. In fact the rat
owns the house. When the master of the home tried to avoid the rat from eating
by adopting several ways, the rat does sit quietly. He kept on struggling for his
right in his own way, for example by teasing the master . . The end of this story is also very
suggestive and effective. The writer ends the story by these words, “ Is a man
became inferior even to a rat? The rat can climb on my head for his right of
food.” In this story too the rat does not speak in a language of man. It means
the animal is depicted as animal. I may also refer to A noted figure in Marathi Children's literature, Leelavati
Bhagwat who passed away
at the age of 93. In her writing the
animals have important roles but they remain as animals.
Sometimes the author uses the
popular folk -beliefs about the animals to give a flavor of traditional India and then suggest the other logical ways. We
may take example of her very popular book “A Night in the Wood”. I quote few
lines: “What is it, dear?”/ “My leg! It’s hot and itching,” said Swati./ “It
has gone red and swollen too. Did something bite you?” asked Meena anxiously.
“A serpent or something?”/ Yamu suddenly
closed her eyes and said solemnly, “Astik Astik Kala Dora”. /”What in the name
of heavens are you muttering, Yamu?” asked Meena./ Yamu explained, “It is a
mantra( hymn). Whenever my mother hears the word ‘snake’, she says these words
twice. She says it wards off any harm the snake may do you.” No doubt whatever
children see their parents doing, they
generally copy. In this story, ultimately a ‘First-aid’ treatment was given to
Yamu by Shevanta and everything was alright. I cannot remain without
remembering name of another prominent Marathi author (1923-2008) who has also written
children literature and who also portrays
animal as animal, and neither
treat that as person nor put man-language in that’s mouth. Here I
want to discuss briefly his detective novel for children “Pakya aur Uska Gaing”
(Pakya and his group) . Role of a dog Khanduaa
is very significant in this novel. One of the member of the team always blamed
the dog as Idiot. The dog never minded the comment. Rather he helped the team a
lot and took dangerous challenges bravely. At the end, the team got success in
its mission and the credit was given to the dog for the same. The dog told the
story of his bravery loudly but in his own language i.e. “Bhau! Bhau! Bhau!”
The deeds of the dogs are very attractive for children. “Wise Bird” written by a Kashmiri author Surayya Rasool is also a good
story in which the small sparrow’s
wisdom became reason to save the jungle
from fire whereas the king peacock full of pride could not help at all. Among other good books related to animals and
birds, I may refer to “Jungil Tapu” (Jungle Island ) written by Panjabi writer Jasbir
Bhullar, “In the nation of
Butterflies” by Sunil Gangopadhyaya,
Sindhi writer Ishwar Chander’s joyful story “When Cat wore goggles” in which a message of
self defense has been conveyed through deeds of Rat and cat. “Choogh the
squirrel” is a story written by English author Bitti Mithal in which a
female squirrel was ultimately permitted to live in her own natural home. Tamil story “ He-calf” written by J.
Yatirajan is a story in which love for animals is portrayed very well. The
style is autobiographical. Children love such stories. In another Tamil story
“Inspector Uncle” written by Poovai Amudhan, again love for animal
(here a dog) has been shown. Pathetic
reality of dogs in Indian environment
is also shown. In this
interesting and inspiring story a child saves a baby dog. Knowledge of society which takes care of animals has also
been shared. In a story “You get as per
your doing” written by Kannada author T.C. Poornima, fall of pride of an elephant has been shown.
This elephant who got asylum in a beautiful Jungle became destroyer of the jungle due to his
pride for his strength. Ultimately he realized his fault and repented. He
became protector of the jungle. The details of this inspiring story are
attractive. Here I may cite a beautiful story of Hindi fiction writer Kshama Sharma, “Cat
With wings” also. The imagination in this story is quite
fascinating for children. A cat managed to get wings with the help of a child
sparrow from latter’s grand mother who had wings of her husband in
stock. Of course, Initially the grandmother tried to convince the child not to insist upon this kind of help which can
be proved dangerous for sparrows but she had to bow. Her doubts proved true.
After getting power of wings it became easier for the cat to reach eggs of the
sparrow lying in nest on tree. Fortunately, an ape failed her plan of misuse of
the power of wings. The ape snatched out the wings. The cat repented but there
was no there to trust her and help. Kshama Sharma has written so many stories
using the power of beautiful imagination. Her story “Pappu Chala Dhundne
Sher” ( Pappu in search of Lion) is another example. In this story concern
towards animals’ existence comes in a very thought provoking way when we learn
that Lion can be seen either in a book
or in Zoo. In Indian children’s literature, along with beautiful imaginations
like playing musical instrument and dancing on
that by animals etc, sometime the animals can be found in form of masks
also. For example, we may experience the same in a well known novel, “Ek tha
Thunthuniya (There was a Thunthuniya)” written by noted writer Prakash
Manu. “Vah Aa Raha Hai (He is coming)” written by Rajasthani
writer Lakshminaryan Ranga is a very good story both craft and content
wise. The story runs on a style of ‘hearsay’. All animals are informed by one
animal to other gradually that “He is coming” but no one knows who he is. They
have imagined worst to worst danger including the death, but could not guess
till the end of the story. The monkey uncle ( In Indian stories monkeys are
generally addressed as maternal uncle) revealed that “ man is coming with axe”.
Hearing this all the animals starting looking at each other with great grief. This story
alarms against the danger of environment raised by selfish man. Mohan Rakesh, a leading Hindi author has dealt with
problem of survival in one of his
story “Golden Cock, Black Monkey, Tree of Red Guava” in another way, very nicely. In this story so
long these three live together friendly helping each other, they remain safe
otherwise they face destruction. Though the characters use man language yet
they are not exactly personified. Personification is not imposed. There is an imagination but
within the circle of acceptability. For example the tree drops fruit to help.
One may say that how a tree can drop fruit on his own. Tree is not a person.
But we know fruits drop from the trees and author can describe this fact in an
artistic way. One may across such literature also in which traditional thinking
imposed on certain animals are changed. For example Donkey or ass is known as
idiot, who always carry load of others, in the world of humanity. In one of the
poem, ‘Weight Lifter’ written by the
writer of this paper, the donkey wants to convince the children to call him
weight lifter instead of idiot who carries load of others. That reminds me a
story ‘Gaplu, Taplu’ written by Sindhi author Dr. Hundraj Balwani. Gaplu
and Taplu are two donkeys. Taplu has a complaint that people unnecessary thinks
that donkeys are idiot. So much so they address the idiot people as donkey.
Ultimately they come to conclusion that donkeys are not idiots. There is
another Sindhi poet Mahesh Nenvani who has also written similar poem. In
his poem ‘Not mustachio but Tail’ one can see a new understanding of relationship against the traditionally known
relationship of enmity between snake and
mongoose. In a story ‘New morning’ of Jayashri Nayak a loin who used
kill a number of animals not only for food but also fun is compelled to realize
that one should wish for a thing as per requirement only.
Among the Hindi
authors, apart from the names already mentioned above, I may add some more names rapidly from the present
scenario, like Dr. Nagesh Pandey Sanjya,
Swayam Prakash, Amar Goswami, Baldev Singh Baddan, Vishnuprasad Chaturvedi,
Mohamad Asraf Khan, Dr. Bano Sartaj , Shyam Sushil, Surendra Vikram, Dr. Madhu
Pant , Parshuram Shukla , Shanta Grover, Shreen Rizvi, Ramesh Tailang and Nrmala Singh who have written noticeable
literature related to animals and birds. Of course there are many more names
and they are equally important. Likewise names of some other prominent authors
other Indian languages like Barqi Iqbal
Ahmed (Wise Tortoise), Usha Anand (A Pool in the Jungle, Anita Desai (The
peacock garden, A Cat on the Houseboat), Dr. Zakir Hussain (Goat of Abbukhan)
,Tara Tiwari (Sona’s Adventures), Lal Singh (Nuskha), Ramendra Kumar (A Tale of
Tails), J.B. Sharma (The Lion and the Hedgehog), can also be mentioned
One may also find such literature in which
presence of animals and birds are in form of simile or abuse, or useful
finished products, pictures etc. Without
going into details I may quote a story “Next Day” written by Kashmiri author Harikrishan
Kaul in which ship is in form of oil, crocodile is mainly in form of
information, animal is in form of food. In a poem of Hindi poet Parshuram Shukla,
a child says to his mom that he has drawn a picture in which a baby elephant is
sitting on an elephant. The baby is very naughty and eats leaves by raising
his trunk. In Hindi it reads as:
मम्मी मैंने ड्राइंग बुक में ,हाथी एक बनाया |
हाथी के ऊपर हाथी के , बच्चे को बैठाया |
हाथी का बच्चा हाथी पर ,ऊधम खूब मचता |
और कभी वह सूंड़ उठाकर,छोटे पत्ते खाता ||
No doubt, such examples
are few.
I may say that we may enjoy
various forms and styles of existence of animals and birds (and also insects ) in the contemporary children’s
literature of Indian languages.
Sometimes they exist in the form of themselves, sometimes they exist in form of
metaphor, allegory, symbol, picture, messenger, toys, mask etc., sometimes they
exist in form of person, sometime they exist as themselves but speak in
man-language and sometimes they exist totally in new form. It is good that Indian authors keep
on experimenting to give such literature a new shape, content, language and approach
etc.
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