Pati Patni aur Malpua: A Folktale from Bihar

How far are you willing to go for your favourite food? This folktale from Bihar narrates the story of a couple who were willing to be cremated alive — all for the love of a malpua!

Pati Patni and Malpua. Illustrated by Gowri Suresh, Visual Storyteller at ThisDay

Welcome to RRR: Recount Reimagine and Retell, a podcast that will traverse the unique and ancient landscape of India's treasure trove of folktales and fables. भूले-बिसरे लोक कथाओं के इस अनोखे सफर में आपके साथ हूँ मैं दीपा, आपकी कल्पनाशील कथाकार। As I recount the stories I heard, I reimagine them just like our grandmothers did before passing these gems onto us, and I will retell them in a way that will stay with you forever.

आइये, आज हम आपको ले चलते हैं to the fascinating land of litti chokha, Madhubani paintings, and the delectable dessert, malpua. वैसे तो men will be men, लेकिन कभी कभी gentleladies-लोग भी टक्कर में आ जाती हैं इनके। और फिर क्या होता है, सुनिए पति-पत्नी और मालपुआ, बिहार की इस बहुते बढ़िया लोककथा में।

Malpua has been the most sought-after delicacy in Bihar for centuries. It’s the first item a bride cooks after coming to her in-laws’. No major festival is celebrated without this lumpy, fried sweet floating in dense chaashni, which requires a fine variety of wheat flour, milk, sugar, ghee, and dry fruits to cook. Now this makes the mighty malpua a precious privilege and out of the reach of poor landless farmhands who struggle to manage even two meals of coarse grain a day unless their benefactors, their maaliks, are large-hearted enough to distribute these on special occasions.

Ramraj and Dhania were such landless farmworkers. They were quite poor, but rich in their love for each other. धनिया अपने रामूजी के लिए हर दिन कैसे भी करके कुछ अच्छा खाना बनाती थी, and like every loving partner, she always gave a larger portion of their humble meal to her beloved Ramuji. Alas, their maalik’s father had passed away the previous year and it had been a year since they had tasted the sweet dense richness of a malpua.

रामूजी को सपने आ रहे थे मालपुए के… how he would bite into one, first taste the honeyed sugar syrup in his mouth that would be filled with the aroma of cardamom, then savour the soft flour fried to perfection, no too much, not too little… and then crunch on the almonds that are the really the final crescendo of this sweet symphony.

Having missed this sensual malpua experience for almost a year, Ramuji started dreaming, then daydreaming about eating a malpua, the dream turned into an obsession. Dhania sensed that something was troubling her beloved husband who, for the past few days, didn’t even want the extra portion of the meal she so lovingly served him each night.

का भइल बा रामूजी? हम तोहरा खातिर अतना बढ़िया खाना बनाये हैं? आ यू एक कटोरा ना खइले बानी!

Seeing the face of his सुन्दर लुगाई lined with worry, Ramuji confessed his craving for a malpua. Dhania, relieved that it was just this and nothing more, entreated, "रामूजी, आपके खातिर स्वादिष्ट मालपुआ बना देंगे, बस हमारे लिए सामग्री ले आईं। और सुनिए, मेहंगा पिस्ता-बादाम हम ले आएंगे सेठजी के घर से। आप बस बाकी का इंतज़ाम करिये।"

Ramraj worked day and night. His back screamed in pain with the extra hours, his muscles gave up, but his obsessive longing for the sensual malpua egged him on to work till he had saved up enough to buy the ghee, the flour, and the sugar. He ran to Dhania and handed over these expensive items to her and waited impatiently as she fussed over the tiny corner in their house where she cooked and sweated in the heat. Ramuji dreamed of that first bite… then another… then another… what was taking the woman so long? How difficult can it be to make a malpua? I will learn to make it the next time from Dabloo Halwaai, he thought. And why did he not think of doing this earlier, why had he not worked back-breaking hours earlier? So what if it nearly killed him to work such long hours in the heat, so what if it was just for the malpua and not for a new sari for his darling Dhania, that could wait… this obsession needed to be sated first.

Finally her sweet voice called out, “रामूजी, आइयेगा, मालपुआ तैयार है।” As he leaped towards the fireplace where Dhania had laid out the fresh malpuas waiting to be devoured, his eyes filled with lust and passion, he counted 1,2,3,4,5… five malpuas! Okay, this was not bad… he was sure to be happy with three or four, since Dhania didn’t have his appetite. And just when he reached out to pick his share, Dhania moved back the thaal in which the malpuas waited to be picked up and gobbled. Ramuji was shocked as she put two in his plate and three in hers.

“ये का करत हैं आप!,” he asked her, shocked. Dhania replied in a cool icy tone that he had never heard before, “देखिये रामूजी, you bought the flour, the ghee, and the sugar, but I sneaked out the expensive dry fruits from our maalik’s kitchen. It was a huge risk to take and I could have been caught. So I deserve the extra malpua.”

Ramraj was stunned, he retorted, “Dhaniaji, do dry fruits make a malpua? What about the sugar, the ghee, and the flour that I have broken my back procuring?” Dhania matched his contention with a biting remark, “What about the long hours I put into making them after working in the farm and extra hours at the maalik’s house?”

Ramraj jumped up in anger and was almost frightened when Dhania jumped right up, bringing her face to face with him, her eyes reflecting a certain mad hunger he hadn’t seen before. Normally, this tango would have led to other sensual experiences, पर अभी पति और पत्नी के बीच था मालपुआ। They looked each other in the eye, each one refusing to even blink while they negotiated. “I am your husband, you as a dutiful wife should give up the extra one to me,” to which Dhania replied, “I am your wife and you as a dutiful husband owe me the extra malpua for all the extra servings I have given you from my share over the years.” “But you are a woman, how much can you eat?” “I am a hardworking woman, Ramuji, and I feel the same hunger as you do. Just because I have always given you more doesn’t mean I cannot eat more.”

As they argued and quarrelled, the malpuas became colder and colder. Yet, the cantankerous duel continued for hours. Finally, Dhania took the thaal and ran into the field. Ramuji followed her, also thinking how she always managed to run faster than him, but this time, Dhania, this time… you just wait.

He caught up with her and swung her towards him. Another time, this move would have led to passionate pleasure, but for now, it was a deadly duel for the pleasures promised by the malpua. Her kohl-filled eyes melted his anger for a few seconds and he asked her, “Dhania, how can we settle this matter?” He knew that being in the circle of his arms would make her melt too, that was their thing always. He waited for the matter to settle positively for him as it always did in such moments.

Dhania looked up at him and said in her sweet voice, which had a tight and even icier edge to it, “Let’s play the game of silence, dear husband. We lie here eyes shut, silent and unmoving. Whoever breaks the silence hereon loses the right to the extra malpua.”

And thus began a sullen silence between them that lingered on for minutes, an hour… more hours… the night darkened, the malpuas hardened, but neither relented. It was the wee hours of the morning, and Dhania and Ramraj lay in the fields, silent, exhausted, not opening their eyes but not done yet. Other farm workers came to work and saw two unmoving bodies lying on the ground with a thaal of malpuas between them. Famous for their unending love for each other, their co-workers concluded that it was yet another suicide, indeed farmworkers who couldn’t bear their poverty were driven to this often. But this was Ramraj and Dhania, who had persisted and persevered until now. The farm workers rued the fate of the couple, and that of the lives and loves struck down by poverty, and prepared to bid farewell to this loving couple by setting up a funeral pyre.

Just then, Ramraj opened his eyes and broke his silence, “Dhania, I give up. I refuse to be cremated alive, all for a malpua.” She woke up with a tired smile and said, “I knew this is how it would end,” and embraced him. He looked forward to renewing their love by sharing the malpuas, and shushed their fellow farm workers who were stunned by this stupid couple’s petty squabble. Ramuji turned to walk back hand-in-hand with Dhania, eating two and a half malpuas. He knew secretly that it was just a weak moment for Dhania where she sunk into obstinacy, this happened at times, specially at that time of the month, and as he turned to hold her in his arms, he saw her swallowing the last bite of the extra malpua.

आशा है आपको ये कहानी अच्छी लगी। भीकाजी ठाकुर को "द शेक्सपियर ऑफ़ बिहार" ऐसे ही नहीं कहा जाता। He is a master folklorist who brought us this story and more from the land of malpuas. I thank Nalin Verma for recording this beautiful tale in his collection.

चलिए, मिलते हैं next week इसी समय for another story from RRR. Till then, मालपुए खाइये और मस्त रहिये!