--- title: "The Ghost Brahman" story_id: "6df7713b-7e24-43b2-bfb4-cfec7f593130" text_id: "d9f785d0-67b8-452c-8394-7066a85d21b6" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 1 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-ghost-brahman" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-ghost-brahman" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # The Ghost Brahman > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-ghost-brahman) Version: Modernized In this folktale from Bengal, in South Asia, a poor man leaves home to earn money for his wife and mother. That evening, a ghost takes his exact appearance and moves into his house. Years later, the man returns and finds the ghost living with his family. Even the king cannot tell them apart. How can the real husband prove who he is? Once upon a time there lived a poor Brahman. He did not belong to the high-ranking Brahman families known as Kulins. For him, getting married was the hardest thing in the world. He went to rich people and begged them for money so he could marry. And a large sum of money was needed, mainly to pay the bride’s parents, rather than for the wedding itself. He begged from door to door, flattered many rich folk, and at last succeeded in scraping together the sum needed. In due time, the wedding took place, and he brought his wife home to his mother. After a short time he said to his mother—“Mother, I have no means to support you and my wife. So I must go to distant countries and find some way to earn money. I may be away for years, because I won’t return until I have earned a good sum. In the meantime I’ll give you what I have; make the best of it, and take care of my wife.” After receiving his mother’s blessing, the Brahman set out on his travels. In the evening of that very day, a ghost took on the Brahman’s exact appearance and came into the house. The newly married woman thought it was her husband and said to him—“How is it that you have returned so soon? You said you might be away for years; why have you changed your mind?” ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/b0014037-68c8-4808-90da-cd022ec64bae) The ghost said—“Today is not a lucky day, so I came home. Besides, I have already got some money.” The mother had no doubt that it was her son. So the ghost lived in the house as if he was its owner, and as if he was the son of the old woman and the husband of the young woman. As the ghost and the Brahman were exactly like each other in everything, like two peas, the people in the neighbourhood all thought that the ghost was the real Brahman. After some years the Brahman returned from his travels. How surprised he was to find another man just like him in the house! The ghost said to the Brahman—“Who are you? What business do you have coming to my house?” “Who am I?” replied the Brahman, “let me ask who you are. This is my house; that is my mother, and this is my wife.” The ghost said—“Well, this is a strange thing. Everyone knows that this is my house, that is my wife, and over there is my mother; and I have lived here for years. And you pretend this is your house, and that woman is your wife. You must have lost your mind, Brahman.” With these words, the ghost drove the Brahman out of his house. The Brahman was speechless with amazement. He did not know what to do. At last he thought of going to the king and presenting his case. The king saw both the ghost-Brahman and the Brahman. They were the exact image of each other, so he was in a fix: he did not know how to settle the quarrel. Day after day the Brahman went to the king and begged him to give him back his house, his wife, and his mother. Each time, the king did not know what to say and put him off to the following day. Every day the king tells him, “Come tomorrow.” And every day the Brahman leaves the palace weeping, striking his forehead with his palm and saying—“What a wicked world this is! I am driven from my own house, and another fellow has taken possession of my house and of my wife! And what a king this is! He does not give me justice.” Now, as the Brahman left the court outside the town each day, he passed a spot at which a great many boys who herded cattle used to play. They let the cows graze on the meadow, while they themselves met together under a large tree to play. And they pretended to be a royal court. One cowherd was elected king; another, prime minister or vizier; another, *kotwal*, or chief of police; and others, constables. For several days in a row, they saw the Brahman passing by weeping every day. One day the cowherd king asked his vizier whether he knew why the Brahman wept every day. When the vizier could not answer, the cowherd king ordered one of his constables to bring the Brahman to him. One of them went and said to the Brahman—“The king wants you to come at once.” The Brahman replied—“What for? I have just come from the king, and he put me off until tomorrow. Why does he want me again?” “It is our king that wants you—our cowherd king,” rejoined the constable. “Who is this cowherd king?” asked the Brahman. “Come and see,” was the reply. The cowherd king then asked the Brahman why he went away weeping every day. The Brahman then told him his sad story. After hearing the whole story, the cowherd king said, “I understand your case; I will restore all your rights. Just go to the king and ask his permission for me to decide your case.” The Brahman went back to the king of the country and begged His Majesty to let the cowherd king, who had offered to decide the case, judge it. The king, whom the case had greatly puzzled, gave his permission. The trial was set for the following morning. The cowherd king, who had seen through the whole affair, brought a small bottle with a narrow neck the next day. The Brahman and the ghost-Brahman both appeared before the court. After much questioning of witnesses and many speeches, the cowherd king said—“Well, I have heard enough. I’ll decide the case at once. Here is this bottle. The court will declare whoever can enter it the rightful owner of the disputed house. Now, let me see which of you will enter.” The Brahman said—“You are a cowherd, and you think like a cowherd. What man can enter into such a small bottle?” “If you cannot enter,” said the cowherd king, “then you are not the rightful owner.” Turning to the ghost-Brahman, he asked, “What do you say to this, sir?” “If you can enter into the bottle, then the house and the wife and the mother become yours.” “Of course I will enter,” said the ghost. True to his word, he turned himself into a small creature like an insect and entered the bottle, to everyone’s amazement. The cowherd king immediately put a cork in the bottle, and the ghost could not get out. Then the cowherd king said to the Brahman, “Throw this bottle down to the bottom of the sea, and take possession of your house, wife, and mother.” The Brahman did so, and lived happily for many years and had sons and daughters. Here my story ends, The Natiya-thorn withers, etc. ## Modernization notes - on a time there lived a poor Brahman, who not being a Kulin, found it the hardest thing in the world to get married. → upon a time there lived a poor Brahman. He did not belong to the high-ranking Brahman families known as Kulins. For him, getting married was the hardest thing in the world.: Kulin refers to high-ranking Brahman families, rather than a separate caste. Brahman names a traditional Hindu social group; it does not by itself establish this character’s occupation. The historical distinction explains the opening marriage difficulty. - withereth → withers: This is a traditional closing formula recorded in the collector’s preface. He did not know its full meaning or connection with the story. The thorn’s name is retained without identifying a plant species. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text Folk-Tales of Bengal, 1912, Macmillan and Co., Limited, London - collector: Lal Behari Day ## Illustration [Warwick Goble](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/b0014037-68c8-4808-90da-cd022ec64bae) — Folk-Tales of Bengal, 1912, Macmillan and Co., Limited, London ## Reading music Raga Kirwani — Alap, Jor and Vilambit Gat Soumitra Lahiri (sitar) Shailendra Mishra (tabla) WFMU (source) [CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/) ## Quiz ### The boy closes the bottle with a cork. Which part of the cork oak provides this material? - Its roots - Its leaves - Its bark (Correct answer) Cork comes from the tree’s thick bark. Skilled workers can harvest it without felling the tree, and a new layer grows back. [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Quercus suber](https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/quercus-suber) ### The ghost becomes a creature like an insect. How many legs does an adult insect normally have? - Six (Correct answer) - Eight - Ten Adult insects have six legs and three main body sections: head, thorax and abdomen. Their legs are attached to the thorax. [Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — What Is an Insect?](https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/teaching-resources/life-science/what-insect) ### How many compartments does a cow’s stomach have? - Two - Four (Correct answer) - Six A cow has one stomach with four compartments. Microbes in the largest compartment, the rumen, help digest its food. [University of Minnesota Extension — The ruminant digestive system](https://extension.umn.edu/agriculture/animals-and-livestock/dairy/the-ruminant-digestive-system) ### What is true about fingerprints in identical twins? - They always match exactly - Their fingerprints differ (Correct answer) - Identical twins have no fingerprints Identical twins can look remarkably alike, but their fingerprints differ. Conditions during development before birth help shape those tiny patterns. [Washington State Twin Registry — Do Identical Twins Have Identical Fingerprints?](https://wstwinregistry.org/twin-faqs/identical-fingerprints/) ### Which ingredient is used to make the common glass found in many bottles? - Silica sand (Correct answer) - Cotton wool - Cork bark Common soda-lime glass is made from silica sand mixed with other ingredients, including soda ash and limestone. The mixture is heated to make glass. [Corning Museum of Glass — Frequently Asked Questions](https://info.cmog.org/frequently-asked-questions) ## Other languages - [简体中文](https://www.openclassics.org/zh/stories/the-ghost-brahman?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)