Kansari

In a village lived a widow. She had a son named Juvan.

The widow was extremely lazy. One day she left her son and went to live with another man. A farmer took Juvan home. Juvan began to help the farmer. He would take the farmer’s cattle out to graze and work in his fields.

When Juvan grew up, the farmer gave him a plot of land. Juvan built a hut on the plot and began to live there by himself. Once, Juvan sowed naagli in his field. He tended the naagli with great love and care as if each sapling was a living being.

One day Juvan saw a beautiful young girl in his field. The girl had no place to go. She was feeling hungry and thirsty and requested Juvan to give her shelter. Juvan took her to his hut. However, there was flour enough to make only one rotla. The girl prepared a meal which they both shared.

Juvan said to the girl, “Please stay here for as long as you like. I live here by myself. You can help me in the field.”

Juvan never asked the girl who she was and where she had come from. He believed that the girl would share her past with him at an appropriate time. Juvan kept his distance from her and the girl, in turn, treated him with great respect. Together, Juvan and the girl worked very hard in their field. That year they had a very rich harvest of naagli.

Juvan became very prosperous. The news of his prosperity soon reached his mother. She learnt that a young girl was living with her son. Juvan’s mother had been forsaken by the man she had gone to live with. She was all by herself and alone. So she decided to return to her son’s home. She felt no shame or hesitation in doing so.

When Juvan’s mother reached his hut, Juvan had gone to the field. The young girl was alone at home, cooking. Juvan’s mother taunted her, “You have come to live here as you found my son’s home full of grains. Where have you come from? How can you live with my son when you have no relation with him?”

The girl replied, “There was no grain in the house when I arrived. I have worked hard to make your son prosperous. It is you who have been drawn here by a home full of grains. You forsook your son while he was asleep! What makes you remember him now?”

Juvan’s mother felt offended. She picked a piece of burning firewood from the hearth and hurled it at the girl. The wood charred the girl’s hair and face. Weeping with pain, the girl rushed out. As she left she said to Juvan’s mother, “If your son asks for me, please tell him that I have gone to the field.”

When Juvan returned home, the young girl was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he found his mother at home. He asked his mother, “Where is she?” The old woman said that the girl had gone to the field. Juvan rushed out. From afar, he saw that the naagli field was burning.

When he reached the farm he saw the girl in the centre of the field, sitting with her head between her legs. Juvan saw that her hair was burnt. Juvan went to the girl. He gently held her hand and requested, “Please come back home.”

The earth shook.

The girl sank in the earth up till her waist. Frightened, Juvan pulled her hand. The earth shook once again and the girl sank even deeper. Only her head remained visible.

The girl raised her burnt face and head and said: “Juvan, I am Kansari, the Goddess of food grain. I appreciated your hard work and came to make you prosperous.” Juvan tried to pull her up again. But Goddess Kansari sank into the Earth and Juvan had to return home alone.

A Folktale sourced from Goth: Adivasi Stories from Gujarat edited by Kanji Patel (centre for contemporary folklore)