Tag Archives: Bengali

Egg Monster

Description: Monster that lures in children with their eggs and eats the children it lures in.

Background: The informant heard about it by his mother.

Transcript:

SA: I don’t remember the name of the monster. But it’s the feathered one that lays eggs to attract children and eats them. Its eggs are really colorful so children will be attracted to it and get eaten. So i guess the lesson is to not trust colorful eggs or you’ll get eaten. I don’t really know what kind of lesson that was supposed to teach.

My thoughts:

Children are sometimes easily distracted, so it’s not completely unbelievable for a creature to scare children into running off at the slightest distraction. I am not familiar with Bengali traditions or culture so I cannot say if it’s a common motif but the thing that interested me and that I found unusual is the fact that the monster seems to be a bird while most children eating monsters would look more similar to bears or another human. The colorful eggs are in stark contrast to usual depictions of eggs that we are used to seeing. In this context, the egg serves as a lure where lives will be taken instead of the life giving association that we commonly see.

Rakks Kukkosh

Description: It is a general word for monster, however, the informant did note that his impression of the Rakks Kukkosh is a monster with a drum on its belly which it pounds to make sounds.

Background: The informant heard about the monster from their family during their childhood.

Transcript:

SA: I think it has a drum on its belly that it pounds?

Me: Does it do anything? Why does it have a drum on its belly?

SA: I’m not sure, probably to attract children and eat them. Most Bengali monsters just do things to get children and eat them.

(After a while)

SA: Actually, it isn’t a specific monster, any monster can be called the Rakks Kukkosh. So it can actually be anything I guess.

My thoughts:

I guess monsters that eat children is a common trope in Bengali folklore. Although that is likely the case for most folklore monsters. The core social function of monsters in most cultures is to teach children to not be stupid and do dangerous things. So in this case it is likely supposed to teach children to not be distracted by noises and stray away from their parents. As for the later component, there are many monster names that can be generalized to mean any monster later when they become more prevalent in the culture. So while the Rakks Kukkosh could have at one point pointed at a specific monster, it’s name has likely been generalized to signify any monster.