Is there a reason you chose to get a tiger tattoo?
"I just like getting flash tattoos, I like it when the design is something the artist thought of."
PUnyakoti
7.
Shyam Krishna, 29
From Karnataka
Recited the story in their mothertongue, Kannada
"This is a song my grandmother used to sing to me very often.
It is the story of Punyakoti the cow and Arbhuta the tiger. Punyakoti had gone out to graze with her cow herd. While coming back from grazing, Arbhuta the tiger came across her and wanted to kill her and eat her. Punyakoti begged Arbhuta to let her go to the cow shed and feed her calf one last time, and then come back. Arbhuta did not believe her, he said that she is lying, and asked her why he would let her go when he had food right now. Punyakoti responded by saying that God does not take kindly to people who go back on their word and using her skills of speech she convinces him to let her go.
She proceeds to go to the cow shed, feed her son, and bids a tearful farewell. She asks her sisters and aunts to take care of her son a their own, and heads back to meet her death.
When Punyakoti comes back, Arbhuta is incredibly surprised and feels very bad. He realises that Punyakoti is a very pious cow, and if he kills her, he will be considered a sinner. He lets Punyakoti go and jumps off a mountain and kills himself in regret.
So this is the story of Punyakoti who thought that truth was equal to god."
I got a lot of submissions of this same folktale, but Shyam was the only one out of the bunch who sang the whole folk song for me!
