Saat Bhai Champa or Sat Bhai Chompa is a popular
folk tale in the
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
region in the eastern part of the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. The story was first officially published by
Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder
Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumdar (15 April 1877 – 30 March 1956) was an Indian writer in Bengali of fairy tales and children's literature. He was born at Ulail in Dhaka district of Bengal province in British India (now Dhaka District of Bangl ...
in the book ''
Thakurmar Jhuli
''Thakurmar Jhuli'' ( bn, ঠাকুরমার ঝুলি; ''Grandmother's Bag f tales') is a collection of Bengali folk tales and fairy tales. The author Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder collected some folktales of Bengali and published som ...
'' in 1907. The introduction to Thakurmar Jhuli was written by Nobel-Laureate,
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
. A more detailed version of the story was published by
Bishnu Dey
Bishnu Dey ( bn, বিষ্ণু দে; 18 July 1909 – 3 December 1982) was a Bengali poet, writer and academician in the era of modernism, post-modernism. Starting off as a symbologist, he won recognition for the musical quality of his p ...
under the name "Sat Bhai Champa" in 1944.
Plot
Once upon a time, there lived a king. The king was not able to produce any heir to the throne through his seven wives. The king was depressed and spent large amount of time by himself in the forest. A priest in the forest saw the king's misery and gave him mangoes of bearing. The priest instructed the king to feed the fruits to his wives and then they would conceive children. The king gave his three wives the fruits as instructed by the priest. Two elder queens did not produce any children, as they ate it with disbelief. However, the younger queen gave birth to octuplets: seven boys and one girl, when the king was on a voyage. The elder queens became jealous and buried the babies in the garden before the younger queen gained consciousness from pregnancy. The babies magically blossom into seven
champak flowers and a trumpet flower. The last baby, the girl, was born some time after first seven babies in a time when the elder queens left the room with seven babies and this enabled the maid to hide the baby from the elder queens and named the child Parul. Elder queens, then, placed seven puppies on the younger queen's bedside and claimed the queen gave birth to seven puppies. Parul grew up in the forest. After learning her origin from her maid, she helped to revive her brothers into princes.
Variants
In a
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
i variant of the story, published by author Geeta Majumdar with the title ''The Story of The Seven Brothers and a Sister'', a nameless rajah has seven wives, the oldest named Premlata and the youngest Sulata. After a long time of praying to God for a child, the youngest queen, Sulata, becomes pregnant. The other six queens become jealous and enraged at the youngest's luck and conspire against her. When the time of labor is upon Sulata, her eight children - seven boys and a girl - are taken from her and thrown in a hole in the garden, and animals are put in their place. The king sees the animals in the cradle and banish Sulata. Some time later, the king's gardener finds a champa tree in the garden with beautiful flowers. He tries to pluck some to give the king, but the flowers move about the branch. The gardener summons the king to witness the strange occurrence. When the king himself tries to get one of the eight flowers on the branch, the flowers move out of reach and a voice tells him to summon the eldest queen. She comes and notices the champa tree sprouted where she and the other queens buried the children. She fails to get any flower. This happens to the other five queens, until the voice tells them to summon Sulata. The disgraced queen, now wearing tatters and looking emaciated, is brought to the champa tree. When she tries to get the flowers, her seven sons come out of the champa buds and her daughter from the parul bud. The king learns of the truth and condemns Premlata and the other queens to be buried alive in a pit filled with thorns and brambles.
In a
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
i tale published by author Pranab Chandra Roy Choudhury with the title ''Seven Champa Brothers and Sister Parul'', a king has seven queens, the first six arrogant, but the youngest demure and loved best by the king. One day, the seventh queen is pregnant, which fuels the bitter jealousy of the co-queens. The king gives her a bell at the end of a cord to ring if she needs something, but the seventh queen rings it too many times, which annoys the king. Finally, the she gives birth to eight children, seven boys and a girl, who are taken by the co-queens and buried under a dung heap, and replaced by puppies and a kitten. The king, seeing the little animals, banishes the seventh queen to the menial position of cleaning the cowshed. Back to the children, eight trees sprout: seven Champak or Champa flower trees, and one Parul flower. Some time later, the king's gardener tries to pluck the flowers, but the trees begin to speak and call for the co-queens to come. They also cannot get the flowers. The king himself comes and also cannot takes the flowers. Lastly, the disgraced queen comes and plucks the flowers; her children come back to life.
Another variant of the story has it that seven babies turned into seven puppies.
Translations
The tale was translated by
Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt
Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt, ICS, FRGS (25 June 1874 – 11 June 1963) was a British diplomat and writer.
Biography
He began his career as an English member of the Indian Civil Service. His duty in India began in 1896, and he started as an ass ...
into
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
as ''The Seven Brothers who were turned into Champa Trees'' and published in 1920 in the book ''Bengal Fairy Tales''.
The tale was also translated into
French as ''Les Sept Fleurs de Champaka et la Fleur de Paroul'' ("The Seven Champaka Flowers and the Parul Flower"), and published in 1923.
Analysis
In their joint work, researcher Noriko Mayeda and Indologist
W. Norman Brown
William Norman Brown (June 24, 1892 – April 22, 1975) was an American Indologist and Sanskritist who established the first academic department of South Asian Studies in North America and organized the American Oriental Society in 1926. He was t ...
listed Bradley-Birt's translation as belonging to tale type ATU 707, "
The Three Golden Children", of the international
Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, under a form that appears in locally India: the children of a
slandered queen are stolen and killed, but reincarnate into flowers.
Arts
![Gaganendranath Tagore - Sat-Bhai Champa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Gaganendranath_Tagore_-_Sat-Bhai_Champa.jpg)
''Sat-Bhai Champa'' painting by
Gaganendranath Tagore
Gaganendranath Tagore (17 September 1867 – 14 February 1938) was an Bengali painter and cartoonist of the Bengal school. Along with his brother Abanindranath Tagore, he was counted as one of the earliest modern artists in India.
Life and car ...
is considered a masterpiece in contemporary Indian arts.
The painting is currently located at
Academy of Fine Arts of Calcutta.
Adaptations
Several Bengali film have been made based on the Saat Bhai Champa story, including:
*''Sat Bhai Chompa'' (1968 film) - The movie was made in
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...
, what is now
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. The director of the movie is
Dilip Shome Dilip may refer to: People
* Dilīpa, king in Hindu mythology
* Dilip Chhabria, Indian automobile designer
* Dilip Chitre (1938–2009), Indian writer and critic
* Dilip D'Souza (born 1960), Indian writer and journalist
* Dilip Dholakia (1921–2 ...
and main casts are
Kabori
Sarah Begum Kabori (also Kabori Sarwar; born Mina Pal, 19 July 1950 – 17 April 2021) was a Bangladeshi film actress and politician. Her notable films include ''Sutorang'', ''Sareng Bou'', ''Abhirbhab'', ''Shat Bhai Champa'', ''Sujon Sokhi'' ...
and
Khan Ataur Rehman
Khan Ataur Rahman (known as Khan Ata; 11 December 1928 – 1 December 1997) was a Bangladeshi film actor, director, producer, screenplay writer, music composer, and singer, best known for his role in the film '' Jibon Theke Neya'' (1970). He re ...
. The movie is ranked by
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
as one of the top ten Bangladeshi film of all time.
*''Saat Bhai Champa'' (1978 film) - The movie was made in
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The movie was directed by
Chitrasarathi and music of the film was composed by
Raghunath Das Raghunath may refer to:
Places
*Raghunath Temple, one of the largest temple complexes of north India located in Jammu in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir
*Raghunathganj I, a community development block that forms an administrative division in ...
. The actors starring are
Biswajeet
Biswajit Chatterjee (born 14 December 1936), known mononymously as Biswajit, is an Indian actor, producer, director, singer and politician known for his work in Hindi and Bengali cinema.
Early career
After films in Calcutta including ''Ma ...
,
Sandhya Roy
Sandhya Roy is an Indian actress and politician. She is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She is the recipient of BFJA Award for three times, and one Filmfare Awards East best actress for '' Ganadevata''.
Roy made her cinematic debut wit ...
,
Mrinal Mukherjee
Mrinal Mukherjee ( – 7 May 2019) was an Indian actor, theatre personality and music director. He is the father of actor and singer Jojo. He is remembered for his negative roles in Bengali cinema.
Career
In 1955, Mukherjee made his debut w ...
,
Gita Karmakar,
Biswanath Chattopadhyay and
Chhanda Chattopadhyay
*''
Saat Bhai Champa
Saat Bhai Champa or Sat Bhai Chompa is a popular folk tale in the Bengal region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. The story was first officially published by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder in the book Thakurmar Jhuli in 1907. The intr ...
'' (2017–19 TV series) is an Indian fantasy drama television series that aired on
Zee Bangla
Zee Bangla is an Indian general entertainment pay television channel broadcasting in the Bengali language. It is owned by the Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It is the first Bengali-language satellite television channel in India, officially com ...
.
Song
Bol Na Re Bol Na Song– Saat Bhai Champa Serial – Zee Bangla
See also
*
The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead
The Boy with a Moon on his Forehead is a Bengali folktale collected by Maive Stokes and Lal Behari Day.
These tales are classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children (folklore), The Three Golden C ...
*
Champa Si Ton
Champa Si Ton or Campa Si Ton ( lo, ຈຳປາ ສີ່ ຕົ້ນ; English: ''The Four Frangipani Trees'', ''The Four Champa Trees'', ''The Four Frangipani Brothers'') is a folktale from the Lao people.
History
Indian scholarship suggests ...
References
External links
English translation of the taleat Wikisource.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saat Bhai Champa
Asian fairy tales
Indian fairy tales
Bengali-language literature