"The Rightful Inheritors of the Earth” by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer

 The Rightful Inheritors of the Earth” by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer is a short narrative in which the author talks about the need to consider the other animals also as part of this earth, as they are the rightful inheritors of the earth. 

The story is an excerpt from the translation of the story "Bhoomiyude Avakashikal". The narrator who feels secure when he owned a tiny piece of land meets with adventures. His land is visited by creatures like crows, owls, bats and cobra. 

Though his wife tries to get rid of these creatures, the narrator comes to the realisation that not only human beings but all the other living things also have a right to live on this earth. They are the rightful inheritors of the earth

The narrative progresses through a situation faced by the narrator and his wife after they started living in the newly bought house and surrounding land. The problem encountered by them was that their coconuts were eaten by some animals. Later they identified that bats are the real culprits. 

Narrator’s wife, with the help of her cousin, thought of killing the bats. They identified that the bats came from the nearby temple. They went to kill the bats using a gun. But they were chased by the local people as it is believed that bats are the souls of their forefathers.

The story concludes with the narrator saying that although bats cannot be considered as the reincarnation of our forefathers, they definitely have a right to reside on this earth. 

The words of the author may remind us of an age-old concept in ancient India, that of vasudhaiva kutumbakam, ‘vasudha’ being ‘the earth’, and ‘kutumbakam’ means family. In other words, the whole world is a family, including the animals.