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Rajdev Yadav, from Amwa village in the Champaran district of Bihar, recites this droll yarn about a liar’s competition attended by people from neighbouring districts. Such tales have been a staple in routine evening gatherings on village verandahs for generations. This recital adds a dash of the modern by referencing words such as ‘hi-tech’ and ‘hybrid’ while relating rural routines, showcasing how folk has always reflected its current reality. 

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Rajdev Yadav

The Liars’ Competition

A man travels across the seven seas on a quest to wake up his destiny, sleeping in an island cave without a care. In this off-beat Bhojpuri folk tale, Seema Verma, a rural healthcare worker, enkindles the magic and wonder of a fairy tale world. Stories like this kept the daily evening gatherings bright and alive on dim-lit rural verandahs in a less technologically-connected era.

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Seema Verma

A Quest for a Destiny 

A 100-year old mandali singer, Badri Das, shares an urban legend about Saint Bhikham Das's mystical interactions with the world around him. From a fellow saint visiting Bhikam Das on a tiger to his disciple helping people manage a pandemic, this story is an ensemble of multiple popular events near Saint Bhikam Das. Bihar has a rich culture of poet-saints, and this narration in Bhojpuri reveals how intertwined the legacies of these unique personas are in the lives of the regular folk.

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Badri Das

A Saint Meets a Tiger

Sohar is a song expression to celebrate childbirth. The prospective childhood of the newborn is often compared to those of the Hindu gods Ram and Krishna in these songs. Here, Sukhal Paswan, a dancer (dressed as a woman), sings a Bhojpuri sohar in which Kaushalya gets anxious about her child Ram’s wellbeing when rain arrives, and she pleads with the clouds to cease the shower so her child doesn’t gets wet. These songs keep evolving from household to household as the women add their own expressions.

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Sukhal Paswan

Sohar : Songs Celebrating Childbirth

A male and a female cobra reside in a princess’s belly, enjoying the rich food she eats and killing anyone who might upset this arrangement. A prince from another kingdom uses his wit to end the snakes and free the princess. Farmer Sukhdev Mahto narrates a Bhojpuri folktale that highlights how some mystical stories explain unexplained illnesses and remedies.

Photo: Randhir Kumar


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Sukhdev Mahto

Snake in the Belly

Kesariya came into the limelight after the biggest-ever Buddhist stupa was discovered there. Before this excavation, the locals had multiple stories about this massive mountain-like structure next to an ancient Shiva temple and the king who ruled the land. The late Dadan Prasad shared this version of this tale famous in the local area for decades. The narration underlines how locals knit and add their "now" with time - an ancient Buddhist stupa was converted into a mystical local tale.

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Dadan Prasad

Was it Always the Tallest Buddhist Stupa?

Barber and singer Chabeela Thakur sings a song of a migrant’s longing for his own soil while learning to live in a nearby city Motihari that he attempts to make familiar. A sentiment shared by many in recent decades, it speaks to the hearts of tens of thousands of Bihari migrants around the world who have left their homes seeking livelihood. 


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Chabeela Thakur

Longing and Belonging

In the rural Indian landscape, a village fair has always been a space that kindles community spirit bringing together different social, cultural and faith backgrounds. The Tritiya Mela is an annual fete held at the shrine of Saint Bhikham Das in Madhopur village. Chabeela Thakur, a barber by profession and a singer by passion, has composed this song that brings to life the colourful chaos of this fair. The song is a perfect example of how ‘folk’ is hyperlocal.

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Let's Go to a Fete

There once was a princess who could run like the wind. Her father announced that anyone who could outrun her would win her hand in marriage. Many tried and failed until a prince used a smart trick to win his heart’s desire. Narrated here by the late Nirmala Verma in Bhojpuri,  these bedtime stories entertain and dispense nuggets of wisdom, they also reveal the placement of women in the traditional social structure.

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Nirmala Verma

The Wind Under Her Wings

A village priest, egged on by his wife, creates a nonsense poem by literally including everything he notices on his journey to the king’s court. As luck would have it, the poem leads to the capture of a thief in the palace and the priest gets an unforeseen windfall of wealth. Meena Srivastava narrates in Bhojpuri the quintessential feel-good bedtime story. Photo: Randhir Kumar

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Meena Srivastava

To Catch a Thief

A homemaker, narrates a spooky tale in Bhojpuri, of a young boy meeting a mysterious stranger while cycling back home late on the eve of his brother’s wedding. Her relative shared this anecdote with her and other eager listeners during regular evening conversations around firepits, called ghoora, on village verandahs.

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Meena Shrivastava

Saved by the Prayer

The love stories of Sorathi and Birjabhar are a style of musical storytelling in which stories are sung. This Bhojpuri composition unfolds Birjabhar's journey towards Soarthpur and his beloved. A farmer, Avadh Chaudhary, from the Siwan district in Bihar, opened his heart to share this story after we waited three days for him to get in the mood. These folklores have transcended generations and centuries through oral recitations.

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Avadh Chaudhary

Sorathi Aur Birjhabar: A Love Story in Song

A glimpse into childhood games that almost double as rituals - they have been played by grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts and through these children will probably continue for more generations. Oka Boka Teen Tadoka and other such rhymes have ruled summer vacations and regular school lunch breaks in all corners of Bihar. These verses, like most universal doggerels, introduce children to poetry, alliteration, cumulation, repetition and rhyme.

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A Group of Village Children

Game On

Seven brothers instructed their little sister to stay safe indoors while they were gone away to work. The little sister couldn’t keep the promise, and a demon sneaked into the house and ate all the food. Did the brothers return to tame the demon? This Bhojpuri folktale models the expected gender roles, behaviours and consequences of the social structure. Photo: Randhir Kumar

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Chinmaya Kumari

A Sister of Seven Brothers! 

A group of village girls bring their intangible cultural heritage alive through oral games. These game songs moved from one generation to the other without any documentation. One doesn’t need language or education to get the hang of these game stories; all you need is mood. A droplet of childhood that we wipe off the windscreen as we drive the life highway.

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A Group of Village Girls

Tune into Riddles

Sohar, a form of folk song, celebrates childbirth. In this Sohar, Padmavati (Janardhan Bahu), blesses the newborn avatar of Krishna and his family. She is a Bhojpuri-speaking person, using Hindi and English references such as ‘Mummy” and “Papa” in this song. This mingling of the traditional and the trendy showcases how ‘folk’ in Bihar has been in constant transformation, renewing itself with time. 

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Padmavati (Janardhan Bahu)

Sohar with a Twist  

Four brothers set out from their village to look for work, trusting their partners to look after their youngest sister, Sanchiraiya. Gotai Baba, a temple priest, shares this Bhojpuri story he learnt from his grandmother - a tale that reveals the hardships of women left behind and how they navigate the challenges and support of their ecosystems.

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Gotai Baba

Left Behind

The folktales of the brothers Alha and Udal, popular in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, are stories of wars and justice. In this Bhojpuri narrative, Shiv Kumar, a farmer, adds his own spin to one of the multiple war stories sung and narrated about Alha and Udal - the way folk alters in different regions as storytellers add their own interpretations rooted in local culture.


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Shiv Kumar

The Tale of Alha-Udal

A bird gets caught in a farmer’s net while foraging for food for her babies. She doesn’t give up and keeps pleading with every passerby to intervene with the farmer until she gets back to the sky. In this Maithili tale, Journalist Kishor Keshav uses the traditional storytelling style of recital interspersed with songs. Bihar is primarily an agrarian society and stories like these take one back to the soil and the interconnectedness with nature - how everyone and everything is dependent upon each other for survival.

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Kishore Keshav

A Bird's Song

Two orphaned brothers set out to seek their fortunes in the wide world. One uses his soft heart and demeanour to deal with life situations, while the other uses his wits and cunning. Kishor Keshav, a journalist, narrates the Maithili story that imparts wisdom to migrants about different ways to handle life in unfamiliar conditions.

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Kishor Keshav

Two Brothers - Two Hearts

The ‘marriage mart’ was part of the way of life and reality in some regions of Bihar. Radio artist Premlata recalls how her prospective ‘match’ was inadvertently discovered in such a mart near her village Rahika in Madhubani when she was 12. In this personal anecdote, narrated in Maithili, she brings alive the norms and practices of those times. 

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Premlata Mishra

The Marriage Mart 

Lal Bujhakkad and his comedies of errors are part of every childhood in the Mithila region. Radio artist Dr. Premlata Mishra shares three snippets from the Lal Bujhakkad series where his ignorance turns an elephant into a guava. Before the ascent of technology, these stories would light up the evening with humour and satire. Photo: Randhir Kumar

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Lal Bujhakkad : The One Who Knew It All...

Jitiya is a popular festival during which many mothers fast without even water for their children’s well-being. During this celebration, women and children gather for story-telling sessions. Narmada Bharadwaj, a housewife from Saharsa, shares in Maithili one of the popular Jitiya tales featuring the Sun’s son as the protagonist. Photo: Randhir Kumar

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Narmada Bharadwaj

Jitiya - Mothers Fast for Children’s Well-Being

A small boy herding his cows and goats is kidnapped by a wicked old woman, but he uses his wits to free himself and also bring some wealth back home. Narmada Bharadwaj narrates this folktale from Saharsa region is often narrated by grandmothers during bedtime and they are woven with characters and plots to protect children from adverse surroundings.

Photo: Randhir Kumar


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Wise and Wealthy 

“Choice” marriages weren’t very common in Patna’s 90s. Anand Madhav and Prof Shefali Roy chose heart over caste, and a modest wedding over a big blowout, followed by a honeymoon with funds gifted as blessing by well-wishers to the tune of Rs 1,800. A personal anecdote narrated in Hindi, the tale is not only about a courageous love story, but also the various heady adventures the couple encountered in times when tech-driven platforms weren't facilitating life.

Illustration: Meenakshi Jey

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Anand Madhab

Honeymoon Travels

Stage shows based on religious folk stories have been an integral part of rural entertainment for centuries. Artist Bulloo Kumar recalls colourful shenanigans such as Hanuman being injured ‘on set’ or Shiva being scared of snakes in the shows presented by his village, Hisua’s theatre company. This Hindi and Magahi anecdote breathes life into the way the local community connects through performing arts and the spontaneous hilarity that can ensue in a world of multiplexes and streaming platforms. Photo: Randhir Kumar

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Bulloo Kumar

Theatrical Hijinx 

Almost every culture in the world has a folktale with a subdued king, his beautiful children and their evildoer stepmother. These tales have shown the importance of integrity in decision-making under challenging circumstances. Bullo Kumar, an artist, narrates a story of a queen's angst driving the king to sacrifice his beloved children in the Maghi dialect. This traditional narration reveals the cultural values and beliefs of the place. Photo: Randhir Kumar