Jadugi Mingsel: A Manipuri Snow White

James Oinam *

The Talking Mirror :: Picture from 'Ancient Origins' website

Many people believe that the story of Snow White is based on true events. On a web page, titled 'Ancient Origins: Reconstructing the Story of Humanity's Past', two contesting claims are mentioned:
1. In 1994, a German historian named Eckhard Sander published Schneewittchen: Marchen oder Wahrheit? (Snow White: Is It a Fairy Tale?) The author conjectures that Snow White is based on Margarete von Waldeck, a German countess.
2. According to a study group in Lohr, Bavaria, Snow White is based on Maria Sophia von Erthal, born on 15 June 1729, in Lohr am Main, Bavaria. The proponents of the later claim the magic 'talking mirror' is inspired by an acoustical toy, constructed in 1720, which furnished the home of Maria's stepmother. (Now the mirror is housed in Manfred Scherer/Spessart Museum.)

Even though folklores of stepmothers mistreating their stepdaughters is rampant, the authors point out similarities that do not seem to be just coincidences.

There are many versions of the story all over the world. And Manipur has its own version, which seems to be a 'sanitized' (to use the Disney term) later version. As the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is well known, I will point out key deviations in the story in the Manipuri version, titled Jadugi Migsel (Magic Mirror), told by N. Bemni Singha in her book Funga Wari.

The most curious thing in the story is that the name of the stepmother is given. She is called Moinabati, the only one with a name in the story. She marries a widowed king who has a princess from his first marriage. And yes, Moinabati has the magic mirror.

When the king is away from the kingdom on an errand, Moinabati asked the soldiers to leave the princess in the forest for the wild beasts. She does not ask them to kill her. Even in the 'sanitized' version, in the western tale, the queen asks the soldiers to bring the body parts of the girl to be sure that she is indeed dead.

In the jungle, the princess meets seven hunters. There is no mention of their being dwarfs either. In the historical claims mentioned at the beginning, the dwarf men were are said to be probably inspired by miners in those days, who were mostly child labours and stunted adults—as they were not fed properly and were overworked.

Queen Moinabati makes two attempts on the life on the princess, after knowing she is alive from the mirror. At first, disguised as an old woman, she gives her poisoned guava. In the second attempt, she gives her a magic comb. There is perhaps an interesting play of words here.

In Manipuri language, the verb in 'to comb hair' is literally same as 'to kill hair'. Not just the living parts of human body, but even the dead cells like the hair, can be used in black magic if they fall in wrong hands, it is believed. The magic comb poisons the princess.

The king returns home from the journey and finds the princess missing. On being informed by the soldiers, the king brings a maiba (shaman) to save his daughter's life. It is only after the princess is restored in the kingdom by the king that the prince appears in the scene and the princess in married off in a proper manner.

Snow White might be a historical meme. However, the interchange of folklores between Europe/the West and Asia seems to be two-way process. The Chinese folktale of Yeh-Shen is very similar to the story of Cinderella.

But the story of Yeh-Shen had been told in China since the days of the T'ang dynasty (618-907 AD), whereas the earliest known European version is an Italian tale dating from 1634 (Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China by Ai-Ling Louie on Amazon). On the other hand, there are similarities between the story of Yeh-Shen and Manipuri folktale Sandrembi-Cheishra.

In the story of Yeh-Shen, instead of a fairy godmother, the stepdaughter is looked after by a magic fish. The stepmother tricks the fish to come to her by wearing Yeh-Shen's coat, catches and cooks the fish and eats it.

Yeh-Shen is devastated and weeps for her friend. On the advice of an old man, Yeh-Shen retrieves the bones of the fish, which could fulfil wishes, and keeps it secretly.

This part reminds me of the popular Manipuri folktale Sandrembi-Cheishra where Sandrembi's daughter hides the bones of the cooked and eaten tortoise (which was an incarnation of her mother).

Another similarity is that Yeh-Shen's father had two wives, and each of them had one daughter. Sandrembi and Cheishra were both married to one man and both had one daughter each. Upon the death of the husband and Sandrembi, her daughter, just like Yeh-Shen, is mistreated by the surviving stepmother.

In the story of Yeh-Shen, the fish bones provides her a magical pair golden shoes. She loses one shoe while running away from her stepmother and stepdaughter from the festival place. The king buys the shoe from someone who found it, and comes looking for the owner, just like Cinderella. Finally, the king choosing Sandrembi's daughter, Yeh-Shen and Cinderella over the stepsister is common in all the three versions.

Sources:

o Singha, N. Bemni. 1999. Funga Wari, Vol. 3. Naharol Khorjei Thaugallup Jaribon.
o Ancient Origins: Reconstructing the Story of Humanity's Past. Retrieved from
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/exploring-true-origins-snow-white-and-seven-dwarfs-004150
o Stacy, Erickson. Chinese Culture Through Cinderella. Retrieved from
http://www.indiana.edu/~easc/outreach/educators/teams/documents/teamsvol2/chinese_culture_thru_cinderella.pdf