Central India, Chhattisgarh, Folktales from India, Madhya Pradesh, Oral Stories from Rural India
Published on 03/07/2025
Comments 28

Rare Stories: A Gondi Folktale that Might Make You Angry

written by
Narayan KAUDINYA 2011, Self (Pachmarhi Stories)

Folktales are Oral stories that are passed down by the elders to the younger generation. For centuries, folktales have been a crucial medium for preserving cultural traditions and teaching the youth to understand the world around them.

A Rare FOLKTALE From the Jungles of Chhattisgarh

Few years ago, i found an opportunity to travel again through Central India. Through the oldest jungles. It was a time of limited communications. Freedom of another kind. Not a baggage of expectations, of calls and answers after every turn of the day. One could breathe without attending to the urgency of each passing thought. And even now, whenever I imagine about that phase, that land, those forests, streams i bathed in, those trees i touched as i passed and the people, their humbling nature, their beliefs rooted in the earthen-ness of sharing and giving, their customs, rituals and most importantly their stories that are ages old. One could feel the Ancientness brimming out-seeping in as if they want you to become still and hear what they are carrying.

Sharing a few images from that that period of my life:

I was travelling from Pune, Maharashtra to Satpura Tiger Reserve to attend this Camp. That was going to be my last, 2011
The Campsite, was in the middle of nowhere, 2011
Route to Jatashankar Mahadev Temple, Pachmarhi, 2011

In these years of travelling and Staying in the forests of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, i made several friends, Locals and a few Tribals who became like family. I was revisiting a few of them who had become a part of this journey during my school Scouting days to the Satpura Tiger Reserve or the Panchgani Jungles. We had camped for two weeks and learnt Basic Survival Techniques.

Strangely I look very much unlike me, but this is what it is. And happened to be the only photograph with the uniform, Pachmarhi, Bharat Scouts and Guides, 2011
Drinking from the river, bathing and playing had become a part. I remember this moment very much. Pachmarhi River, 2011
It was a big camp where several scouts had arrived from all parts of the country, The Bharat Scouts and Guides, 2011
One of my favourite activities after practising Archery was Horse Riding, i was fairly good at it, Pachmarhi, 2011
National Adventure Institute, The Bharat Scouts and Guides, Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh

I remember this story from those times. It’s something I only heard once and remembered ever since. If any local of that land ever reads this, please correct me if this floating folklore is true?

Also read: The Life of Verrier Elwin I/II

A Gond peasant kept a farmhand who worked for him in the fields. One day they went together to a distant village to visit the Gond’s son and his wife. On the way they stopped at a little hut by the roadside. After they had eaten their supper, the farmhand said, ‘Tell me a story.’ But the Gond was tired and went to sleep. His servant lay awake. He knew that his master had four stories, which he was too lazy to tell.

When the Gond was fast asleep, the stories came out of his belly, sat on his body, and began to talk to each other. They were angry. ‘This Gond, ‘they said, knows us very well from childhood, but he will never tell anybody about us. Why should we go on living uselessly in his belly? Let’s kill him and go to live with someone else. ‘The farmhand pretended to be asleep, but he listened carefully to everything they said.

The first story said, ‘when the Gond reaches his son’s house and sits down to eat his supper, i will turn his first mouthful of food into sharp needles, and when he swallows them they will kill him.’

The second story said, ‘If he escapes that, I will become a great tree by the roadside. I will fall on him as he passes by and kill him that way.’

The third story said, ‘If that doesnt work, I will become a snake and run up his leg and bite him.’

The fourth story said, ‘ If that doesn’t work, I will bring a great wave of water as he is crossing the river and wash him away.’

The next morning the Gond and his servant reached his son’s house. His son and daughter-in-law welcomed him and prepared food and set it before him. But as the Gond raised his first mouthful to his lips, his servant knocked it out of his hand, saying, ‘There’s an insect in the food.’ When they looked, they saw all the rice had turned into needles.

The next day the Gond and his servant set out on their return journey. There was a great tree leaning across the road, and the servant said, ‘Let’s run past that tree.’ As they ran past it, the tree fell with a mighty crash, and they just escaped. A little later, they saw a snake by the road, and the servant quickly killed it with his stick. After that they came to the river and as they were crossing, a great wave came rushing down, but the servant dragged the Gond to safety.

They sat down on the bank to rest, and the Gond said, ‘You have saved my life four times. You know something I don’t. How did you know what was going to happen? The farmhand said, ‘If I tell you I will turn into a stone.’ The Gond said, ‘How can a man turn into a stone? Come on, tell me.’ So the servant said, ‘Very well, I will tell you. But when I turn into a stone, take your daughter-in-law’s child and throw it against me, and I will become a man again.’

So the servant told his story and was turned into a stone, but the Gond left him there and went home. After some time, his daughter-in-law heard about it, and she went all by herself and threw her child against the stone, and the servant came to life again.

But the Gond refused to have him in his house and dismissed him. That’s why few people in this region trust a Gond. They even have a saying: No one can rely on a Gond, a woman, or a dream.’

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Thank you

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ROAD TO NARA is an Ethnographic Blog of History, Stories of Culture, Art, People, Rivers, Folk, Mysticism, Meditation, Mountains, Trees and Tantra Yoga- Science of Ancient India and the Indigenous World that brings World’s Most Important Stories to your mailbox.

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I will take this opportunity to introduce you to About me and importantly

As a co-traveller, will take you through the Ten Lessons I learnt from several years on the road, before you coarse on your own Road to Nara.

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You might also like to know about My Little School Project.

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If you have anything to share, or feel like saying a hello, please feel free to write to me at lotusofnara@gmail.com

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The cover image has an Old Monk bottle kept behind me. It was around mid-night when i woke up from sleep from the ruckus that fellow drinkers were making. They had kept it there knowingly, as I was the only odd one non-drinker, thinking they will all be safe if ever the bottle gets caught.

This entry was posted in: Central India, Chhattisgarh, Folktales from India, Madhya Pradesh, Oral Stories from Rural India
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Unknown's avatar

Hi, I am Narayan Kaudinya. And i welcome you on this journey, the Road to Nara ! I am an Ethnographer and a practicing Indologist. I did my masters in History and further learnt Sanskrit, Yoga and Nerve-therapy. At 24, pushing most academic sounding, office sitting works away, i felt compelled to know and understand the world and my country, Bharat/India. I travelled, and as it happened i took up teaching in Kashmir and further up in the remote villages of Baltistan in the foothills of Karakoram Ranges. For around three years and many states later there came a time when i felt that it was only while teaching i learnt how to laugh, to see, feel, breathe, love and cry -with children, and mostly resource-less parents in the harshest-freezing border conditions. I write, and work as a documentary photographer and Filmmaker, with numerous published, exhibited and some awarded stories. In my travels and life i have let nature lead me, the divine mother, and as a Yogin, my resolve here is to share my experiences and thoughts as honestly, and through them to blossom in everyone the power and possibility in pursuing your breath, that you seek your true nature with courage and curiosity. Here, on this road i will share my spirit, my love for nature, the elements of life that are us. And in doing so, i'll be happy to see you along.

28 Comments

  1. Lou Carreras's avatar
    Lou Carreras says

    I found the four stories living in his belly to be an interesting device of the story telling. but if his daughter in law was also a Gond there is a bit of a contradiction about no Gond being trustworthy being that she fulfilled the agreement to throw the child agaainst the stone.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    • Narayan Kaudinya's avatar
      Narayan Kaudinya says

      Haha.. yes but before being a Gond, she is a human. Its a strange tale Lou and that is why it is titled as such!
      Also some Photos are back that i think werent showing before, you might like to visit.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
    • Narayan Kaudinya's avatar
      Narayan Kaudinya says

      Could be dear friend and out world has gone through such a phase, still is. But thats what the story was and is told as such.

      Also that Its a strange tale and that is why it is titled as such! Thanks again.

      Also theres sone addition, you might like to visit it.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  3. Martha Kennedy's avatar
    Martha Kennedy says

    the coolest thing about this is that it is a story. I love it, Nara. I love the idea that stories get angry when they’re not told. This is wonderful!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  5. gc1963's avatar
    gc1963 says

    A very interesting story indeed. The God’s attitude towards his servant evokes anger. But throwing the child at a stone is not a good way to revive life either.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Narayan Kaudinya's avatar
      Narayan Kaudinya says

      So long Rosa. Lovely to have you. Yes a strange, sad folk tale this was but stories in the belly was an interesting foundation. Yet it can be said for a quite a few today, cold and indifferent.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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