Origin of the Tiger (Cambodian folktale)
The "Origin of the Tiger" is a Cambodian folktale that tells the story of a great king who seeks to learn magic to protect his wealthy kingdom from invaders. Concerned about his lack of magical knowledge, he travels to the distant land of Takkasila to study under the wise teacher Tisabamokkha. Upon returning home, the king and his retinue become lost in a forest, facing starvation. To survive, they collectively transform into a tiger, with each member of the group embodying different parts of the creature. This transformation allows them to thrive in the wild, yet they become so content as a tiger that they forget to return to their kingdom. The tale serves as an origin myth for tigers, emphasizing themes of cooperation, responsibility, and the importance of staying connected to one’s origins. The story has been passed down orally for centuries and highlights the influences of Buddhism on Cambodian culture. Its enduring significance is further emphasized through various translations, ensuring its accessibility for future generations.
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Subject Terms
Origin of the Tiger (Cambodian folktale)
Author: Traditional
Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE
Country or Culture: Cambodia
Genre: Folktale
PLOT SUMMARY
A great king rules an unnamed, wealthy kingdom in an indeterminate time. He has a wise and beautiful queen and is supported by four chief ministers and the royal astrologer, as well as other court officials. Over time, the king becomes worried that he, like everyone else in his court, knows nothing about magic. The king believes that magic is essential to defend his kingdom from any potential invaders.
One day, holding court in the morning, the king decides to learn magic from the wise man Tisabamokkha. Tisabamokkha lives in the distant northwestern Indian kingdom of Takkasila. Accordingly, the king and his closest retinue depart for Takkasila. There, Tisabamokkha instructs them in magic, particularly the changing of oneself into different animals or celestial beings.
When they complete their education from Tisabamokkha, the king decides that he and his companions should leave for home. Three days into their return journey, they get lost in a great forest. There they begin to run out of food, having exhausted their supplies, and rely on only the roots and berries they can find. Worried that they all may die of starvation, the king calls his companions together to ask for their advice. The royal astrologer suggests that all of them should turn into a single tiger. This tiger could eat forest animals for nourishment. Once they return to their kingdom, they would change back into humans.
The king and his companions agree to this idea. The king questions each member of his entourage, asking which part of the tiger they want to be. The four chief ministers want to become the four legs of the tiger. The astrologer wishes to become the tiger’s tail. The queen wants to be his body. The king is left to become the head of the tiger.
Each member of the king’s party recites the magic spells necessary for the transformation, and a royal tiger is formed. The hungry royal tiger catches deer and antelope to feed on. He leads such a happy and fulfilled life that he never returns to the king’s native land.
This transformation into the royal tiger is the origin of tigers, the strongest of all animals. On the hunt, the tiger is guided by his tail, representing the royal astrologer. His agile body is provided by the queen. His four strong, clawed legs are provided by the four chief ministers. The king gives the tiger his majestic and powerful head, making the tiger the greatest of all kings.
SIGNIFICANCE
The origin of the tiger is a Cambodian folktale. It was told orally for centuries in this Southeast Asian country before being transcribed and translated into French in the 1920s. The Buddhist journal Soleil du Cambodge (sun of Cambodia) published the French translation of this and other Cambodian folktales in one of its editions, which can still be found in France. In 1956, a German translation of the tiger folktale was published in East Germany. In the twenty-first century, the American anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Toni Shapiro-Phim has provided an English rendition of the tale on a website hosted by Cornell University, where Shapiro-Phim earned her degree in 1994.
According to Shapiro-Phim, the great significance of this popular Cambodian folktale lies in its message that people need to cooperate for the benefit of the common good. The king cannot use magic alone to defend his country from potential invaders, nor can he become a tiger alone. Instead, he needs the cooperation of his queen, his chief ministers, and his royal astrologer.
At the same time, Shapiro-Phim asserts, the Cambodian folktale expresses a warning to its audience: people should not forget their origins and their original motivation to band together to aid their community. The story of the tiger is a cautionary tale of what happens when people forget their responsibilities. People should not turn their backs on society once they achieve remarkable success. This success is metaphorically expressed by the king’s group turning into a tiger.
Shapiro-Phim points out that the name of the Indian teacher, Tisabamokkha, means “great teacher” in Pali, an ancient language associated with Buddhist teachings. She identifies Takkasila as a northwestern Indian location. This underlines the fact that Buddhism reached Cambodia from India, which in turn greatly influenced Cambodian, or Khmer, society and culture.
The historic Cambodian association of India as a center of great learning is stressed in the tiger folktale by the fact that the king himself embarks upon a journey to be taught in that foreign land. Learning magic is symbolic of obtaining wisdom, both spiritual and practical, to defend his own country.
Upon their return voyage, the king’s group is still relatively far from their own kingdom when faced with starvation. Their tiger’s diet of antelope signifies this. While some antelope species are native to India, they do not live farther east in the deep jungles of Southeast Asia. Thus, the king and his retinue are far from home when they transform into a magic royal tiger and forget their return. This signifies how far estranged from their country their success has made them, and how forgetful of their initial mission and overall duty they have become.
The Cambodian origin of the tiger represents an origin myth, an educational story, and a cautionary tale all in one. Shapiro-Phim’s English rendition has made this folktale accessible to Cambodians in the diaspora. Her work attests to the tale’s survival despite the horrors of the Killing Fields, when the Khmer Rouge sought to exterminate all of Cambodia’s traditional culture, among many other crimes, during their murderous reign of terror from 1975 to 1979.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baker, Demaz Tep. Khmer Legends. Parker: Outskirts, 2009. Print.
Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. 1982. New York: Routledge, 1991. Print.
Roveda, Vittorio. Images of the Gods: Khmer Mythology in Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. Warren: Floating World Editions, 2005. Print.
Shapiro, Toni. “Cambodian Folktales: Origin of the Tiger.” Southeast Asia Program. Cornell U: Mario Einaudi Center for Intl. Studies, n.d. Web. 20 May 2013.
Shapiro-Phim, Toni. “Mediating Cambodian History, the Sacred and the Earth.” Dance, Human Rights, and Social Justice: Dignity in Motion. Ed. Naomi Jackson and Toni Shapiro-Phim. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2008. 304–323. Print.