S is for the Silappadikaram (Women's Epics A to Z)

This year my theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge is Women's Epics. My goal was to read 26 traditional epics from around the world that have women as their heroes. Because epics like this do exist, and they are fascinating! Read the intoduction post here.

Silappadikaram
Tamil

Cilappatikaram (also spelled Silappadikaram) is the earliest and one of the most famous Tamil epics, consisting of almost 6,000 lines. It is part of the Tamil Sangam literature tradition, and it has been living in the oral tradition for centuries, incorporating historical, religious and cultural elements as well as folksongs. 

Tradition holds that it was composed by a monk named Ilanko Atikal sometime in the 2nd century CE. This monk has his own story: he was a prince foretold to become king, but he rejected the throne in favor of his beloved older brother. The brothers agreed to write an epic each - Ilanko wrote the Cilappatikaram, and Sattanar wrote its sequel, the Manimekalai (see earlier this month). The first full written edition, based on palm-leaf manuscripts, was published in the late 19th century.

The epic consists of three books, symbolizing the three Tamil kingdoms where the plot takes place - the Chola Kingdom (where the main couple is born and married), the Pandya Kingdom (where their tragedy unfolds), and the Chera Kingdom (where Kannaki becomes a goddess).

I read this one in a Hungarian translation, which was based on this book. This is a prose rendering of the story, rather than a full verse translation. For a fuller English version, read this book.

What is it about?

TL;DR: Kannaki is a faithful woman whose husband cheats on her but later repents. They go on a journey together, the husband is innocently killed for theft, and Kannaki takes revenge for his death before she turns into a goddess.

Kannaki and Kovalan are both children of merchants, and their fathers decide to marry them. They are quite happy with the arrengement, since they grew up as friends, and they get married when Kovalan is sixteen and Kannahi is twelve. Kannahi receives a pair of gorgeous gold and ruby anklets from her mother as wedding gifts. (These anklets are what the epic is named after.)

Three years later the young couple moves into their own home and Kannaki becomes mistress of her own household. However, Kovalan falls in love with a dancer girl named Madhavi. He abandons his shared home with Kannaki and spends all his time with his lover; eventually they have a daughter, Manimekalai (the protagonist of the other epic I'll talk about later!). However, Kovalan is slowly consumed by guilt as he spends all his fortune on his new family and on whims, until he is selling Kannaki's dowry too. Eventually he falls out of love with Madhavi, and after they have a - very poetic - fight, he returns home to his wife.

Meanwhile, Kannaki faithfully waits for her husband with her own life on hold. She is comforted by her in-laws and her best friend Devandi. Suddenly, Kovalan returns home and repents. He wants to start fresh, and suggests they should leave town and go to the rich city of Madurai in the neighboring kingdom. Husband and wife leave immediately, traveling on foot.

On their journey they meet a Jain nun, Kavunthi. She feels empathy towards the young couple, especially the wife, and agrees to accompany them on their journey, sort-of adopting them as her children. They have various adventures along the way, until they finally make it to Madurai. There, the nun arranges for a cowherd woman (Madari) and her daughter (Aiyai) to take in Kannaki, while her husband looks for a new job and a fresh start.

However, things take a dark turn. Kovalan takes one of Kannaki's precious anklets (the only possessions they have left) to sell it and get some money to start their new life. He doesn't realize that the goldsmith he offers the anklet to is secretly a thief. He had stolen the queen's identical anklets, and now he takes the chance to blame Kovalan for the theft. The king oders Kovalan to be arrested - and in the process of the arrest, one of the guards kills him.

When Kannaki finds out her husband has been killed for theft, she falls into grief and righteous anger. She sets out to the king's court to demand justice. Holding her other anklet above her head as proof, she walks to the palace (only stopping to cry over her husband's body). She accuses the king of injustice, the gravest of any sin for a ruler. She reveals the truth and breaks her anklet to show the unique rubies inside, proving it is not the queen's.

Then, she walks around the city three times, tears off one of her breasts, throws it over the walls, and curses Madurai to be consumed by fire.

Since Kannaki is right in her anger, and the Sun God likes her, her curse comes true, and Madurai is destroyed in a blaze. (However, she makes sure all innocents are unharmed). After, there is nothing left but Kannaki walking amongst the ashes. There she meets the goddess of the city, the only one still present. The goddess reveals Kovalan's story from his previous life: he had born false witness in trial, and had an innocent man executed; Kannaki herself was that man's wife in her previous life. Therefore their tragedy crossed lives and came to a fated conclusion.

Kannaki leaves the ashes of Madurai, and two weeks later she ascends into the heavens, becoming a goddess of chastity.

The third part of the epic deals with the Chera king Senguttuvan, who decides to build a temple to Kannaki and create a statue from a sacred rock from the Himalayas. He goes on a war campaign to fulfil his plan. We also find out the fates of all the other characters (most of whom either died or became monks).

The highlights

Honestly, Madhavi was a fascinating character for me. The story describes her childhood and education by her mother, a master dancer herself who trained her own daughter to be the best. (As they were descended from the heavenly dancer Urvashi). After her premiere performance, it is Madhavi herself who sends out her servant saying "whoever pays a thousand gold for this wreath can have me." She is, apparently, a talented singer and poet, and intelligent conversationalist and - later - a considerate mother.

Another character I grew to love was the nun Kavunthi. She was devout and ascetic, but at the same time she couldn't keep herself from caring for the young couple, and helping them in many ways. There is a scene where a bunch of young people stop and make fun of the travelers - Kavunthi turns them into jackals with one angry word. (Kovalan manages to convince her to mitigate the curse to one year, and not make them suffer forever for a youthful mistake.) When they cross dense forests full of terrifying animals, Kavunthi even walks beside the couple (instead of in front, as custom), distracting and entertaining them with stories from her life. When they reach Madurai, she convinces the community of Jain ascetics there to give shelter to the couple on their first night (again, breaking custom). When she finds out about the couple's tragic fate, she decides to die by starvation, not being able to accept that she failed to protect them.

I also loved the minor characters who helped along the way: Kannaki's best friend Devandi, the cowherd woman Madari and her daughter Aiyai. Madari is an amazing host to Kannaki: she is not only universally friendly and loved by her community, but she also runs into the burning city later to save the young woman (and perishes herself). Devandi and Aiyai meet by accident and become friends; united by their grief and their love for Kannaki they build a temple to her.

The process of Kovalan slowly falling out of love with Madhavi was very psychologically rich. It involved him spending all his fortune on whims of helping people who had made mistakes and tried to atone for them. He even adopted an old woman as his second mother after her son was executed for bearing false witness (a sin he himself had committed in his previous life). Even along the journey to Madurai he is torn by guilt; a forest nymph at one point tempts him to go back by taking on the shape of Madhavi's servant. Later on, he receives an actual letter from his lover; she asks him to forgive her. At this point, Kovalan again refuses to return to her, but admits to himself that his fate is his own fault, and not hers.

The scene of Kannaki demanding justice, the narrative high point of the story, is amazing. The moment she breaks the bracelet and the rubies cascade out of it, hitting the king's face like blood, is literally epic. There is also a scene where the four gods of Madurai gather to see the city burn - and, realizing Kannaki's anger was justified, they walk out of the city.

THIS EPIC, TWO MILLENNIA OLD, IS STILL VERY RELATABLE IN MANY WAYS.

What speaks more to you in the story? Mistakes and forgiveness? Anger and grief? Friendship and community?

M is for the Manimekalai (Women's Epics A to Z)

This year my theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge is Women's Epics. My goal was to read 26 traditional epics from around the world that have women as their heroes. Because epics like this do exist, and they are fascinating! Read the intoduction post here.

Manimekalai
Tamil

This is one of the five great Tamil epics, consisting of almost 5000 lines. It is a sequel (or parallel story) to the Silappadikaram, which will be featured later this month.

Tradition holds that it was composed sometime in the 2nd century. The story goes that a prince named Ilanko Atikal was foretold to become king, but he rejected the throne in favor of his beloved older brother. The brothers agreed to write an epic each - Ilanko wrote the Silappadikaram, and Sattanar wrote the Manimekalai. 

I read this translation. It is a free rendering of the original verse text by famous Tamil novelist A. Madhavaiah, with some parts that are closely translated. The original thirty chapters of the epic were combined into twenty, leaving out some lengthy parts about religious debates.

What is it about?

TL;DR: Manimekalai, raised to be the best dancer-actress in the world, abandonds wordly desires and becomes a devout follower of the Buddha.

Our story begins in the Chola kingdom, in the flourishing capital city of Poompukar at the mouth of the river Kaveri. A rich merchant's son named Kovalan marries his sweetheart Kannaki. (I'm not going to repeat their story here because that's what the S post will be about). Kovalan falls in love with a courtesan named Madhavi on the side, and has a daughter with her. They name the baby Manimekalai, after the sea goddess who is patroness of the city.

Manimekalai is trained as a dancer-courtesan from an early age, by her grandmother Chitrapathi, who wants a great career for her. Kovalan in the meantime abandons this family and returns to his original wife. Stuff happens, and Kovalan dies an unjust death. When news of his demise reach the family, Manimekalai and Madhavi are devastated. The mother puts on a widow's dress and joins a Buddhist monastery. Manimekalai, now a great and accomplished dancer, has no taste for her profession, so instead she joins her mother at the monastery too.

Some time later, a great festival in honor of Indra is proclaimed in the city. Madhavi's mother sends a friend to beg the famous dancer to return to her work along with her daughter. Madhavi refuses, calling herself a widow in grief, and calling Manimekalai daughter of the now-deified, perfect Kannaki. Then she sends out Manimekalai to bring fresh flowers, to make garlands for the festivities.

A woman named Suthamathi advises Manimekalai to go to a special garden for flowers. She claims many of the city's gardens are dangerous for a beautiful young woman, so she accompanies her to a place named Upavanam. While they are picking flowers, the prince Udhaya-kumaran, who has long had his sight set on Manimekalai, shows up to court her. She locks herself in a sacred crystal chamber, while Suthamathi tries to talk the prince out of his intentions, citing Buddhist teachings of the impermanence of beauty and desire. The prince eventually leaves, but doesn't give up.

In that moment, Manimekala-Devi, guardian goddess of Manimekalai, makes an appearance. She warns the two women that the prince is still loitering nearby, and tells them to flee through a back alley to a burning-ground (which is a terrifying place full of demons). While sleeping there in hiding, Manimekalai is lifted by the goddess and transported to the sacred island of Manipallavam, where she is destined to learn about her past life.

On the island, Manimekalai sees the crystal throne of the Buddha, and its magic powers allow her to remember her past life. She learns that she used to be a princess, married to a prince. When he died of snakebite, she followed him into the funeral pyre. Her good deeds in her past will help her achieve enlightenment and abandon the cycle of rebirths. Her husband was reborn as the current prince, but she can't return to him because that would distract her from her fate. Her sisters were reborn as Madhavi and Suthamathi. The goddess then teaches Manimekalai how to fly, change her shape, and conquer hunger, so she can go out into the world and spread the message of the Buddha.

Manimekalai also receives a magical bowl on the island, one that has never-ending supplies of rice, if held in the hands of a compassionate person. With that, she returns home to her mother and Suthamathi, and tells them about their past lives. Dressing up in the garb of a Buddhist nun, she sets out to beg alms for the bowl. The first gift comes from a woman named Athirai (who has her own story about how faithful she is). After that, Manimekalai starts feeding the poor from the magic vessel.

Chitrapathi, Manimekalai's grandmother, is outraged at the girl's behavior. She thinks it is unbefitting for a trained dancer-courtesan to mourn one lover, or abandon her profession for religion. She decides that she will make Manimekalai abandon the foolish quest of purity, and choose the prince instead. She goes to see the prince and tells him where Manimekalai is, encouraging him to pursue her. The prince does, but Manimekalai tells him she is bound for a life of chastity, and then, magically changing her shape, manages to escape him. She continues her work disguised as the gandharva woman Kayachandika.

Manimekalai visits a prison and feeds the prisoners. It is reported to the King who summons her, in awe of her work, and offers her a boon. Manimekalai asks him to abolish the prison, and transform it into a Home of Mercy, where people can be fed and cared for.

The prince doesn't give up. Suspecting who she really is, he keeps visiting, and she keeps trying to explain to him the vanity of mortal life. Meanwhile, Kayachandika's husband comes seeking his wife, and when he sees "her" talking to the prince, becomes jealous, and kills the prince. The queen, furious at Manimekalai for her son's death, tries to get rid of her in multiple ways, but Manimekalai always survives due to her magic powers. Eventually, the queen apologizes. Manimekalai teaches the court about Buddhism, then  decides to leave the city, because she doesn't want to be looked at as the woman who caused the death of the prince.

Manimekalai returns to the sacred island, along with a king who is a reincarnation of the man who first owned the magic bowl. She there finds out that her home city has been devoured by the sea on Manimekala-Devi's command, because the king (due to an elabroate prelude of karma) neglected Indra's festival. Aravana, Madhevi and Suthamathi all survived.

Manimekalai heads to the kingdom of Vanji, where she visits the temple of the deified Kannaki, whom she regards as her mother. Kannaki tells her about the fate of her father. Manimekalai then visits ten different religious schools, hearing their teachings, but she is not satisfied with any of them. She travels on to the city of Kanchi, which is devastated by famine, and feeds all the people. The sage Aravana and her mother and friend find her there, and she can finally learn more about Buddhism from the sage.

Manimekalai lives the rest of her life in peace, serving people in need. It is foretold that eventually she will be reborn as the foremost discipline of the Buddha, and attain enlightenment.

The highlights

This epic is a master class in evocative descriptions. It was fascinating to read of what being a "dancer-actress" entailed, listed by Madhavi's friend. Apart from the arts, etiquette, and beauty, it also included learning and sciences. I also enjoyed Suthamathi's description of the city's various luscious gardens and their magical properties; Manimekala-Devi's description of the horrifying burial grounds, or the narrator detailing the sounds and activities of the capital city at night.

A story within a story, Suthamathi's own tale of adventures and conversion to Buddhism was very interesting. She was kidnapped by a gandharva and became his lover for a while. After, even though she was tainted, her Brahman father sought her out and supported her, until he became the victim of an accident. While others turned from them, a Buddhist teacher cared for them, and taught Suthamathi his beliefs.

Another story within a story was the tale of the burning-ground told by Manimekala-Devi. It was rich in detail and very dark and scary in descriptions. It also had a message of "no one can avoid their fate", telling of a mother who summoned all the gods and powers of the universe to bring her son back to life, just to be told by all of them that they had no power over death.

The story of Aputhra, the first owner of the magic bowl, was also memorable. He was an abandoned baby fed by a cow and adopted by a Brahman; when he later defended a cow from sacrifice, he got into a heated religious debate about animal sacrifices, and ended up expelled as a beggar. However, he was so kind and selfless, feeding people ever poorer than him, that the Goddess of Learning blessed him with the magic bowl. He later placed it in a lake, hoping it would find a new owner worthy of it - which is how the bowl came to Manimekalai.

Among the poor fed from the magic vessel was a gandharva woman named Kayachandika, who was cursed with eternal hunger. She told her own story of making a mistake, losing her magic powers, and being abandoned by her husband; the food from the bowl cured her condition. Later, Manimekalai wore her likeness when she wanted to disguise herself.

I also like the moment where someone asked Manimekalai who she was, and she answered "depends on which birth you are talking about." The sage Aravana who educated her also had a good line about reincarnation: "Like actors appearing on stage in a different costume." He was also the one who noted one of the key thoughts of the epic: "To relieve hunger is the highest charity."

THIS EPIC IS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS AN ANTI-LOVE STORY.

At the same time, it revolves around a kind, compassionate, and determined young woman who follows her own path. It it also an elaborate tapestry of interwoven stories.

What resonates with you the most?

E is for the Epic of Manasa (Women's Epics A to Z)

This year my theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge is Women's Epics. My goal was to read 26 traditional epics from around the world that have women as their heroes. Because epics like this do exist, and they are fascinating! Read the intoduction post here.

I know I know, this is a cheap shot for E, but if you have seen how much reshuffling I did with this list, you'd appreciate the effort.

The Triumph of the Snake Goddess
Bengal

First off, the introductory study in the book was titled "Sympathy for the Devi" and I applaud that. (It talks about the origins of serpent worship in India, and especially the role snakes play in the Mahabharata.)

The devi in question is Manasa (also called Padma, Padmavati, or Kamala), a serpent goddess who appears in folk tradition all over the subcontinent, but is especially revered in Bengal. The epics about her emerged from indigenous Bengali oral tradition, and the first recorded versions are from the 15th century. They represent a "snake-eye view" of Hindu mythology, telling popular myths from the perspective of Manasa and her nagas, and their struggle for recognition. Because of this living folk aspect, the gods are also less mighty in these stories - there is a lot of humor, trickery, and imperfection involved in their characters, often bordering on folktale tropes (e.g. evil stepmother). Manasa is worshiped to this day, has her own altars and festivals, and the epics are still performed in her honor.

The book itself is an interesting take on publishing a folk epic: the translator took several versions collected from the oral tradition, and pieced together the various episodes into a cohesive, compound version. The introduction calls it an "uncritical edition" (as opposed to critical editions trying to zero in on one "original" layer of a story). The Manasa epics slightly differ in North, West, and East Bengal, so the translator decided to include some from each region, making the story more detailed.

What is it about?

TL;DR: Manasa is a serpent goddess accidentally born to Shiva. She spends the epic fighting to gain respect and recognizion as a goddess, first among the gods, and then among mortals.

CW: Mentions of sexual abuse.

The epic has two parts: the first takes place in the divine realm, and the second among mortals. 

DIVINE REALM

The divine half begins with creation, and tells the origins of Shiva, his marriage to Chandi and Ganga, and the birth of his sons. It also tells of the origin of snakes, and their emnity against the Garuda bird. Eventually we get to the birth of Manasa (see below). She is raised in the underworld by the sage Kasyapa and hailed as the goddess and queen of all serpents.

Eventually she sets out to meet her father Shiva. At first he doesn't believe she is his daughter, and tries to force her - so Manasa kills him with her venomous gaze. And then brings him back to life. Shiva reconsiders, and brings her home, but in secret, fearing his wives would get jealous. And they do. When he leaves, they discover the girl, and Chandi gets so angry that she beats Manasa senseless and gouges out one of her eyes (she has been one-eyed ever since). Even though Shiva manages to calm her down (after Manasa kills Chandi too, and then brings her back), eventually Chandi insists they should exile Manasa into the wilderness. Shiva does so, but from his tears he creates a sister for Manasa: the clever and loyal Neta. From this point on through the epic, Neta is Manasa's brains, conscience, and PR advisor.

Manasa makes her home on Mount Sijuya, creates a splendid city filled with all kinds of people from all castes, as well as all serpents, and lives her best life. She marries a sage on her father's insistence, but he flees from her on their wedding night, so she raises her son Astika alone. Astika later stops a horrible massacre of snakes in a ritual sacrifice.

During the churning of the ocean of milk (a famous episode in Hindu mythology), Shiva sacrifices himself by drinking the deadly kalkuta poison that emerges from the milk. Manasa shows up to bring him back to life, and the gods entrust her with the poison, since she is the only one powerful enough to handle it. She distributes it among her snakes, and keeps some in her eye.

MORTAL REALM

Manasa eventually decides she wants to be worshiped by mortals, so she descends to the human realm. Neta advises her that if she manages to convert a merchant king named Chand, the rest of mortals will follow. However, Chand just happens to be the most stubborn follower of Shiva, and he absolutely refuses to sacrifice to Manasa. The second half of the epic is a string of disasters and tricks Manasa and Neta devise to make Chand change his mind - by offering boons, by disguise, by converting his wife, by killing his sons and promising to bring them back, etc.

Chand has a secret mantra that keeps him safe and revive the dead. Manasa visits him in disguise, seduces him, and steals this power, making him defenseless. Still, he holds out, regularly calling her a "one-eyed bitch" and taking swings at her with a stick. He hires famous sorcerers who can fight snakes (ojha), but Manasa manages to trick and kill all of them (and then she revives them and adds them to her own household).

It all culminates in the story of Behula and Lakshmindar, an epic within an epic that is still very popular in Bengal. Manasa exiles a heavenly couple to earth to enact Neta's plan. One of them is incarnated as Chand's new son, the other as the princess Behula. Before the baby is born, Manasa tricks Chand into going on a trading mission to Lanka, and puts him through an odyssey for several years, concluding in sinking all of his ships. Chand comes home as a broken beggar, but he still refuses to bow to Manasa.

Meanwhile, Lakshmindar grows up, but he doesn't marry because prophecy says he will die of snakebite on his weddnig night. Manasa then puts him in a positon where he grows infatuated with his aunt, and he assaults the woman. His parents, finding out what he did, decide to get him a wife after all - in the person of 12-year-old Princess Behula. (They don't actually consummate the marriage). On the wedding night they lock the couple in a steel panic room, but a snake still gets in and kills Lakshmindar.

When Lakshmindar's body is set on a raft on the river (as they do to snake bite victims), Behula decides to accompany him, and travel on the raft until she finds a way to bring him back to life. Thus begins her own epic of many encounters and adventures (inlcuding finding out about her husband raping his aunt), until, after 6 months, she convinces Manasa to let her ascend to heaven and dance for the gods. With her dance, she wins a boon, and Manasa brings Lakshmindar back to life. And his brothers, and the ships, etc.

Chand, relieved, finally makes a sacrifice to Manasa, and the epic concludes on a happy note.

The highlights

The introductory study mentioned the fascinating concept of dvesha-bhakti, or devotion through hatred, represented by Chand. The idea is that any strong emotion directed towards a deity is a form of connection with them.

The birth of Manasa is one of the most convoluted I have ever seen in mythology. Basically, Shiva gets aroused by seeing some breast-shaped fruit and has a wet dream, during which he ejaculates. His sperm ends up on a lotus leaf, and a bird eats it, but it burns, so the bird drinks water and throws it up. It then falls onto another lotus, turns into an egg, and from the egg hatches Manasa.

I loved Manasa's personality, because it made for a fascinating story. She is extremely powerful, loves trickery, tends to be quick to anger and holds grudges (Neta often has to hold her back from going from zero to murder immediately). But she can also be convinced to change her mind, she is kind to her followers, and she enjoys life as a goddess very much. I also loved her physical descriptions throughout the epic: she wore a deadly snake as a necklace, rattlesnakes as anklets, snakes in her hair "for a novel coiffure" etc. She decks herself out like this for her wedding night, for example, which is why her husband flees. She doesn't mind.

I also enjoyed Manasa and Neta's duo, and the way they worked together. Manasa was all anger and power, and trickery when needed, but Neta was the one who knew where to topple a domino to get results down the line. At one point, Manasa called her sister "a wonderful scriptwriter". She really was.

Another fascinating character in the epic is Behula herself. At first glance she seems like a meek girl who wants to be "the perfect wife". But she does defend her husband from snakes with a machete on the wedding night - successfully, until she falls asleep. And she goes through a lot of harrowing experiences on the river. She comes back a mature and experienced (and somewhat disillusioned) woman. Also, before the wedding, she obtains the secret mantra from Manasa to bring her husband back from the dead three times - Lakshmindar just wastes all three of them by repeatedly getting heart attacks during the ceremony because he is paranoid and sees snakes everywhere.

One of my favorite moments of humor in the epic was the story of Hussain and Hassan, two Muslim rulers who destroyed Manasa's altars. Manasa sent an army of snakes against them. Defeated, Hassan fled into a haystack, and there he came face to face with a chameleon that just shook its head in a judgmental way. That was the last straw that broke Hassan's pride. (Introduction noted that epic-tellers don't include this episode in the epic anymore, because it would be seen as an attack on the Muslim community) (I just liked the judgmental chameleon).

Another favorite scene was where Manasa sent a cobra to kill Chand's six sons. The ("somewhat matronly female") cobra, however, found all six of them engaged in activities - one was playing board games, one was having sex with his wife, etc. - and felt so sorry for them that she let them live. Eventually, Manasa found another way to kill them, with poisoned food. (The snake she sends before the cobra is "easy-going" and friendly, but manages to bungle the mission by being dumb, and she takes his venom as punishment).

Possibly my favorite episode of the whole epic was the battle between Manasa and Yama. Manasa declared that people killed by snake bite should belong to her, infringing on the territory of the god of the Underworld. When she also claimed two heavenly dancers for her plan, Yama summoned his infernal army to put her in her place - and she responded in kind, with an army of serpents. It is an awesome, epic scene, that concludes with Manasa's victory over death.

The best part about Chand's odyssey was the series of attacks his ships endured from various water creatures - consecutive armies of leeches, cowries, prawns, etc. Another amusing episode was the part where he bartered with the king of Lanka, and introduced him to coconuts for the first time. On the way back Manasa sent Hanuman the monkey king to sink the ships, but Chand had a magic boon that no ship he travels on could be sunk. So, Hanuman got him on a technicality: he knocked him off he ship and then sank it. Another amusing scene ensued here, as Chandi (who took Chand's side, obviously) kept bringing up the ships, and Manasa kept sinking them again. The two women went on like this for a while until Shiva intervened.

I was fascinated by the descriptions of rituals that accompanied pregnancies throughout the epic. At five months pregnant, women were ritually fed five sweet things (yoghurt, milk, ghee, sugar, honey), and at nine months "they went through the ritual of eating whatever they craved." Children were ritually introduced to solid foods at the age of 7 months.

I liked it that characters throughout the epic actually called each other out on a lot of questions that I myself had: "If Manasa is so powerful, why doesn't she cure her own eye?" (Chand, obviously). "What will people think if you keep abandoning the ones that worship you the most?" (Chandi to Shiva).

The intro calls this epic "a rollicking, violent, emotionally charged tale full of utterly unbelievable things and yet making complete sense." It really was.

What do you think of the concept of "uncritical editions"?

C is for Candravati's Ramayana (Women's Epics A to Z)

This year my theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge is Women's Epics. My goal was to read 26 traditional epics from around the world that have women as their heroes. Because epics like this do exist, and they are fascinating! Read the intoduction post here.

A woman's Ramayana: Candravati's Bengali epic
Bengal

In the late 16th century in what is now east Bangladesh, a woman named Candravati rewrote the Ramayana. The Ramaya, one of the great epics of India, has had many retellings over the centuries, and yet hers stands out. She wrote it as a distraction from heartbreak. 

Candravati (or Chandravati) was the daughter of a famous Brahmin poet Vamsidasa, and thus well read and educated. Still young, she fell in love with a man, and their marriage was approved and arranged. However, just before the wedding the groom fell for a Muslim girl instead, converted to Islam, and married in secret. When Candravati found out about his betrayal, her heart broke, and she swore off marriage for good, instead devoting herself to Shiva. It was her father who suggested she should occupy her mind by rewriting the Ramayana. So she did. From the point of view of Sita, a woman who unduly suffers hardship and injustice.

(Her lover later repented and came back, but when Candravati refused to see him, he drowned himself in the river.)

Candravati's Ramayana was not preserved in a manuscript; it went into the oral tradition, and it was still sung among the people at the beginning of the 20th century, when it was recorded and reassambled. Women often sang parts of her epic on auspicious occasions such as weddings. Her telling of the story, still distinct after centuries, lived on in the oral tradition because it spoke to women's experiences.

The edition I read was excellent and informative. It has a detailed intro, and also several appendices: summaries of other Ramayanas that influenced Candravati, summaries of her other poems, details on literary parallels, glossaries, sources, and the summary of Candravati's own life as written down by a later poet (Nayancand Ghosa).

What is it about?

TL;DR: A retelling of the Ramayana from Sita's perspective, focusing on the suffering of women and the devastation war brings to innocents.

Candravati's epic is basically a retelling of the Ramayana, entirely from Sita's prespective. She skips the battles and heroics, and focuses on the heroine's suffering and loneliness, and the devastation of war on both sides. She omits several commonly known episodes and scenes, and implements others from various sources.

The story starts with Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, and his war against the gods. He plunders the heavens, enslaves the gods, and since they are immortal, he harvests the blood of holy sages to poison them and kill them for good. He entrusts the blood to his wife - however, she is already devastated by her husband consorting with captive goddesses and forgetting about her. She tries to poison herself by drinking the blood, but instead of dying, she gives birth to an egg. Ravana sets the egg afloat on the ocean. A fisherman finds it and delivers it to King Janaka - and from the egg, Sita is born.

Sita is raised as a princess, and in time she marries Rama, prince of Ayodhya. However, he is soon exiled into the wilderness by the scheming of his brother's mother. He is accompanied into exile by Sita and another brother, Lakshmana.

The middle part of the epic is a baromasi, a form of Bengali poetry that recounts events over the course of 12 months, like a poetic calendar. This is how Sita recounts her experience of being exiled, then kidnapped by the demon king Ravana, and rescued by her husband's armies. The account focuses on her suffering and loneliness, only mentioning the war by hearsay.

After the war, Sita and Rama are reunited. However, Rama's evil sister Kukuya decides to sow discord between them. She makes Sita draw a picture of Ravana (even though it's traumatic for her and she says so), and then uses the picture as proof that Sita is "enthralled" by her abductor. Rama thus falls for the idea that his wife was unfaithful while in captivity. He orders Sita to be exiled, five months pregnant, into the wilderness. There she is taken in and protected by the sage Valmiki - the first known author of the Ramayana. She gives birth to twins. However, due to her exile, the entire kingdom falls into ruin, so years later Rama is eventually forced to bring her back. He sets a condition: she has to prove, through trial by fire, that she was faithful all along. Bowing to this last, great injustice, Sita walks into the fire. The River Ganga bursts up from the ground, quells the flames, and the earth goddess Vasumati takes Sita away, leaving Rama and his people to contemplate their actions alone.

Image from here

The highlights

"Instead of glorifying battles, the poem mourns the victims." Even those lost during the fall of Lanka - the wives and children of the demons slain. Compassion in suffering is a running theme throughout the epic, especially the compassion of women. Sita even has compassion for Kukuya, her evil sister-in-law. When Kukuya is burned by the fire she tries to kill Sita with, Sita soothes her injuries. Sita's own mourning and suicidal thoughts in captivity are mitigated by the companionship of the demoness Sarama, Ravana's sister-in-law. Compasson thus transcends the battle lines of good an evil.

Honestly the best character in the epic is Lakshmana, Rama's brother. He cares for the exiled couple deeply and helps them in the wilderness, sacrificing his own comfort. Later on, when tasked with taking Sita into exile, he is the only one who shows compassion for her.

I also enjoyed the descriptions of pregnancy in this epic - how pregnant queens preferred to lie on the cool ground, were constantly sleepy, and craved certain foods.

There is a fun little scene in the story where Sita's twins encounter the monkey king Hanuman in the wilderness, and decide to capture him. Sita recognizes the king who once helped in her rescue from Lanka, and chastises her sons for not treating Hanu well.

I also appreciated the small detail where Sita, abducted by Ravana, tries to fight him off using her jewelry (even though she doesn't succeed).

THIS EPIC PROVES THAT POINT OF VIEW MATTERS.

What other epics would you like to know from a woman's perspective?

Z is for the Zygomatic bone (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! 

The zygomatic bone is your cheekbone; it's part of the skull. Since I have already done cheeks this month, I'm going to look at folktales about skulls.

Sosruquo and the giant's skull (Abkhaz legend)

One of my favorite tales among the Nart sagas of the Caucasus. The heroes encounter a huge skull, and decide to bring its owner back to life, to ask some questions just out of curiosity. They revive the giant, who tells them of his life long ago. (In other versions, they mistake the skull for a cave, and sleep in it first.) As an archaeologist, I'd love to have this power.

Ottilia and the skull (Tyrol)

A poor girl is chased away from home by her cruel stepmother, and seeks shelter in a castle in the woods. Turns out the castle is inhabited by a talking skull, who turns out to be quite friendly. Ottilia carries it in her apron and cooks food for the both of them. At night, a skeleton appears, threatening the girl, but she holds out without fleeing, and thus breaks the curse that had turned the castle's mistress into a skull. (You can read a friendlier retelling here.)

Céatach (Ireland)

A long hero story featuring an apprentice magician who saves a girl from a giant named Steel Skull. he giant is undefeatable, because when his head is cut off, it rejoins his body and he becomes stronger. Céatach, however, finds a way to cut off the head and kick it far away, finally defeating the giant.

The wicked mendicant (India)

A prince is promised to a sinister mendicant before he is born. When he turns twelve, the mendicant comes to claim him, and takes him into the woods to a shine of Kali, to sacrifice him. The boy, however, finds a pile of skulls by the shine (the previous victims) and the skulls tell him how to survive. After he kills the mendicant, the brings the other victims back to life.

The laughing skull (India)

A banker gives out loans to people, agreeing to get repaid in the next life. Some ruffians borrow money from him with no intention of paying, and spend it on sweets. However, on the way they encounter a human skull that tells them his story: he didn't believe in next-life payments either, and yet he still could not rest in peace before his debts. The ruffians reconsider the loan.

The talking skull (Nigeria)

A hunter encounters a skull in the wilderness, and wonders how it ended up there. The skull speaks: "Taking got me here!" The hunter runs to the king, claiming he's found a talking skull. The king doesn't believe it, so he follows the hunter into the bush. The skull, however, remains silent. The king, angered by the wasted trip, orders the hunter to be beheaded. Once his head is left alone with the skull, the skull speaks: "What brought you here?" "Talking got me here!"... This motif (K1162) is typically African, and also appears in African traditions across the Atlantic.

The girl who married a skull (Efik people, Nigeria)

A girl decides to only marry a perfect man. A skull from the spirit world borrows body parts from various spirits, and turns himself into a dream husband. However, when he takes his smitten wife back home, he returns the body parts too, and she realizes too late she's married a skull spirit. Luckily, an old woman helps her escape and go back home. She even gets her a spider hairdresser. (I really like this folktale type for some reason, it has many exciting variants.)

Whew! That's the last letter done! Thank you all so much for following along, see you all tomorrow for Reflections! :)

W is for Wax (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! 

In case you ever wondered: yes, there are stories about ear wax.

Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears (Gabon)

Ear and Mosquito go bathing together, and ear begins to treat his skin with oil (wax) after. Mosquito ask for oil and Ear promises to lend some, but never fulfills his promise. He just puts the rest of the oil back inside the ear and walks away. Ever since then, mosquitoes have been buzzing in people's ears, asking for the promised wax.

Why mosquitoes buzz (Garifuna people, Saint Vincent)

Wax and Mosquito are friends. Wax goes bankrupt, and borrows some money from Mosquito, but never pays it back. Eventually, trying to avoid his creditor, Wax hides in a human's ear, and has been hiding ever since. Mosquito, on his part, has been angrily buzzing, demanding payment.

Madhu and Kaitabha (India)

In Hindu mythology Madhu and Kaitabha are two beings born from the ear wax of the god Vishnu. One of them is soft and one of them is hard. They gain the power to only die with their own consent, from the goddess Mahadevi, and use it to challenge the gods to a fight. Eventually, Vishnu defeats them with deception.

Next time you hear a mosquito, I hope these stories will come to mind...

U is for Underarm (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! 

I was having a hard time with this letter, and none of the uvula stories were particularly exciting, so I ended up looking for armpit stories.

The sun and the children (/Xam, South Africa)

In this myth the Sun is an old man who hides light in his armpit. There is only light when he lifts his arm in his sleep, and even then only around his house. Two women send their children to lift him and (politely) throw him into the sky where he turns into the Sun and shares his light with all. (See a longer version here.)

The merchant's slandered daughter (Russia)

A king wants to marry a merchant's daughter, but a jealous general tells him she is immodest, and he has already slept with her multiple times. When the king asks for proof, the general pays a crafty old woman to find out what special mark the girl has. Turns out she has a single golden hair under one armpit. This almost ends the whole issue, except the clever girl finds a way to prove that the accusation was false.

Galngam and Hangsai (Vaiphei / Gangte, India)

In this series of tales the hero Galngam visits the land of Keichalpu, a lion shapeshifter and his people. When his brother Hangsai wants to follow in his footsteps, the villagers kill him and distribute his body parts among themselves. Galngam goes looking, and when they find out the victim was his brother, they put Hangsai's body back together. However, one of his armpits is missing, because an old woman already ate her share of the meat. Galngam fixes up the hole with a bat's wings. However, when Hangsai revives and finds out his armpit was fixed with a bat, he scratches at it, and the wound kills him again. (Read another version here.)

There were also some other legends about heroes being born from a mother's armpit, or only being vulnerable in their armpit. Go figure.

Q is for Quadriceps (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy! 

The quadriceps are the muscles in the front of your thigh. Therefore, I am collecting folktales about thighs today. The most famous story here would be the birth of Dionysos from Greek mythology, but I did find others that are intriguing.

Donnran, the Brown Searcher (Scotland)

In this Scottish legend Caoilte, the swiftest runner of the heroes of the Fianna, is badly wounded on his thigh in a fight. Healers claim they have to cut off his leg because of the infection, but he refuses. Instead the Fianna sends for Donnran, the great healer who lives in the woods as a hermit. Donnran treats the infected wound with live maggots and herbs and honey, until it is miraculously healed.

Thirty-six Colors (Missouri French tale)

A prince dresses up as a jester and sneaks out of the palace to go adventuring. He decides to work as a cowherd, and encounters three giants, befriending each. They later help him win a contest for a princess' hand. After winning, he keeps sneaking away; on the third try, the king throws his spear, which lodges itself in the prince's thigh. Later on, he is discovered and identified by the wound and the tip of the spear lodged in it.

The terrible child and the birds (Burkina Faso)

A woman is infertile, and asks a healer for help. The healer tells her to cook some porridge, and if it spills on her, don't wipe it off. A drop of porridge spills on her thigh, turns into a swelling a bursts. A child springs out of it, ready to go hunting. As he hunts with his friend, a hawk keeps stealing their food. Eventually, the child gets the hawk to swallow him - then, coming out through its anus, strikes it with a club. The hawk swallows him again and he comes out again, continuing the process until the hawk dies.

Sunabai Jai (India)

Seven brothers leave their cherished little sister in the care of their wives, while they go trading. The seven women treat the girl badly, giving her impossible tasks, hoping that she'd die. When her brothers eventually return, the girl meets them on the beach and tells them everything. One of them cuts open his thigh and sews the girl inside it, hiding her from the evil wives until it is time to reveal the truth. In the meantime, he feeds her by placing food on his thigh.

(People sewing things into their thigh is a common folktale motif; you can read another story here, and a collection of parallels here.)

Thigh pieces for giant birds

Once again, this is a folktale motif that shows up in a whole lot of different stories. It is most often found in ATU 301, a folktale type where a hero rescues three princesses from the Underworld, and then is left behind by his treacherous brothers. He is rescued from the deep by a giant bird that he has to keep feeding during the flight. When food runs out, the hero chops off a piece of his own thigh and feeds it to the bird so they don't fall. Once safely on the surface, the bird usually heals the hero's wound.
In one Hungarian version, the hero rides a griffin, and after the flight receives a feather from it that heals all wounds. In a Mansi version the hero - Son of a Bear - rides an eagle, and feeds it pieces of both of his thighs. In both versions, the bird notes that if it had known earlier that humans taste so good, it would have devoured the hero instead of helping.

Somehow, all these stories ended up being about thigh wounds... Go figure.

M is for Mustaches (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy!

5000 rupees on a single hair (India)

A merchant in a foreign land needs to borrow 5000 rupees from a banker, but can't give any insurance. The banker asks for a single hair from his mustache. The merchant gives one, promising to return for it; the banker then asks for a better hair, saying the first one is crooked. The merchant, offended, refuses. The banker gives him the money. Later a different merchant hears this story and tries the same thing - but when the banker asks for a second hair, he nonchalantly gives one. The banker refuses payment. Moral of the story: you only win the respect of others if you respect yourself. (Or, in this case, your mustache.)

The adventure of the Narts (Ossetian legend)

The Nart heroes go adventuring, and Sirdon, resident trickster of the group goes along with them. They go through many adventures. Sirdon, in true trickster fashion, gets everyone into trouble, and then out of it. Eventually, tired of his games, the Nart heroes tie him to the top of a pine tree by his mustache - but even then, he manages to escape through trickery.

Narjkhyaw (Abkhaz legend)

This story is about a storm-hero of epic strength and weight, who sets out to marry the sister of the Nart heroes. Everyone is terrified of his might, so as he shows up at their feasting hall, the Narts decide to kill him with poison. They catch two venomous snakes and grind them into Narjkhyaw's wine. Suspicious, he makes other people drink from the poison first, and they die. Still, Narjkhyaw drinks too - filtering the drink through his mustache of steel. The wine becomes purified this way, and he later picks the snake bones out of his mustache. (The Ossetian Nart hero Khamis also has a mustache of steel.)

See also: the tale of the proud king who passes himself off as a baby with a mustache. I blogged about this story in my Feminist Folktales series.

Heroes with mustaches of steel. Yay or nay?

L is for Liver (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy!

Yeah, I could have done Legs or Limbs, but this one was more fun.

Pkharmat (Chechen legend)

Prometheus would have been an obvious choice for this topic, but instead I'm linking the Chechen version of the fire theft myth. The hero Pkharmat steals fire from the god of storms, with the help of the Mother of Narts in her bird form. After giving fire to humans, he returns voluntarily for his punishment, to be chained on the icy mountains. Every day a bird comes and asks him if he's regretted his actions but he says no; the bird then eats his liver, which grows back every day.

Why people have livers (Pengo people, India)

The creator makes the first boy and girl, but as they grow up they don't start to speak or walk. Eventually he asks his wife for advice. She suggests that he should cut her open as well as the children, and see what the difference is inside. The creator does so, and discovers that the children have no liver. He uses fig blossoms to make them livers. Ever since then, people can walk and talk, and fig trees have no flowers.

The liver of thunder (Miao people, China)

An old woman gives birth to seven brothers with magical abilities. When she gets sick, she claims the only thing that can cure her is eating the liver of thunder. The seven brothers manage to capture thunder, but while they wait to take its liver out, a robber accidentally frees it. Even since then, thunder doesn't harm robbers and thieves.

The liver of the wise and the liver of the foolish (Egypt)

A king is ill, and his vizier tells him that he needs to eat the liver of a foolish person and the liver of a wise person to get well. He immediately imprisons a judge ("wise") and a Bishari man ("foolish"). The Bishari man, however, proves him that his selection was wrong, saving his own life and the life of the judge (and throwing the vizier under the bus). From here, the story follows the Bishari man who marries the judge's daughter, and proves he is wiser than the judge himself.

Johnny and the liver (African-American story)

A classic horror folktale type in an American setting: a boy goes to buy liver but loses the money, so he cuts out the liver of a fresh corpse in the cemetery. At night, the corpse comes looking for its liver. In this version, the boy steals liver from another corpse and gives it to the first one - then lets them fight among themselves.

Were any of these stories familiar?

Question of the day: Are there any liver dishes that you enjoy? :)

G is for Genitalia (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy!

CW: Adult themes incoming! Obviously.

You didn't really think I was going to do a theme like this without addressing the obvious, did you?

(Note: Some of these tales say 'vagina' instead of 'vulva'. It may be factually incorrect, but I didn't want to mess with the translations.)

Wandering genitalia (Saora people, India)
This story claims that in the old days genitalia could detach themselves and go wandering at night. One evening, the creator Kittung accidentally stepped on a vulva which made a squealing sound. Feeling sorry, he put the small creature into the river, where it turned into a turtle (the head is the clitoris). He then made non-detachable parts for people.

Clitoris legends (India)

This collection from India contains a whole collection of amazing stories about the clitoris. One creation myth claim that lightning was born from Earth Mother's clitoris, therefore it "flashes and sparkles as the clitoris does." Another story says a woman was fishing in a stream one day when a crab pinched her vulva; a deity told her to cut off the claw, and she will have as much pleasure from it as she had pain. A third story tells of a girl who was so busy working that she misplaced her clitoris; she borrowed one from a bird and never gave it back.

My favorite, however, is another tale that claims that body parts used to go wandering on their own. One day, the breasts picked a fight with the vulvas, and chased them all away into the mountains. Dismayed, men set out to bring the vulvas back, but they are skittish creatures and hard to find. By the time they got back, some old women died, and people were left with extra vulvas. They divided them up equally in smaller pieces - creating the clitoris.

The wandering vagina (Mehinaku people, Brazil)

Yet another story that claims that in days of old, genitalia could wander around. A woman named Tukwi had an "especially foolish" vagina that crawled around the floor at night, looking for something to eat. It got into the porridge and started slurping, awakening a man in the house who went to see what it was, and accidentally scorched it with a torch. The vagina fled back to Tukwi, who then warned everyone not to let their vaginas wander around.

Vagina dentata

If there is one folklore trope that a lot of people are (painfully) familiar with, it's this one: vaginas with teeth (F574.1.1). There are entire books written about the folklore and mythology of this trope, so I'm not going to get into it. But I'm going to highlight some favorites. 

One is a Khond legend from India about a woman who used to have shiny, fiery teeth in her vagina until her husband took them out with a cord. After a long life, when their children were grown, she found the teeth again, buried in the garden - and they turned into fireflies. Ever since, they have been allowed to take shelter in people's houses.

The other story is a Mongolian legend about the death of Genghis Khan. It claim that the great khan desired a gorgeous woman named Gürbeljin Ghoa (Lizard Beauty). He put her husband to death and forced her to marry him. On her wedding night, she hid blades in her vagina - and thus murdered Genghis Khan. (Source here.)

An origin story from the Makka people in Paraguay claims that in the beginning, no one could have sex with women because they had piranhas in their vaginas. A wise shaman organized a dance party where he made women dance so much that all the piranhas fell out. Or rather, almost all - the smallest one stayed in and still gnaw, which is why periods exist.

Penis, Vagina and Testicles (Cameroon)

Penis and Testicles are best friends and they go fishing together. On the way back they meet Vagina who asks for some of their fish. Penis is happy to share, but Testicles are stingy. Later on, in the hot season, Vagina happily offers shelter from the sun to Penis, but not Testicles. The latter still try to get as close as possible. (A similar tale is told in Ghana about Penis and Testicles sharing ground nuts with Vagina, and getting shelter from the rain.)

Kwazerema and helpful Ant (Kapsiki people, Cameroon/Nigeria)

A man has two wives, but treats one of them very poorly, making her fetch water from the river every day. The woman meets a Red And who takes pity on her, and gives her medicine to put into her water jar. The husband has a habit of urinating in her jar - but this time, as he does, his penis gets stuck in it. Not only can no one break the jar, it also keeps singing a mocking song. Eventually he begs his wife to undo the curse, and decides to treat her better. She thanks Red Ant for the help.

Kapo-kohe-lele (Hawaii)

In Hawaiian mythology, Kapo of the Flying Vagina is the sister of the volcano goddess Pele. In one legend, the pig-god Kamapua'a pursues Pele and tries to rape her, but Kapo comes to her rescue: she uses her detachable vagina to distract the pig, leading him away from the goddess. (This story is reflected in Hawaiian place names. Other source here.)

The vagina girls (Jicarilla Apache legend)

The hero Killer-of-Enemies goes through many adventures, battling monsters and shaping the world. On his journey he defeats a monster and meets his four daughters in a house full of vaginas. The four girls are themselves vaginas in human form, and they use their teeth to devour people. The hero feeds them medicine, taking the teeth away, and they lay down the ground rules of how vaginas shall work. He picks two from their collection and takes them home to two girls; people experiment with where to put them on the body until they settle on their current placing. The four girls go on to live good lives among the humans.

The three wishes (1001 Nights)

A man earns three wishes - and immediately uses the first one to wish for a larger penis. His penis grows to a gigantic size, at which point he panics and wishes for it to go away. It does, and now he has to use his third wish to get it back.

The four champions (Hausa tale)

Four friends acquire grain together: they break the corn on one's head, thresh it with one's penis, winnow it with one's mighty farts, and carry it home with one's scrotum. The question of the dilemma tale is: who was the most heroic of the four?

(14th century illustration)

I am somewhat worried about the comments section now. Also, my general search history and upcoming Facebook advertisements.

Have a nice Sunday break, everyone!

F is for Fingers (Body Folktales)

This year, my A to Z Challenge theme is Body Folktales. Enjoy!

(Sorry, this image was low hanging fruit. Explanation here.)

Fingers, surprisingly, play a very dominant role in folktales. I had an abundance of stories to choose from, so here is a selection of the most interesting ones:

The Finger (Jewish tale)

If you have seen Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, this story will be familiar to you. You might even know it from Clarissa Pinkola Estés' Women who run with the wolves, although she has changed the story significantly from its folklore versions.

Joking around with his friends in the woods, a young man puts an engagement ring on a finger sticking out of the ground. Later on, when he is preparing for his wedding, a demon woman (or a corpse) suddenly appears with the ring on her finger, claiming to be his first bride. The case is brought before a rabbi, who proclaims that the demon can't claim a mortal as her husband, and declares a divorce.

There also a lesser known version of this tale, called The demon in the tree. In this one, a boy puts a ring on a finger sticking out of a tree's trunk, and unwittingly marries a demon. The demon kills all his brides, until the third one manages to survive. Not only that, but she comes to an agreement with the demon, first appeasing her with food, and then sharing her husband with her for one hour each day. After seven years, the demon leaves them alone for good.

(You can find other versions of this story here and here.)

The legend of Raja Nala (India)

Raja Nala makes the mistake of declaring that Truth is more important than Luck - and the goddess of luck, Lakshmi, abandons him. He loses everything in short order, and goes through many adventures until he is restored to his kingdom. Along the way, his son becomes engaged to a princess, but when he grows up, Raja Nala decides to marry him to two nymphs instead. The true bride tries everything she can to get her betrothed back, and the prince finally decides to elope with her. However, his wives are so jealous that they sleep every night holding his fingers in their mouth. The prince tricks them by making sheaths out of bark for his fingers, and he manages to quietly slip away.

(Other source here.)

The queen and the cobra (India)

A dog gives birth to two human girls, and raises them in the jungle. In time, the girls meet two princes and marry them, moving into the city. When the dog-mother comes visiting, one daughter is happy to receive her but the other is not. They get tangled in a web of lies and mistakes, until the kind princess wants to kill herself by sticking her finger in a cobra's mouth. Her finger dislodges a splinter in the snake's throat, and the grateful animal rewards her greatly for the help.

The ring (Spain)

This is a folktale version of Odysseus' adventure with the cyclops, but with a girl as the hero. At the end of the story the blinded giant tricks her into wearing a ring that always tells him where she is; to save her life and get away, the girl cuts off her own finger and throws it off a mountain.

Abram and Nimrod (Iran)

This legend is a Persian variant of some stories that may be familiar from the Bible. King Nimrod is told by fortune-tellers that a child will eclipse his own power, so he orders all newborns to be killed. A woman, Adna, hides her child in a cave. Whenever she visits to nurse him, she finds him suckling on his own fingers - one of which produces milk, and the other produces honey. The boy named Abram grows up fast, and soon faces King Nimrod himself.

A ladder of fingers

This is a motif (F848.2), rather than a single tale. There are many fairy tales and fairy tale variants where someone (usually a girl) cuts off her fingers to make a ladder to reach her goal. In a German tale, a girl seeking her brothers on top of a glass mountain cuts off her little finger to create the last step on her climb. In the Grimm version of the same, she uses her little finger to open the door. In a tale from Silesia, it's a boy looking for his sister who cuts off his finger to climb the mountain.

The other tale type that often contains this motif is the Magic Flight, where the hero has to complete impossible tasks with the help of his bride. In the Breton folktale of The Maiden in White, the hero has to climb a slippery tower and retrieve a dove. His bride tells him to cut her into pieces and boil her bones, which he then uses as a ladder. After, he puts her together again, but misses her little toe. Later on, de recognizes her in a challenge by looking at her foot. In The Green Man of Eggum from Newfoundland, the hero has to gt a golden ring off a glass pole fifty feet high. His bride tells him to hit her with an ax, and her bones turn into a ladder. On the way down he steps on a rung too hard, and her little finger breaks, becoming crooked. In the Welsh Traveler version of the same (The Green Man of Noman's Land), the girl wishes her fingers to become a ladder, and the hero breaks her little finger by stepping over it. The motif is very common in Celtic cultures, and has traveled over to America as well.

The same motif also appears in a German variant of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. The woman seeking her enchanted husband (a white wolf instead of a white bear) cuts off her finger to scale the glass mountain.

There are also many Christian legends about saints lighting things up with their fingers.

There are more stories that I could think of, but it's time to move on to the next letter.

Do any other examples come to mind?