This popular story is about a Bengali landowner who pretended to be an Urdu-speaking gentleman. He tried his best to convince his fellow villagers that his forebears spoke Urdu. When they migrated to Bengal, he explained, they picked up a little Bengali, but their original language was most definitely Urdu. The villagers were too timid to challenge him directly, but expressed considerable doubt about his story in their private conversations.

The Bengali landowner was having too much trouble convincing the villagers about his Urdu ancestry, so he bought a house in a nearby town. He worked hard persuading his urban neighbours that he came from “up-country” and that Urdu was his mother tongue. Of course, he added, he and his relatives did know a little Bengali. The townspeople believed him.

One day he suffered a great setback. The womenfolk of his house wailed loudly – in Bengali! His aspirations were on the point of being shattered. “If you are really an Urdu gentleman, why are your women wailing in Bengali?” asked the neighbours. “Their Bengali is quite good, isn’t it,” he replied. “The women started to wail in Urdu, but I quickly told them the people here would think they were singing Urdu marriage songs. So I taught them how Bengali people wail after a death. They are doing a good job, aren’t they. I mean, they sound just like Bengali women, don’t they? They wail just like Gaffur’s mother, our maidservant.” His neighbours listened in astonishment. He’s a real Mazantali Sarkar, they thought.

Do you know the story of Mazantali Sarkar? Mazantali Sarkar was a cat whose ambition it was to be king of the forest. One dark night the forest animals were attending a meeting of the Forestry Development Corporation. The main item on the agenda was the improvement of the drinking water supply. The turnout was good – all the tigers, bears, goats and dogs had come. In fact, everyone was there except the president, the lion, who had been a little delayed. While the animals were discussing the water supply problem, Mazantali Sarkar arrived and promptly sat on the vacant chair of the president. He meowed a few times and puffed up his body, a feat which greatly impressed the forest animals. “Who are you, Your Majesty?” they asked.

“I’m Mazantali Sarkar,” replied the cat, “the king of the forest. This tiger in front of me is my nephew. It is written in the scriptures, Naránáḿ matulakramaḿ, that is, males take after their maternal uncles and females take after their paternal aunts. Can’t you see how closely the tiger resembles me. After all, I am his maternal uncle.”

The forest animals agreed that the Royal Bengal tiger did resemble Mazantali Sarkar and promptly accepted him as their king. The lion would just have to be deposed. He was always late, anyway.

The Forestry Development Corporation meeting was conducted smoothly under the chairmanship of Mazantali Sarkar. It was unanimously resolved to plant one hundred million new trees. Unfortunately, ninety million of the trees died the next year. They were replanted by the contractor who provided the Forestry Development Corporation with free drinking water.

One day Mazantali Sarkar said, “I need an errand boy and some servants. You animals are too small to serve me. Bring me some large beasts.”

“The elephant is the largest animal in our forest,” said the animals. “We can bring you a few, if you wish.”

“I’d like to see just how big these animals are,” said Mazantali.

The forest animals beat their drums, causing the elephants to begin a wild stampede. A huge elephant rushed towards Mazantali Sarkar. Mazantali quickly jumped off his throne and looked for a safe place to hide. The last thing he wanted was to be hit on the head by a tree falling under the impact of the elephant’s charge. So he crawled under the root of a giant banyan tree. As ill luck would have it, a huge elephant jumped onto the root. Mazantali Sarkar’s body was crushed by the tremendous weight and his belly burst open. Death was drawing near.

The forest animals were alarmed by the disappearance of their king. After a desperate search they found him gasping his last, under the banyan tree. With tears in their eyes they sobbed, “What happened to you, Your Majesty?”

“Why didn’t you follow my last order?” said Mazantali feebly. “I told you to bring the largest beast of the forest and instead you sent a tiny elephant. When I first saw the elephant I was extremely angry, but later felt so amused that I roared with laughter. Unfortunately I laughed so violently that my stomach burst open.” This is how Mazantali Sarkar ended his mortal life.