Princess Himal And Nagaray
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Princess Himal and Nagaray or Himal and Nagrai is a very popular
Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...
i
folktale Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used va ...
about the love between a human princess and a Naga (snake-like) prince. The story is well-known in the region and has many renditions. One version of the story was collected by British reverend James Hinton Knowles and published in his book ''Folk-Tales of Kashmir''.


Source

Rev. Knowles attributed the source of his version to a man named Pandit Shiva Rám of Banáh Mahal Srínagar.


Publication

The tale was also republished as ''Himal and Nagrai'', ''Himal and Nagraya'', ''Heemal Nagrai'', and as ''Heemal and Nagirai''.


Summary

In Knowles's version, titled ''Nágray and Himál'', a poor
brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...
named Soda Ram, who has an "ill-tempered" wife, laments his luck. One day, he decides to go on a pilgrimage to Hindustan, since a local king gives five ''lachs'' of rupees to the poor. On his journey, he stops to rest for a while and a serpent comes from a spring nearby and enters his bag. He sees the animal and plans to spring a trap for his wife so that the snake will bite her. He returns home with the bag and gives it to his wife. The woman opens the bag as the serpent spring out of it and turns into a human boy. The couple raises the boy, named Nágray, and become rich. The boy shows incredible wisdom for his young age. One day, he asks his father where he can find "a pure spring" that he can bathe in, and Soda Rám points to a pool at princess Himal's garden, heavily guarded by the king's troops. He says he will find a way: he approaches an opening in the wall, changes into a serpent to crawl through and returns to human form. The princess hears some noise coming from the direction of the pool and questions for the strange presence. Nágray turns back into a snake and slithers away. He returns to the pool twice, and on the third time princess Himal notices his beauty, and falls in love with him. Himal sends a maid to follow the snake and sees it enter Soda Ram's house. Princess Himal tells her father she will marry no other than the son of brahman Soda Ram. Soda Ram is called to the king's presence to deal with the wedding arrangements. The king suggests his prospective son-in-law should come in a regal and magnificent wedding procession. Nágray instructs his adoptive father to toss a paper in a certain spring, one hour before the wedding, and the procession will come. Himal and Nágray marry and live in a palace built near a river. However, Nágray's other wives, which live in the realm of snakes, decide to pay a visit to the human princess, under a magical disguise, due to their lordship's extended absence. One of them uses a disguise of a glass seller to sell her wares to the palace. Nágray finds the utensils and destroys each of them, forbidding his human wife to buy any other. The second snake wife dons the guise of a sweeper. She tells Himal her husband was Nágray, also a sweeper (a man of a lower caste). The false sweeper gives Himal instructions on how to prove his origins: throw him in a spring and, if he sinks, he is not a sweeper. Himal tells Nágray of the encounter and he admonishes her. But she insists he proves his caste. He enters the spring and slowly sinks in, until he disappears. Himal, then, is left alone and without a husband. She returns to her palatial home, mounts a
caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...
and begins to give alms to the poor. On one occasion, a poor man and his daughter pay her a visit and tell that, in a jungle, they came across a spring. From this spring, an army marched out and set out a dinner for their king. Soon after, the army returned to the spring and this king gave them some alms, "in the name of foolish Himal". With renewed hope, princess Himal asks the man to guide her to this location. They rest for the night, as Himal, still awake, sees Nágray coming from the spring. She begs him to return to their wedded life together, but Nágray warns of the danger of his snake wives. He turns her into a pebble and takes her to the watery kingdom. The snake wives notice the object and tell their husband to turn it back to human shape. The snake wives decide to set Himal as their housekeeper. They tell her she must boil the milk for their serpentine children, and to knock the pots down. However, Himal knocks down the pots while the milk is still boiling hot, and, as the serpent children drink the milk, they die. Their serpentine mothers, overwhelmed with grief, turn into serpents and bite Himal. A grieving Nágray places her corpse on top of tree, alternating visits between her resting place and the spring. One day, a holy man climbs up the tree and sees the corpse of Himal, still beautiful as she was in life. He prays to Náráyan and she returns to life. The holy man takes her to his home. Nágray, noticing its disappearance, begins a search and finds her at the holy man's house. While she was sleeping, Nágray enters the bedroom in his serpentine form and coils around her bedpost. The holy man's son, unaware of the serpent's nature, takes a knife and cuts the serpent into two pieces. Himal awakes startled and sees the serpent's corpse, lamenting her husband's death. Nágray's corpse is burned, and Himal throws herself into the funeral pyre to die with him. However, deities
Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...
and
Parvati Parvati (, , IPA: /Sanskrit phonology, pɑɾʋət̪iː/), also known as Uma (, , IPA: Sanskrit phonology, /ʊmɑː/) and Gauri (, , IPA: /Sanskrit phonology, gə͡ʊɾiː/), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the Devi, ...
reunite both lovers by resurrecting their ashes in a magical spring.


Written history

The story of ''Himal and Nagaray'' is considered to be a "well-known tale", representative of the Kashmiri region. Indian scholarship states that the tale has existed in the oral repertoire of the Kashmir region, with multiple renditions appearing in both
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and
Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, the language of the Kashmiris ethnic group People with the nam ...
in the 18th and 19th centuries. According to S. L. Sadhu, the earliest recorded version of the story was by Maulvi Sadr-ud-Din in Persian with the title ''Qasai Heemal va Arzun''. Local Kashmiri poet Waliullah Mattu (or Wali Ullah Mot) translated the story as a ''
masnavi The ''Masnavi'', or ''Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi'' (, DIN 31635, DMG: ''Mas̲navī-e maʻnavī''), also written ''Mathnawi'', or ''Mathnavi'', is an extensive poem written in Persian language, Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, also known as Rumi. I ...
'' in the Kashmiri language. In Mot's version of the ''mathnavi'' ''Himal Negyray'', Himal is Balavir's daughter and comes from Balapore/Balapur, while snake-prince Negyray from Talpatal (the netherworld). After being adopted by a human Pandit, Negyray marries a serpent-princess, then meets and marries human lady Himal. His disappearance is caused when Himal forces him to take a dip in a bowl of milk, which transports him back to Talpatal. At the end of the story, Himal plunges herself into Negyray's funeral pyre. Knowles also informed that another version existed with the title ''Hímál Nágárajan'', obtained from Pandit Hargopal Kol. He also noted that, in another version, Himal is a Hindu devotee, and falls in love with Nágray, an
Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
man.


Analysis


Name of the heroes

Indian scholar
Suniti Kumar Chatterji Suniti Kumar Chatterji (26 November 1890 – 29 May 1977) was an Indian linguist, educationist and litterateur. He was a recipient of the second highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Vibhushan. Life Childhood Chatterji was born on 26 Novem ...
proposed that '' Nagaray'' derives from the
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
'' Nāga-rāja'', meaning 'king of nagas' (a
nāga In various Asian religious traditions, the Nāgas () are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...
is a mythical snake of Indian religion). As for the character of the princess, he considered that her name means "Jasmine-garland", corresponding to
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
''Yūthī-mālā'' and
Prakrit Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Ind ...
''Yūhīmāla''. According to professor Ruth Laila Schmidt, the hero's name, ''Nágráy'' (''Nāgarājā'' 'snake king'), indicates remnants of
snake worship Snake worship is devotion to serpent deities. The tradition is nearly universal in the religions and mythologies of ancient cultures, where snakes were seen as the holders of knowledge, strength, and renewal. Near East Ancient Mesopotamia Anc ...
in the Western Himalayas (including the Kashmir region), that is, worship of the nagas, snake-like beings of Hindu mythology associated with water. Also, the
Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, the language of the Kashmiris ethnic group People with the nam ...
word for water spring is ''nāg'', another link between water bodies and nagas as water-spirits.


Parallels

Suniti Kumar Chatterji also noticed some resemblance between the Kashmiri tale and the Lithuanian folktale ''
Eglė the Queen of Serpents Eglė the Queen of Serpents, alternatively Eglė the Queen of Grass Snakes (), is a Lithuanian folk tale, first published by M. Jasewicz in 1837. ''Eglė the Queen of Serpents'' is one of the best-known Lithuanian fairy tales, with many referen ...
'', wherein a human maiden named Egle marries Zilvinas, a snake-like prince that lives in an underwater palace.


Relation to other folktales

The tale has been compared to folktales of type ATU 425, " The Search for the Lost Husband", of the international classification of folktales. In
Stith Thompson Stith Thompson (March 7, 1885 – January 10, 1976) was an American folklore studies, folklorist: he has been described as "America's most important folklorist". He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which indexes Folklore, ...
and Warren Roberts's ''Types of Indic Oral Tales'', the tale is classified under its own Indic type, 425D Ind, "Search for Serpent Husband".


Legacy

The tale was also adapted into an opera by Kashmiri poet Dinanath Nadim.


See also

*
The Snake Prince The Snake Prince is an Indian fairy tale, a Punjabi story collected by Major Campbell in Feroshepore. Andrew Lang included it in '' The Olive Fairy Book'' (1907).Lang, Andrew; Philip, Neil. ''A World of fairy tales''. New York: Dial Books, 1994. ...
(Indian fairy tale) *
Tulisa, the Wood-Cutter's Daughter ''Tulisa, the Wood-Cutter's Daughter'' is an Indian legend published as an annex to Somadeva Bhaṭṭa's work, related to ''Cupid and Psyche''. The tale belongs to the international cycle of the ''Animal as Bridegroom'' or ''Search for the Lost ...
(Indian fairy tale) *
The Enchanted Snake The Enchanted Snake or The Snake ( Neapolitan: ''Lo serpe'') is an Italian fairy tale written by author Giambattista Basile in the ''Pentamerone'', as the fifth story of the second day. The tale is related to the international cycle of the ''Animal ...
(Italian literary fairy tale) *
The Green Serpent Le Serpentin Vert (translated as ''Green Serpent'' or ''Green Dragon'') is a French folklore, French fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy, Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy, popular in its day and representative of European folklore, that was published in ...
(French literary fairy tale) *
The Serpent Prince (Hungarian Folk Tale) The Serpent Prince or The Snake Prince ( Hungarian: ''Kégyókirályfi'' or ''Kígyókirályfi'') is a Hungarian folk tale collected by Hungarian-American scholar Linda Dégh, featuring the marriage between a human maiden and a husband in serpen ...
* The Ruby Prince (Punjabi folktale) *
Champavati Champavati ( Assamese: চম্পাৱতী; ''Champawati'', ''Campāvatī'' or ''Champabati'') is an Assamese folk tale. It was first collected in the compilation of Assamese folklore titled '' Burhi Aair Sadhu'', by poet Lakshminath Bezbaroa ...
* The Story of Hira and Lal * Balapora shopian *
The Story of Halahal Kumar The Story of Halahal Kumar or The Snake-Prince is an Indian folklore, Indian folktale from the region of Odisha, first published in 1901 and later translated to English. The story contains similarities to the Odia literature, Odia story of ''Sasisen ...


Footnotes


References

{{reflist Indian fairy tales Fictional princes Fictional snakes Anthropomorphic snakes Fairy tales about shapeshifting Fairy tales about talking animals Fairy tales about princesses Fairy tales about princes Indian folklore Indian literature ATU 400-459 Kashmiri Folklore