Dear Professor Tieken,

/// a story (with versions in Chinese and Japanese), in which a princess marries a calf (young cow). /// 

There is a reference in one of the Old Tamil / Sangam Tamil poems, Kalittokai (கலித்தொகை), about a buffalo (எருமைப் பெடை) and a woman’s wedding. Please take a deep look at kalittokai 114:12-14.

I think it was symbolic in some cultures to have some sort of ritual like this — to involve a bovine as a part of a wedding ceremony.

Since I’m not a socio-anthro specialist, I leave it up to you to figure out what the kalittokai poem refers to. I don’t have my reference books any more, so I couldn’t delve deep into any analysis.

Thanks and regards,
rajam



On May 27, 2020, at 12:02 PM, Jonathan Silk via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

One might see: https://www.academia.edu/11037037/Stith_Thompson_Motif_Index_Of_Folk_Literature_Revised_And_Enlarged_Version

But perhaps what was rather in mind was The Oral Tales of India, by Stith Thompson and Jonas Balys?
This seems to be freely available here https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106000768348&view=1up&seq=19

Jonathan

On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 5:15 PM Rolf Heinrich Koch via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:


Stith Thompson's
Motif-Index of Folk-Literature:


https://archive.org/details/Thompson2016MotifIndex


Best


Heiner





Am 27.05.2020 um 16:02 schrieb Tieken, H.J.H. via INDOLOGY:

Dear members of this list,

A friend of mine, a sinologist, is working on a story (with versions in Chinese and Japanese), in which a princess marries a calf (young cow). The editor of the Chinese version writes that this is a common theme in South Asian story literature, but my friend has so far been to find any references to it. He checked Cowley's collection of jātaka stories and Laurits Bodker's on Indian animal stories.

I myself am unable to help him either. For one thing, the name of the author of the index on motifs in Indian literature does not occur to me (Thomson?). I hope the motif rings a bell with someone on this list.

With kind regards, Herman


Herman Tieken
Stationsweg 58
2515 BP Den Haag
The Netherlands
00 31 (0)70 2208127
 

_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
indology-owner@list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)

-- 
Dr. Rolf Heinrich Koch
www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
indology-owner@list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)


--
J. Silk
Leiden University
Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS
Matthias de Vrieshof 3, Room 0.05b
2311 BZ Leiden
The Netherlands

copies of my publications may be found at
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
indology-owner@list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)