In Goa, Ramayana is narrated during harvest festivals and folk performances such as, Jat , Val , Aarat, Chaurang, Taalen, Ranamale, Gavan Kaani, Fugadi , Ovi, and Gadya Ramayana which is a local version of Ramayana performance. It is a common practice across India, for folk performers to embellish and localise the main narrative of Valmiki’s Ramayana by inserting specific local details and episodes. The following episode from Ramayana sung and performed in the Canacona region of Goa is one such instance.

Once Guru and Ravana went into the forest for hunting animals. But even after spending a whole day they could not find any prey. Hungry and tired they fell asleep under a Jamun tree. Suddenly a huge bright shining jewel fell from the tree. Ravana and Guru woke up hearing the loud thud and found the precious jewel lying in front of them. Guru picked up the precious jewel and decided to present it to Indra-Kavalasa. Indra accepted the jewel, looked at it for a long time, then tied it in a holy red cloth and hung it on his wall.

Ravana became very curious about the precious jewel. “ I must have this rare jewel in my possessions,” he thought to himself. Greedy as he was, he quietly sneaked into Indra -Kavalasa’s home and stole it.

This is a popular folktale in Nepal.

Once upon a time a baby girl was born to the King and Queen of Nepal. The girl was exceptionally beautiful and to add to that, her hair was golden in colour. The King and queen became obsessed with her golden locks, and every night they would count each and every holden strand fearing a few of them might fall off and get lost. They even forbid her to tie her hair fearing her hair might get pulled off. The girl practically lived under house arrest. One day the girl despite her mother’s objection quietly went to the river to have bath. Unfortunately in the midst of her bath a strand of hair broke lose and floated away down the stream.

The King and queen became very upset and announced that whoever finds the lost strand of hair, would receive the princess in marriage. One day her younger brother who was a dimwit  managed to find the lost hair strand and brought it to the King.

The King was in a bind wondering how could he marry off his daughter to his own son? So he consulted his minister. After a long deliberation the minister advised the King to keep his word, because if he goes back on his word, his subjects would lose faith in him. The only way forward was to keep to his word and marry off his daughter to his son.

When the princess came to know that she is going to be married off to her own brother, she ran off from the palace into the jungle and climbed to the top of the tallest tree. The King sent his search party into the jungle to find her. They searched high and low and finally found her perched on the highest branch of the tallest tree in the land. They pleaded with her to come down. But the she refused to come down . She told them this marriage will bring disaster to the family. And she wove a tree house out of the branches continued to live on top of the tree.

As time passed her aged parents died. Finally the dimwit brother came to the tree where his beautiful sister was living. Instead of asking her to come down he asked her if he could come up to meet her. She agreed and let down her long golden locks from the top of the tree, so that her brother could grab on to the hair and climb up. As he kept climbing up towards the tree-house, he started feeling hungry. He asked his sister to give him some food to eat. The girl immediately prepared rice and beans, but warned him not to drop any grain on the ground. But her brother being clumsy, dropped a few grains on to the ground. Miraculously trees and herds of cattle sprang up from the fallen grain.

Atul and Petul were two sisters who lived on the outskirts of a village . Their parents died when they were very young, so they had to fend for their lives by themselves. During the day they would go to the nearby village and beg for food and return to their hut by night to sleep. One day an old lady gave them an idali * to eat. Both the sisters loved it so much that they decided to prepare it by themselves. They gathered all the ingredients. Soaked the lentils in the afternoon, and ground it sitting on the stone grinder. In the night they mixed the ground lentils with rice powder and kept it for fermentation. Everything was done as per the old lady’s instructions.

Next morning they got up early, with the thought of eating hot idalis. But Oh! No! There was no wood to light the stove! The sisters grabbed a machete and a rope and rushed to the nearby jungle to gather dry wood. “Chop! Chop! Chop!” Atul started chopping the wood from a tree. A dugout close to the tree was the home of a tiger. He heard the loud noise of wood chopping and crawled out. “ Whose that? Who is chopping off the trees?” roared the tiger. Atul and Petul froze in fear. A huge angry tiger was looming over them bearing his big fangs.

After driving through the thick forest for hours in the tiny village of Loliem at Canacona South Goa, we finally managed to locate the Betal shrine. The very first sight of Betal was unsettling to say the least. There was no shrine* but a towering black basalt stone idol of Betal, stark naked with his piercing gaze stood amidst thick green foliage of the rainforest. The smell of freshly soaked earth in first monsoon showers combined with the pregnant silence made the setting poignant. We were awestruck by the beauty and grace of the solitary god who stood mutely watching over his territory.

Ghost or spirit stories are very common across the world and in Goa, the coastal state from western India, Devchars are the most cherished spirit-gods. Devchar literally means- “The one who has gone the god’s way” in Konkani language.

Generally Devchars are considered to be benevolent spirits, known for their shape-shifting ability but they are also notorious for creating nuisance for people. Thus if someone is a trouble maker, then it is asked in jest “Has Devchar possessed you?” Although feared by children, elders know Devchar is a harmless and also a foolish spirit, who can be easily tricked. The tale shows how the memory of spirit–god is kept alive through folktales.