Uttar Pradesh Folk Tale – Hari Potter vs The Lord of Death – {Ep.184} – Stories From India – Podcast

An Uttar Pradesh Folk Tale about Hari Potter(a different kind of Potter) who tries to cheat Yama Raj, the God of Death!

Introduction

Welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you exciting and fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

You may have heard of Harry Potter – the boy who cheated death multiple times. In today’s episode you’re going to hear about a different kind of Potter who is out to cheat death as well. This is a folk tale. It is from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, though I have to say there are variations of this tale in other states as well. Let’s dive right in.

Hari Potter and the uneventful beginning

The story begins with a Potter, you know a person whose profession it is to make pots, usually out of clay. In the original, he doesn’t have a name. But I think it is completely justified if we call him Hari – which is a common name in India.

Hari Potter lived by himself. He had no family, he had grown up pretty much by himself. Unlike his illustrious near-namesake, Hari didn’t even have an uncle and aunt to take care of him, even if grudgingly. And if Harry Potter’s life was a series of never ending twists and turns, Hari Potter’s life was exactly the opposite. Because once the boy had chosen his profession, everyday was exactly the same.

Hari Potter and Groundhog day, almost

Everyday he would be woken up by roosters crowing in the neighborhood. He’d get up, put himself on the outside of a strong cup of tea and some parathas, and then begin work. His workshop was in his own backyard. There was an orders list he was working off of. Everyday, he’d look at the list, decide how much clay he needed, measure the clay, fetch some water, fire up his oven, spin up his wheel, starting making a pot after another, keep putting them in the oven, keep checking pots he had already put in, inspect them and put a Quality Control stamp on each one, and exchange it for money or food when his customers came to pick up the orders. When he was done, he’d shut down the oven, put everything away, eat his dinner and go to sleep.

The next day, it was exactly the same thing. There was no variation in his schedule at all. Indeed the most excitement in his life happened when one day while reading the customer order list, it slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground. The physical action of picking it up wasn’t the problem. It was that the simple action of picking up the list was so unusual for him that he was shocked by the realization of it.

Hari Potter and the new beginning

Hari Potter had just been following a script so far. He had been making pots exactly the way his customers wanted. He now decided that he needed to do something different. He would make something else. The customer order list could wait. He just picked up some clay and started molding it into a shape. He didn’t use his wheel, or a blueprint, or any anachronistic CAD software either. 

Honestly, I don’t think Hari himself knew what he was making until after he had made it. It was an idol. Of Vishnu. Seeing the complete piece of work gave him enormous satisfaction. But then, he felt some rumbling in his stomach, which served as a reminder that working on his personal projects wasn’t the path to filling his stomach. But he was in for a surprise.

Hari Potter and the idol of Vishnu

Before his first customer, a rich merchant, arrived to pick up his pot, Hari had prepared an elaborate excuse for why the pot wasn’t yet ready.

“About your pot, sir. You see, it’s this way. I was sitting here minding my own business when out of the corner of my eye, I saw something absolutely fascinating…”

But the merchant wasn’t paying him any attention. “What is that?”

“That’s an idol of Vishnu. Now back to your pot, as I was saying I was minding my own business when…”

But the merchant interrupted again. “It’s exquisite.It’s stupefying. It’s fantabulous”

Hari was starting to lose patience “Look here, do you want to know about your pot or not? You already paid me two copper coins in advance for it”

“Forget the pot, and you can keep the copper coins. Just sell me the idol for 2 gold coins”

That shocked Hari into silence. “2 gold coins” he said, shocked. He walked to the idol and picked it up.

“Don’t bother wrapping it, I’ll take it as it is” a new voice said. It was another of Hari’s customers. He wanted to buy the idol as well. He offered 3 gold coins for the idol. Soon, a few more people joined.

In about half an hour there was a crowd. In fact, when a less affluent, but quite regular customer showed up to collect his pot, he had a bit of a rude shock. The bouncer in the dark glasses consulted an imaginary list and told this customer that he wasn’t cool enough to be on it. And to not touch the velvet rope please, and to make way for the next celebrity that was coming by to bid on Hari Potter’s idol.

Hari sold it ultimately to the highest bidder. And by that he made more money with that one sale than he usually did in a year.

Hari Potter and his new profession

And after that, there was no going back. Hari could not make ordinary pots after that. From that day it was just idols for him. He had magic in his hands, there was no denying it. Every idol he made had an exquisite amount of detail. The precision in his work was simply stunning. And because of that every one of his idols was unique – there was a slight difference in expression, posture, and attire of each idol. 

And every one of them sold for a massive profit. Day and night, Hari Potter did not think of anything else except how to make more idols. He envisioned hiring thousands of employees and a moving production line. But ultimately gave it up for a future innovator to try on something less complicated – like chariots or something. Besides he didn’t have the time to hire thousands of assembly line workers – that would be thousands of hours spent away from idol-making.

So Hari Potter continued to make idols all by himself and continued to sell them for a ridiculous amount. This went on for years and then decades. You might be wondering two things – Was he facing any competition? And what did he do with his profits?

The answer to the first question is simple. There was no competition because no one could match Hari Potter in precision or the detail of his idols. 

Hari Potter and his Investments

As for the second, Hari Potter was following the wisdom of his financial advisor. His financial advisor had said that there were lots of investment vehicles. But if he wanted to grow his money the fastest he should invest in land.

So Hari went home excited and dug lots of holes around his home and buried all the money there. He’d been meaning to dig up the gold at some point to check if it really had grown, as the financial advisor had claimed it would. But somehow or the other he never had the time.

Like his retirement goal – of going on a teerth yatra – a journey to every single religious spot in the country. If his money had grown the way his financial advisor said it would, he could probably do the luxury version of the tour, complete with a fully reclining seat in his chariot and his own personal singers to keep him entertained.

Hari Potter and the Sign of Doom!

And now, decades later, here he was with a lot of money in his own personal bank and a large order for idols still to be made. That’s when he got the first warning sign that something was up.

That warning came from the local doctor who was another of his customers. The doctor looked at Hari and said, “Are you okay, Hari? You look like you’ve been through a lot”

Hari said that not really, he had been through 20 idols this morning and that wasn’t nearly enough. He had a large backorder from China. Some emperor guy over there had placed a huge order for an entire army! And in terracotta, which was not Hari Potter’s usual medium.

The doctor clarified that he meant that Hari seemed to be frail and old. Like he was withering away.

Hari was dismissive initially. He only agreed to a checkup if the doctor could do it without interrupting Hari’s work. The doctor said, I have good news and bad news. 

Hari said he wanted the bad news first, to which the doctor replied that Hari had only 6 months to live. 

The good news, the doctor continued, is that I’m going to make a lot of money off of your medical bills. Oh wait a minute, I’m supposed to be telling you news that’s good for you right? Well, there isn’t any. I’ll start by prescribing a diet and exercise regimen and a lot of useless and expensive medicines.

Hari Potter and his last 6 months

But Hari wasn’t having any of it. 6 months was a long time. He would get through the bulk of his backlog, and maybe even start diversifying into other media like stone and maybe jade. He must set aside at least 3 months for his teerth yatra. But for now, he was going to focus on his work.

The next time the doctor visited him, Hari hadn’t forgotten their last conversation. “Back so soon, doctor?”

This puzzled the doctor and he said so. Because it had been 5 months and 29 days since the doctor’s last visit. Hari was shocked when he realized that the doctor was right and he had only a few hours to live.

And of that, he spent the first few minutes cursing himself for not having used the last 6 months well. The doctor said his goodbye, while also glancing around quickly to decide which of the idols he would come back for the moment Hari Potter passed away.

Hari Potter looks for a way out!

Hari meanwhile was frantically looking for a solution. For some way of extending his time on Earth. He had heard of two stories on this podcast about people escaping death. Savitri’s story in Episode 31, and more recently Nachiketa in Episode 173. Yama, the God of Death was coming for him. And if Savitri and Nachiketa found a way, he could too.

He got an idea. And then got his tools. He immediately began working. He did one thing differently this time. He didn’t add any variety to the idols he made. They were identical. 

At the darkest hour that night, someone did come calling. They didn’t knock. You can’t really expect death to be held back by a locked door, after all. 

But the one who entered wasn’t Yama himself. It was a deputy. Yama didn’t make every trip himself. He usually delegated the less famous people to his minions. Although, you’d think with a name like Hari Potter, it might raise Yama’s curiosity, given all the run-ins that were to happen to the more famous near-namesake.

Hari Potter and his clones!

Yama’s minion entered Hari Potter’s home and turned on the lights. And he was shocked. The room was full of Hari Potters. There were hundreds if not thousands of Hari Potters. They looked identical, all of them. The original Hari was standing right there somewhere in the middle. But Yama’s minion didn’t know who it was. 

He tried tapping on a few, but he really couldn’t tell if they were clay or human.

Confused, he rushed back to Yama. Seeing this, Hari Potter breathed a sigh of relief. But a short sigh, because he knew the minion had gone for help.

Hari Potter faces off with the Lord of Death!

And Yama’s minion had done exactly that. He was back within the hour, with Yama, the God of Death himself. Normally Yama wouldn’t have gone calling himself, unless there was a strong storytelling potential. But when his minion came running with his problem, it piqued Yama’s curiosity. And raised the storytelling potential quite a bit.

Yama looked at the home full of Hari Potters, all in the same pose, all wearing identical clothes, all with an identical expression. He agreed with his minion. “You were right,” he said to his deputy. This Hari Potter is not bad, not bad at all at his art. It is a shame he’s going to be “collected” tonight. We must reserve a good room for him in the underworld. Make sure he gets the in-room meal service and we can comp his massages.

He waited. Still none of the Hari Potters in the room moved a muscle. 

Hari Potter and Yama’s new idea

Yama then continued “he’s not bad, but he’s not perfect. He’s about 99% there.” He pointed a finger and continued addressing his minion. “You know I looked at most of the idols in this room, and this is the only defect I could spot. It’s right here. Hari Potter could have been perfect, and now he’s just mediocre”

Suddenly there was a scraping from nearby as a few idols were pushed out of the way. An incensed voice spoke up. “How dare you, sir, stand in my room and challenge my work?! Every piece of work I have ever created has been perfect. I demand that you show me what you claim to be a defect, or take back your claim and apologize”

Yama and the minion grinned. “That’s an easy option, Potter. I’ll go with the latter. I withdraw my claim about a defect and I apologize. Your work is perfect”

That’s when it slowly dawned on Hari Potter that he’d been tricked. It was all a ruse to get him to out himself as the fake idol.

He thought to himself, “you’ve won this round Yama, but believe me i’m going to make life difficult for you in the underworld”

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

The moral of the original story was all about why it’s important to offer your wealth to wise men, and to go to religious places. Naturally, this moral had deep support from those wise men and the teerth yatra tour companies.

The trick of hiding yourself, like a needle in a haystack is used often in pop culture. Bruce Wayne did it in Batman begins, and Rajnikanth does that as a Robot in one of his movies.

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

Just two episodes ago, we covered a story from the Ramayana, about a crow. Well, we’re going to see another Crow and Ramayana connection next week. We’ll cover the story of Kakbhushundi. One of you requested this story of this sage, so we’re going to do exactly that. 

Feedback

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The music is from Purple Planet.

Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time!