The Owl Delivered the Good News All Night Long by Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai; An Excerpt

The Owl Delivered the Good News All Night Long edited by Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai is a collection of 108 fabulous folk tales, legends and stories from more than fifty-seven languages and dialects. Here is an excerpt from 'The Tale Of The Brave Lady'

Unniyarcha’s father, Kannappa Chekavar, was allied to a famous Chekavar family. He was a master in Kalaripayattu and had won forty-one duels and owned four martial art training schools, popularly known as kalaris. He lived in his ancestral home, Puthuram House, which was linked to a group of legendary fighters. Unniyarcha was the only daughter of Kannappa Chekavar. She had two brothers, Aromal Chekavar and Unnikannan, both of whom were well-versed in sword fight. She spent her childhood with her two brothers and a cousin named Chandu. Chandu was an orphan. He lost his parents soon after his birth. Kannappa Chekavar, his maternal uncle, brought him to Puthuram House and brought him up as his own child. Kannappa Chekavar was very affectionate towards his sister’s son, and trained him in sword fight.

At the age of seven, Unniyarcha started practising sword fight at her father’s kalari. Her brother, Aromal, and her cousin, Chandu, helped her to master the art of Kalaripayattu. She excelled in using the flexible sword, urumi, and proved her competence in martial arts in her teens. Unniyarcha’s feminine charm and generosity was propagated by many travelling bards in Kerala.

Chandu was deeply in love with Unniyarcha and desired to marry her as ‘cousin marriage’ was a customary practice among the Hindus at that period of time. But Unniyarcha considered Chandu as her elder brother and enjoyed his love and companionship. Her father also showed special attention to Chandu. Unniyarcha’s elder brother, Aromal, did not like his father’s favouritism towards Chandu. He despised Chandu and was cynical about his words and deeds. When Unniyarcha completed her training and turned fourteen, her family decided to look for a groom for her. Her cousin daringly professed his wish to marry her. But nobody in the family supported his wish except her father. Aromal Chekavar openly exposed his aversion and displeasure about Chandu’s proposal. It led to an enduring enmity between Aromal and Chandu. Finally, Unniyarcha married Kunhiraman, a martial art trainer. After her marriage, she went to her husband’s home and as was customary, she took her husband’s family name and was called Attumanamel Unniyarcha. Chandu, who lost his dreams, left his uncle’s home in despair.

During Unniyarcha’s stay at Kunhiraman’s home, an interesting incident accidently occurred to prove her courage. One fine day, Unniyarcha heard about an auspicious local festival that was happening at Allimalarkavu, a famous temple far away from her home. She wished to participate in that temple festival but Kunhiraman’s parents did not give her permission to go there as they were afraid of the misogynist ruffians at Nadapuram market. Somehow, Unniyarcha convinced her husband and he finally agreed to go with her to the temple. When the couple reached the market, a gang of armed hooligans surrounded them. Kunhiraman, though he was a martial art trainer, started shivering. To his surprise, Unniyarcha challenged the hooligans and told them that she was born in Puthuram House, the birthplace of many legendary fighters. She fought with the armed ruffians and wounded them with her urumi. The wounded ruffians ran away and reported the incident to their gang leader. He, along with other gang members, came to the market and fought with Unniyarcha. She bravely fought and defeated all of them. Later, the gang leader realized the truth that they had fought against the daughter of a renowned sword fighter. He begged her forgiveness and offered her gold ornaments and valuables as a reward to pacify her. Instead of receiving his gifts, she ordered him to stop attacking the women who were travelling alone through Nadapuram market. Unniyarcha’s daring intervention put an end to hooliganism in that area and her bravery saved the lives of many helpless women.

Another mysterious incident in Unniyarcha’s life was the unexpected visit of Chandu in her sleeping chamber. One midnight, Chandu covertly entered her sleeping chamber hid under her bed. When she saw him, she was furious and shouted at him. Chandu tried to console her. But in anger, she threw a brass vessel at him and insulted him by calling him a traitor. Chandu was deeply hurt and his discontent flared up.

Unniyarcha’s life moved to a new phase with the untimely death of Aromal. Aromal was fixed to fight with Aringodar for settling a conflict between two brothers. Aringodar was a maestro of sword fight and the master of eighteen kalaris. Unfortunately, Unniyarcha’s father deputed Chandu as Aromal’s first assistant in the fight with Aringodar. Aringodar, the trickiest fighter, persuaded Chandu to make a flawed sword for Aromal. In the duel, Aromal bravely attacked Aringodar with the defective sword and killed him. After the tiresome fight, Aromal slept keeping his head on Chandu’s lap. Chandu planned to take revenge on Aromal. He stabbed him with the sharp edge of a brass lamp and killed him. After Aromal’s brutal murder, Unniyarcha came back to her own family. Her only aim now was to kill Chandu. She vowed that she would tie her hair only after the assassination of Chandu the traitor. She took charge of her father’s kalari and intensively trained her son, Aromalunni, along with Aromal’s son, Kannappanunni. Later, both of them fought with Chandu, cut his head, and gave it as a gift to the brave Unniyarcha.

Excerpted with permission from The Owl Delivered the Good News All Night Long: Folk Tales, Legends and Modern Lore of India, edited by Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai.

You can join SheThePeople's Book club on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.