Uttrakhand, the land of Gods gives birth to a revitalizing fruit called Kafal, containing a variety of qualities it draws the attention of people easily. There is a very soulful story behind this fruit which may bring tears to your eyes. The Kafal is said to keep the human body young and fit forever.
Down in the village of Uttrakhand, a poor lady used to reside with her small daughter, both of them were the only support for each other. A small share of land was merely the only source of earning for them, which could hardly pay them off for their living.
As in the summers the Bayberries used to ripe the woman would immensely turn happy because she would find it another and better source of income, so she would walk into the jungle and pluck a bucket full of Kafal to sell them in the market to lower the problems of the family. It once so happened that at the time of morning the lady brought a bucket full of Kafal to home as she had to go to fetch some food for her animals and thought to sell her fruits in the evening. She summoned her daughter and asked her to keep her eyes on the fruit and not to eat them until she returned from the jungle. She also promised the little girl to give Kafal to her to eat once after she returned from the jungle.
The innocent girl after listening to her mother’s words started to keep an eye on the fruits, the juicy and ripped fruit kept attracting the little girl but she somehow managed to control her temptation for the fruit and so on when the mother returned home in, the bucket of Kafal was two-third vanished and her daughter sleeping next to it, seeing this the tired mother instantly went on fire and turned red in anger. She felt even after warning her daughter about not eating the fruit, she ate two-third of the Kafal and within the flinch of eyesight the angry mother threw the bundle of grass she had brought from the jungle and gave a very tight punch on the back of her sleeping daughter , the punch was so hard and ferocious that the little girl went from sleeping to the state of coma on watching the condition of her daughter the lady tried to bring little girl to consciousness by shaking her body but failed the little had died by then. Seeing her child die like this the mother drowned sobbing all day and by the time evening arrived the Bayberries gained their ripped shape back again. After a while when the lady’s sight caught the bucket she realized that due to over lightening of sunrays and its heat the fruit had doomed down and due to the breeze of the evening the fruit bloomed back to its fresh face. Lately, the mother felt an enormous amount of guilt of what had happened and she also passed away with immense sorrow and pain.
It is believed that in the month of Chait, first month in traditional Hindu calendar followed in North India, a bird hymns “Kafal Pako Main Ni Chakhyo” which means ‘The Kafal are ripped, but I did not taste them’ to which another bird answers “Purray Putti Purray Pur” meaning ‘they are complete daughter, they are complete’ .
This heart throbbing tale not only touches the heart but also emphasis the importance of Kafal in Uttrakhand. Even today, in the season of summer many families pluck this fruit from the jungle and sell them to earn their living. In the melodious folk music of Kumaun, it has been described the Kafal was the fruit of the gods and the Kafal express their grief as “Khanaa Layak Indra Ka, Hum Chhiyan Bhoolok Aain Padan” which means we were meant to be eaten by Lord Indra in heaven but now moved to Earth.