Kironmala from Thakurmar Jhuli (Grandmother’s Bag of Tales from Bengal, India) – Changing reflections of a brave princess across a century through various channels of media

Abstract

The Bengali folktale of Kironmala from the book (compilation) Thakurmar Jhuli (Grandmother’s Bag of Tales) from Bengal (India) speaks of a story of a ‘homely and dutiful’, yet a brave princess who battles all evil to save her two brothers and her kingdom- finally reuniting with their long-lost father- the king. As the story has been transcribed and also adapted across various audio-visual formats over the last hundred years, Kironmala speaks of changing times within its patriarchal mould. This paper looks into the original folktale and its format and how it has evolved over the years- incorporating changing roles of the female lead character- Kironmala- finally rendering a break away from the stereotypical mould- which is typical in representations across all other folktales from contemporary Bengal.