UNIT 2 TRIBAL FOLKLORE AND CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS

2.0 OBJECTIVES

Culture is an integrated dynamic whole which consists of common world view or view of life,
common values, goals, meaning, thinking, environment and patters of behaviour. These are
acquired, embodied and transmitted through language, status and role systems, modes of
behaviour, music, dance, painting, artifacts and techniques. They are transmitted through a long
tradition and are capable of influencing society. Culture is also what a social group considers as the
best and sum-total of its thinking, living and expressing. It is a living and dynamic reality supported
and nourished by folklore. In this unit you are expected to understand

• Tribal Folklore • Folklore in Tribal Life • Cultural Expression • Village Organisation 2 • Socio-
Religious Customs: Rites of Passage • Annual Feasts and Festivals

1 INTRODUCTION

According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary this word is made up of folk meaning the great
proportion of the members of a people that determines the group character and that tends to
preserve its characteristic form of civilization and its customs, arts and crafts, legends, traditions and
superstitions from generation to generation. Lore means something that is learned. That is, (a)
knowledge gained through study and experience, (b) traditional knowledge or belief. Folklore thus
means traditional customs, tales, or sayings preserved orally among a people. In a broad sense, it is a
medium through which the soul of a people expresses itself colourfully. Culture has been variously
defined. Thus, one can say that it is ‘a learned behaviour and the products of that behaviour as
opposed to instinctive or biologically determined behaviour’. In its external manifestation, it bears
on tangible realities, activities and ways of conduct of social life, behaviour of people, relation to
their natural environment and other persons and groups; tools and techniques, customs, forms of
instruction, etc. In other words, it means social practice. In its inner formation, it is symbolic
indicating all that transmit meaning. It is the ‘way in which a group of people live, think, feel,
organize themselves, celebrate and share life. In every culture, there are underlying systems of
values, meanings and view of the world, which are expressed visibly in language, gestures, symbols,
rituals and styles.

TRIBAL FOLKLORE

Origin Myths

A common feature of many cultures of the world is to have ancient story traditions explaining
human frailty and cosmic order. There are many tribal narratives in this line highlighting human fall
with a subsequent action of God. One of such narratives among the major tribal groups in the
Central-Eastern region of India is as follows:

Destruction

God found the earth infested with undesirable elements. So, one day He decided to destroy
mankind. He rained down fire day and night. He told the monkey to beat his drum as a sign that half
the earth was thus cleansed. The monkey stationed himself on a high ebony tree. He was taken up in
enjoying the ripe fruits of the tree. He forgot all about his duty until the fire scorched his hind
quarters! The bark of the tree turned black. In this rain of fire a pair of a male and a female humans,
a boy and a girl, hid themselves in a crab-hole of a paddy field.

Preservation

When the whole earth had thus been burnt, God did not get offerings from human beings for His
own food. And He was sad. His divine beloved, seeing this, knew it was time to spring her surprise,
which her own foresight had prepared. She told Him to go to the paddy field hunting. He went,
taking His hawk on a golden staff accompanied by His dogs. They scented the two human beings
saved by His divine beloved. The boy and the girl ran and hid themselves in a crab hole and said:
“See grandfather, they will bite us.” And God answered: “No grandchildren, they will not harm you.
Delightedly, He then brought them home and looked after them affectionately. He taught them to
plough and cultivate. He gave them seeds for cultivation. Whenever crops failed, they approached
Him for a remedy. Tribals have a very familiar attitude to God. The image they have of Him is that of
a grandfather. Their relationship with the grandfather is very cordial, familiar and spontaneous with
complete faith and trust in him. This is how they understand and see God who is provident in looking
after them.

Procreation

The boy and the girl, till this time, used to sleep side by side but they discreetly used to place a
log/husking pole between themselves. On God’s advice they drank rice beer one night and when
they were drunk God solemnly invited the boy, “If you cross the log/husking pole mankind will
multiply!” The boy did so and mankind multiplied and filled the whole earth! Thus, God imparted to
the first human couple the secret of procreation.

Comment

It is common in ancient cultures to attribute human shape and characteristics to God. This
anthropomorphism, as a way to speak understandably about divine mysterious realities reveals the
basic personality of each people and their culture as they identify themselves in close fellowship
with the godhead itself. Through this delightfully familiar symbolism, the tribal myth seeks to bring
light to bear on their origins. This story communicates a profoundly optimistic view and a sense of
general well-being. For tribals, life is the way it has been ordained by God.

FOLKLORE IN TRIBAL LIFE

Tribals live in a symbiotic union with nature. Hence the rural population enjoys a deep familiarity
and bond with both animate and inanimate creatures. Tribal folk-tales reflect this close communion
in which pride of place is always given to human beings, because they have intelligence and wisdom.
This can be illustrated with one hilarious tale of a tailless jackal as follows:

A certain old man used to cross a river every day in order to go and plough his fields. His wife would
dutifully carry him his rice for the noonday meal. One day a jackal met the wife and asked her:
“Where are you going, old lady?” “Child I am taking rice to the old man.” The jackal craftily said to
her: “Mother, you are aged and the river already has much water in it. I am going to help you
across.” As the old lady was about to enter the water, the jackal suggested, “Mother, I shall take the
rice upon my head. You just hold on to my tail.” During the crossing of the river, the jackal ate half of
the rice. And every day without failing he tricked the old lady, so that when the food was brought to
her husband it was clear that half had already been scooped away. So one day the old man asked:
“Wife, why do you bring me regularly rice, part of which has been taken away?” The old lady
answered, “Husband, every day on my way here, I meet a certain jackal. It is he who plays the cheat
and eats off half of your full portion of rice.” The next day, unknown to anyone, the wife was in the
field and the husband at home. In the morning when the sun was high up, the old man combed his
long hair, put on a lady’s long garment, sharpened a razor, and set off with a pot of rice on his head,
just as his wife usually did. Near the river he came upon the jackal: “Where do you go, old lady?” the
jackal asked in mock politeness. “Child, I am taking rice to the old man,” said the husband in
disguise. Pat came the invitation from the jackal, “There is much water in the river. How will you
cross it? I shall carry your rice and you take hold of my tail!” So they set off. But as soon as the jackal
started to eat the rice the old man took out his razor and cut his tail clean off! In great surprise the
jackal turned round, saw what had happened, and only then he recognized the old man. Angry and
ashamed that he had lost his tail, the jackal threatened, “Wait a bit, old man! I will cover the handle
of your plough with filth!” The clever old man ordered some sharp pointed nails to be made by the
village smith and then he fixed them into his plough-handle. When the unsuspecting jackal came and
sat on the handle, he got his own seat damaged!

With his pride hurt again, the jackal warned: “Wait a bit, old man! You have cheated me, but I shall
have your fowls for my meal!” True to his threat, soon after the jackal came with a whole pack of
jackals to rob the old man of his fowls. But the farmer was ready for the attack. He had already
removed the chickens from their house and he himself was there armed with a scythe. When the
jackals entered the chicken house, the old man gave a touch of his weapon and they shouted: “Oh
brothers, a huge cock is there! And it pecks very hard!” The tailless jackal was not afraid of any cock,
so he too entered and the old man inflicted a good gash into him. The jackal ran off shouting: “You
fellows! What you call a cock, is really the old man!” Again he made a threat: “Wait a bit, old man,”
he said. “I shall have all of your pumpkins!” So the wise old man plucked all the pumpkins off his
roof. He then covered his body with ashes, and hid himself there amid the leaves. Once more the
jackal took some associates with him for a night robbery. As soon as the jackals got up upon the
roof, the old man gave them each a good hard and rough push. The jackals cried: “Oh brothers, the
old man’s pumpkins are butting frightfully!” Then came the tailless jackal’s turn to go to the roof for
the pumpkins. Just as he came onto the roof, the old man gave him such a sharp blow that he
jumped off and ran away shouting: “You fellows, what you call the old man’s pumpkins, is really the
old man himself!” So, this is the way it went: Neither could the old man kill the tailless jackal, nor
could the tailless jackal rob the old man of anything.

In the end, the man and his wife held a council: “How shall we lure all those jackals together and
make an end of them, once and for all?” they asked. They devised a plan and this is what it was. One
day the old lady seated herself at the door of her house and cried out in lament: “My husband is
dead! What shall I do?” The jackals said to her: “Old lady, you must prepare a funeral repast. And
you will invite us, won’t you?” The clever woman said: “Why shouldn’t I invite you, children?” What
did she do then? She collected a good quantity of dry cow dung and pebbles. After hiding away her
husband, she invited all the jackals for the feast. When they had all gathered, she made the cow
dung into a heap over the pebbles, and then set fire to it. Each time she would take a stone out, she
would drop it into water and it hissed violently. Deceived the jackals greedily shouted: “Give it to
me, granny! Give it to me granny!” The old lady replied: “Wait, Children! If you allow the cooking its
time, there will be nice cakes for all! I will give you each your share!” Finally she said: “Come on
children! The cooking is over!” As the impatient jackals approached, she said: “Children if you remain
as you are, you will rob one another, or you will have a fight. So come, I shall tie you all down with
ropes to keep peace.” And so she tied them all with ropes, and the tailless jackal she bound with a
chain. Now that they were captive all, and seated in a row, she shouted. “Come quick, old man, ho!
ho!” The jackals asked: “What do you say, old lady?” She replied, “Children, I was only calling out my
husband’s ancestors.” With that, out of his concealment came the old man with a large wooden
hammer in hand and he began to beat all those jackals one after the other up and down the row.
When he came to the tailless jackal, he gave him such a thrashing that his chain snapped. At this
sight, the other jackals too, vehemently pulling their ropes, broke them, and they all ran for their
lives, each in a different direction and from that day they never were seen nor heard of again.

Summer evening hours are generally spent by children gathered around some old man listening to
him telling them such tales in the village for hours enchanted till sleep got the better of them.
Folklore is a means not only to entertain children but also to teach them values, attitudes towards
life and relationships.

Riddles

They have been yet another means of entertainment and pastime that have a real
communitybuilding role among the tribals. At leisure time at night, when they come together after
the day’s work, both young and old revel in telling practical jokes and riddles. They enter into a lively
competition to outdo one another with these mind-teasers. Such competitive superiority hurts no
one – it is good fun for everyone to enjoy. Riddles also present a good glimpse into the symbolic
nature of the tribal mind and a graphic feature of their language. Here are some examples:

1. As a youngster there were four feet, turned adult there were only two, and when old there were
three. What is it? (A human being!)

2. A prince royal cannot bear up with the most insignificant cause of pain. What is it? (The eye!)

3. A youngster goes about sporting a crooked stick. Who is he? (A dog!)

4. Fire has broken out in one village, the smoke rises in another, while the alarm is given in a third.
What do you say of this? (It is the hookah, a smoking device with three different parts!)

5. Flesh inside, bowels outside. What is it? (The paddy bale!) 6. A flower droops all day, but at night
it blooms. What is it? (A mat!)

7. As one takes this baby in arms, it creates a din, but when one lays it down, it keeps quiet. What is
it? (The drum!)

8. A girl, after raking up her sweepings, takes her station at the back of the house. Who is she? (A
comb!)

9. This tiny fellow knocks down big, strappy, powerful men. Who is he? (Rice beer!)
10. A water spring coming out of dry wood. What is it? (An oil press!)

11. A broad, flat fish flounders about in a few drops of water. What is it? (The tongue!) 8

12. Held with the hand, it does not hold in the hand. What is it? (An umbrella!)

Proverbs

They are perhaps the best example of refined tribal sentiments. Tribals are basically
people of deep emotions, they relish delicate feelings. Proverbs are the means through which they
reflect their sophisticated manners and social attitudes. They are also excellent examples of tribal
wisdom which is based on their concrete experience rather than on cerebral activity. Some
illustrations follow:

1. With men who are perpetually hanging about their wives’ petticoats have no social
interaction.
Comment: For a male tribal, it is a gentle reminder that though tribal women are strong
characters, husbands are not to be over-dependent on them.
2. A pig does not forget the taste of beer leftovers.
Comment: This is a symbolic language and refers both to the tendency to vice and to people
who have an incorrigible taste for vice – particularly fornication and adultery.
3. When they find the bird-dirt people say, ‘The birds have lodged here for the night!’
Comment: The image of bird-dirt merely insinuates an illicit relationship.
4. Danger from a tiger in the home, danger from a tiger in the jungle, whither can I run?
Comment: There are certain inescapable problems and a person simply has to face up to
them. Nothing is gained by trying to escape an inescapable responsibility!
5. Shall I tie the yoke to the plough with the bullock’s tail?
Comment: A tribal who is poor and without any means expresses his helplessness and brings
home to listeners his wretched condition through this graphic agricultural proverb.
6. If you take only one cupful, they say, the cow charges at you; take a cupful more! 9
Comment: It is commonly used in drinking parties, and means that etiquette and good
manners require that you accept a second helping. It is symbolic of tribal hospitality and
sensitivity.
7. You will see your parents’ wedding!
Comment: It is used to admonish young, mischievous boys and girls, to caution and
admonish them against misadventure and danger. It would mean, “Don’t court trouble,
don’t endanger your life, don’t take undue risks!”
8. Verily, how moonlike shines your face!
Meaning: Indeed, you are too good to be true.
9. Everything else may be washed away, but the clan won’t.
Meaning: It is not easy to forget one’s kin.
10. If not while only a sapling, never when it is a tree.
Meaning: Evils must be remedied before it is too late.
Cosmology
Tribals often express their perception of truth and their experience of life not in conceptual
language but in their own characteristically graphic, down-to-earth manner. It is the form of
myths and fables which satisfy their questionings. Thus, for example, to explain lunar phases
they tell the following tale:
One day the moon invited the sun to dinner and gave him a good meal of sweet potatoes
cooked in butter. These were so delicious, that the sun asked what the food was and how it
had been prepared, for he wanted to have the same menu again. The moon shamefacedly
confessed that the food she had served were her own children. “Well,” said the sun, “my
children must be as good as yours!” So saying, he killed them all. Only as he began to eat
them did he realize that he had been tricked. So he went in a rage to punish the moon.
Seeing him coming, the moon hid behind a mango/banian tree. The sun 10 saw this ruse and
with his sharp sword he slashed the moon. At the same time, he cursed her saying: “Now
you shall keep that cut all your life! You will try to get cured every month. But as soon as you
think you are all right, the cut will reappear and go on increasing.” And so it is. From that
time onwards we have the different phases of the moon. The shadow of the mango/banian
tree remains printed upon the moon’s face. From that time, also, the moon carefully
remains hidden from the sun. She appears only when she knows that he has gone to sleep.
Astronomical Legends
Tribals weave beautiful legends about stars, planets and galaxies. They are also accustomed
to create stories about everything and anything that make up the situation and condition of
their everyday domestic life and work. These are good expressions of their rich, aesthetic
grasp of reality. They show how the tribal mind revels in contemplation of the beauty and
mystery of creation. They take much pride in knowing and relating these traditions. So goes
the story of the heavenly constellations Orion and Pleiades
God made the plough for the boy and girl, first ancestors of human beings. With it they were
to till the earth and bring it under cultivation. It took Him seven days and seven nights to
make this implement Now, while He was making the plough, a certain tiger came to frighten
and attack Him. To protect Himself He threw a handful of wooden chips upon the tiger, and
sent His wild dog after it. So, the wild dog went after the tiger and ever since the wild dog
has become a bitter enemy of tigers.
God again set about making the plough. He saw a dove sitting on her eggs. He aimed his
hammer at the dove and threw it but it fell short. He next threw his file at it, again He
missed, and the dove flew away from its nest. This dove became a star and the double eggs,
double stars, and the hammer became the Pleiades, while the file became Orion.
Folk Song and Dance
The underlying current of tribal living is a sense of celebration. It is an exultation of life that
finds spontaneous expression in song and dance. The jovial and celebrative character of
tribal personality is best portrayed in their strong musical tradition. Song and dance are
effective ways in which tribals express themselves creatively, sharing their experience of life,
their emotions, their history and, above all, their irrepressible hope and joy-in-living.
Folk Song
The theme of tribal songs may be about any life-event: birth, marriage, death, ploughing,
sowing, reaping, etc. These are daily life-experiences: pain and suffering, joy and sorrow,
success and failure, frustration and aspiration. Tribal song is a deeply poetic expression. It
may just be sung, or it may be accompanied by dramatization, movement and dance. It is
never a solo performance. Song accompanied by dance is always in the community, with the
community and for the community
It is important to remember that tribal songs are sung according to different seasons during
the year and those who sing are carried away by the rhythm of the season they are in. They
witness the signs of nature and events facing them, surrounding them and affecting them. It
is that experience of feeling and emotion that they give expression through songs. For
example, they sing when they see clouds gathering on the distant horizon. They know that
the pre-monsoon winds are building up and so one of the soothing songs they sing is as
follows: Pour down, you dark clouds!
Shower you rains, why tarry!!
Comment: This song, thus, gives voice to their eager and joyous anticipation of the rains
which bring relief and prosperity. So, as the clouds and breezes are as if ready for
celebration, people’s deep emotions burst forth in thankful anticipation. Experience has
taught them how to read the signs of late summer days just before the incoming monsoon.
With its rains there is a promise for plenty of (a) water in fields, ponds and rivers, (b) crops in
the land, and (c) greenery and fruits in the forest!
Same observation as above follows in some important life-events like marriage. From their
marriage tunes one gets a glimpse into the wealth of tribal poetic simplicity. One such
example is as follows:
Come out and look, O mother dear! Are they not the kin, here? From the East do they come
and enter Are they not the kin, here? Comment: This song is sung during the very first phase
of marriage negotiations, when the mediators from the prospective bridegroom’s family
arrive at the house of the prospective bride. By proxy it expresses the excitement and joy
felt by the latter.
Folk Dance
Folk song is accompanied with community dance. Rural tribals spend their evenings during
both lean agricultural seasons and festivals in singing and dancing. “The tribe that dances
does not die,” states Verrier Elwin, India’s famous anthropologist. In fact, song and dance
are important ways in which tribals express, relive and relieve their emotions. Over the
centuries they have built up a tradition, a whole cycle of song and dance corresponding to
their agricultural and social customs. They have different kinds and styles of seasonal songs
and dances. It is characteristic of tribal song and dance that they are performed in a variety
of ways. Some songs are only sung while others are sung and danced. Some others are sung
and danced accompanied by instruments. Tribal dance is rendered by groups of performers
locked arm-to-arm, arm-toshoulder or arm-to-waist, moving in beautiful, undulating waves.
CULTURAL EXPRESSION
Folk culture in a tribal society is seen in the following four different forms:
Oral tradition: These include mostly verbal arts or expressive literature consisting of spoken,
sung and voiced forms of traditional utterances like songs, tales, poetry. Ballads, anecdotes,
rhymes, proverbs and elaborate epics.
Material Culture: These are visible aspects of folk behaviour, such as, skills, recipes and
formulae as displayed in rural arts and crafts, traditional motifs, architectural design,
clothes, fashions, farming, fishing and various other types of tools and machinery
Social Folk Customs: these are areas of traditional life that emphasize the group rather than
the individual skills and performances. They include large family and community
observances and relate to rites of passages, such as, birth, initiation, marriage and death or
annual celebrations, festivals, fairs, ritual and ceremonial gatherings, market occasions and
rural meets.
Performing Arts: These consist of traditional music, masquerades, dance and drama.

Among these, the oral tradition and the performing arts appear to be the main media of
communication, Storytellers, singers, minstrels and other kinds of folk entertainers have
acted for centuries as sources for the transmission and dissemination of news and
information through face-to-face live communication. Families, social groups and
community gatherings served as the main platforms of communication and sources for
feedback for the folk performers. The values, attitudes, beliefs and culture of the people are
propagated, reinforced and perpetuated through these folk forms. The issues in a society are
depicted in the form of satire by the folk artists for curing societal evils.

Material Culture Every tribal group develops techniques of work that respond to the
demands of the environment, to the capacity, creativity and level of living standard of the
group. Hunters, fishers, farmers of different tribal cultures have markedly different
techniques of hunting, fishing and tilling the soil. So, also it is from the way of playing,
singing, painting, cooking and the like that it can be decided whether one tribal group is
different from the other or not. 14 Technology and economy fall under material culture.
They play an important role in shaping the mode of life of any tribal group. When the group
is small, its technology is simple, resources are scarce and the problem of survival is most
important. In order to survive in his material surroundings, a tribal develops techniques,
invents some instruments and uses them for earning his food, making his clothes and
constructing his shelter.
There is no tribal society without methods of production, distribution and consumption and
some forms of exchange and some expression of value in terms of monetary or other
symbols. The economy of the majority of tribals is agriculture-based economy. Land is their
biggest asset and agriculture is their main occupation though forest produce is equally
important in their economy. For agricultural activities they depend very much on the help of
their animals, especially for manuring and ploughing their fields and threshing their crops.
They have two kinds of agricultural land, (a) upland, and (b) lowland. In the former they
grow crops which require less water whereas in the latter they grow paddy and wheat crops
which require more water.
The economy of tirbals is mainly consumption based economy. They do not bother about
saving or investing for the future. If their produce is plentiful for consumption for the year,
they are quite satisfied. Other necessary things for everyday life are obtained through
exchange. Nowadays, money is being used more than the barter system even in remote
villages.
Other occupations like weaving, basket-making, pottery, blacksmithing, tanning, etc. are
best left to their low class Hindu neighbours among the tribals of Central-Eastern region of
India. However, in the case of necessity they take up some of these works, too, as a part
time job. They are very reluctant to take up trade as their occupation. Even those who take
up this job are rarely found successful in it. They would prefer to sit in the office holding
some job but would have no patience to sit in the shop! Being educated they are now going
for jobs in public as well as private sectors. With mining and industries coming in their areas,
even the uneducated ones among them are going to work in them as unskilled labourers.

Social Folk Customs

They consist of all the structural components of a society through which the main concerns
and activities are organized, and social needs, such as, those for order, belief and
reproduction are met. They constrain or determine the behaviour of specific social groups.
In this context, let it be clear that today both traditional as well as modern tribal societies
are undergoing far reaching transformation under the impact of rapid social changes taking
place. However, their social institutions are still based on relatively more stable value
systems as given below.
Kinship
It establishes relationships between individuals and groups on the model of biological
relationships between parents and children, between siblings, and between marital
partners. It thus means blood relationship. Among the tribals it includes family and clan, its
extension. Relationships established by marriage forming alliances between groups of
persons related by blood or consanguineous ties, are usually referred to as affinal relations.
There is a special term for every distinct relationship, both in direct and indirect lines of
descendance. There is also the custom of using one and the same term called classificatory
term in addressing the whole class of relatives. This is to show greater respect for the elders
and greater affection for the younger ones. Strictly speaking, only those people have the
right to call someone by name who may have been assisted by the former at the latter’s
birth or name giving ceremony.
Joking Relationship
A certain category of people among tribals have a fun loving relationship, for example,
between (i) grandparents and grandchildren, (ii) brothers-in-law and their wives’ younger
brothers and sisters, (iii) sisters-in-law and their husbands’ younger brothers and sisters, (iv)
wife’s brotherssisters and husband’s brothers-sisters. These people may enjoy greater
familiarity with one another and have a lot of fun among themselves without offence. These
relationships may be real or classificatory.
Reserve-Respect Relationship
In this form of relationship, there is a certain distance due to a reserve-respect attitude
towards one another. Members of different families and clans enter into such relationship
through affinity. The relationship may be real or classificatory, for example, between (i)
one’s elder 16 brother and one’s wife, (ii) one’s husband and one’s elder sister. Out of deep
respect for each other, there is a reciprocal avoidance and name taboo between these
persons. For the same reason, there is also name taboo between a husband and his wife.
Clan
Kinship structure includes the family and its extension into the broader group relationships,
that is, the clan. Each tribe is divided into a number of clans named after totems, such as,
animals, birds, fish, plants, minerals, etc. ‘Totemism’ is reverence for different natural
species identified as ‘totems’ with solidarity of particular human groups, especially groups of
common ancestry. They are names standing for persons to whom one’s ultimate ancestors
can be traced back. They are respected. There are various legends about them of receiving
some help from them in ancient times. Each clan descends from common ancestors. It is this
belief which is the foundation of marriage outside one’s own clan. It is for the same reason
that sexual union between persons of the same clan is regarded as union between close
family members. According to tribal creation stories, it is God Himself who divided human
beings into various clans to enter into inter-clan marriage relationships.
Welcoming Guests
If the guest is a regular visitor, a jar of water is given to him/her to wash his/her face and
feet before getting seated. Once seated comfortably, the guest and the host pick up
conversation in which they exchange news about the wellbeing of each other’s family
members followed by rice beer and meal together.
Washing of Feet
If the guest is very dear or respectable and is visiting the family after a long time, he/she is
made to sit down and then his/her feet are washed. This is a mark of great love, respect,
affection, gratitude and appreciation. It is the female members who wash the feet of guests.
As a token of appreciation, the guest may give some money to the person washing his/her
feet but it is not obligatory.
VILLAGE ORGANISATION
For the service of a village community, there are some officials among the tribals in the
CentralEastern region of India. They are either elected for the office or inherit it. These
officials are: a.
Village Headman: He is responsible for the general good of the village. When there are
violations of social and moral laws and other regulations requiring settlement, it is he who
calls a village meeting and informs the parties concerned with the case. He announces the
judgment arrived at by the elders after their deliberation.
b. Village Priest: He is the religious head of a village. He offers public sacrifices on behalf of
his village community to God on some important agricultural feasts for getting good crops
and rich harvest during the year. Similarly, he offers periodical sacrifices to village spirits in
order to appease them so that the village community may live in peace and harmony with
them. 18
c. Village Watchman: He assists the above officials in their duties as a middleman between
them and the community members.
d. Village Brotherhood: In keeping with the village kinship, everyone in the village is related
to one another as brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, etc.
e. Village Cooperation: It consists of various kinds of help given to one another in the form
of labour. Some of them are as follows:
(i) Sangat: It is an organisation in which a person in need of labourers for some urgent work,
gets them from the villagers. During the year, he pays back the village sangat with his own
labour without any interest.
(ii) Pancha: When someone wants a number of persons to help him out to complete his
work within a short time, he contacts the chief of the young men in the village and asks their
help. The chief directs the young men under him to do the work promptly. It is a kind of
social work through which these young men render free service to the poor and needy of
the village, for example, they go to repair the roof of a poor widow or such other helpless
persons in the village.
(iii) Madait or Pachait: It is getting help for a particular work in exchange of a meal and drink
for the whole family.
 (iv) Pasri: It is ploughing the field of a neighbour in exchange as and when need arises.
(v) Sajha: It is share-cropping in which a person cultivates the field of another person and at
harvest the produce is shared fifty-fifty between the land owner and the cultivator.
(vi) Dhangar: It is employing a helper who stays with the employer like a family member,
sharing in everything of the family and working for it for the whole year. At the end of the
year, his parents get a fixed amount of paddy as agreed upon. The contract may be renewed
every year. f.
Youth Dormitory: It is a large hall built by the young men of a village to serve at night as
their dormitory. It is not only a place to rest after the day’s work but also an institution to
initiate the youth into various cultural aspects of their society. Here, they learn not only the
songs, dances and musical instruments but also some village crafts as well. The supervision
and discipline of 19 the dormitory is in the hand of the eldest member among them. He
instructs the boys in their social and religious duties. During dances and other celebrations,
it is his duty to see that they are dressed properly. He even has the right to punish anyone
who does not obey him. Unmarried girls sleep in the house of a widow separate from the
boys’ dormitory.
The young men mentioned above have many other social duties, for example, the younger
boys have to clean the hall, spread mats and light lamps. During rainy or winter season they
have to light the fire. When any guest comes to their village, they have to look after him. At
wedding, they have to do the cooking. If a villager needs any urgent help, he requests the
leader of these boys for assistance and the latter sends the boys under him to do the work.
The girls’ dormitory has similar functions
These dormitories, thus, provide privacy for the parents at home. They unite the youth
together, provide an opportunity for close companionship and educate them in community
living. In spite of all this, with the advance of education and process of urbanization; many of
these dormitories have disappeared.

SOCIO-RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS: RITES OF PASSAGE

Human communities the world over have certain definite ways of ordering and regulating
the life of individuals and the group. The Rites of Passage are the ways by which such goals
are achieved by societies. These rites are socio-religious customs observed in the life of the
members in relation to the community. They mark vital phases in life, namely, birth,
marriage and death. The main point of ceremonies observed on these events of life among
the major tribes of CentralEastern India, is incorporation of a member into the community of
both the living and the dead. Here they are as follows:
Birth
A new baby is, as it were, a stranger to the community and does not yet belong to it, till after
the name-giving. In this ritual, a name for the infant is sought by rice-and-water divination.
An elder takes his seat with a shallow vessel (generally a leaf cup) containing water. Another
leaf cup contains a handful of paddy grains close by. He takes a grain keeping in mind the
name of the 20 child, removes its husk with his fingernails and gently drops it to float on the
still surface of water in the leaf cup. It is in the name of God. Similarly, he drops a second
grain in the name of elders. Likewise, he drops a third grain in the name of the child and
finally he drops the fourth grain naming at the same time one ancestor dead or alive. If the
last two grains meet while floating, the child is named after this ancestor. From then on this
ancestor becomes the patron or guardian of the child. The operation is repeated, each time
naming different ancestor, till the third and fourth grains meet each other. After this, the
child belongs to the father’s clan, tribe and ancestors. This ceremony manifests that the
child is from God and the elders are the witnesses to this mystery of life. It also reveals that
the ultimate goal of this earthly life of a tribal is to attain the ancestral community at long
last in which the tribe lives for ever
Marriage
Tribals hold marriage holy for according to their various creation myths, God the Creator
Himself has instituted it. They practise adult, virilocal (man’s place) , monogamous (one
husband-one wife), lifelong marriages. However, the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia tribals practise
uxorilocal (woman’s place) marriage. Among them a tribal marries within his/her own tribe
and outside his/her own clan. Members of a clan consider themselves as belonging to one
and the same family. Hence, they do not get married with one another. Widow remarriage is
allowed. Marriage between the descendants of a brother and his sister may take place only
after third generation. Tribals do not have dowry system though they pay a token of bride
price in cash or kind to the bride’s parents. Divorce is very rare.
They go through an elaborate process of negotiation for marriage arrangement. The families
of the bride and bridegroom exchange a number of visits before the marriage proper takes
place. Omens, signs from nature, are carefully observed to seek divine approval for the
proposed match. At betrothal rite, an opportunity is given at the courtyard of the house of
the bride’s parents when the bride and bridegroom may express their agreement or
disagreement publicly whether in the future they would like to get married or not. In the
central marriage, the bride and bridegroom apply vermilion on each other’s forehead.
Vermilion is the symbol of blood which is itself the symbol of life. Therefore, by exchanging
it, they symbolically manifest that they have 21 decided to share their life and love together
for ever. Tribal marriage uniting the bride and bridegroom also unites their families in
venerating their ancestor spirits.
Death
According to an ancient custom among the tribals in the Central-Eastern region of the
country, if a person dies before the crop seeds sprout in the fields, he/she is burnt and a few
of his/her charred bones are collected in an earthen jar which is temporarily buried in the
kitchen garden attached to the house of the deceased person or sometimes inside an extra
hut near by. If anyone passes away when the crops are standing in the fields, he/she is
buried in the burial ground. After some months a few of his/her bones are taken out and are
temporarily buried in an earthen jar under a stone near the house of the deceased person.
The bones preserved in these ways, are taken out at the end of the year and are deposited
in the place for the bones of the dead.
(a) Bringing in the ‘shade’ The tribals in general believe in the survival of soul after death.
The tribals mentioned above, believe that the soul survives in the form of two shades, (a)
light shade, and (b) heavy shade. After the burial ceremony, the light shade of the deceased
person is brought back home through a special ritual and is requested to reside in one
corner of the house peacefully among its old acquaintances. In this way, his/her presence
continues to remain among the living members in the family.
(b) Reunion of the ‘heavy shade’ with Ancestors This ceremony is held generally after 10
days of the burial of a deceased person. Meanwhile it is believed that the heavy shade is not
at rest. It hovers about homeless between the old house and the burial place. Food and
drink in leaf cups are provided for it at the burial place during this period. On the day of
reuniting the ‘heavy shade’ with ancestors, relatives of the deceased person gather together
at the courtyard of his/her old house. In their presence, one elder prays to God in these
words: “O God, this person had been living among us. Now he/she has gone away from us.
See that everything be right for him/her.” After this he prays to ancestors saying: “We
request you to accept this person among you. He/she is one of your children. Receive
him/her as such 22 and have pity on us also who remain behind.” It is believed that
henceforth the departed soul takes its place among the ancestors and a community meal is
served in his/her name. With this ceremony the mourning period for him/her gets over and
normal daily life is resumed by his/her family members.
(c) Bone Drowning It is the crowning ceremony of the tribal death ritual. In the month of
December or January when the crops have been brought in, the bones of all those who had
passed away during the year, are taken from their temporary resting places. They are taken
round the village halting for the last time before their old homes once and then are carried
in procession with song, dance, drumming and weeping and are deposited at the place of
dead persons’ bone keeping. Interestingly, the Kuṛukh (Uraon) tribe calls this ceremony
‘great marriage’. After this ceremony, it is believed that the soul of the dead person takes its
place among the ancestors for ever.
2.7 ANNUAL FEASTS AND FESTIVALS
Since it is not possible to cover this topic for all the tribals in the country, the following
discussion centres around the tribals of the Central-Eastern region of the country. It is hoped
that it helps to understand the cultural expression of other tribal groups too in different
parts of the country.
Phagua
It is celebrated on the full moon day in the lunar month of Phagun (February-March). It is the
new year day for the tribals. For the celebration, a branch of the cotton tree often together
with a branch of the castor plant is planted on the phagua field outside the village. Several
bundles of thatching grass are made to lean all around the branch. After the usual
consecration over a chicken, it is let loose alive by the village priest under the standing dry
grass bundles which he next sets on fire. While the fire is ablaze, the assistant of the village
priest cuts the top of the branch with a single blow of a battle axe saying: “Let all the
sickness and suffering of the past year pass away like this severed branch!” 23 The myth
behind this ceremony is that there was a wicked vulture in ancient times on a very tall
cotton tree. It used to lift away human beings young and old to its nest to feed its young
ones. Terrorised by it, the people prayed to God to save them from this vulture. God had
pity on them and took the form of a dwarf hero and went down to kill the vulture. He shot
the vulture with His bow and arrows made of iron. It fell to the ground in several pieces and
died. He also shot down the cotton tree which had given shelter to the evil vulture. Thus, the
branch of the cotton tree in the ceremony is the symbol of evil. As nature renews and
bedecks itself with new, tender and beautiful leaves and flowers, the phagua feast ushers in
the new year for the tribals and says good-bye to the past year.
Sarhul
It is celebrated in the lunar month of Chait (March-April) when the saal trees are full of
flowers. Around noon on the feast day, the village priest and his assistant take a ceremonial
bath at the village spring or pond or in a river close by. In some villages, the village priest and
his wife are next made to sit side by side in their courtyard and the headman of the village
anoints their foreheads with vermilion to signify and effect the mystical marriage and union
of the earth and the sky to ensure plentiful rain and a bumper crop during the year.
A solemn procession of men now starts for the sacred grove. The village priest’s assistant
now clears a strip of ground with a spade and smears it with cow dung. The village priest sits
cross legged in front of the clearing. His assistant takes chickens of appropriate colours,
washes their legs, anoints their heads with vermilion and hands them over to the village
priest. The latter beheads the victims, drops some blood on the rice heaps placed for various
spirits. He prays to the spirit at the sacred grove to ensure good monsoon and rich crop
during the year. He also prays to other spirits not to interfere with the mystical union
between the earth and the sky so that the earth may produce plenty of good things for
mankind. The sacrificed chickens are later cooked with rice and eaten as sacrificial meal in
common.
God’s power over the spirits is clearly maintained at the sacred grove. He is offered a white
(pure) victim at a separate spot away from the place of the spirits. In the Kuṛukh tradition,
the 24 village priest faces the east because the sun, which is the symbol of God, rises from
there and prays as follows:
Here below are the panches (elders),
Dharmes (God) is above. O Father, you are above, we are below.
You have eyes, we do not see.
You know all, we are totally ignorant.
Whether knowingly or by mistake we have offended the spirits, restrain them.
Overlook our mistakes.

Hariari
When seedlings get ready for transplantation, it is celebrated on a day fixed for it. The
village priest prays to God to give His blessing upon green plants in the field and protect
them against all dangers and help them to yield rich harvest. After this he goes to his field
and plants five sheaves of seedlings. Following it other members of the village may begin to
transplant in their fields too.
Karam
celebration begins on 11th day of the lunar month of Bhado (August-September) and
continues till the harvest season. Although the feast is meant to ensure protection of
standing crops, it is primarily the feast of unmarried girls who have been recently engaged.
They pray for the blessing of healthy children in their future life in order to perpetuate the
family, clan and tribe.
On the karam feast day, the unmarried girls who want to take part in the ceremonies keep
fast. Towards the evening, young men and women of the village go in procession to a karam
tree singing, dancing and drumming. One of the young men, cuts three branches from it.
These branches are caught in mid air by the girls who carry them in dance procession to the
village priest’s courtyard. He and his wife together plant the branches in the middle of the
dance ground. The girls after their light refreshment gather there and sit in a wide circle
around the karam 25 branches to listen to the story narrating God’s blessings upon human
beings. After this, young men and women of the village proceed to dance the whole night
around the karam branches symbolizing God the Creator.
Nawakhani
It is celebrated in the lunar month of Kuwanr (September-October) when the first paddy
crop is ready for harvest. The head of each household sacrifices a chicken to the ancestor
spirits in gratitude for giving the gift of life, land and livestock to their descendants. The
choicest portion of the festal meal is first offered to them and ritual rice beer is poured for
them and prayers are made for their blessing and protection upon the family members.
Soharai
This feast is kept on the eve of the new moon day in the lunar month of Kartik
(OctoberNovember). It is celebrated to honour the cattle helpful in agriculture. Occasionally,
a fowl is sacrificed by the head of the family to the spirit of cowshed. Cattle are
indispensable for the tribals in agriculture. They are the tribe’s most prized gift and
possession given by God who had given oxen to the first human beings to plough their fields
and grow crops for their livelihood. Thus, cattle are the gift of God and therefore man needs
to take care of them.
Khalihani
It is celebrated in the lunar month of Aghan (November-December). On behalf of the village
community, the village priest on this occasion prays to God in the morning of the feast day
at his threshing floor for getting plenty of grain in their threshing activity.
Maghe
It is celebrated in the month of Magh (January-February) to honour a house servant. The
housewife washes his feet, applies oil on his hair and combs it. She then offers him rice beer.
After tasting it if he says, ‘it tastes good, it is delightful!’ then it is a sign that he wishes to
continue to give his service to the family for yet another year. If he wishes to discontinue his
service, he would remain silent. The willing servant is kept while the unwilling one is
released after paying him duly as per agreement. 26 Thus, the annual feasts among the
tribals centre around the good of the family, clan and tribe which is their highest good.
Concretely, they are connected with the health and prosperity of their children, cattle and
crop ensuring continuation and happiness of the tribe. The feasts thus manifest the common
worldviews of the tribals. They also show how the tribals live their core values during the
annual cycle of their agricultural life. Thus, they support and strengthen the socio-cultural
identity of the tribals in the multi-cultural Indian society.

Tribals often express their perception of truth and experience of life not in conceptual
language but in their own characteristically graphic, down-to-earth manner. It is the form of
myths and fables which satisfy their questionings. They weave beautiful legends about stars,
planets and galaxies. They are also accustomed to create stories about everything and
anything that make up the situation and condition of their everyday domestic life and work.
These are good expressions of their rich, aesthetic grasp of reality. They show how the tribal
mind revels in contemplation of the beauty and mystery of creation.

Storytellers, singers, minstrels and other kinds of folk entertainers have acted for centuries
as sources for the transmission and dissemination of news and information through face-to-
face live communication. Families, social groups and community gatherings served as the
main platforms of communication and sources for feedback for the folk performers. The
values, attitudes, beliefs and culture of the people are propagated, reinforced and
perpetuated through these folk forms. The issues in a society are depicted in the form of
satire by the folk artists for curing societal evils.

It establishes relationships between individuals and groups on the model of biological

relationships between parents and children, between siblings, and between marital
partners. It includes family and clan, its extension. Relationships established by marriage
forming alliances between groups of persons related by blood or consanguineous ties, are
usually referred to as affinal relations. There is a special term for every distinct relationship,
both in direct and indirect lines of descendance. There is also the custom of using one and
the same term called classificatory term in addressing the whole class of relatives. This is to
show greater respect for the elders and greater affection for the younger ones.

Each tribe is divided into a number of clans named after totems, such as, animals, birds, fish,
plants, minerals, etc. with solidarity of particular human groups of common ancestry. They
are names standing for persons to whom one’s ultimate ancestors can be traced back. It is
this which is the foundation of marriage outside one’s own clan. It is for the same reason
that sexual union between persons of the same clan is regarded as union between close
family members.
. The annual feasts among the tribals centre around the good of the family, clan and tribe
which is their highest good. Concretely, they are connected with the health and prosperity of
their children, cattle and crop ensuring continuation and happiness of the tribe. The feasts
thus manifest the common worldviews of the tribals. They also show how the tribals live
their core 30 values during the annual cycle of their agricultural life. Thus, they support and
strengthen the socio-cultural identity of the tribals in the multi-cultural Indian society.

DEFINITION, FUNCTION AND GENRES

History
The history of folklore studies began in the 19th century. However, one can trace its roots
back even further. According to Max Muller, it is said that all races find their origin in certain
basic tribes, originating from the ancient Medes or the Persians. Certain linguistic, physical,
social and cultural symbols seem thus to be common. The word father, for example can be
seen in the German vater, old German fatar, Greek and Latin pater and Sanskrit patar or
Petri. Hence, we can determine how folk speech and utterances had some common generic
roots. It is also said that certain folklore ideas of modern European nations belong to
paganism and Hinduism. Systematic study of folk material began from the 18th century
onwards. Johann Gottfried von Herder, a famous scholar in his famous book Stimmen der
Volker in Liedern (1778-79) had used the term Folk with Volk and described folk songs as
Volkslied, Volksseele as the soul of folk and Volksglaube as the belief. He saw in the arts of
common people a reflection of nation state and its consciousness. It was after the 18th
century that the study of folklore began as a separate discipline and got due importance.
The contributions of the Grimm brothers who published their work in 1812 cannot be
undermined. They used the term Volkskunde for folklore. The term ‘folklore’ was
established by a Briton, William Thoms in 1846. Nationalistic fervour and patriotism gave
folklore a special impetus, as it was felt by many, for the need to save and document their
cultural heritage. As a result, many national societies in folklore came into existence in the
19th century. The English folklore society was formed in 1878 and the American in 1888.
Folklore has thus played a veryimportant role in cultivating and creating a national identity
and consciousness amongst the people. From the definitions of Thoms, the word folklore is
now an internationally accepted word. It should be noted here that the term Volkskunde is
increasingly avoided in Germany as Hitler used it for propaganda reasons. Many scholars
especially from LatinAmerica associate folklore with colonial imperialism. They prefer the
term popular antiquities. In India we see that this term is strongly associated with Janapada
or Lok. At the same time folklore studies is strongly nationalistic in content. The folklorists
have always set out to collect, preserve and document their national heritage. During the
19th and the 20th century scholars studied songs, tales and games and defined them as
folklore. However, today it includes as wide range of meeting points and comprise of a large
range of oral and verbal practices as well as material performances including songs, theatre,
weaving as well as something like building houses and cooking.
Definition
Folklore has always been associated with simple, ignorant people as compared to the high
classical arts, which are seen as being elite. It is strongly seen with the rural peasant folk. It is
said to be different from the literate elite. It was seen that folk was more or less uncivilized.
Folk has always been seen to survive along with the elite group but yet very different from it.

These definitions cannot be valid. According to Dundes, “The term folk can refer to any
group of people, whatsoever, who share at least one common factor. It does not matter
what the linking factor is – it could be a common occupation, language, or religion – but
what is important is that a group is formed for whatever reason it calls its own.”
Folk culture cannot be demarcated through geographical notions or by literary reasons
alone. It can belong to people of similar race, gender, religion or occupation. It can cut
across geographical boundaries and have close human to human interaction. It can also be
shaped by technology and modern society. For example, net surfers all across the world can
have their own kind of folk culture that distinguishes them from others. Folk always implies
some kind of collectivity as it is a shared experience, common to more than one person.
Even though it is created by one individual, a folk culture cannot become one unless it is
shared and is collective. It is not necessary that all the folk members should know one
another. They can be distant and not connected in any manner.
Folk does not necessarily imply rural or lower class. There can be a strong urban literate folk.
As discussed above, television, computers, telephone all have impacted folk genres such as
jokes, songs, stories and myths. It also has become a great tool in the transmission and the
generation of new folk culture.
Folk culture is alive and vibrant. In the 19th century folklore was considered to be a dead
culture. However, it would wrong to assume so. It is deeply connected with a vibrant ever
changing cultural tradition of any region. It can change its meaning and significance over
time but the essence remains the same. For example, certain jokes and proverbs have no
longer any social significance. However, they still will belong to folk culture.
To many, folklore implies some kind of falsity and fantasy. Folk tales and stories often are
considered to be based on incorrect facts and myths. While it is true for some genres of
folklore, like tales and stories, it would be wrong to imply that all forms of folk culture have
some notions of falsehood inherent in it. It is very much based on the material life of the
people and some forms like theatre and performance are very much based on tangible truth.
Folk culture comprises of learned habits, beliefs, rituals, institutions and expressions of the
people. However this is not strictly limited to oral habits and could include material culture
as well. This is closely associated with the notions of a folk society which is a group of
individuals who are organized around some common interest. Both folk culture and folk
society thus go together.As described earlier the notions of folk culture has greatly changed.
The initial ideas of folk culture were based on ideal, romantic ideas and saw the folk culture
as that of the rural and common people. It was also linked up with nationalism. However
folk culture truly encompasses all.
Definitions of scholars of folklore range and differ. According to Klintberg, it stands for,
“traditional cultural forms that are communicated between individuals through words and
actions and tend to exist in variation.” However folk are comprised by all and everyone in
society. Scholars have long believed that folklore is communicated orally through informal
methods or means. They also believe that since folklore is largely verbal it can differ greatly
with every instance of communication.
However, informal means of communication should not be seen as the sole methods as it
can be transmitted through a variety of methods and numerous ways. Both print and visual
media often communicate folk ideas. Well known artists also have communicated their
thoughts through their artistic creations such as theatre, dance or paintings. For example,
the very famous playwright Girish Karnad has explored folk motifs in his plays Hayavadana.
Folklore is deeply connected with tradition. As tradition involves change and continuity,
cultural symbols, items and icons of folklore all undergo a process of change. Folklore,
hence, is in a continuous process of flux and is inherently dynamic. Folklore is deeply
connected to the social life and its processes of change and alterations. Hence this is an
artistic process that is both creative and imaginative and in a state of flux and change.

Folklore often has an inherent inconsistency in it. Often we see that certain principles and
standards held by the people are often challenged. On the other hand, folklore also
maintains set and standard cultural values. This can be seen in folksongs where values such
as love between the mother and child, family bonding, patriotism, unity between man and
nature etc are constantly upheld. Folklore hence can bind people together like in the case of
songs or separate them as in the case of humiliating jokes. Contrasts are hence inherent in
folklore
. Folklore can be global or local, national or international, personal or public. For example,
folktales of the hero rescuing a princess from the clutches of evil are universal but tales from
the region of Rajasthan, like that of Dhola maru, are local in nature. Folklore is deeply
connected with aesthetics and the appreciation of beauty, for example, art and folk crafts.
This is defined by the folklorists in the sense of style and artistry. Some scholars do not
consider jokes, riddles or everyday art objects like clay pots and fabrics as being creative or
aesthetic. However, art objects or everyday idioms, speech patterns and verbal utterances
are artistic patterns of communication
Folklore also remains deeply authentic and reliable. This is in contrast to high culture where
authenticity rests with the individual and this also determines originality. In folklore on the
 other hand authorship is anonymous. However, in folklore the continuity of tradition proves
to its authenticity.

FUNCTION

Psychological or individual

Folklore is largely personal and is shaped through people’s behaviours, motivations and habits. By
and large folklore is entertaining; it thus fulfills an amusement amongst the community members.
Jokes, riddles, metaphors, tales and performances as well as the arts highly entertain the people.
These forms of folklore provide entertainment to the people. It is a well thought out distraction from
the humdrum and the daily needs of life. Stories and anecdotes assert often cultural symbols and
values and shape individuality. Archetypes and heroic figures instill courage and love amongst the
listeners. Folk customs, rituals and narrative enrich individual interaction with the community.
Stories that emphasize good over evil, wicked demons getting slain, witches getting locked up in
cages and thrown away immediately gratify the viewer. Folklore maintains group cohesion and
interaction, for example children’s games further bond the child not only to his mother but also
make him cooperate and bond with his entire community. Superstitions, games and riddles often
reflect the social context. Individual and social taboos are also either reinforced or denigrated by the
folklore. For example, we find several jokes on toilets and excretion or we see in folksongs certain
taboo relations such as between the wife and her brother-in-law are often talked with great
freedom and no restraint is placed on such topics. Myths and legends either mirror or distort the
reality of the society and reflect the individual’s position in society. In the famous Hindu ballad, the
Ramayana, a position of the woman shown as Sita is banished from her kingdom but at the same
time she has an exalted position as she is considered to be virtuous and has all the qualities needed
for a good wife

Functional

Folklore gratifies or expresses the hostilities found in the culture and society. Proverbs can help
solve legal decisions, while riddles sharpen wit and humour and reinforce cultural values, myths
validate conduct in the society, and satirical songs release pent up feelings and tensions. All the
above folklore helps the individual to remain in the society. Some tales about nature also talk about
how to grow crops and folk medicines help to cure diseases. Some customs are purely social and can
be described as rites of passage. They help the individual to come closer to society. One such major
rites of passage ritual in India are the thread or the Upanayana ceremony. Weddings can also be
seen as a rite of passage or the new born baby birth ceremony. These customs 13 Conservation and
Preservation: Some Ethical and Legal Issues accompany the change of place, state, social status and
age. In this the social and the physical position of an individual is either altered or reinforced. It is a
cultural socialization process. Some of these transitions might take place once in an individual’s life
for example birth, initiation, death etc.; and may occur daily like when we do our daily prayers, the
change coming from profane to sacred. This theory has been propounded byVan Gennep who
believes that rites of passage accompany every change of place, state, social position and age. Many
of these rites are made public and open to the whole society. Important symbols and values of the
people are often expressed in traditions and passed down from one generation to another. Folklore
hence passes on preexisting ethics and standards of the society. This gets also reinforced through
performances. This hence helps one to connect to the heritage of the society

Religious

Religion is a part of the daily existence of life. This is expressed in everyday belief, speech, story and
song. It also affects both the private practices and pubic ritual activities and also the material life like
clothing, food and objects. Legends about saints like that of Sant Kabir and Tukaram, supernatural
narratives like the myths of Krishna, magic and occult practices all are deeply religious in content.
Talismans and totems, proverbs and sayings, folk songs, dance and theatre, use of devotional texts
etc.are all replete with the concerns of religion. Folk religion however differs from formal state
religion. Religious motifs hence integrate the individual’s ideas and practices into a smooth
transition into human society. Folk belief also gets manifested in healing contexts such as magic,
occultism and medicine. Individuals hence hold these belief systems and express them in personal
and communal demonstrations. It is within this context of religious beliefs that one can see several
instances of human religiosity. The belief system is largely communicative. Furthermore a ritual can
be easily observed in the group and is also an expressive form of any religion. Rituals have social
dimensions and they are quite different from personal actions of an individual. They consist of
number of rites or verbal and non verbal communications. Some rites are performed to remove
some crisis, for example the practice of occult and shamanism to remove illnesses. These are
attempts to make normal life restored. Some rites are performed periodically, like special rites are
performed while cutting the grain (like that of baisakhi) and rituals for New Year (Gudi padwah in
Gujarat and Pongal in south). The other major rites are initiation rites or the rites of passage that are
associated with different phases of human life such as puberty, birth, old age, marriage etc. Rituals
are an important constituent of religion and are often psychologically determined. It also has hidden
social goals that make ritual symbolic. Rituals also can create a strong sense of body awareness. For
example, in the Ramleela festival ordinary humans are worshipped like gods. Hence their physical
bodies are given much importance. Folklore is not static and requires performance; it also becomes
goal driven. Rituals hence play an important role in transmitting cultural knowledge and religious
symbols and it maintains the functioning of the society from the past to the present

Historical-national

Folklore is a strong cultural symbol that advocates national and ethnic pride. This is primarily done
through the development, preservation, imitation and collection of literature, language and
traditions. These ideas of a strong historical and cultural nationalism arose in the 18th and 19th
century. This greatly emphasized the ideas of the individual and creativity and also it inspired an
interest in antiquity, tradition and folklore. The ideas of Goethe and Rousseau were developed in the
18th century and a greater need arose to recreate and preserve the past. The most significant
contribution to this field was the collection of folktales of the Grimm brothers. This served as an
impetus for the recording and publishing of folklore material all over Europe. The romantic
nationalism also provided for the inspiration to create national epics. In Europe, great interest was
generated in Homer’s works. For example, Elias Lonnrot compiled the Finnish national epic The
Kalevala on the basis of folk poetry. Romantic nationalism also arose in the Soviet Union with a
creation of high cultural form, socialistic in content and international in spirit. In the mid 1930s many
cultural clubs began to be formed, in which the programs consisted of pure folk performances and
gradually texts propagating the political systems began to be devised. They were based on folk
models and new melodies that greatly resembled the older folk songs began to be composed. During
the 20th century we come across the strong notions of nationalism emerging in Asia, Africa and
South America. The role of folklore was diverse in these countries as it ranged from efforts being
made to collect folklore and to also use in various national and cultural movements. Such collections
are crucial therefore in creating a sense of national identity, cultural life and sometimes they have
also provided the impetus to develop a written language. This interest was generated from a deep
desire to reinforce the nation’s self image and to arouse interest in the nation’s own language and
culture. This has also prompted the formation of national archives and publication of folklore
material all over the world. Many performances also have been based on traditional themes and
elements. It is important to note here that this arose from a perspective towards modernity. People
thus created their national language and formed national myths and symbols such as flags, national
anthems and national festivals. It can be said here that Bal Gangadhar Tilak,a very famous freedom
fighter of India revived the Ganesh festival to arouse nationalistic sentiments. Rabindranath Tagore
also is said to have composed many songs that were based on folk songs of Bengal. Some difference
should be made here from political nationalism. A deep interest in folklore studies created a cultural
consciousness or a cultural movement. In this national and patriotic fervor was created through the
use of folklore in music, art, dance, drama and literature. However it should be noted that
nationalism created through the study of folklore can greatly vary according to the different socio-
cultural and political contexts of different nations.

Economic

Folklore has also made great contributions to the economic life style of the people. This can be seen
in the creation of material culture that has economic as well as 15 Conservation and Preservation:
Some Ethical and Legal Issues utilitarian skills. Crafts are one such example. This is a process through
which goods are created by hand. Craft can become essential to the daily utilities of life as well have
some decorative and spiritual functions. They also provide with the basic equipment needed for
domestic life be it tools, furnishings, houses, clothes etc. Craft hence has both utilitarian as well as
aesthetic characteristics. Many scholars today feel that crafting is the process of doing rather than
creating. In addition to historical crafts such as pottery or weaving some scholars feel that non-
canonized traditions such as cooking meals, building houses etc. should be seen as processes of
crafts. Folklore also presents opportunities for consumption and for selling. It has become a pivotal
point through which tourists are attracted. Many crafts bazaars are held all over India that create an
opening for sale and economic transactions. The Dilli haat in Delhi is one such famous crafts bazaar

Cross-cultural

All folklore material is based on commonality and intercultural diffusions. If one understands the
above statement, it can create a cultural cooperation amongst nations. For example, myths seem to
originate in ancient sacrificial fertility rituals. With the passage of time the myths went their separate
ways and rites became customs. This helps us to imagine that we all live in pluralistic, open ended
and free world in which every society possesses its own unique history and values. Folklore hence
creates several opportunities and fulfills several functions. Hence it has several meanings and
creates many new opportunities. It also becomes important to study the various genres of folklore.
The next unit will discuss this

GENRES

Oral literature

Under this category are spoken, sung or merely voiced forms of verbal communications that show
some repeated behaviour. This is sometimes defined as verbal or communicative arts. The details of
the various subgenres are given below: Oral narratives/st

Oral narratives/stories/tales

The need to tell a story and the need to listen to it is ageless. Folk narratives encompass all genres of
oral literature. The tale provides a sense of fantasy to the listener. Industrial expansion and
urbanization has also floated a large number of tales. These tales can be having fictitious, historical,
revered or ridiculed treatments and plots. The characters may be mortal, divine, supernatural or
human.The Panchatantra stories from India are very popular folk narratives

Folk poetry

This can be differentiated from narrative in the manner of its transmission. Sometimes they do not
concentrate on a single poem on its own. Oral epics come under this group. Poetry is often
repetitive, dramatic and exaggerated. This often deals with materials of dramatic local significance.
Epics on the other hand are poems that are highly ornamental dealing with the adventures of
extraordinary people. They can be heroic, romantic and historic. The Mahabharata and the
Ramayana are the two major epics of our country

Proverbs

This can be easily observed and collected and they have been a part of everyday verbal recourses.
These are short, witty traditional expressions that arise as part of our everyday discourse a well as in
highly structured situations like education. For example the saying “from the frying pan into the fire”
They often take a personal circumstance and embody it in a witty form.

Riddles

Riddles are questions that are framed with the purpose of confusing or
testing the wits of those who do not know the answers. Usually they have confusing descriptions
and often describe a scene.

Folk speech

This is a highly informal way of talking that is learned by linguistic acculturation and by observing
language patterns from ones family, friends and associates. Often one describes this as dialect. They
are often subject to regional, class and community peculiarities. It is distinguished from cultivated
and common speech through its pronunciation.

Material culture
In direct contrast to the oral folklore is the physical folk life that can be described as material culture.
This responds to the techniques transmitted across generations and all the processes that are hand
made fall under this group. Some of its important sub genres are described below:

Crafts

Any item having artistic or utilitarian functions, that is hand made and has been passed down by
tradition come under crafts. This is different from art and an occupation. It has immense aesthetic
appeal and requires workmanship.

Art

Any object that gives some pleasure and also serves some practical social or economic purpose can
be called folk art. It should be noted here that if the pleasure giving function predominates, then the
artifact is called art and if a practical function predominates it is called craft. The main purpose is
aesthetic appeal. This object can be more popular and will not be subject to rapidly changing
fashions

Folk architecture

This can be said to be traditional architecture. It is concerned with all traditional aspects of building,
the shapes, sizes and its layouts, such as barns and sheds; the material used and the tools and
techniques of building; the sites chosen and the placement of the various buildings; the uses and
functionality of such buildings.

Folk costumes

The dress of all traditional, ethnic, occupational and sectarian groups that is determined
geographically and expresses the region or the locality comes under this category. This can also be
different for different sects and religions. For example the Muslim ladies wear purdah and the
sardars a turban.

Folk cookery

This can be defined as traditional domestic cookery marked by regional variation. It is the opposite
of commercial and institutional cookery. This includes the study of food themselves, their
composition, their preparation, their preservation, social and psychological functions. It also includes
attitudes, taboos and food habits.

Social folk custom

In between the oral literature and material culture lie areas of traditional life that we may call social
folk customs. This is based on group interactions rather than individual skills and performances.
Some of the subgenres include:

Celebrations and festivals

Almost all societies periodically set aside some time for celebrations. These are moments of special
significance to the entire community. They can be seasonal, anniversaries of historical events, birth
or death of a hero or god or religious in significance. They might be moments in which some living or
dead person is honoured with feasting and some performance.

Recreation and games

This is a form of expressive behaviour and can be non-productive in nature. This is separated from
reality and the goals are in built. The main idea behind the game is recreation and pleasure. Many
folklorists have paid attention traditional games and pastimes.

Folk medicine

This consists of natural or herbal folk medicines and magical religious folk medicines. In the former
cure is sought from herbs, plants, minerals and animal substances while the latter attempts at curing
through charms, holy words and actions, in other words occultism. Ayurveda is one such popular
form of folk medicine.

Folk religion These are orally transmitted popular beliefs amongst the people. This recognizes one
or more deity, spirits ad demons, personal and impersonal power, ghosts, fate, luck and magic. In
this rationalism and science makes very little impact. They also embrace the attitudes, behaviours
and cultural values of the people.

4 Performing folk art

These are conscious presentations by individuals or groups with folk instruments, dance, costumes
and props. Some of its subgenres are discussed below

: Folk drama They are performances that occur in festivals and rituals. They use conventional
symbols such as masks and costumes and the performance takes place through stylized actions. It is
essentially a public performance and is easily understood by the audiences. They often use
manytechniques such as dancing, singing, bombastic speeches to attract the audiences.

Folk music This is all traditional music that is aurally transmitted and passed down by ear and
performed by memory. It is not written down and also does not have any musical score. The origin
of the music remains largely unknown. It can get highly diffused as it passes down from one
individual to another.

Folk dance A traditional, anonymously choreographed dance that is communally derived can be
called folk dance. It has strong regional or local characteristics. It is usually also expressed
vernacularly and is often a product of change and innovation.

ETIOLOGICALTALES: DEFINITIONS

The word etiology is an explanation of how things came to be or the way they are or were at a given
time and condition. It can be seen in the stories of creation, the origin of man and the development
and growth of plants and animals. This word etiology is taken from Late Latin and Greek word
aetiologia meaning “cause description” or the explanations of occurrences in the world. It has also
been used in a number of other fields like medicine when the causes of certain diseases are referred
to. In the study of folklore, the term etiology is applied to the accounts of incidences in narrative
form. To these definitions belong belief tales, folktales, myths and legends. Any narrative or story
belongs to several kinds of definitions or genres. It also depends highly on the intention of the
narrator or the story’s function is very important. Hence, a traditional account of how things happen
and how a thing originated is taken extremely seriously by both the narrator and the listener.

HISTORICAL THEMES IN ETIOLOGICAL TALES

Folklore primarily focuses on the collective memory or the recollection of a social group in historical
times. It thus also deals with the collective memory of human actions and experiences and also tries
to explain historical occurrences. We can say that etiological tales have strong historical
connotations. Each geographical region has its own rich tradition. Etiological tales are often
connected to the regional history about certain places. To a large extent it explains the cultural
origins of any geographical area. The etiological oral narratives reveal several major historical
anecdotes and facts that get manifested in various forms of folklore like songs and dances. Kerala, a
rich and diverse state of India has several such etiological tales that define many strong historical
origins of the state. One such tale is that of Parasurama. This deals with the origin of Kerala. There
are some major historical books such as Keralolpathi in Malyalam which talk about the coronation of
the kings. We also understand through this text that Kerala extended from Kanyakumari to
Gokarnam.

MEANINGAND SIGNIFICANCE

DEFINITION OF TRADITION

The English term ‘tradition’ has its origin in the Latin root ‘tradere’that implies meanings like
surrender, transfer, handing over, etc. According to Anthony Giddens, ‘tradere’ was originally used
in the context of Roman Law, where it referred to the laws of inheritance. Property 8 Market and
Cultural Property that passed from one generation to another was supposed to be given in trust -
the inheritor had obligations to protect and nurture it.” (1999) Thus, tradition of a particular
community is constituted by its cultural elements that are transferred from one generation to the
other. American Anthropologist Robert Redfield says, “(T)he word ‘tradition’ connotes the act of
handing down and what is handed down from generation to another. Thus tradition carries with it
the sense of age, long continuity and stability” (1962). This is a widely accepted definition of
tradition. According to this view, the concept of tradition has two aspects. The first is a process and
the second is the product of this process. We may take the case of the Indian Classical dances, for
instance, which is a glorious component of the Indian music and culture. For several hundred years
the various forms of Indian Classical dance have been transferred from one generation to the other
through a definite process of teaching and learning either in temples or in the gurukul.The existence
of various gharanas that we know today also testifies to this.

TRADITION Vs. DOGMA

You have already seen above some of the definitions of tradition and the process of production of
tradition. Now we will try to distinguish tradition from dogma. There is a tendency to associate
tradition with negative attributes such as dogma and ignorance. Tracing the history of such a notion
of tradition, British Sociologist Anthony Giddens writes, “(I)t was the 18th Century Enlightenment in
Europe that gave tradition a bad name. Tradition comes to be looked as merely the shadow side of
modernity, an implausible construct that can be easily brushed aside.”(1999) He continues, “The
term ‘tradition’ as it is used today is actually a product of the last 200 years in Europe….in mediaeval
times, there was no generic notion of tradition. There was no call for such a word, precisely because
tradition and custom were everywhere.” The idea of tradition, then, is itself a creation of modernity.
In this context, the comment of T. S. Eliot, one of the most influential poets and intellectual of the
20th century, appears quite significant. Even though considered conservative by certain standard in
his treatment of culture, Eliot, in his celebrated essay, ‘Tradition and Individual Talent’ comments,
“(T)radition is not solely, or 9 Impact of Technology in Transforming Folk Art to Commodity even
primarily the maintenance of certain dogmatic beliefs...We are always in danger, in clinging to an old
tradition, or attempting to re-establish one, of confusing the vital and the unessential, the real and
the sentimental. Our second danger is to associate tradition with the immovable.” (1953: 20-21) He
further says, “(T)radition...involves a historical sense...and the historical sense involves a perception
not only of the pastness of the past, but also of its presence.”(ibid: 23). What is implied in Eliot’s
comment is that the way in which the presence is influenced by the past, the idea of the past may
also be modified according to the present need. Thus, it is not correct to hold that tradition has only
to do with the past. The truth is that tradition marches on incorporating new elements without
divesting its linkage with the past. Here, a statement of the noted British folklorist Edwin Sidney
Hartland is worth noting. He writes, “(T)radition is always being created anew, and new traditions of
modern origin are as much within our province as the ancient ones.” (1978: 23) Thus, the idea of
tradition is not connotative of something static; it is rather a dynamic concept. Some examples
should drive home the point more clearly

TRADITION: ‘INVENTED’Vs. ‘GENUINE’

In this section, we will try to understand what the basic issues in the debate are over ‘invented’ and
‘genuine’ aspects of tradition in a society. Hobsbawm in his ‘Introduction’to The Invention of
Tradition gives an outline of his understanding of invented traditions.According to him, “invented
tradition” is “a set of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual
or symbolic nature, which seeks to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition,
which automatically implies continuity with the past” (1983: 1). He distinguishes ‘invented’ from
‘genuine’ traditions by claiming that in the former case continuity with the “historic past” is “largely
factitious” (ibid: 2). Hobsbawm further argues that the invention of tradition is universal, but occurs
most frequently during periods of “rapid” social change (ibid: 4), when the “functions” of invented
traditions are to legitimize “relations of authority” and to establish or symbolize “social cohesion or
the membership of groups, real or artificial communities” (ibid: 9). For Hobsbawm, these functions
made invented traditions particularly useful at a time when the emergence of mass politics posed
problems of social control to the authorities of large, centralized political entities. However,
Hobsbawm and Ranger go on to contend that invented traditions and customs are not genuine ones.
They are manufactured often with certain objective which has mostly to do with acquiring power.
But the contention that invented traditions are not genuine is challenged by many other scholars.
Eminent British sociologistAnthony Giddens, for example, argues, “all traditions are invented
traditions. No traditional societies were wholly traditional, and traditions and customs have been
invented for a diversity of reasons. We shouldn’t suppose that the conscious construction of
tradition is found only in the modern period. Moreover, tradition always incorporates power,
whether they are constructed in a deliberate way or not. Kings, emperors, priests and others have
long invented traditions to suit themselves and to legitimise their rule. It is a myth to think of
traditions as impervious to change. Traditions evolve over time, but also can be quite suddenly
altered or transformed…they are invented and reinvented.” (1999)

TRADITION AND INNOVATION

Tradition is not only re-invented, existing traditions might also require some innovation from time to
time for their sheer survival in a changing context. For example, various genres of the traditional
Indian classical music like songs, dances, and instruments have undergone various innovations in
order to suit the 13 Impact of Technology in Transforming Folk Art to Commodity demand of a
changing time as well as context (from gurukul or royal courts to theatres and audio-visual media). In
the process, these genres have been presented today more as packaged versions of their earlier
selves. Again, there are cases of items which were traditionally used for some specific purposes. For
example, a decorated hookah (oriental water pipe for smoking) and a sword were two
quintessentially traditional items of the feudal era. They are hardly used in the same contexts today.
But they have not disappeared and have found new uses as decorative pieces. Similarly, ethnic
dresses and ornaments in present times have also come out of their traditional socio-cultural spaces
and have found new domains of uses which not only ensures their survival but also new expansion.
Such innovation or exploration of new uses has also given a new lease of life to these traditional
items. Such examples can be multiplied.

TRADITION AND MODERNISATION

Let us now focus on the modernization of tradition. Tradition even might need to be consciously
modernized from time to time on the same ground that has been mentioned above. Such steps are
warranted for adding efficiency, sustainability or finesse to the traditional artifacts. For example, one
cannot afford to be resistant to introducing new technology in agriculture just for the sake of
maintaining the tradition of plough cultivation. However, such straightforward examples may not
always serve to illustrate the issue clearly. Modernizing traditional material culture (say, the shift
from plough to mechanized form of agriculture) is relatively easy. But the kind and degree of change
that it might bring to the non-material culture (say, the customs, beliefs, etc. associated with the
plough cultivation) is the main cause of concern. The latter is more resistant to any change as it is
deeply ingrained in the worldview of the people. Even a sudden change (indeed imposed from the
above) in the realm of material culture is also not without problem. For example, an abrupt shift
from the plough to mechanized cultivation may prove quite disjunctive in the peasant way of life in
the sense that it may result in the loss of traditional occupations of a variety of people deeply
intertwined with a peasant economy characterized by a preponderance of the use of plough.
Therefore, any conscious attempt at modernizing a tradition should be such that the targeted people
can absorb the impact of change with relative ease.

LEGITIMACY OF NEW TRADITIONS

However, it should be made clear at this point that while the changeability of tradition is an
accepted fact, this change, however, gets legitimacy only within a definite framework with respect
to time, space, and the degree of change. In other words, a new tradition, in order to get some
popular legitimacy must have some functional, physical or emotional, relevance for the society.
Moreover, some relation with the past traditions also helps new traditions acquire popular
legitimacy. It is seen that many new traditions arrive riding on the back of the old traditions. The key
issue accounting for the legitimacy of the new tradition is its anchorage in the life experiences of the
people in a given socio-cultural milieu. In this context, a debate among folklorists regarding ‘genuine’
and ‘spurious’ folklore is also worth noting. While there has been a tendency among a section 14
Market and Cultural Property of folklorists to denounce invented or improvised forms of folklore as
‘fakelore’ (Dorson 1950), others disagree. The latter argue that such a notion which refuses to
acknowledge any evolution or transformation of folklore would only lead to a fossilized view of
folklore or traditional cultural artifacts and practices. In the context of the manner in which
industrialization has facilitated the mechanical production of what previously had been the unique
artifacts of a specific cultural milieu, it makes more sense to recognize the changing faces and
functions of these traditional artifacts rather than confining them to an imagined ‘cultural enclave’
(Bendix 1989: 339) untouched by modernity

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE ANSWERS

1) In their celebrated book, The Invention of Tradition (1983), historians Eric Hobsbawm and
Terence Ranger show that much of what we think of as traditional, and steeped in the mist of time,
is actually a product at most of the last couple of centuries, and is often much more recent than
that. They illustrate this with the help of various examples. As for example, the Scots, though a part
of the United Kingdom, are quite particular about celebrating their national identity.Whenever
occasion arises they would flaunt their tradition in elabourate fashion. Men wear the kilt, with each
clan having its own tartan - and their ceremonials are accompanied by the wail of the bagpipes. By
means of these symbols, they show their loyalty to ancient rituals - rituals whose origins go far back
into antiquity. However, Hobsbawm and Ranger show that along with most other symbols of
Scottishness, all these are of quite recent origin. The short kilt seems to 16 Market and Cultural
Property have been invented by an English industrialist from Lancashire, Thomas Rawlinson, in the
early 18th Century. He set out to alter the existing dress of highlanders to make it convenient for
workmen. Kilts were a product of the industrial revolution. The aim was not to preserve time-
honoured customs, but the opposite - to bring the highlanders out of the heather and into the
factory. The kilt didn’t start life as the national dress of Scotland. The lowlanders, who made up the
large majority of Scots, saw highland dress as a barbaric form of clothing, which most looked on with
some contempt. Similarly, many of the clan tartans worn now were devised during the Victorian
period, by enterprising tailors who correctly saw a market in them.

2) The celebration of the Biswakarma Puja in various parts of north India, especially its eastern side,
can be considered an example of ‘invented’ tradition. Biswakarma is the Hindu deity associated with
smithereens of different kinds. However, like many other deities in the Hindu pantheon, his annual
worshipping was not scheduled in the Hindu calendar. No mention is also there in the Hindu
scriptures about his worship. How did the annual ritual of Biswakarma worship that we witness
today then begin? In fact, though sounds strange it was the initiative of the British industrialists in
India that was behind this phenomenon. These industrialists owning factories in and around Calcutta
in the early colonial period having realized the strong influence of religion on the workers of these
factories found a novel way in for annual cleaning up of the factories and the machineries therein.
Thus a day was fixed, viz, 17th September for the purpose. One would notice that unlike all other
annual worshipping of Hindu deities that is determined by Hindu almanac, Biswakarma Puja every
year takes place on a fixed date according to the Gregorian calendar
3) Modernization of tradition may apply on both material and non material culture. Modernizing
traditional material culture (say, the shift from plough to mechanized form of agriculture) is
relatively easy. But the kind and degree of change that it might bring to the non-material culture
(say, the customs, beliefs, etc. associated with the plough cultivation) is the main cause of concern.
The latter is more resistant to any change as it is deeply ingrained in the worldview of the people.
Even a sudden change (indeed imposed from the above) in the realm of material culture is also not
without problem. For example, an abrupt shift from the plough to mechanized cultivation may prove
quite disjunctive in the peasant way of life in the sense that it may result in the loss of traditional
occupations of a variety of people deeply intertwined with a peasant economy characterized by a
preponderance of the use of plough. Therefore, any conscious attempt at modernizing a tradition
should be such that the targeted people can absorb the impact of change with relative ease.

MEANING OF CULTURAL PRODUCTION: THE DIALECTIC OF TEXT AND CONTEXT

INTRODUCTION

Folklore refers to the tradition or the lore of the common people. This was first propounded by
William John Thoms in 1846, in Athenaeum. Folklore can be said to be the large body of teachings,
knowledge and facts of a group of people belonging to one geographical region or bound by
common features such as language, ethnicity, and occupation, economic, social, cultural or religious
commonalities. It determines the lifestyle, thought processes and actions of human beings. The
materials of folklore have important literary connotations. The authorship of folklore is most often
unknown, passed down from one generation to another, however the text may be written down in
some form. The resources of the folklore are often imitative which can be seen in the fictional
genres such as myths, legends, tales, poetry and ballads; the genres based on speech such as
gestures, proverbs and riddles, or the performed forms such as music, dance, craft, cookery, art and
games. The group to which the folklore belongs often adapts the actions of the others. 84 Market
and Cultural Property The text of the folklore, thus, is in a constant state of flux and transition. It is
also often highly modified and depends largely on the imagination of the narrators and the
performers. Hence many variations of a single text can be found and do not conform to any
uniformity. One can add here that the original creator of the folklore often falls into obscurity and
insignificance. The performers and the narrators of the folklore continuously alter it by accepting or
rejecting the information. Hence, we can say that any text of folklore is group based and has
communal origins and orientations.

DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY TEXTS IN FOLKLORE

Text is one of the basic materials of folklore and it has been subject to intense research and study.
The recording and the investigation of the fictional texts of folklore has led to the creation of diverse
literary products within specific geographical regions and belonging to particular nations. This has
provided the much needed ideological orientation for the cultural life of a country. Sometimes,
folklore collections have been published that help to fulfill the political and the moralistic aims of a
community. This can be seen in the collections of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and Charles Perrault.
The creation of national epics is one major aspect of the formation of literary texts. For example, in
Finland, Elias Lonnrot is said to have collected several versions of oral poetry, and lyrics and
compiled the Kalevala in 1849. Elias was greatly motivated by the example of Homer, who collected
short songs and embodied them into the Iliad and Odyssey. The romantic nationalistic fervor of the
country gave Lonnrot the ideological framework for his work. Several such national epics were also
formed in Europe in the nineteenth century such as the Latvian epos Lacplesisthat was put into verse
form by Pumpurs. The work of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Haiwatha grouped together
Native American prose legends and mythical figures to give some framework of unity and
coherence. In India too we have enormous efforts put by the Indian scholars to create the national
epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. It took a group of Indian thinkers thirty -five years to prepare a
nineteen volume critical edition of the Mahabharata. They realized that such a work could not be
dated as it formed an intricate maze of both old and new materials.

Historic-geographic method

In this comparative method the possible origin and the authorship of any narrative is determined. In
this method, a manuscript “A” is compared with a manuscript “B” and then scholars attempt to
determine whether they grew independent of each other or are derived from each other. This
developed from the studies of Julius Krohn and his son Kaarle Krohn. This method is largely
evolutionist and seeks to explain diffusion of various texts. This method attempts to establish the
original core, form and content of any text. It also endeavors determine the geographic distribution
of the text and the narrative. This method has also come under criticism. Many scholars claim that
this method does not pay attention to literary influences in manuscripts. It is also said to pay too
much attention to geographical aspects and very little to historical ones. Studies of material culture,
folksong, traditional narratives and folk drama include a major historical component. The variations
between texts and cultures have historical depths and foundations. History thus forms an important
element of folklore texts, which will be discussed in the next section

Folklore texts as historical manuscripts

As we have seen from the previous sections, it is clear that folklorists, right from the beginning, have
been involved in a historically-oriented project, focused on the past. The earlier ages and times have
been retained in our practices, tales, myths, ballads etc. Folklore has been conceived as materials
that have had some presence in the past that is fast disappearing. As described earlier, the currents
of nationalism and romanticism have led many people to engage in the collections of oral traditions.
However, there always appears to be some kind of skepticism to regard folklore material as
historical. This is largely because most of the materials are largely oral and unwritten and are
considered to be unreliable. It is also believed that “good” history must be supported by other
documents. Since folklore is largely undocumented and unwritten it is not considered to be
chronologically correct.

Case Study: Structuralism

In this method of analysis, the text is reduced into cognitive, concrete models called structures. The
structures can be said to be mental models that help to understand folklore texts. Here, we must
emphasize that the structures are not physical models or based on any natural phenomenon but are
founded on cultural realities. They exist, in the human mind. Some of the important structuralists
are Saussure, Roland Barthes, Claude Levi Strauss and Lacan. As structuralism seeks to understand
mental models, some important social and psychological theoreticians were also influential such as
Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. Amongst all of the scholars the most influential and noteworthy is the
work of Levi Strauss. 89 Impact of Technology in Transforming Folk Art to Commodity Levi Strauss
claims that there is more importance to marriage than that of descent. This exchange of women
between groups of related men results in a great social solidarity. This leads to greater cohesion
amongst the kin groups. According to Strauss, this regulation of marriages creates an “alliance or an
exchange” of women in simple societies. Incest therefore is also a cultural taboo and therefore sex
and other human drives have cultural connotations. Levi Strauss also claims that there is great unity
in the structure and function of the human mind. Mental processes are the same in various cultures,
although the manifestations might be different. According to him, to discover the structure behind
any myth one must explore its “deep structure.” The deep structure will give us a clarification of the
myth. All myths, says Strauss, have binary oppositions, such as day and night, left and right etc. For
example, in the tale “Sleeping Beauty”, the heroine is doomed to die on her fifteenth birthday, thus
creating an opposition. Hence mediation is required to find a solution to the problem. This is solved
in the tale by the actions of the twelfth fairy and the death is transformed into a hundred year sleep

Folklore in context

One has to understand that folklore texts are placed within a dynamic and changing socio-historical,
cultural and political context. Hence the text is highly dependent on the environment that it is placed
in. The texts are thus natural created within an indigenous background and cultural settings. Despite
the folklore materials being highly mobile one can trace sameness and unity in them. Tales and
songs may be hugely varied and divergent but one can see commonalities between them. The social
context, cultural attitude and the individuality of the performer are important variables to the
conditions of the text. This section will discover these surroundings of the text.

Oral-formulaic theory

This theory propounds that any oral tradition prescribes a specialized language or idiom that forms
the base of its composition. Its founders, Parry and Lord described phrases as formulas, narrative
scenes as themes and large-scale organization of ideas as story patterns. Many oral and epic ballads
have also been analyzed to determine certain set paradigms. Milman Parry studied the Homeric
epics of Iliad and Odyssey and revealed the systematic patterning behind the recurrent phrases. This
was seen as the creation by a legacy of generations of bards over centuries rather than the work of
an individual or conglomerate of smaller poems. Parry hence devised a formula in which expressions
were regularly used to express a single idea

SOCIAL CONTEXT OF FOLKLORE

Folklore exits within a wide area of the society and mirrors the sentiments, joys and sorrows of the
people. Folklore is thus contained within the aesthetic expression of the society. Folklore can only
exist if it is accepted and amalgamated within the society. An ethnographer seeks to explain any
society; the kinship laws, community, child rearing practices, marriages, occupation, economic life,
customs and traditions, religious beliefs, housing and clothing. Such studies must include the study
of folklore such as myths, legends, tales, arts, crafts, jokes, riddles, material culture such as
traditional housing and clothing etc. The folklore in a social context depends largely on culture.
Folktales can be said to narrate important traditional characters of a society. It can be said that,
“people act on what they believe to be true, not what they think is mere fiction.” (Hallowell, 1947,
548). It is important therefore to have a proper understanding of cultural traditions of any society
Folklore in traditional contexts

Folklore also depends highly on the tradition of any group. This can be defined as the repeated
patterns of behaviours, beliefs and enactments passed down from one generation to another.
Tradition can also be defined as set of preexisting values and materials that are passed down and
help in creating an identity. However, innovation does occur in any traditional model. This is passed
down in folklore as customs and practices of the people. One such example of the traditional custom
of the Hindus in India is the namakarana ceremony (name-giving ceremony) (reference, P Thomas,
Hindu Religion, “Customs and Manners”,79). This is popular among the Hindus and is performed on
the twelfth or tenth day of the child’s birth. A family in which a child is born is considered
ceremonially unclean for ten days and the Namakarna is preceded by a minor purification ceremony

Folklore texts within contexts of communication

Folklore is a learning of a people that is shared communally by the group. This hence is the
knowledge of the entire community. This information is shared by the total community members
and is largely expressed in actions both verbal and non verbal. The medium of transmission and
communication is pivotal for the growth of folklore. Therefore the mode of transmission is purely
oral and imitative. The material of folklore is in a communicative process. The texts of the folklore
are constantly modified and it depends on the narrator and the audience. Folklore is a social
interaction that involves both speaking and gesturing. This is community participation and is
adhered to and held fast by all the members, which distinguish it from any non-verbal
communication. It has thus a strong cultural and social base

REPRESENTATION OF ‘FOLK’ IN WORLD

LITERATURE
WHATARE MODERN NARRATIVES
Let us begin our discussion with what narratives are. Narratives are oral orwritten
constructs of sequences which may be fictional or non-fictional. In other words,
narratives are strategies or ways of narration to communicate. In the case of
literature, theymay be considered strategies or ways of narration to communicate
literature. Modern narratives in literature are generally associated with written
literature, i.e. literature that exists in the form of text rather than as memory,
myth, tradition, oral epics and various other similar forms. The two most
commonly acknowledged ‘modern’ narrativemethods are novels and short stories.
However, it is not merely that the narratives are generally written and not oral
that makes them‘modern’.Anumber of factors togethermake a narrative ‘modern’
in nature. They are discussed below.
Novels and short stories, like other forms of literary narratives such as poetry, or
epic, or song/lyrics constitute two kinds of narratives among others. However,
they have come to constitute the most popular kinds of narratives in the modern
period. One of themost distinctive features of novels and short stories as narrative
methods, i.e. as ways of narrating the content, is their universality during the
modern period. There have been other narrative methods such as epics which
could be found universally in the pre-modern periods as well. However, epics or
poetry or narratives of songs/lyrics or ballads, despite their universality, were
distinctive in their narrative structures, i.e. as ways of narrating their content,
according to the society or region that they belonged to. For example, the epics
of Homer of classical Greece were different from Ramayana or Mahabharata in
ancient SouthAsia in terms of methods of narrating the story of the epics. Thus,
it is only in the modern period that a certain narrative method, i.e. novel and
short story, have found universal appeal across societies and regions of the world.
In otherwords, in the field of literature, novels and short stories can be considered
an ideal example of ‘modern’ narratives of the world.

FOLK’AND MODERN NARRATIVES:

‘TRADITION’ Vs. ‘MODERN’NARRATIVES
In the preceding section, we have outlined some of the basic issues associated
with the understanding of ‘modern’ narratives. In this section, the discussion
will focus on the problems of modernity vis-à-vis the issue of literary narratives.
One of the major debates on the question of narratives and modernity has been
how to define ‘modern’ narrative. In other words, to what extent a narrative that
is practiced or exists in contemporary period could be considered ‘modern’. For
example, though in Europe, novels and short stories were associated in its early
phase of production and consumption with the emergence of the middle class, in
the case of SouthAsia, the middle class or its concerns were not necessarily the
basis of the process. Further, differences also existed in the nature of the narrative
of novels and short stories that were written in SouthAsia. Similarly, in the case
of other literary narratives such as in poetry or lyrics that transformed into
‘modern’ narratives, elements thatwere characteristic of earlier narrativemethods
continued to be used. It is in this content that the debate of ‘tradition’ vs.
‘modernity’ in modern narratives assumes importance.
By the latter period of the 19th century and early 20th century, narrative methods
came used in novels and short stories in South Asia that tried to bring together
the earlier narrative methods and the newones of novels and short stories (which
were imported from Europe, ormore appropriately English literature, during the
period). For example, in the writings of Fakirmohan Senapati (Oriya) or
Lakhminath Bezbarua (Assamese), there were attempts to incorporate the folk
methods of narrative (i.e. tale) in the narrative of the novel. The linguistic registers
that were used to achieve this result were (a) the use of colloquial (or everyday)
language, and (b)making a clear distinction between the narrator and the narration
(i.e. the narrator is only narrating a tale, though in the form of a novel). Thus,
though the textswere novels in terms of their narrative, the nature of the narrative
was different from that in use/practice in Europe or in English literature during
the period. As a result of the impact of colonialism, English literature emerged
as a marker of international or world literature in South Asia by the early 20th
century.

]EXAMPLES OF FOLK AND PRE-MODERN

WRITTENNARRATIVES INLITERATURESOF
THEWORLD
One of the fundamental problems faced in defining ‘folk’ narrative is what
constitutes a folk narrative. The general understanding of ‘folk’ narrative is oral
narrative, whether long (for example, like tales) or short (for example, like
proverbs). In other words, a clear distinction is maintained between literary
narratives and oral narratives in the concept of ‘folk’ narrative. However, in
cases like that of South Asia wherein literary and oral narratives shared close
relation (for example, the tradition ofVedas or that of epic), the strict distinction
between literary and oral narratives was found to have less application. More
than the nature of the narrative, the difference between literary and ‘folk’ i.e.
oral came to be seen in terms of the context and function of the narrative.
Further, ‘folk’, besides as narrative, could also be seen in terms of concept of
‘people’. In other words, a particular group or unit of people and thereby their
158

cultural productions can be considered ‘folk’.As already outlined in the preceding

section, it is such a concept of ‘folk’ that distinguished Romantic poetry of English
literature from Romantic poetry in SouthAsian of the nationalist period. It also
in this sense of constructing an identity of a ‘people’ that the Nazi concept of art
and the role of ‘folk’ elements in the art can be understood.
In pre-modern literary narratives, the concept of ‘folk’ could be found in either
capacity highlighted above. For example, in the Bible, especially the Old
Testament, ‘folk’ as concept of people is amply evident. The society that is the
subject of discussion in the Old Testament is tribal in nature. The gods, their
jealousy against each other, the messengers of gods and their efforts/actions to
spread to message of their respective gods, the customs of social relations and
economic activities among the people and the various discourses in favour or
against types of religion and religious orders and as comments on ways of life
that are found in the Old Testament testify to the existence of the notion of ‘folk’
as types of social groups and their modes of life. In theOld Testament, especially
in the discourses onways of life, the distinction between literate and oral narratives
is difficult to locate.

EXAMPLESOFFOLKANDMODERNWRITTEN
NARRATIVESINLITERATURESOFTHEWORLD
Onemajor difference in the use of ‘folk’as narrative inmodernwritten narratives
from that in the pre-modern narratives is that in the former, use of ‘folk’narrative
is generally premised on the strict understanding of distinction between oral and
written narratives. However, one commonality with the pre-modern narratives
in this regard is that it continues to be used to indicate or conceptualize people as
distinct or essential groups of cultural beings. In the modern period, ‘folk’ has
come to be used in written narratives in three broad ways, viz. (a) as folk tales,
(b) as folk narrative techniques, and (c) as concept of people. Significantly, all
the three processes are closely related to each other.
Folk tales continues to exist as one of the most popular categories of modern
narratives. Since the pioneering 19th century works of Hans Christian Anderson
(Denmark) and Grimm Brothers (Germany) in writing folk tales, it emerged as a
popular tradition inmost cultures across the world in the 19th and the 20th centuries.
In South Asia as well, the influence of this tradition of literature can be seen in
the extensive production of ‘grandmother’s tales’ in the various languages. The
important point that needs to be noted in this regard is that this tradition of folk
tale primarily constitutes a rendering of folk tale in thewritten narrative structure
of themodern period. Despite being folk tales, they do not exist as oral narratives.
This transformation in the nature of narrative leaves its imprint in the nature,
concept and function of these folk tales. The change fromoral to written narrative
transforms the mode of narration and language. The specific linguistic registers
(linguistic registers are specific uses of language based on nature, concept and
function of language) of narration, language or the role of narrator that are
particular to a culture or cultural practice generally get standardized in a universal
written narrative. Therefore, the production of folk tales since the 19th century
was also related to the growth of study of folklore since the period. For example,
the Grimm bothers known widely for their collection and publishing of German
folktales in the first half of the 19th century were also associated with the study of
folklore, especially philology. Further, the increase in the production of folktales
was also associated with the growth of nationhood across the world during the
period. Through folk tales, the attempt was to create/invent a socio-cultural
legitimacy of the nation/people during the period. This was evident not only in
Europe but also widely in South Asia. In other words, folktales emerged as a
means or method of knowing or discovering the nation during the period.

TYPES OF TRIBES —MIGRANT,

HUNTING-GATHERING,
CULTIVATING
INTRODUCTION
India is a country with vast cultural, linguistic, religious and ethnic diversity.
Diversity gives India her unique character in terms of cultural wealth. An
important feature of Indian society is its stratified structure that organizes society
into hierarchic caste groups, solely determined by birth.
However, there is another large section of population which falls outside the
purview of the caste-based structure of society. This section consists of ‘tribals’
or ‘indigenous people’ – a term that is widely used and accepted in international
circles. In India, tribals are popularly known as Vanajati/ Vanvasi (forest dwellers),
Pahari (hill dwellers), Adimjati (original inhabitants), Adivasi (first settlers),
Janjati (folk people) and Anusuchit Janjati (scheduled tribes).

DEFINITIONSAND CHARACTERISTICS OFA

TRIBE
Over the centuries, a host of anthropologists, sociologists, administrators and
social workers have put forward various definitions for the term ‘tribe’.However,
there is a lack of consensus regarding the concept and definition of this
nomenclature. Some of the prominent definitions are discussed below.
The Imperial Gazetteer of India states that “a tribe is a collection of families
bearing a common name, speaking a common dialect, occupying or professing
to occupy a common territory and not usually endogamous, though originally it
might have been so.”
Piddington defines tribe as “a group of people speaking a common dialect,
inhabiting a common territory and displaying certain homogeneity in their
culture.”
Hoebel defines tribe as “a social group speaking a distinctive language or dialect
and possessing a distinctive culture thatmarks it as different fromall other tribes.
It is not necessarily organized politically.”
E.B. Taylor in the Dictionary of Anthropology defines tribe as “a social group
usually occupying a definite area, with a dialect, cultural homogeneity, and
unifying social organization. It may include several sub-groups such as ‘sibs’ or
villages. A tribe ordinarily has a leader and may have a common ancestor, as
well as a patron deity. The families or small communities making up the tribe
are linked through economic, social, religious, family or blood ties

Characteristic features of tribes

From the definitions given above, the characteristic features of a tribe can be
inferred as a social unit with:
􀁸 a definite territory or a claim to occupying a common territory
􀁸 a common name
􀁸 a common dialect
􀁸 a common culture
􀁸 a shared behavioral pattern of an endogamous group
􀁸 common taboos
􀁸 existence of distinctive social and political systems and
􀁸 economic self-sufficiency
T.B. Naik tried to enumerate the criteria and indices of tribal way of life in the
Indian context. He stated that, “a tribe should have the least functional
interdependencewithin the community, should be economically backward, should
have a common dialect, should be politically organized, should have customary
laws, should be geographically isolated and should have the least desire to
change.”
Efrenfels used the term ‘self-sufficient’ instead of ‘economically backward’ and
disagreed that tribes should always be politically organized. He observed that
they may have a single chief or a few elders who may wield more power within
the community.

Tribe as a ‘Colonial Construction’

Some anthropologists opine that the nomenclature ‘tribe’ is a ‘colonial
construction’. They are of the view that the character of this group was
consolidated by the British through the process of classification and enumeration.
It is not that groups corresponding to what we today call as ‘tribes’ did not exist
in the pre-colonial period, but that the British placed these groups under the
category of ‘tribe’.
Though there is a considerable amount of literature on castes from the pre-colonial
period, the study of groups, later described as ‘tribes’, began with the
establishment of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1874. Inventories of castes and
tribes were published in the form of handbooks, monographs, administrative
reports and gazetteers. The terms ‘tribe’ and ‘caste’ were used as synonyms in
writings of the 18th century and later as cognates in administrative and
ethnographic accounts. Despite this, the British treated the tribes as different
from the rest of the Indian population and had different administrative set-ups
for the two. The administrative domains were termed as scheduled areas and
excluded or partially excluded areas.

Tribe as defined in Independent India

In light of the above, it can be said that the category of ‘tribe’ was introduced in
modern consciousness by British colonial rule and further consolidated by
administration in the post-independence era.
Post–independence period literature on tribes was mainly derived from three
sources— the Anthropological Survey of India, the Tribal Research Institutes
established in the 1950s and University Departments.
In anthropological literature, tribes were viewed as a composite society, more or
less homogenous— with common language, culture, customs, government, etc.
Tribal societies were often viewed as one amongst many stages in the evolution
of society. Theywere also viewed in terms of segmented features, in as much as,
tribes in spite of their limited spatial dimension and the temporal range of their
socio-political and legal relations did possess a definite structure.
11
However, in the Indian context, it is the administrative rather than the Migrant Tribes /
Nomads
anthropological concept of tribes that exists today. ‘Tribes’are those communities
which have been enumerated in the Indian Constitution in the List of Scheduled
Tribes. The Constitution defines Scheduled Tribes as ‘a community or part of,
or groups within such communities, as is deemed under Article 342 to be a
scheduled tribe.’

DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES IN INDIA

Geographical distribution
Geographically the tribes of India have been divided into the following
geographical zones: the The Himalayan region; Middle India Region;Western
India Region; South India Region and the Island Region.
The tribes inhabiting the Himalayan region are the Akas, Daflas, Apatanis,
Mishmis, Khamptis, Singphos, Kukis, Khasis, Garos, Lepchas, Bhotias, Tharus,
amongst others.
13
The Juangs, Kharia, Khonds, Bhumijs, Baiga, Muria, Marias, Mundas, Gonds, Migrant
Tribes / Nomads
Santhals, Oraons, etc. inhabit the Middle India region.
The Western India Region - Tribes inhabiting this region include the Barodias,
Bharwads, Bhils, Damors, Dhanwars, Dhodias, Girasias, Gonds, Katkaris,
Koknas, Kolis, Minas, Siddis and theWarlis.
Tribes like the Chenchus, Irulas, Paniyans, Kurumbas, Kadars, Todas, Badagas,
Kotas, etc. inhabit the South India Region.
The Island Region is inhabited by the Jarwas, Onges, the Great Andamanese,
North Sentinelese, amongst others.

Linguistic distribution
Tracing the linguistic map of India, we can see that diverse groups of tribes in
India speak different languages in various regions. Some of the language families
found among the tribal communities of India are:
The Dravidian language family used by tribes of southern India and in some
pockets in central India including the Gonds, Oraons, Kandh, Todas, Palliyans,
Irulas, Chenchus, Kadars, etc.
The Austro-Asiatic language is spoken in some pockets in the north-eastern
Himalayan region of Meghalaya, in Nicobar Islands and in most part of central
India by tribes like the Khasis, Jaintias, Mundas, Santhals, Hos, Saoras, Bondos,
Korkus, etc.
Tibeto-Chinese languages are spoken in the entire Himalayan region. The Tai
group of people (Khamptis, Phakials), Bhotia, Khampa, Memba, Akas, Miri,
Lepchas, Totos, Mishmis, Nocte, Sulung, Tagin, Kachari, Dimasa, Garo, Lotha,
Konyak, Hmar, Koireng, Paite; Vaiphei, use this family of languages.
The Indo-Aryan group, including the tribes of Gujarat, Rajasthan and the Indo-
Gangetic Plain converse in languages belonging to this family. Some of the
languages belonging to this group includes Chattisgarhi, Gujarati, Marathi,
Assamese, Oriya, etc.
There is yet another language family spoken by the tribes of theAndaman Islands
by tribes such as the Great Andamanese, Onges, Jarawas and the Sentinelese.
They speak what is loosely called the Andamanese language family.

Racial distribution
The racial composition of the tribes of India can be grouped into the following
categories:
The Proto-Australoids with dark skin colour, short to medium stature, low
forehead, sunken nose, dark complexion and curly hair. The tribes of middle
India like the Mundas, the Oraons, the Hos, the Gonds, the Khonds, etc. belong
to this group.
The Mongoloids with straight hair, flat nose, prominent cheek bones and almond
shaped eyes with the epicanthic fold present, yellowish skin colour, medium
stature, high head and medium nose. The tribes of north-eastern India and the
Himalayan region belong to this category.

The Dravidians include tribes of South India, like the Kadars, the Irulas and the
Paniyans.
The Great Andamanese, Onges, Sentinelese and the Siddhis form yet another
racial category.

Demographic size
In India tribal groups vary greatly when we consider their size in terms of total
population. On one hand, we find tribal communities like the Gonds, Bhils, with
a population of about forty lakhs. The Santhals too have a population size of
over thirty lakhs. On the other hand there are more than forty tribes in India
which have a population ranging fromone to five lakhs.And then, on the extreme
end of the spectrum, we have tribal communities like a fewAndamanese groups
who are even less than hundred in number.
1.3.5 Degree of assimilation into mainstream society
Tribal and non-tribal communities in India have co-existed for centuries,
influencing each other in different ways and to varying degrees. The degree of
assimilation of the tribal population into non-tribal, caste-based Hindu society
varies greatly and tribes have also been classified according to this criterion.
The following classifications are based on the basis.
Tribal communities includes those tribes which have confined themselves to
their original habitats and maintained their distinct traditional pattern of life.
Examples of these are the hunting-gathering and hill cultivating tribes of India.
Semi-tribal communities include those tribal communities who have mostly
settled down in rural areas and have adopted agriculture and other allied
occupations as a source of livelihood.An example of these is agriculturist tribes.
Acculturated tribal communities includes those tribal communities who have
migrated to urban or semi-urban areas and are engaged in the industrial sector
and adopted the cultural traits of the rest of the population, for example, industrial
labourers including Santhals and the Hos.
Totally assimilated tribal communities includes those tribes which have been
assimilated and are an integral part of the new social order.The Bhumjis,Majhis,
Raj Gonds are examples of such assimilated tribal communities.

Mode of livelihood or subsistence pattern

Yet another categorization has been made on the basis of mode of livelihood or
the subsistence pattern of tribes in India. These categories are as follows:
Food gatherers and hunters
The economic activities of such tribes include hunting, fishing, gathering and
collecting food. Examples of this category include the Chenchus, ChallaYanadi,
Malaya Pandaram/ Hill Pandaram, Cholanaickan and the Great Andamanese.
Horticulturists
These tribes extract resources from a given area of land and consequently make
a greater impact on the environment.

Pastoralists Migrant Tribes / Nomads

Pastoralist tribes have adopted herding as either their primary or secondary source
of livelihood. The Bakarwals, Bharwads, Drogpas, Gujjars and Todas are
examples of such tribes.
Hill cultivation tribes
The people inhabiting the hilly areas have adopted shifting cultivation methods
to sustain themselves. The Adis, Akas, Birjhias, Bondos, Chakmas, Chirus,
Gangtes, Hmars, Jamatias, Juangs, Dimasas, Karbis, Mijis, Mishmis, Aos,
Konyaks, Phoms, Paites,Riangs, Tangsas,Wanchos are examples of this category.
Agriculturists
Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for most of the tribal population
of India. Tribal communities like the Apatanis, Cheros, Deoris, Miris, Hos,
Jaintias,Khambas,Kharias,Khasis, Kolams,Tiwas,Rabhas, Kinnauras, Bhumijs,
Santhals,Mundas, Oraons,Kharwas, Baigas, Gonds, Bhils, Minas,Warlis, Koyas
belong to this category of people.
Simple artisans
There are a number of tribes in India who subsist on traditional craft traditions
and cottage industries like basketry, wood craft, weaving, iron smelting, rope
making, etc. Except in few cases, these are usually subsidiary occupations. For
example, the Asurs, Goduliya Lohars, Agarias are iron smiths; the Birhors are
rope makers; the Garas are blacksmiths; the Kotas and the Tharuas are potters;
and the Sauntas and the Mahalis are basket makers.
Folk artists
There are certain tribes in India who are traditional singers, dancers, bards,
acrobats and snake-charmers. Some of the tribes belonging to this category
are the Nats, Saperas, Kelas, Pardhans, Ojhas, Pamulas, Kalbelias,
Mons,paradhist,etc.

Labourers /industrial workers

Some of the tribes which traditionally subsisted on agriculture or were artisans
have become wage labourers. They work as daily wage labourers on agricultural
fields or in the non-agricultural sector like the industries on a casual basis.
Skilled workers and white collar jobs
In the post Independence era, the Constitution of India has helped in creating job
opportunities for tribals by reserving seats in different services. As a result we
find tribal people employed in offices, hospitals, administrative jobs, etc.
(The Distribution of Indian tribes on the basis of the above mentioned categories
will be dealt in details in the next Unit i.e. Course 4: Block1: Unit2. See Section
2.2 in this Unit for the same.)
3. TYPES OF TRIBES – CLASSIFIED ON THE BASIS OF
SUBSISTENCE PATTERN AND ECONOMY

Migrant
The phenomenon of population movement into the Indian subcontinent started
around the second half of the second millennium B.C. and continued till about
the nineteenth century. This shaped the culture, social structure and political
systems in the region. The earliest known population movement is those of the
Aryans who migrated to India in around 1500 B.C. from Iran via Afghanistan.
This was followed by the Greeks led byAlexander theGreat in the fourth century;
the Scythians known as the Sakas in India from the West and Central Asia; the
Yue-Chi from Central Asia; the Arabs from Baghdad in the eight century; the
Turks of Afghanistan in the thirteen century; the Central Asian invaders under
Babur in the sixteenth century, laying the foundation of Mughal rule in India and
finally by the Europeans.
Migrant communities came to India asmerchants, traders, religious practitioners,
rulers, and even as slaves.
17
Interestingly, migrant communities who came to India subsequently became a Migrant
Tribes / Nomads
part of the Indian mosaic and were absorbed into the Indian population whilst
still being able to retain their identity.

Partition in 1947 which was due to religion compunctions. Since 1947

approximately 35 to 40 million people have crossed borders between India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.
Other examples of migration are the Bhotias, a name given to several groups of
people inhabiting the Himalayan ranges. They migrated from Tibet and have
settled in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal,West Bengal and Sikkim. The Banjaras are
said to be descendants of the Roma gypsies of Europe, who migrated to India
through the rugged mountains of Afghanistan and finally settled down in
Rajasthan. Again, the Siddis are believed to be of African origins who were
brought to India by the Portuguese towards the end of the seventeenth century.
At present, they are distributed along the western coast of Gujarat, Maharashtra
and Karnataka.
In the post-independence period, population movement took place for a variety
of socio-political, economic reasons and also as a result of conflicts.

Causes of migration
Over the centuries, most of the causes behind the movement of people have not
been clearly established.Anumber of factors may have led to migration of people.
Some of these are as follows:
Economic
Search for livelihood is one of the main causes for people to migrate. These may
have been either forced, as in the case during colonial rule, or voluntary. For
instance, the Mahali or Mahli; the Nagesias, Oraon, Mundas and the Santhals
migrated during colonial rule to work in tea and indigo plantations. Some Kabui
Nagas migrated to the Naga Hills during the British colonial period to work as
porters. A section of the Kols of Maharashtra moved to Madhya Pradesh as
migrant labourers.
Ecological change/ natural calamities
Ecological changes in the region and other natural calamities may also have
forced people to migrate. For instance, the Khairwars, a catechu manufacturer
community inhabiting the Brindavan area of Uttar Pradesh migrated toMadhya
Pradesh due to the decrease in the number of catechu trees in the former. The
Lodhas migrated to West Bengal and to Orissa due to deforestation in their
territory.Agroup of theKhamyiangs,migrated fromAssamtoArunachal Pradesh
following the great earthquake in Assam in 1950. The Santhals began migrating
to the Birbhum and Santal Pargana in 1770 after their original homeland was
affected by famine.
Socio-religious causes
Sometimes certain social-religious reasons caused people to migrate. For instance,
the Kurichians of Kerala were ex-communicated following their conversion to

Christianity. These ex-communicated Kurichians formed a separate sub-group

called Anchilla Kurichian and migrated further north.
Conflicts
Due to various socio-political, economic or religious factors, conflicts arose in
the society which resulted in the migration of a community or a group of them.
For instance, the Chakmas from Bangladesh felt threatened when purchase of
land in the Chittagong Hill Tracts was closed by the non-Chakmas till 1964; and
again, when thousands of Bengali families settled in this area in the late 1970s
and 80s. The Chakmas asserted their rights and demanded regional autonomy
but were turned down.When their demands were not met, problems accelerated
leading to an armed insurrection. As a result many Chakmas fled across the
international border towards Tripura and Mizoram in India.
Development schemes
Displacement of people also takes place due to implementation of various
developmental schemes. For instance, under the Land Acquisition Act, the
Government can acquire land for public purposes. These include construction
of dams, creation of forest reserves, sanctuaries and national parks, construction
of canals, highways, etc.As a result, many people are displaced and are compelled
to migrate. The tribal communities are often the worst affected as they depend
on land and forests for their livelihood

BRIEF HISTORY OF FOLKLORE

STUDIESWITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO INDIA
INTRODUCTION
The beginning of
modern folklore studies can be traced back in the nineteenth century’s Europe,
especially in Germany, when scholars and intellectuals started giving serious
interests in the collection and study of the folklore materials in various forms,
such as, folk tales, folk songs, traditional customs, etc.that existed in their
surrounding societies. However, it is important to know that such interests on
folklore resources, initially in Europe and later in other parts of the world, were
triggered by diverse motivations that arose out of different social, political and
historical contexts.
Unlike the cases in more stable disciplines such as history and natural sciences,
the growth and development of folklore studies as an academic subject had to
21
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
pass through considerable differences and confusions. Such differences were
primarily regarding the meaning of the term ‘folklore’ itself, as the same term,
i.e. ‘folklore’, was used to mean both the study and the materials of the subject.
Besides that, different countries followed different practices to label a diverse
set of cultural resources as folklore materials. In some parts of Europe and South
America, the term ‘folklore’ was used to mean the so-called unsophisticated
peasant culture, the community performances of music, dance and festival. In
the United States, on the other hand, folklore was understood as the relics of the
past, such as, ballads, tales and superstitions.

EARLY PHILOLOGYAND THE GRIMM

BROTHERS
We may begin here with what is philology. Philology is the study of the historical
development of languages. The philological enquiries mostly sought for the root
or origin of languages and etymologies of different words in a language. In 19 th
Century Germany, it was Jacob Grimm (1785 – 1863) who emerged to be the
most prominent activist in this field, who extensively collected German folklore
materials for the purpose of his study on the root of German language. For his
quest for the origin of German language, he collected and studied a great deal
German words, folk narratives such as myths and tales. Eventually he not only
brought out the monumental German dictionary but also compiled, with his
brother Wilhelm Grimm (1786 – 1859), some very important books, such as
Deutsche Mythologie (a seminal collection of German myths), Kinder- und
Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales, popularly known as Grimm’s
Fairy Tales) which imparted decisive influences in the study and publishing of
folklore materials in later times.
One thing to be noted regarding the works of Grimm brothers is that their
engagement with the materials of folklore was not as that of the folklorists of
present times. They took interest in folkloric resources as the means to trace the
root of German language, and also to collect “everything that is German” – a
drive triggered by the romantic nationalist feeling which had been initiated by
previous German scholars likeHerder (Johann Gottfried von Herder, 1744–1803).
Such romantic nationalist spirit, in Germany and other parts of the Europe, arose
in the context of the emerging forces of industrialization that began to sweep
away the traditional landscapes. The traditional cultural resources of the peasant
communities were regarded by the intellectuals as the precious remnants of the
glorious past. However, in their course of work which was primarily a linguistic
investigation, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm paved the way for the collection,
methodology of study and publishing of folkloric materials. Influence of Jacob
Grimm upon the European folklorists in subsequent times was enormous. His
entire conceptual framework, which employed diachronic study of German oral
poetry and narratives, influenced directly to the emergence of a theoretical
perspective called “mythological school” in later times.

W. J. THOMS AND THE WORD ‘FOLKLORE

Let us now focus on the role ofW.J. Thoms in folklore studies. It was the British
antiquarian William John Thoms who coined word ‘folklore’ in 1846. Prior to
that, materials of folklore, in English, were referred randomly as ‘popular
antiquities’ or ‘popular literature’. In Germany, such resources were called as
volkskunde. W. J. Thoms, under the pseudonym of Ambrose Merton, wrote a letter
to a journal titled TheAthenaeum proposing that the singularword ‘folklore’
should be used in English to denote the “the manners, customs, observances,
superstitions, ballads, proverbs” and other materials “of the olden time.” He
argued that the word ‘folklore’, being the composite of ‘folk’ (people) and ‘lore’
(knowledge), would be a good Anglo-Saxon compound instead of all other
somewhat cumbersome terms. His letter was published in the August of 1846
and his proposal was soon accepted widely.
There are a number of significant aspects to be noted regarding Thoms’
introducing of the word folklore. Firstly, he associated the notion of folklore
with a nationalistic sentiment which was the primary motivation behind his
approach to the issue. His English nationalistic sentiment can be felt through his
phrases such as “good Saxon compound” for the word folklore. Secondly, he did
not give any formal definition of folklore though his letter reflects what he
understood as the meaning of folklore. It was a past-oriented view where Thoms
saw folklore as to mean the cultural relics of the bygone times.
By introducing the word ‘folklore’,W. J. Thoms made the novel contribution of
fixing the label for the resources and their study, which led to the establishment
of an international discipline known as folklore, folklore studies or folkloristics.
However, it is to be noted that the tasks of collection and study of folklore had
begun much before Thoms coined the word.
 FOLKLORE AND IDEOLOGY
What is the relation between folklore and ideology? We will see that political
ideological motivation has been intricately connected with the beginning and
growth of folklore studies in different parts of theworld. The driving force behind
the works of Grimm brothers in Germanywas the romantic nationalist spirit that
was initiated in German intellectual circles by Herder in 18th-19th century. The
items of folklore, understood as the remnants of the past generations, were always
charged with a kind of collective pride and national glory. Besides that, as folklore
was initially understood as the lore of the unsophisticated peasant societies, they
appeared to be purer assets of humanity, and closer-to-the-nature, formany urban
elite intellectuals. Because of this, folklorematerials enjoyed conscious care and
adore during the age of romanticism.
Besides in Germany, political and ideological motivations behind the attention
to folklore, in varied degrees, were seen in Norway, Finland, Ireland, Soviet
Russia and India. In Germany during Hitler’s regime, folklore resources were
used with extreme Nazi racialist propaganda. In Soviet Russia, folklore was
used “as a powerful tool to advance communism” (Dorson 1982: 17). In such
highly overt political drives, folklore was not only utilized but also created anew
to meet specific socio-political goals of people. This defied the prevailing notion
of folklore as static items received from the past. “Folklore is an echo of the
past, but at the same time it is also the vigorous voice of the present” – stated by
the Russian scholar Y. M. Sokolov.

DIFFERENTACADEMICAPPROACHES
Mythological school

Mythological school
After the works of the Jacob Grimm, the first theoretical perspective in study
and analysis of folklore was put forward by FriedrichMax Müller (1823 – 1900),
a profound German philologist, Indologist and a great Sanskrit scholar, Max
Müller drew on linguistic viewpoint to explain not only the meaning of myths
but also the process ofmyth-creation. Being an authority on comparative religion,
MaxMüller strengthened the comparativemethodology and diachronic approach
of Jacob Grimm to formulate what was known as the mythological school of
folklore studies.His theory attempted to explain the phenomenon ofmyth-creation
as the result of the semantic changes in language. He used the phrase “malady of
language” (disease of language) to mean this change in language – which is a
phenomenon where words and terms used by the primitive man at a particular
stage of one language lose their originalmeanings at a later phase of the language
and at the hands of later generations.Myths are created, according to MaxMüller,
as the explanatory narratives of such words and expressions by the later
generations. This Mythological school, which was championed mostly by Max
Müller, and few other scholars too, however, were abandoned in later times as
its reconstruction of the prototype myth was proved to be too hypothetical.
However, Mythological theory is to be credited for being the first of its kind to
attempt theoretical interpretation of folkloric forms such as myths. Also, the
work of Max Müller was highly productive in shaping the methodology in the
study of folklore.
2.5.2 Diffusion/migration theory
Theodor Benfey (1809 -1881) was another German philologist and Orientalist
who is best known for compiling the great Sanskrit-English Dictionary. However,
he made novel contribution to the theoretical and intellectual development of
folklore studies through his translation of Indian anthology – the Pancatantra
into German language, with a highly comprehensive introduction in it. Benfey
deciphered fascinating similarities between Sanskrit tales of ancient India and
the tales of Europe. He opined that such similarities were not necessarily due to
genetic relationship of people as thought by Max Müller. Rather, Benfey put
forward the idea that folktales can and do travel across territories. He believed
that it was the ancient India where all the folktales were originally produced
which later ‘migrated’ to Europe and other parts of the world through various
means of cultural contacts between peoples. Further, Benfey also attempted to
construct the exact routes through which such folktales migrated from India to
the rest of the world. This idea of monogenesis or atomistic origin of folk tales
and other folk forms can be seen as the central theme of the works of philologists
since Jacob Grimm andMax Muller. Benfey’s theory andmethods influenced in
later times the Historical-geographical methods in Finland.

Anthropological perspectives
The rise in anthropological scholarship in nineteenth and twentieth century, in
England and America, brought out a strong anthropological perspective in the
study of folklore. In fact, anthropology and folklore studies as academic fields
share almost the same types of subject matters with differences only in perspectives
and emphases. Folklorists, typically, have been studying the orally
and verbally transmitted cultural resources more than the other types of resources,
though modern folkloristics do encompass the study peoples’ customs, material
cultural resources and art forms. However, this special attribution to oral tradition
is not a feature in the works of anthropologists who study the material and
nonmaterial
aspects of culture from functionalist viewpoints, and see the cultural
norms and values as predictable and theorizable patterns of human behaviour.
Some of the foremost scholars of classical anthropology drew heavily upon the
folkloric resources which they collected through exhaustive fieldworks in distant
places and diverge communities. The names which can be mentioned in this line
are E. B. Tylor (1832 – 1917) andAndrew Lang (1844 – 1912) in England, Franz
Boas (1858 – 1942), Ruth Benedict (1887 – 1948), M. J. Herskovits (1895 –
1963) in the Unites States. E. B. Tylor in his famous book Primitive Culture
advocated that folklore, understood as the customs and beliefs of the peasant
societies, could beworth studying in reconstructing the collective human activities
of primitive times. Tylor and his followerAndrew Lang explained the similarities
between cultural traits and practices amongst communities living in different
geographical locations through the new concept of anthropological evolution of
mankind. In sharp contrast to the idea of monogenesis and atomistic origin,
maintained by Max Müller and Theodor Benfey, this anthropological school put
forward the notion of polygenesis and multiple origins of cultural and folkloric
traits.According to this notion, a cultural trait or an item of folklore could have
independently originated at two or more places unrelated to each other, either at
the same time or at different times, but at similar stages of human progress. It
was believed that evolution of mankind followed a singular universal path of
progress in every place, with three absolutely identical stages everywhere –
savagery, barbarism and civilization.

Historical-geographical school
Theodor Benfey’s hypothesis, as mentioned earlier, invoked a rigorous
methodology in Finland to study the origin and migration of folklore items. This
technical method, which was initially experimented in the study of the Finnish
national epic Kalevala, was based on the notion that as folklore forms travel
from place to place, they undergo changes in form and content yet retaining their
basic recognizable features. Thus it was believed that not only the original forms
of folklore items and could be reconstructed but the exact route of migration of
those items also could be traced through thorough comparative exercise. It was
known as Finnish Method or Historical-geographical Method because of its
research along historical (original form) and geographical (route of migration)
scales. The major exponents of this method were Kaarle Krohn,C.W.Von Sydow,
Archer Taylor, Stith Thompson andAxel Olrik. Besides the precision techniques
of comparative analysis of folklore data, a major development that arose out of
this Historical-geographical method was the scientific way of breaking down
folklore forms, such as folktales, into identifiable traits for cross-comparative
analysis. Further development of this practice led in later time concept of motif
in folklore texts, on which the American folklorist Stith Thompson compiles
The Motif Index of Folk Literature.

Psychoanalytical school
The works of the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) on the
unconscious self were highly influential in the twentieth century academics.
For his exploration of the human mind, he extensively studied folklore materials and

brought out the books like The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), Jokes and their
Relation to the Unconscious (1905), and Totem and Taboo (1913). He, and many
of his followers of psychoanalytical school, used to see the myths, dreams, jokes
and tales as the symbolic expressions of the unconscious human mind. In his
Interpretation of Dreams, Freud drew analogies between dreams and myths that
dreams are the disguised reflection of the repressed desires of an individual in his
or her subconscious mind whereas the myths are the symbolic expressions of the
collective unconsciousness of a race or culture. C. G. Jung, another stalwart of the
psychoanalytical school, deciphered symbols of sexual drive in myths and other
folk narratives. The influence of Freudian and post-Freudian psychoanalysis was
enormous, both in academics and common public values of twentieth century. In
folklore studies, it brought out radically new theoretical and methodological
perspectives.

Oral-formulaic theory
In 1930, American literary scholar Milman Parry was working on the formulaic
characters of the classical epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey.He extended his analysis
of formulaic characteristics of classical epic to theYugoslav oral poetry. His aim
was to delineate the form of oral poetry and to compare it with the form written
verses. After Parry’s death in 1935, his method was taken up by Albert B. Lord
who published his book under the title The Singer of Tales in 1935. With his
seminal methodology, he closely observed the unlettered oral poetry being
performed or sung without reading and writing. It was observed that the “epic
singersmemorize a set of formulas which enable themto carry on the traditional
themes with reasonable accuracy and at the same time give them freedom to
improvise new elements depending on the occasion without altering the form
drastically” (Handoo 1989: 50). The work of Parry and Lord remained influential
in succeeding folklore scholarships. Besides imparting useful perspectives on
narrative composition of oral poetry, it also initiated the trend in folklore studies
to take folklore forms as more than texts (the performance or singing dimension
in their case of oral epics).An important thing to be noted that during the time of
Parry and Lord’s works, i.e. in the 1930s, the Russian formalist V. J. Propp was
also working on similar lines, though Propp’s work was on folktales and not oral
poetry. Both the works were attempts to decipher the characteristics of narrative
composition of folklore forms.

Structural school
Structuralism is an approach in which any field or object of study is treated as a
system of interrelated parts. It was a popular and widely accepted perspective in
several academic fields of twentieth century. In folklore studies, the seed of
structural analysis was planted by Vladimir J. Propp (1895 – 1970). The Russian
formalist published his book Morfologia Skazki in Russian language in 1928,
which was translated into English in 1958 as Morphology of the Folk Tale. In
that remarkable book, Propp took an entirely new synchronic approach to the
study of Russian folktales. Instead of the meanings of folktale, Propp analyzed
their structural forms, component parts of the structures and the interrelation
amongst them. Regarding the issue of the similarities of folktales of different
places, he was interested neither in finding origin of these similarities nor in
random comparison and classification of the similar traits of tales. He showed
that the vital components of a folktale are not its characters but certain actions of
27
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
the characters, which are found to be constant in folktales of different places.
The presence of such constant actions, which he called functions, are responsible
for the similarities between different folktales.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, an extraordinarily versatile French anthropologist, led
another structuralist approach for the study of folklore forms. Lévi-Strauss, who
applied his structural formulations to explain myth, kinship and visual arts,
followed complex interpretation schemes which he built on the concepts of
Saussurian linguistics. Unlike Propp, Lévi-Strauss did not separate the form and
content (meaning) of folklore texts. He treated myth as a higher and complex
level of communication carrying mythic messages. These messages are logical
formulations, to be found in somewhat codified binary oppositional schemes,
which are constructed in cultures to overcome the contradictions of human
understandings. Lévi-Strauss believed that a universal structural scheme could
be possible to explain entire myths around to world.

Contextual theory
Towards the late twentieth century, along with the radical changes and
developments in the academic and intellectual fields, American scholars like
RogerAbrahams, Dan Ben-Amos, Alan Dundes, Kenneth Goldstein and Robert
Gorges began to take folklore items within multidimensional frameworks. In
this new enlightened approach, the items of folklore began to be seen not merely
as texts but as events, where the contexts of folk performances (like story-telling,
singing, rituals and festivals, and conversations) were regarded as important as
the texts. However, the root of such outlook can be seen in the works of Parry
and Lord of oral-formulaic theory where attention was given to the contextual
data of oral epic singing. Theworks of the contextualists involve comprehensive
fieldwork for holistic recording of folklore events, in contrast to the text-oriented
exercises of the earlier scholars, shifting the attention more to the field than to
the library.

GROWTH OF FOLKLORE STUDIES IN INDIA

Let us now focus on the growth of folklore studies in India. Because of its
bewildering richness in oral traditions, India enjoyed a special place in the
international folklore scholarship. Its many racial and linguistic cultural traditions
caught the attention of many anthropologists and folklorists. The works of Max
Müller and Theodore Benfey on Indian myths and folktales bear the testimony
how Indian folklore resources contributed to the theoretical development of
folklore studies. A characteristic feature of Indian culture and civilization has
been the continuity of some of the oldest oral and written traditions of the world.
The Vedas, great epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Upanishads
and Puranas, and bulky anthologies of folktales such asHitopadesa, Brihatkatha,
Kathasaritsagara, Betal-Pancavimsatika, Jataka do exemplify the vibrancy of
oral and written traditional creativity in India since ancient times.
However, the study of folklore on Indian soil, in modern systematic ways, began
only after the coming of the British. Jawaharlal Handoo, one of the foremost
scholars of folklore studies fromIndia, has divided the growth of folklore studies
in India into three periods: the Missionary Period, the Nationalistic Period and
the Academic Period.
2.6.1 The missionary period
The Christian missionaries, who started their mission of spreading Christianity
in India since the time of early nineteenth century, were eventually the first batch
of collectors and publishers of the first-hand resources of Indian traditional cultural
lives at various regions. These missionaries, who visited the remotest corners of
the country for preaching the Christian faith amongst the rural Indians, came in
contactwith the hitherto unexplored rural traditional settings of the diverse Indian
29
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
communities. As J. Handoo noted, “These Anglo-Saxon fathers recorded all
kinds of information – habits, manners, customs, oral traditions, rituals etc –
about their subjects. They used some of this information in spreading the Christian
faith and were successful in delivering their main message through the native
symbols. Most of these writings were published and form a part of the great
treasures of folklore we [the Indians] possess about our own past. Looked from
this viewpoint, these works of missionaries are of great historical value to a
student of Indian folklore” (Handoo 1989: 135)

Though those publications of the missionaries were void of theoretical analysis

of pure academics, their works were, and still are, valuable because of their
highly informative contents. Some of such publications were Mary Frere’s Old
Deccan Days or Hindoo Fairy Legends Current in Southern India (1886),A. J.
Duboi’s Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies (1897), J. Hinton Knowels’
Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings Explained and Illustrated from
the Rich and Interesting Folk-Lore of the Valley (1885) and Folk-Tales of Kashmir
(1893),Aurel Stein’s Hatim’s Tales (1937), Charles E. Grover’s The Folk Songs
of Southern India (1894), John Lazarus’A Dictionary of Tamil Proverbs (1894).
Parallel to the drives of themissionaries, fewwestern philologists and orientalists
took significant steps of establishing academic societies and starting important
periodicals that contributed immensely in the intellectual attention of the Indian
cultural resources during this time. The Asiatic Society was founded byWilliam
Jones in 1784; and the journals like the Indian Antiquary and the Journal of the
Anthropological Society of Bombay gave spaces for “brief articles on oral
narratives and other genres of folklore” (Handoo 1989: 134-5).
Besides the missionaries, the civil servants of the British administration in India
were also engaged in this period in collection and study of Indian folklorematerials.
Though the motivation behind such works of the colonial administrators was
primarily to gather helpful local information for effective administration, they too,
like the missionaries, collected and studied various forms of Indian oral traditions
in all parts of the country. Some of the worth-mentioning works of this kind are:
Flora Annie Steel’s Wide Awake Stories (Tales from Punjab Told by the People)
(1894);William C. Crooke’s Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of
Northern India (1894) and Natives of Northern India (1907); S.Mahalinga Natesa
Shastri’sFolklore in Southern India (1884) and Indian Folk-Tales (1900); Robinson
Edward Jewitt’s Tales and Poems of South India (1885); George A. Griersons’
Linguistic Survey of India (1903-1907); John F.A. McNair and Thomas Lambert
Barlow’s Oral Traditions from Indus: Comprised to Tales to Which are Added
Explanatory Notes (1908); E.M. Gordon’s Indian Folk-Tales Being Side-light on
the Village Life of Bilaspur, Central Provinces (1908); Cecil Henry Bompa’s
Folklore of the Santhal Parganas (1909); James Tod’s Annals and Antiquities of
Rajasthan (1920); etc.

The nationalist period

Towards the late nineteenth century, a sense of Indian nationalism began to grow

under the leadership of newly emerging Indian intellectual groups who were
enlightened with the western education and initiated a renewed nationalistic
attitude towards their own societies and traditions. Also, the works of the
missionaries and civil servants, who brought a bulk of textual production on
Indian local traditions, indirectly contributed to a sense of nationalistic
consciousness amongst the Indian intellectuals. Such sentiments got momentum
along with the Indian struggle, which began in 1857, to achieve independence
from the British. Indian scholars and intellectuals began to search and establish
their cultural roots by exploring their own culture and tradition.
Some of the major works of this period are: Lakshminath Bezbaruah’s Burhi Ait
Sashu (1911);DineshChandra Sen’s Sati (1917) and The Folk Literature of Bengal
(1920); ZeverchandMeghani’sHalardan (1928); Dadajini Vato (1933); Lok Sahitya
and Kankavati (1947); Suryakaran Pariks and Narottam Swamy’s DholaMaru ra
Doha (1947), Ramnaresh Tripathi’s Hamara Gram Sahitya (1940); Devendra
Satyarthi’s Bela PhuleAdhi Rat (1948),Dhart Gatt Hai (1948),DhireBaho Ganga
(1948) and many many others. Besides straight collections and anthologies of
folklore materials, many Indian creative writers brought literary productions, in
the forms of novel, drama, poetry and short stories, that were either based on or
highlighting the local folklore themes.
Besides the Indian scholars and authors, few western scholars also contributed
heavily in the collection and study of Indian folklore during this time. Specially
noteworthy is the works of Verrier Elwin whose important books were Songs of
the Forest: The Folk Poetry of theGonds (1935), Folktales of Mahakosal (1944),
Folksongs of Maikal Hills, Folksongs of Chattisgarh (1946), Myths of Middle
India (1949), Tribal Myths of Orissa (1954) and Myths of the Tribal Frontier
Agency (1958).

The academic period

The academic period of Indian folklore studies, when one would see the formal
study and research in institutionalized settings such as colleges and universities,
began after the Indian independence in 1947. The necessary stimulus required
for this was gained in the spirit of the nationalistic period. If the missionary
period was marked with collection of raw data on Indian folklore and the
Nationalistic period was filled with patriotic emotions, the academic period was
featured with objectives of truth-finding about, and scientific analysis and
preservation of, Indian folklore by the Indians.
Like the case in many other countries, study of folklore in Indian educational
institutions remained annexed with the departments like anthropology, history
and literary studies. In 1955, Gauhati University started a Folklore Archive which
was later converted to the Department of Tribal Culture and Folklore Research –
the first department of folklore in an Indian university. Many other Indian
universities in later times opened their departments for offering M.A., M. Phil.
and Ph. D. courses in folklore studies. Besides governmental colleges and
universities, non-governmental centres, like the National Folklore Support Centre,
also grew up for promotion and dissemination of folklore scholarship in India.
Interdisciplinary approach, international collaborations and applications of
contemporary theories and perspectives in the field of humanities and social
sciences mark the folklore studies in India of this period. Some of the notable
folklore scholars of this time are Birinchi Kumar Baruah, A. K. Ramanujan,
Jawaharlal Handoo, Praphulladatta Goswami, Birendranath Datta, etc.

REVOLT AGAINST MIRRORING MIND (KIERKEGAARD, POSTMODERN

TRENDS, FEMINISTS

In this unit we study different epistemological trends emerged as reactions against the subject
oriented epistemology of the modern philosophy, particularly of the idealist tradition

INTRODUCTION

Epistemology can be generally divided into two broad schools; realistic epistemology and
idealistic epistemology. The realist epistemologists, like realists in general, share the view that
the mind is capable of knowing external realities as they independently exist. But, as in the case
of idealism, idealistic epistemology offers the view that the knower is unable to know anything
objectively of the external realities and the object of his knowledge is only the mental
representation of them. The mind represents external realities inasmuch they are present before
the mind; mind mirrors them. Idealist epistemology generally assumes that mind, by the
speculative and dialectical use of reason, is capable of mirroring the world, the phenomena.
The idealistic epistemology opens up a subjectivist version of epistemology. The rationale of the
subjectivist approach to knowledge is that the source and foundation of knowledge is something
internal to the subject, namely the self-conscious of the subject. A subject knows something only
when he/she is conscious of himself/herself. The foundation of knowledge is thus reduced to the
subjectivity of the knower. This subjectivist turn in epistemology was the salient features of
almost all philosophers since Descartes, who is the father of modern epistemology. Ever since
Descartes, there had been a tendency to conceive knowledge and its acquisition as an enterprise
of the subject alone

REVOLT AGAINST THE MIRRORING MIND

The first systematic revolt against the aforementioned idealistic conception of knowledge came
from the existentialistic corners, with Kierkegaard to pioneer it. Postmodernism and feminism
are subsequent forms of such revolts. While Kierkegaard’s revolt is against pure rational,
3
speculative and impersonal account of the subject as the knower, postmodernists and feminists
rejects the metaphysical conception of knower as a self-present or conscious subject. For
Kierkegaard, the subject is the very existing individual, who does not depend on the rational
objectivities and proof, rather is open to the manifold uncertain possibilities that his existence
brings forth and the world presents before him. For postmodernists and feminists, on the other
hand, the knower is no more any self-present subject, rather he is a product of various factors,
such, culture, power, society, history etc. In what follows we examine these revolts against the
subjectivist conception of knowledge held by idealistic traditions.

KIERKEGAARD AND THE EXISTENTIALISTIC REVOLT

Sören Aabey Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a Danish philosopher. Kierkegaard’s style (of
philosophy) is highly personal. He thought that philosophy at his time tended to misconstrue the
relation of thought to reality; this was largely due to the influence of Hegelian idealism.
Philosophy was trying to assimilate reality to thought, which for the idealist is the product of
mind. Such a philosophy, for Kierkegaard, was merely an exercise of abstract reflection.
According to him habits of abstract reflection and passive response had blinded people to their
true concerns as self-determining agents ultimately accountable for their own decisions and
destinies. He sought to counter such trends, exploring different approaches to life with a view to
opening his reader’s eyes both to where they themselves stood and to possibilities of opting for
radical change. Thus, individual was the sole criterion for Kierkegaard. He implied that decisions
of the individual lay beyond the scope of general rules, each being essentially a problem for the
individual alone. However, his account of the individual’s passionate search for the meaning of
his life was set within a psychological perspective that laid stress upon freedom as an
inescapable condition of action and experience.

POSTMODERNISM
Postmodern thoughts make a thorough critique of the subject as a knowing agent. This critique is
associated primarily with the work of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan and
Gilles Deleuze. These thinkers question the subject’s ability to declare itself self-evidently
7
independent of the external conditions of its own possibility, such as the language in which it
expresses clear and distinct ideas, the body whose deceptions it fears, and the historical or
cultural conditions in which it perceives. For their critique of the subject as self-evident they
draw inspirations from two sources:
1. Their philosophy primarily draws upon Marxist, Freudian and Nietzschean insights that
consciousness of the subject depends upon its material conditions and some unconscious
roots or constituting ‘outside’.
2. They have, however, a common fidelity to Kant’s search for the ‘conditions of
possibility’ underlying subjective experience, as well as his scepticism regarding our
capacity to know the self as an “objects in itself.”
Drawing on these two philosophical traditions, philosophers in the postmodern tradition portray
the subject differently as there are different ways of postmodern thinking. We are, however, not
examining all the postmodern portrayal of the subject; we limit our analysis only to Foucault and
Derrida.

FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGY: ATTACK AGAINST EPISTEMOLOGIES OF

PRIVILEGES

Feminism is a complex movement. Although it is generally based on the belief that women are
oppressed, it is a mistake to think of feminism as a single philosophical doctrine or as implying
an agreed political programme. From the philosophical point of view, feminism is an attempt to
liberate philosophy from the male dominance in the western history of philosophy. When we
come to the question of epistemology, it tries to emancipate the use of knowledge and its
construction from the same dominance.
Feminist epistemologies have grown out of critical interrogations of the universalistic
presumptions of the theories of knowledge. While rejecting the very possibility of developing a
theory of knowledge universal in nature, feminist epistemologists have insisted on the
constitutive role that epistemic contexts plays in the making and evaluating of knowledge claims.
10
Their argument is that many of the best-established theories of knowledge, with their
conceptions of reason, epistemic agency, objectivity, experience and knowledge, tacitly draw
their conceptual and theoretical foundation from an idealized view of the knowledge produced
and validated by a male dominant social, political and economic situations. Feminist argue that
male dominant western epistemological tradition’s portrayal of the subject’s self-presentation
tended to be male, though the specificity of their identity and circumstances are usually effaced
in their self-presentation as ‘representative’ human subjects.

According to Lynn Nelson, a leading feminist empiricist, one of the salient features of feminists
empiricism is that it is communities, not individuals, who are knowers and knowledge claims are
entangled in and shaped by webs of belief, testable always against communal experience. It
amounts to a contention that there could be no knowledge, no appropriately justified beliefs,
without communal standards of justification and critique. In this contextual empiricism
evidential or empirical reasoning is context-dependent, and knowledge construction is a
thoroughly social practice.
Feminists epistemologists apply empiricism even in psychological analysis about the knowing
subject. This empirical study of the knowing subject is proposed by Lorraine Code. Here the
monologic individualism of orthodox empiricism as well as that of post-positivist theories gives
way to a picture of contextualized , socially embedded knowers conducting epistemic
negotiations across multiple spaces of the social-political world. Thus, knowing other people is
exactly the epistemic activity as knowing medium-sized physical objects. Code even goes for an
an ecologically modelled epistemology that draws on narrative analyses to position human
knowing within interconnected systems of social, natural and other environmental relations.
Standpoint theory
Idealist epistemology

Idealist epistemology generally assumes that mind, by the speculative and dialectical use of
reason, is capable of mirroring the world, the phenomena. The mind represents external realities
inasmuch they are present before the mind; mind mirrors them. This subjectivist turn in
epistemology was the salient features of almost all philosophers since Descartes, who is the
father of modern epistemology. Ever since Descartes, there had been a tendency to conceive
knowledge and its acquisition as an enterprise of the subject alone. This tendency was at its
height in the philosophy of Hegel.
The first systematic revolt against the aforementioned idealistic conception of knowledge came
from the existentialistic corners, with Kierkegaard to pioneer it. Postmodernism and feminism
are subsequent forms of such revolts. While Kierkegaard’s revolt is against pure rational,
speculative and impersonal account of the subject as the knower, postmodernists and feminists
rejects the metaphysical conception of knower as a self-present or conscious subject. For
Kierkegaard, the subject is the very existing individual, who does not depend on the rational
14
objectivities and proof, rather is open to the manifold uncertain possibilities that his existence
brings forth and the world presents before him. For postmodernists and feminists,

STRUCTURALISM
INTRODUCTION
Structuralism
has been one of the most influential theories in the study of culture and folklore.
Structuralismhad its origin in the discipline of linguistics. However, it eventually
made forays into the domains of literary criticism, sociology of literature, aesthetic
theory, social sciences, and indeed folklore. In structuralist method, the
understanding of objects is relational rather than substantial. The principal feature
of the structuralist method is that it takes as its object of investigation a 'system',
i.e., the reciprocal relations among a set of facts, rather than particular facts
considered in isolation.
The linguistically-oriented discourse of structuralism came to the forefront of
the French intellectual scene in the 1960s. Structuralists applied structurallinguistic
concepts to the human sciences which they attempted to re-establish
on a more rigorous basis. The structuralists deployed holistic analyses that
explained phenomena in terms of parts and wholes, defining a structure as the
interrelation of parts within a common system. Structures were governed by
135
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
unconscious codes or rules, as when language constituted meaning through a
differential set of binary opposites, or when mythologies codified eating and
sexual behaviour according to systems of rules and codes.

STRUCTURAL LINGUISTICS
Let us now begin with what is structural linguistics. The Swiss linguist Ferdinand
de Saussure (1858-1916) is recognized as the founding father of the structuralist
method. His views on the new method of studying linguistics are expounded in his
seminal work Course in General Linguistics (1916). Four of his seminal ideas are
especially relevant here:
Firstly, he sees language as a social system that was coherent, orderly and
susceptible to understanding and explanation as a whole. Syntax and semantics
together constitute a group of rules imposed on individuals, and to which
individual thought must be submitted if it seeks expression to systems of rules
and codes.
Structural analysis focuses on the underlying rules which organised phenomena
into a social system, analysing such things as totemic practices in terms of
divisions between the sacred and profane in traditional societies, or cuisine in
modern societies in terms of culinary rules.
Secondly, de Saussure points out the arbitrariness of the verbal sign, the signifier,
which being conventional supposes neither an intrinsic rapport with the concept
which constitutes its signification, the signified, nor in consequence any inherent
stability with it.
Thirdly, de Saussure makes a significant distinction between, on the one hand,
langue, the institution of language, and on the other hand, parole, or the particular
and individual acts of linguistic expression.
Fourthly, de Saussure views the structures as entirely independent of history
(diachrony). A diachronic approach to the study of a language involves an
examination of its origins, development, history and change. In contrast, he opts
for a synchronic approach which entails the study of a linguistic system in a
particular state, without reference to time.
He further mentions that there are two dimensions in the relationship of words:
a) the syntagmatic or 'horizontal' relations; b) the associative or 'vertical' relations,
more usually described as paradigmatic. By this distinction he means that each
word has a linear relationship, i. e., syntagmatic, with the words that may go
before it and come after it. For example, in the sentence 'the batsman hit the ball
to the boundary' there is a perceptible relationship between each word. The
paradigmatic relationship entails a consideration of the fact that each word in,
say, a sentence (like the one above) has a relationship with other words that are
not used but are capable of being used - and by being capable are thus associated.
Obvious associative words in this instance would be pads, gloves, bat, bowleror
even the whole concept of cricket. Thus, the syntagmatic is concerned with
combination; the paradigmatic with substitution. (Cuddon 1977 (1992): 946)

After de Saussure, it is noteworthy to mention the explorations of the schools of

Prague and Copenhagen. Scholars such as Roman Jakobson, Trubetzkoy, Louis
136
Documentation,
Preservation and
Conservation of
Culture
Hjelmslev, etc. of these schools made significant contributions to the structuralist
approach.More recently,NoamChomskymakes another contribution to structural
theory which is of importance in linguistics. Hemakes a distinction between 'surface
structures' and 'deep structures'. A surface structure consists of the collection of
words and sounds that we articulate and hear in a sentence; a deep structure is the
abstract and underlying structure in a sentence. Two sentences may have the same
structure at the surface level (e.g., John is easy to please; John is eager to please),
yet they have different meanings because their deep structures are different. The
underlying or deep structure thus regulates the meaning. He further makes a
distinction between what he calls 'competence' and 'performance'. 'Competence'
denotes a person's knowledge of his or her language and its rules (grammar, syntax,
etc.), while 'performance' denotes individual and specific utterance

LÉVI-STRAUSS' STRUCTURALISM
the name of Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908), the celebrated French anthropologist,
is inextricably linked with the wide popularity that structuralism gained in the
domain of social sciences, especially cultural anthropology and folklore. His
article 'Social Structure' (1963 (1993): 277-323) is the most abstract statement
of his theoretical approach. He holds that social structure has nothing to do with
reality, but with models built after it. The best model is the one which accounts
for all the facts.
Lévi-Strauss' concept of model formation is influenced by structural linguistics.
He uses the de Saussurean dichotomies between:
a) langue and parole
b) paradigmatic and syntagmatic
c) code and message (a spoken language is a code and its message is its
substance. In the realm of sign, one's facial expression is a code giving
message.) Each society has its own code to transmit a particular message or
substance. But there are many other kinds of codes. Each such code is a
language and the sum of all such codes is the culture.
d) synchrony and diachrony.
Lévi-Strauss develops his model using these dichotomies in order to examine
'social reality'.His studies on kinship and totemism, two domains of social reality,
137
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
using the structuralist method yieldedmuch newer insights into the idea of social
structure and the role of human actors therein. However, here we will confine
our discussion only to the application of structuralist method to the study of
myth, and to examine as to how human mind work through myth.

STRUCTURALANALYSIS OFMYTH
137
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
using the structuralist method yieldedmuch newer insights into the idea of social
structure and the role of human actors therein. However, here we will confine
our discussion only to the application of structuralist method to the study of
myth, and to examine as to how human mind work through myth.
2.4 STRUCTURALANALYSIS OFMYTH
Lévi-Strauss felt that because myth had no practical function, it could reveal the
working of the mind at a deeper level. The meaning of a myth cannot be
determined simply from listening to its telling, its surface characteristics. In a
fashion parallel to language and grammatical law, myth creators are only partially
or intermittently aware of structures ofmyth. Lévi-Strauss shows not how humans
think inmyth but how myths operate in human minds, without their being aware
of that fact.
He contends that myths have the same linear structure through time as language.
Like language, a myth can be segmented into constituent units and these units
analyzed in relation to each other. These constituent units or mythemes can be
found at the sentence level. Lévi-Strauss further contends that the true constituent
units of a myth are not the isolated relations but bundles of such relations, and it
is only as bundles that these relations can be put to use and combined so as to
produce a meaning.
In this usage, myth has no location in chronological time. A myth is akin to
fairytales and dreams, especially in the complete absence of nature-culture
distinction. Nevertheless, myths and fairytales are meaningful. As we cannot
write lexicon without grammar, without structure also we cannot decipher
meaning. As a follower of Freud's psycho-analysis he believed that the meaning
of folktales/myths is hidden.
Following Freud's analysis of dreams, Lévi-Strauss states myth to be a code,
hidden behind the sense which the myth makes at face value. This message in
code can be interpreted to reveal the hidden meaning. Then what is the nature of
this hidden meaning?
Firstly, all myths present resolutions to contradictions that are inherently
irresolvable. Lévi-Strauss states that as we decode myth we see repeatedly that
the hidden meaning has to do with unwelcome, uncomfortable contradictions
which plague all human societies.
Secondly, myths contain concrete messages passed on from 'senders' (not very
clear who is sending, but we may think of the ancestors or the senior members of
the society as 'senders') to 'receivers' (clearly the younger generation which must
be indoctrinated by the bearers of the tradition). Let us represent the 'senders' asA
and 'receivers' as B. Now if an individual A who is trying to pass a message to a
friend Bwho is almost out of earshot and if the communication is further hampered
by various kinds of interference noise from wind, passing cars and so on, what
willAdo? If he is sensible, he will not be satisfied with shouting his message just
once, he will shout it several times, and give a different wording to the message
each time, supplementing his words with visual signals. At the receiving end B
may very likely get themeaning of each of the individualmessages slightly wrong,
but when he puts them together the redundancies and themutual consistencies and
inconsistencies will make it quite clear what is 'really' being said. Suppose, for
example, that the intendedmessage get obliterated by interference from other noises
then the total pattern of what B receives will consist of a series of 'chords' as in an
orchestra score (see below).(Leach 1970: 59)
Lévi-Strauss says that it is not via one myth that a message is passed to the
'receiver'. The entire corpus of myth of a particular community as a single whole
passes on the message. Lévi-Strauss here compares this corpus to an orchestra
score.Myths and music are alike in being languages that transcend spoken-about
experience and unfold in time. They both have syntagmatic and paradigmatic
structures. The syntagmatic structure of music is found in relations of contiguity
such as the A/B/Astructure of sonata form. The syntagmatic structure of music
creates melody - the lineal arrangement of notes that unfold through time when
the score is played. The paradigmatic structure, which is the simultaneity of
notes, creates the harmony.

Study of Myth' included as a chapter in his celebrated book Structural

Anthropology (Vol. I: 1963, 1993)). Although this appears to be a myth about
incest, Lévi-Strauss' analysis reveals that its real meaning deals with a human
dilemma: born from one or born from two? All humans derive from a mother
and a father, but almost all cultures deny one or the other, claiming that the child
belongs solely to the mother's side or solely to the father's side. Born from two is
a characteristic that differentiates humans from monsters and gods. When the
constituting units (mythemes) of the Oedipus myth which are presented in a
syntagmatic order are paradigmatically organized, the real meaning of the myth
emerge revealing its deep structure.(for a detailed analysis of the Oedipus myth
refer to Levi-Strauss' essay, 'The Structural Study of Myth' cited above)
Interpreting the meaning of the Oedipus myth, Lévi-Strauss contends that the
myth actually has to do with the inability, for a culture which holds the belief
that mankind is autochthonous, to find a satisfactory transition between this theory
and the knowledge that human beings are actually born from the union of men
and women. Although the problem obviously cannot be solved, the Oedipus
myth provides a kind of logical tool which relates the original problem - born
from one or born from two? - to the derivative problem : born from different or
born from same? By a correlation of this type, the overrating of blood relations
139
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
is to the underrating of blood relations as the attempt to escape autochthony is to
the impossibility to succeed in it. Although experience contradicts theory, social
life validates cosmology by its similarity of structure.(ibid: 216)

STRUCTURALISM OF VLADIMIR PROPP

Though the structural approach emerged very influential in the 1960s, a real
beginning of structural approach in folkore, however, appeared in the late 1920s
when the Russian Formalist Vladimir J. Propp's (1895-1970) seminal book
Morfologija Skazki (Morphology of the Folk--tale, 1958)was published in 1928.
Propp was a professor of Russian and Comparative Folklore at the Leningrad
University. He introduced and taught the courses which spoke of Russian
Formalist thinking and its philosophy of analysis. But his book came to limelight
onlywhen it was translated into English in 1958. Such a neglect of his book was
attributed to the condemnation of the formalist thinking and importance attached
to diachronic (historical) perspective in the study of folklore in Russia. It is to be
noted that Propp's book was written from synchronic perspective. But after its
English publication, the book received wide acclaim. It shook the foundations
of the contemporary atomistic and diachronic approaches in the study of oral
narratives. It is noteworthy that it was the Prague Linguistic Circle which took
140
Documentation,
Preservation and
Conservation of
Culture
the initiative to spread the ideas of Propp and around 1940 Roman Jakobson
took special initiative in establishing Propp's analysis insideAmerican academia.

Propp's syntagmatic approach

Propp's method of analysing fairytales can be compared to that brand of linguistic
structuralismwhich thrives on formalistic thought and ignores semantics in favour
of syntax. This method pays exclusive attention to the rules that govern the
construction of statements of any tale. Propp stresses the need to describe a given
folkloric phenomenon before one is tempted to discover the origin of that
phenomenon because one can speak about the origin of any phenomenon only
after that phenomenon has been described.
Propp discovers that many Russian folktales and fairytales have the one and the
same underlying story. In hisMorphology he tries to show how a hundred different
tales are in fact variations of the one and same underlying structure (i.e. the
straight forward accounting or the bare bones of a story devoid of the details).
But the question arises as to how one and the same structure is possible if in
some fairytales we have characters who play important roles - a prince, a fairy, a
queen - and who are yet wholly absent from others.Again, how if certain actions
lead to disaster in some tales while in others it brings rich rewards? How could
all these tales possibly be presentations of the same basic story? (Bretens 2001:
37).
For explaining these questions Propp works out an analytical approach which he
calls 'morphological'. Itmeans "a description of the (Russian fairy) tale according
to its component parts and the relation of these components to each other and the
whole." Component parts imply such elements of fairy tales which remain same
everywhere and therefore constants unlike the elements which change from one
tale to another tale, i.e. variables (e.g. the characters or objects of fairy tales). It
is to be noted that before the method of Propp became popular, folklore analysis
was mainly guided by these variables. Propp holds that it is not characters
(dramatis personae) but their constant actions or functions that form the basic
elements or the component parts of tales. However, all actions do not qualify to
become functions or constant elements. Only those elements which have
implication in the progress of the plots of the tale are to be regarded as such. So,
Propp devises amethod bywhich one can study the tales according to the functions
of the characters (dramatis personae). Thus, function becomes the basic
classificatory and analytical unit. How does then he discover these functions?
Following are the sentences drawn from Propp (1968 (1998): 19-20):

STRUCTURAL METHODS OF PROPP AND

LÉVI-STRAUSS:ACOMPARISON
At this stage, a brief comparative note between the structuralistmethods of Propp
and Lévi-Straussmay be made. Propp'smethod is known as the formalistmethod.
That is, his analysis separates form from the content and puts more emphasis on
the former. On the other hand, Lévi-Strauss'smethod is concernedwith structured
meaning in myths. That is, the content of a myth is embedded in its form and
thus they are inseparable. Then Propp's analysis is based on the Russian fairy
tales while that of Lévi-Strauss is based on myths. Lastly, Propp's method does
not alter the 'syntax' of a tale. It is concerned onlywith deciphering itsmorphology
(functions of its characters) and the combinations as it is 'given' by the informant.
That is why, Propp's method is also known as Syntagmatic structural analysis.
On the other hand, Lévi-Strauss believes that the content of amyth comprehended
in a logical organization can not lie on the given structure and therefore needs
'Rearrangement' by reducing the structural components tomeaningful paradigms.
Hence, his approach is also called Paradigmatic structural analysis

At this stage, a brief comparative note between the structuralistmethods of Propp

and Lévi-Straussmay be made. Propp'smethod is known as the formalistmethod.
That is, his analysis separates form from the content and puts more emphasis on
the former. On the other hand, Lévi-Strauss'smethod is concernedwith structured
meaning in myths. That is, the content of a myth is embedded in its form and
thus they are inseparable. Then Propp's analysis is based on the Russian fairy
tales while that of Lévi-Strauss is based on myths. Lastly, Propp's method does
not alter the 'syntax' of a tale. It is concerned onlywith deciphering itsmorphology
(functions of its characters) and the combinations as it is 'given' by the informant.
That is why, Propp's method is also known as Syntagmatic structural analysis.
On the other hand, Lévi-Strauss believes that the content of amyth comprehended
in a logical organization can not lie on the given structure and therefore needs
'Rearrangement' by reducing the structural components tomeaningful paradigms.
Hence, his approach is also called Paradigmatic structural analysis

STRUCTURALISM INMARXISTANALYSIS
Structural Marxism emphasizes Marx's concern with structures that are
themselves not visible but which organise reality and account for visible facts.
Cultures, like organisms, are structures and have the built-in capacity to reproduce
themselves. Unlike the structuralists, structural Marxists do not believe that the
structure reproduces itselfwhen internal contradictions between structures orwithin
a structure cannot be overcome. It is rather contended that in such an eventuality
the structure evolves or is transformed. (Levinson and Ember, ibid: 1269)
It is generally accepted that the structural analysis in theMarxist thought has its
root in the works of French Marxist philosopher, Louis Althusser.According to
him, Marx eliminated the human subject from social theory and constructed a
'new science' of the levels of human practice (economic, political, ideological
and scientific) which are inscribed in the structure of a social reality. Hence, the
Marxist theory is not 'humanist' or 'historical' but is concerned essentially with
the structural analysis of social totalities (e.g. mode of production, social
formation); and the object of such analysis is to disclose the 'deep structure'
143
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
which underlies and produces the directly observable phenomena of social life.
(Bottomore 2000: 527) Maurice Godelier arguing against empiricism and
functionalismin anthropology says that for Lévi-Strauss, as forMarx, "structures
are not directly visible or observable realities, but levels of reality which exist
beyondman's visible relations andwhose functioning constitutes the deeper logic
of a social system."(ibid: 527-28) The idea of a real structure behind appearances
also influenced Marxist political economywhere Marx's analysis of commodity
in Capital is seen as an exemplary instance of structural analysis. (ibid: 528)

STRUCTURALISMINLITERARYCRITICISM
 AND SEMIOTICS
Broadly speaking, in literature structuralism is concerned with 'language' in a
most general sense: not just the language of utterance in speech and writing. It is
concerned with signs and thus with signification. Structuralist theory considers
all conventions and codes of communication including, for example, all forms
of signals (smoke, fire, traffic lights, flags, gesture), body language, clothes,
artifacts, status symbols, and so on. In short, everything in the theory of
structuralism is the product of a system of signification or code. The relationship
between the elements of the code gives it signification. Codes are arbitrary (like
sign) and without them we cannot apprehend reality.
Roman Jakobson's Two Aspects of Language and Two Types of Aphasic
Disturbances (1956), provides one forms of structuralist theory. He developed a
theory based on the concept of binary opposition in the structure of language. He
was mainly concerned with the metaphor/metonymy opposition and its
implication in the analysis of realism and symbolism. He uses the distinction
developed elsewhere between the two axes of language:
i) Syntagmatic and
ii) Paradigmatic
The first may be thought of as a Horizontal line (here one word is associated
with otherwords through contiguity); the second as a vertical linewhere meanings
can be substituted one for another.
Through his study of Aphasia (language disorder resulting from memory loss),
Jakobson extends hismodel to Metaphor andMetonymy.Therefore, the language
disorder acts on the two axes of language in different ways so that those suffering
from a 'continuity disorder' tend to use substitution (i.e. metaphor) and those
suffering from 'similarity disorder' tend to use association (i.e., metonymy).
Jakobson says "Metaphor is alien to similarity disorder, and Metonymy to the
continuity disorder." His point is that some forms of writing use one or the other
mode predominantly. Romantic and Modernist poetry primarily usesMetaphor,
and the Realist novel uses Metonymy. Magic Realism and Post Modernism
subvert themainlymetonymic axis of the narrative discourse/novel form. (Cuddon
1992: 543).
Jonathan Culler, who is largely credited with for popularizing structuralist
thoughts in the United States, and for developing a theory of structuralist poetics
in his book Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of
Literature (1975), propounds that the real object of poetics "is not the work
itself but its intelligibility. One must attempt to explain how it is that works can
be understood; the implicit knowledge, the conventions that enable readers to
make sense of them, must be formulated." Thus, Culler puts more emphasis on
reader than the text. His opinion was that while it is possible to determine the
rules that govern the interpretation of texts, it is not possible to determine the
rules that govern the composition of texts. Thus, the structure resides in the
system that underlies the reader's interpretation or 'literary competence' rather
than in the text.
French semiotist Roland Barthes (1915-80) interprets cultural practices involving
foods and clothes as sign systems which function on the samemodel as language.
Thus, he elaborates the idea that there is a 'garment system' which works like a
language.Garments in general are the system (what de Saussurewould call 'langue'
and Chomsky would call 'competence'); a particular set of garments is the
equivalent of a sentence (what de Saussure denotes as ‘parole’ and Chomsky as
'performance'). The same distinction applies to food. Foodstuffs in general
constitute the system; a particular menu and meal constitute the 'sentence

THE POSTSTRUCTURALIST CRITIQUE

Despite the path-breaking contributions of structuralism in the study of human
society and culture, like all other theoretical perspectives, it has been subjected
to serious criticisms.Apart from the criticisms discussed above, it also has come
under the onslaught of the poststructuralist/postmodernist thinkers.
Like all modernist philosophical perspectives, structuralism believes in the
premises like foundation, certitude, truth, essence, objectivity, universality, etc.
Through its faith in the underlying structure of human mind, for example,
structuralismaffirms its faith on the universal character, and therefore, the essence
of human mind. Structural analysis aimed at objectivity, coherence, rigour, and
truth, and claimed scientific status for its theories, which would be purged on
mere subjective valuations and experiences. Louis Althusser, the celebrated
French Marxist, for example, advocated a theoretical anti-humanism and
eliminated human practice and subjectivity from the explanatory scheme of his
version of Marxism. The structuralists wished to eliminate the concept of the
subject which had dominated the philosophical tradition stemming fromDescartes
through Sartre. In this model, meaning was not the creation of the transparent
intentions of an autonomous subject; the subject itself was constituted by its
relations within language, so that subjectivity was seen as a social or linguistic
construct. The works of the structuralists such as de Saussure, Lévi-Strauss, and
145
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
Chomsky testify to this fact. Poststructuralists have launched attack on these
basic premises of structuralism. French philosopher Jacques Derrida and also
Roland Barthes, for example, attack the purported objectivity of structuralist
methods. They criticized the structuralist notion that there is fixed and universal
structure of linguistic or social relations. They further contend that since
structuralism believes in an eternal human nature,which is a humanist proposition,
it is not free from the humanist tradition it denounces. Against the structuralist
emphasis on abstraction, poststructuralism underscores the importance of the
study of daily life, history, politics, and so on. However, it is also true that the
both poststructuralism and postmodernism stand only on the foundation laid by
structuralism. There is no denying the fact that these new perspectives have
emerged out of their critiques of structuralism.On the other hand, various premises
of poststructuralism/postmodernism themselves have come under serious
criticism in recent times as being obscurantist and extremely relativist.

FOLKLORE AND ALLIED

DISCIPLINES
INTRODUCTION
Folklore concerns itself with the life, habits, and behaviours, cultural and social
conditions of communities or individuals. It is found everywhere be it in our
everyday speech, customs, rites and rituals, festivals, tales and stories, jokes,
jests and parables and artistic performances of dance, music and theatre. Hence
this subject is very broad based and is a highly interdisciplinary and integrated
discipline. This subject cannot be understood without keeping in mind other
fields of study and expertise such as Anthropology, Gender studies,
Ethnomusicology, Linguistics, Psychology and the recent Performance Studies.
One thus needs to deeply understand and study the links of folklore to the other
related subjects.

Anthropology and folklore

The nature of the subject, its contents, definitions of folklore, its data selection,
research methodology and theories of folklore all relate to and associate with
cultural anthropology. Both anthropology and folklore studies arose in a climate
that widely accepted Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and social Darwinism.
34
Documentation,
Preservation and
Conservation of
Culture
This theory believed that all humans and human society went through a process
of evolution and gradual growth. Thus in one way it accepts the growth of cultures
from a single point or evolution from single fixed concept.
However it should be added here that the subject matter in the two disciplines
varies greatly.Anthropology is concernedwith contemporary people and cultures
other than that of their own world. Folklore on the other hand is concerned with
and it examines the lore of their own people as it existed in the past and in the
present times. In earlier times it was mainly the peasant culture that came under
its scope of study but today folklore is a large encompassing field.
Vladimir Prop defined material culture and customs as the spiritual culture.
According to him this is closely related to ethnography and thus folklore becomes
a study of the ethnologists. He says, “The earliest forms of material culture and
social organization are the objects of ethnography. Therefore, historical folklore
which attempts to discover the origin of its phenomenon rests upon ethnography.
There cannot be a materialist study of folklore independent of ethnography. In
any event the folk tale, epic poetry, ritual poetry, charms, riddles a genres cannot
be explained without enlisting ethnographic data.”

Gender studies
Gender refers to an identification of a person as a male or female according to
culture- specific criteria. Sex and gender differ greatly in the eyes of folklorists.
Sex refers to the biological and functional features of a man and woman while
gender is culturally and sociologically conditioned. This is hence not biologically
determined. This denotes a large range of behaviours and roles that is appropriated
for members of one sex.
In feminist folklore the behaviour pattern that is seen to be natural and proper for
both men and women are studied. These roles are not only seen at home but also
within the limits of work, religion, society, performance and recreation and
government. According to this study an individual’s behaviour, relationships,
attitudes are strongly influenced by culture. The possibilities of connection
37
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
between men and women in both biological and cultural conditions are studied
in feminist folklore studies. These gendered connections are also questioned and
attacked. For example, in many cultures aggression is seen as the act of a female
trait rather than a male one.
This study of gender in folklore goes back to the study of Margaret Mead (in the
early 1920s)who documented gender roles in tribal societies. Simone de Beauvoir
also has explored how women are seen as ‘not-men’. Carol Gilligan has stated
that women have been culturally conditioned to be different. Folklore has also
studied the communication between people who are seen as being homogenous
and one unified whole. Identity in aesthetic expressions is questioned and
challenged.
Gender has also shaped themethodological considerations in the study of folklore.
These studies contend that gender roles are social and artistic forms on their
own. Gender roles are studied as having their own lore and types of internal and
external communication. This means that the way the woman expresses herself
in folk life is quite different from that of men. One thus needs to study and
recognize how women style their behaviours and function.

According to Fox Keller and SandraHarding ethnographic research is a privilege

of themale. It is said in this school of thought that the researcher’s gender identity
and sexual identity will have an effect on data collection and field work. This
will therefore influence what the researchers choose to record and ask in the
field. Hence the ethnographer needs to be aware of gender issues and concerns.
Therefore one has to avoid generalizations about men and women and realize
that actual cultural, racial and class variations do occur in gender roles and
functioning in society. Conscious and unconscious gender biases have pervaded
the discipline of folklore studies.Marginalized groups such aswomen have always
been omitted from studies and they have been hugely neglected. However, now
a few folklorists are trying to solve this issue through their research and
publications.
From the 1970s to the 1990s few publications have appeared in folklore studies
and they are quite significant. Folklore now is seen as beingmore flexible rather
than having any exclusive categories. This is also because many gender oriented
scholarship in related fields such as anthropology and literature has developed.
This has initiated feminist folklore scholarship leading to the interpretation of
gender based materials.
In 1975, the publication of women and folklore (a special issue in the Journal
of American Folklore) challenged the dichotomies that existed between male
and female, public and private and culture and nature. MartaWeigle, in her 1982
book Spiders and Spinsters has also studied the images ofwomen inmen’s rituals
andmyths. Frank Caro’sWomen and Folklore: a Bibliographic Survey also gives
a useful compilation of publications in women’s folklore.

Ethnomusicology
Folklore has also led to the development of ethnomusicology. This stresses the
importance of music in and as culture. This sees music in the cultural context.
This was first used by Zaap Kunds. Early researchers of ethnomusicology
borrowed from allied fields and disciplines such as ethnology, anthropology,
musicology and psychology.
Some of the important topics that it discusses are the origin and universals of
music, musical change and conflict, function of music in society, relationships
between language and music. As pointed out by Charles Seeger, no such single
definition is correct. In general one can say thatmusic in real tradition and living
musical systems are the important concerns that have appealed to
ethnomusicologists.
Although formal study is quite recent, interest in non-western music dates as
early as 1768with the efforts of Rousseau. In the 18th and 19th century missionaries,
civil servants and world travelers took an interest in exotic music.With the advent
of invention of phonograph and the development of the pitch measurement
recording of music were added to the collection of instruments, song notations
and photographs. Nationalism also promoted the revival of interest in folk song.
The efforts of Bela Bortok and Zoltan Kodaly are noteworthy.

After world war II two professional societies were also formed. They were the
International Folk Music Council in1947 and the Society for Ethnomusicology
in 1955. In the late 1950’s they were divided into two camps, one led byAllen
Merriam, and the other by Mantle Hood. Scholars in the 1960’s rejected
comparisons as the primary feature of ethnomusicology. In the old times this had
been described as being savage, primitive, exotic, oriental and non-Western.
However, these definitions have been greatly transformed. During the 1970’s
and 80’s anthropological concerns fused into this discipline. Now this field
analysesmusic in its cultural settings and also sees how it is stored and generated.
Fieldwork is the human face of this discipline. It is critical for it. Themusicologist
assembles the primary sources,makes observations and field notes, recordsmusic
and interviews and gleans through data from archives and libraries. Fieldwork
includes the recordings of informant performances, interviews, photographs, and
video recordings.

Linguistics
The studyof languages (linguistics) has greatly contributed to the study of folklore.
They have several commonalities and it has led to many fruitful exchanges
between the two of them. Both language and folklore are concerned about the
meaning that they convey. They both study the interaction of the community and
the responses of the performer with the audience and the subject matter of the
discipline becomes of pivotal importance. Both linguistics and folklore are shaped
human experience, understanding and behaviours that are shaped by
community and the latent culture.
Hence linguistics plays a very important role in folklore studies. This discipline
arose from the romantic ideals of the eighteenth and nineteenth century where
the efforts of the intellectuals and elite members of society maintained the study
of linguistics and folklore. Many of the concepts and the theories of linguistics
have been employed in the field of folklore. This can be seen in the geographical
and historical approaches, the work of structuralists like Strauss and the
ethnography of communication and speech patterns.
In the 19th century linguistics was deeply involved in the historical origins of
language and its cultural growth. Prior existing forms of languages were studied
and analyzed and carefully compared. This hence revealed certain generic
concepts particularly found in the language patterns of Europe. The Grimm
brothers also collected their famous folktales from the ancient Germanic
mythology. Several Finnish scholars also studied the folksongs in detail and
used the techniques from comparative linguistics.
Both folklorists and linguists were deeply interested in the study of folk speech.
By studying this they hoped to reconstruct the historical and geographical
conditions of the society. This helped to understand the cultural movements of a
nation’s state. In this regard great efforts were made and the publication of
dictionaries such as Dictionary of American Regional English had a great
influence.
The main challenge facing the folklorists and the linguist is the collection of
data. Modernity has seen the erosion of several languages and the efforts of
Boas,Alfred Kroeber and Edward Sapir are noteworthy.Their painstaking efforts
led to the recording and collecting of many American speech narratives. Boas
collected many folk myths and other forms of religious narratives that helped to
understand and comprehend history, value structure, and beliefs of the people
and the aesthetic concerns of society.

Edward Sapir believed that the study of languages helped to understand the world.
He did recognize regional and cultural variations and said that language is
subjective. According to him an individual’s thoughts are greatly determined by
language.According toWhorf, “the problemof thought and thinking in the native
community is not purely and simply a psychological problem. It is quite largely
cultural. It is moreover a matter of one especially cohesive aggregate of cultural
phenomena that we call language.” Language thus serves as the foundation of
culture. This has also been realized by other disciplines such as anthropology.
This helps to study the values held by the people.
One must add here the efforts of linguists of the Prague school of thought. The
scholars in this school such as Jakobson and Bogatrey paid attention not to the
historical development of language but to the usage of it. Its functional features
were studied alongwith its context. This school led to the development of
ethnopoetics.
This is the study of the aesthetic structures in oral performances. This
discipline seeks to discover the descriptive features of oral traditions. Initially
this was studied basically on Native American narratives but it soon spread to
other forms and genres as well. This helps folklorists to look into the concerns of
literature, translation and cultural change.

Both Dell Hymes and John Gumprez have greatly contributed to this study. They
have researched on the pauses and the tonal qualities of the voice and seen its
variation in folk narratives. It has been observed byHymes that NativeAmerican
languages resemble poetry rather than prose. This has helped researchers to find
grammatical structures and find patterns in cultural speech.
Another very important linguist who contributed greatly to folklore studies is
Sassaure. He studied the speech actingwithin a context and determined the rules
of language. He also observed about signs and symbols and determined this
study as semiotics. Folklore as a discipline greatly makes use of semiotics. This
verifies the functions of signs as a means to interpret communication. Both artistic
and social communication comes under the purview.
In the 1970s and 1980s Chomsky discovered the basic rules for spoken language
and avoided its study within the social context. During the 1960s and 1970s
researchers like Dell Hymes and John Gumprez focused their attention on
language functions in context. They say that language is a key signifier to define
community and its everyday processes. They define the social groups as speech
community.According toHymes, “…is a community sharing rules for the conduct
and interpretation of speech, and rules for the interpretation of at least one
linguistic variety.” The understanding thus allows us to study communities that
have more than one language and are bilingual.
Hence folklorists owe a great deal to the effective methods employed by the
linguists and in turn the linguists have also gained much from the folklorists.
They thus give each other new perspectives and fresh dimensions for growth
and exploration

Psychology
Many of the concepts of psychology like unconscious decisions, principles of
human understanding, self- motivations, behaviour patterns and consciousness
have lent to folklore studies. Man is seen as being motivated by his inner urges
and also responds to certain stimulus and is capable of guiding and changing his
behaviour.
Interest in psychology began in the twentieth century and many scholars like
Aarne and Walter Anderson have applied its guiding beliefs to their studies in
folklorism.Apsychoanalytical school was formed in 1967 that viewed folklore
as behaviour. The significant contributions of Freud, Jung and Boas during the
19th and 20th century led to great advancements being made in folklore research.
Folklore is seen as being the byproduct of the unconscious mind and repressed
inner feelings.
Freud usedmany folktales,myths and jokes to explain his work. The distant past
according to him was hidden in the unconscious past and reflected in folklore
symbols. Freud leaned heavily on myths, fairy tales, taboos and jests and said
that the dreams express the fears and wishes of infantile sexuality as expressed
in symbols. For example, he drew upon the famous Greek myth of Oedipus and
exposed the desire of the boy child loving his own mother.
In the 20th century research revaluated the fact that the hidden past was seen to
survive in dreamlike images. The unified cultural past was thus linked up deeply to
the development of the human man. Jung also interpreted myths and fairy
tales by the method of symbolism. He says that all men share in collective
unconsciousness that is reflected in archetypes or models. The persona of the
man hence assumes a professional role. For example, we can see that negative
figures in myths represent the dark side to a personality. Hence, according to
Jung the past represented a significant human activity throughwhich an individual
could experience inner symbolic representations of a collective human experience.
Jung saw the psyche or the human mind as consisting of the personal conscious,
the personal unconscious and collective conscious.
Ernest Jones and Geza Rahiem also find direct associations between dreams and
folklore. They see dreams as combining with fantasies to form myths. Dreams
are thus the substance of mythical tales. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution of
man also is reflected in psychological approaches to folklorists. In 1944
Malinowski established the functional analysis of culture as based on the
behaviour patterns of individuals.
AfterWorldWar II the role of the individual grew in folklore. The identity of a
person was given much more significance than social environments. The
individual was seen as fulfilling many roles and his social behaviour was given
much attention. Traditional folk culture was thus seen to have greater intimacy
and person to person contact rather than mass culture. This became the main
object of study in the 1960s. Individual attitude was not seen to have any class
considerations.
The emphasis was here on the process rather than the product. According to
Hasan al Shamy the folklorists should be concerned about the responses and the
experience of the people. One should not pay attention to the folklore items but
rather the social and cultural conditions in which the individual is placed. Shamy
believes that folklore behaviour makes a direct connection to the people’s
motivation, context, rewards and punishments. The expression of folklore is
affected by the individual ego and individuals attitudes towards themselves.

Performance studies and folklore

This discipline is fairly recent (created in the last 30 years) and is interdisciplinary
in nature. This takes on as its subject human performances. It studies human
behaviours in cultural, aesthetic and social contexts. This is a broad-based
discipline and it finds itsmethods in ethnography, communication, literary studies,
theatre, anthropology and folklore. Some of the important scholars who have
made significant contributions to this study are Richard Schechner, Marvin
Carlson andMary Strine. The utterances by all potential artists are materials for
research in performance studies

As both folklore and performance studies essentially deals with human

presentation this takes into account human actions.We see that humans not only
interact in everyday situations but also sometimes in highly codified and formal
ways like in rituals, rites, festivals and theatrical shows. Performance studies
and folklore addresses formal presentations as it appears all over the world.
However, the two disciplines do pay attention to simple everyday items like
story telling and everyday expressions. A large number of scholars have also
shown interest in how performances vary in social contexts and how gender,
race and class change, alter and modify it.
As correctly pointed out by Schechner, “Performance is no longer easy to define
or locate: the concept and structure has spread all over the place.” In this discipline
performances are seen as the site as well as themethod of study. The roots of this
study go back to the fields of anthropology and sociology. Clifford Greetz and
Victor Turner have contributed significantly to this. However one cannot negate
the works of Sassaure or Dell Hymes on speech.
Over the last twenty years performance studies has had a good standing in
scholarly organizations and publications and is now increasingly seen as part of
the curriculum in colleges and universities all over the world. The Jawahar Lal
Nehru University in New Delhi is offering higher education in performance
studies. A performance study focus group was also created in 1993 as a part of
the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). Several journals like
the Drama Review, PerformingArts Journal, Theatre Annual and many others in
Anthropology, Semiotics, Sociology and Communication dwell exclusively in
performance.

GENRE TRANSFORMATIONS
GENRE TRANSFORMATIONS
Introduction: genre and narrative/performance medium
In this section, we will learn about genre.Anykind of category based on a criterion
or a set of criteria can be called genre. In other words, genre is a method to
classify. In this and the subsequent units, we shall see how genre is used for
classification of cultural forms. Genre has been used in various media, such as
literature, folklore, cinema, music, dance, craft, painting and many others. The
different kinds of cultural productions are distinguished from each other based
on certain methods or distinguishing elements. Thus, a genre is either invented
or is attributed to a given cultural form. For example, in novels and short stories,
there are genres like horror, romantic, modernist, historical, feminist and many
others. In modern painting, there are genres like naturalist, expressionist, cubist
and others. Similarly, in cinema, there are genres likemelodrama, realist, feminist,
Western (Hollywood, cowboy) among others. Therefore, irrespective of the medium,
genres can be found, or more appropriately, they have been used to
classify cultural productions widely, especially in the modern period.
The objective of genre is to classify. Classification can be considered one of the
basic requirements to understand an object of study. In fact, classification itself
is the beginning of study. The fact that an object is classified means that some of
the basic features of the object have already been identified and based on those
features, the object is placed in a certain group that generally shares those features.
Once an object has been classified, it stands in relation to many other objects
which do not share those basic features and are classified in other groups. Thus,
if a cultural product, whether in the medium of literature or cinema or music,
etc. is placed in a certain genre, it means that the product shares certain
commonality with others of its kind and also shares dissimilarity with other
products of its kind. For example, though all novels are same in that they are
novels, but different novels belonging to different genres would be different
from each other

Genre and trans-genre

It is evident from the preceding section that genre is a mode of classification. In
that capacity, all genres are arbitrary, i.e., they are not naturally given forms of
classification. They are invented or formulated forms of classification. Therefore,
it may be important to probe the limits of genre as a mode of classification.
The primary problem with regard to limits of genre classification is when an art
form consists of features of more than one particular genre. For example, in
many cases, the katha tradition that is found in societies across the Indian
subcontinent is both textual, i.e. has a narrative based on text, as well as oral. It
is oral because these texts are performed, and there are no written codes of
performance of the text. Such traditions are generally called textual performances.
But it could very well be discussed in the context of either textual literature, or
performance, or oral narratives as well.
The same could also be said about forms of music or dance. For example, there
are traditions of music and dance in various societies of the subcontinent which
are a combination of folk and classicalmusic or dance forms, such as the Satriya
or Oja Pali dances of Assam. Further, these music and dance forms are also
performances, i.e. they are generally narrations which may or may not be based
on texts. Therefore, once again, it is evident that there are numerous cases of art
forms that do not necessarily fit into one category of genre classification.

It is possible to add more examples of art forms that do not come strictly under
one genre. For example, if under the broad category of literature, one tries to classify
‘religious’ and ‘secular’ literatures of the pre-modern age in the Indian
subcontinent, it would be extremely difficult to sustain the two genres of
‘devotional’and ‘secular’.This is because the strict distinction between ‘religious’
and ‘secular’ was not maintained in the cultural productions or traditions of the
period. For example, the Gita is both a philosophical and a religious treatise.
Tales like the Jataka or the Panchatantra are both ‘secular’and ‘religious’ at the
same time. The very conception of culture along the lines of distinction between
the ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ was not present. Rather, there was an attempt to
conceive from the various dimensions of social life (time, space, and universe)
as a relation between the physical/mortal and the metaphysical/universal. Thus,
genres such as ‘religious’ literature or ‘secular’ literature would be of little help
as modes of literary classification

Genre in historical perspective

It is often noted that with regard to cultural traditions that are found in the various
societies of the Indian subcontinent, genre classification could be an insufficient
approach to categorize such traditions. Genre, as a classification method, is
premised on the assumption that there are features or elements in a given art
form that are peculiar to it, and thereby relates it with some while distinguishes
it from most others of its kind. One of the fundamental requirements for genre
classification to succeed is a situation in which the various art forms can interact
with each other or exchange elements from each other, but as distinct entities
from each other. In other words, the assumption of codified difference is central
to genre classification.
However, in most cultural traditions and art forms in those traditions in the
premodern
period in the subcontinent, interactions and exchanges with each
other were not necessarily based on the assumption of one’s difference from the
other. There are debates on whether it was because art forms were primarily
functional in nature, and therefore, exchanges among them was an integral
component of their existence, or if it was because oral and textual art
simultaneously co-existed in the pre-modern period, and therebya strict distinction
of one art form from the other is not possible to be maintained under all given
 historical conditions.

The above problem can be illustrated from the field of what came to be called
classical literature (since the 19th century) of the pre-modern period. It is important
to note here that classification of literature during the ‘classical’ period was
primarily based on the nature of relation that literatures shared with society and
with each other. In such classification of literature, all the literatures were broadly
placed under six categories. They were (a) Suta literature, (b) Mantra literature,
(c) Shastra literature, (d) Akshara literature, (e) Prakrit literature and (f) Sangam
literature. (Devy: 1998)
Suta literature was primarily oral literature. It also consisted of the largest body
of literature of the period. Most of Suta literatures were generally based on a
text, such as the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, etc. However, what distinguished
them from written literature was their transmission which was oral rather than
being written. In the process of oral transmission, strict adherence to the original
text was not maintained. As the narratives travelled into various regions, new
plots or anecdotes got added to the original.An important aspect of this literature
was that they were lexical in nature, i.e. they had words that were based on
dictionary/recognized vocabulary, and that as narratives they did not lack a
grammatical structure. Suta literatures were generally a part of the collective life
and memory of the people. Names of individual authors were hardlymentioned
in such literatures. Most of the bardic literature of the subcontinent can be placed
under Suta literature. Further, Suta literature did not maintain a strict distinction
between myth and history in its construction of collective life in a given society.
However, it needs to be remembered that this characteristic of combining myth
and history was central to its very existence and transmission, i.e. its survival.
Mantra literature is another classification of literature of the pre-modern period.
Mantra literature generally includes the Vedas, the Brahmanas and the
Upanishads. The uniqueness of Mantra literature is that they constitute textual
literature, yet their transmission has been oral in nature. However,mantra literature
is different from Suta literature in this regard. Whereas in Suta literature, the
content of the narratives may change over time and across space, in Mantra
literature, they cannot change. This characteristic of non-change is fundamental
to its identity. Mantra literature has also been classified as shruti (what is heard)
and smriti (what is remembered).Vedas were shruti literature and theUpanishads
(which were derived from the Vedas) were smriti literature

FOLKAND GENRE
Folk in different genres
Now we will try and see how folk forms can be classified under different genres.
Folk forms have been classified into several genres. In the category of oral
narratives, some of the commonly used genres are tales, myths, lullabies, omens,
street narratives, idioms and phases, and proverbs. Non narrative folk forms
include art and totems, music, dances and performances. The distinction of folk
forms into various genres is generally done in terms of their origin/context or
function or the nature of their constitution/narrative structure. For example, one
of the important differences between tales and myths on the one hand and proverbs
or omens or street narratives on the other is that the former are generally long
while the latter are short. Therefore, tales and myths are long narratives while
the other ones are short narratives.
Further, tales are different from myths, though there could be occasions when
they both could come together. For example, the katha tradition found across
many societies in the Indian subcontinent comprises of tales as well as myths
and legends. A tale could be based on myths. But a tale could also be based on
legends, in which case, it is based on a historical episode or character, though the
tale based on the historical episode or character does not have any historical
evidence, i.e. a legend. Myths could also be of various types. For example,myths
could be origin myths or they could also be about mythical characters, whether
human or animal or bird. Myths have been one of the most studied genres of
folklore, especially of societies which does not maintain a written language, to
trace historical origin.
Folk songs are another categorywhich has been extensively studied. Folk songs
have been generally divided into several genres, such as harvest songs, ritual
songs, festival songs, dirge or mourning songs, nature songs and others. This
classification is generally done on the basis of their function or occasion in which
they are sung. Similarly, folk dances have also been classified into several genres
based on their function or occasion of performance. Folk performance is a category
in which music and dance get combined. Music and dance are used to narrate a
subject, and that becomes a primary characteristic distinction of folk performance
from folk music or folk dance. However, such narratives are different from oral
narratives such as tales or myths. The difference lies not only in their function
but also in their nature, i.e. their structure.

Can folk be categorized into genres

One of the main characteristic of folk forms is that there is always an overlap of
classification. Elements or characteristics of folk forms of one genre can be found
in folk forms of other genres as well. This could be because folk forms borrow
from each other to a great extent or because the function of a folk form can
change under given conditions. For example, it is pointed out that omens can
transform into proverbs under given conditions. Importantly, the structure of the
form, i.e., its words or syntax does not change. What changes is its function,
from being an omen to a proverb.Another example in this regard is that of folk
poetry and folk song. Chautal (Central India) poetry transforms into Chautal
song once tune is added to the narration of the poetry. In this case, it is not
merely a change of function. An element is added to the poetry, though for a
37
‘Folk’ Representations by/
of Dalits and Tribals
given occasion or purpose, and it is that addition of a new element (tune) that
transforms folk poetry into folk song. In the case of omens and proverbs, there
were no syntactic changes despite the transformation of genres. But in the case
of Chautal poetry and song, syntactic changes (from literature to music, i.e. change
of medium itself) are a part of the transformation of genres.

Relevance of genre classification

In the preceding sections, (3.2.1 and 3.2.2) we have highlighted the problems
that are faced in genre classifications. One of the major problems, as evident, is
the criterion to adopt for genre classification. For example, with regard to fairy
tale, feminist scholars are increasingly pointing out that the ‘hero’ need not be
seen as central to the narrative of fairy tales. There are numerous instances when
the criteria that are considered significant are altered; fairy tales also come across
as women centric. In fact, the approach of ‘hero’ or ‘heroine’ as central to the
fairy tale may itself be questioned by shifting the significance to life processes.
Thus, it is apparent that genre classifications are relative. They can change with
change of approach/perspective and with the availability of new information.
Nevertheless, genre classification is still an established practice inmost disciplines
dealing with culture. This is because by systematizing information into specific
categories, it helps in the generation of knowledge that systematizes our
understanding of the object of study in particular and the society in general.
Therefore, availability of new information or emergence of new interpretation
leads to re-interpretation of genre, but not to its rejection as a method

ILLUSTRATION OF FOLK GENRES AND

GENRE TRANSFORMATION
Anote on the relation of folklore and folk forms in the BrahmaputraValley:
In a semi tribal semi caste social formation folk forms are significant as forms of
knowledge and practices.There are a wide range of folk forms in the Brahmaputra
valley. However, the different folk forms do not necessarily constitute part of
folklore. With regard to this study, folklore is considered to be primarily oral.
Given below is a tentative classification typology of relation between folklore
and folk forms in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam. Many of the folk forms
could also be found in other societies of South Asia as well.
Oral narratives:
There are numerous oral narratives in the Brahmaputra valley. For example,
Biya naam (marriage songs), Ai naam (hymns/songs in worship of Shakti),
Bangeet (nature songs), Bihu geet (Bihu/festival songs), origin myths, lullabies,
vows, parables and riddles and other forms of tales comprise the oral narrative
tradition in the Brahmaputra valley.
Textual performance:
Textual performances are generally performances of texts. The Ram Katha
tradition in the valley as well as in many other parts of the SouthAsia could be
taken as examples of textual performances. In the tradition of textual performance
the text exists as a referent for the performance. However, the dramatization of
the text or the performance could vary from the text. In fact, rather than the text
giving meaning to the performance, it could be vice versa as well. Oja Pali
tradition is another example of textual performance in the Brahmaputra valley.
Tales and origin myths:
Tales and origin myths constitute a significant form of folklore. They could be
treated separately from oral narratives because they could also exist in written
narrative (as shown below). Tales and origin myths have been one of the most
widely researched forms of folk tradition.
Oral – written narratives:
There are categories of folk forms that neither entirely belongs to the oral or the
written narratives but have elements of both. For example, the mantra tradition
across SouthAsia, including the Brahmaputra valley, could be considered in this
category. The Mantras literature themselves were never written down for a long
time. However, the methods of memorizing them and transmitting them over
time and across space were written down. Thus, as folk traditions, they are
peculiarly placed between the oral and the written narratives.
Folk— classical forms:
In the music traditions of South Asia, it is widely understood that the classical
traditions (Hindustani and Carnatic) have borrowed extensively from folkmusic
and dance. However, it is possible to find traditions which, though are based on
the classical codes, rely on the temporal time for performance. For example, in
the case of the Satriya dance of the Brahmaputra valley, though it is based on
classical (Hindustani) codes of rhythm, the nature of performance depends on
the songs that are sung as accompaniment in the given temporality. It is pointed
out that the category of mixed rhythm or misra taal used in Satriya dance is an
example of rhythms developed to accommodate the simultaneous existence of
classical codes and temporality of performance in the dance form. The songs/
hymns sung are also based on classical ragas. But the relation of the vocal and
the dance does not exist as codified or determined in nature.Thus, the significance
of mixed rhythm. It could be argued that Satriya dance is also a form of textual
performance. However, its distinct difference from other forms of textual
performances due to its reliance on classical music makes it a different
category

Individual – folk (Borgeet and Naam Ghoxa):

Borgeets were composed by Sankardeva while Naam Ghoxa was composed by
his discipleMadhabdeva. Both are genres ofVaishnava devotional songs/hymns
composed around 16th century. Borgeets and Naam Ghoxa are examples how
individual creations transform into the category of folk.Though primarily written,
they have existed as oral practices of the people for nearly five centuries in the
region. They have become people’s devotional songs/hymns. However, to be
noted is that there are evidences that many Borgeets and Naam Ghoxa were
composed after Sankardeva and Madhabdeva, but were passed on as compositions
of the two preacher artists. It once again highlights how individual creations
transform into folk practices over time.

Modern inventions of folk categories:

One of the most evident examples of modern inventions of folk categories could
be ‘grandmother’s tales’. It is difficult to locate ‘grandmother’s tales’as a category
in the folk traditions. In the latter, they exist as un-assorted collections of folk
memories and oral practices. It is only in the modern times and with the advent
of the printing press (mass production and consumption of ‘books’) that individual
authors tried collect or write stories under the category of ‘grandmother’s tales’.
Lakhminath Bezbarua’s Burhi Air Sadhu is an example of this phenomenon. It is
important to note here that this category is different from lullabies. The latter has
always existed as a folk category prior to the modern period.
Folk - pop:
Especially in the case of music, one of the re-invention of category (with regard
to folk) came about in the field of popular music. This is a trend evident in
societies across the world, including South Asia. In the case of Brahmaputra
valley, it is evident in the genre of popular modern music that became possible
through the technology of sound recording. For example, music composers and
singers like Jyotiprasad Agarwalla, Bishnu Rabha, Bhupen Hazarika and many
others have used folk music but (a) in the category of adhunik geet (or ‘modern’
popular music) or (b) folk but as an individual’s creation and towards a modern
political ideology/objective, such as Bishnu Rabha. In the latter case, it could be
considered similar to the precedingmodel, i.e.modern invention of folk category.
However, if both case (a) and case (b) are taken together, they stand out as a
distinct category, peculiar to the modern period. One fundamental difference of
the category from that of individual – folk (Borgeet and Naam Ghoxa) indicated
above is that the category of folk – pop is based on (a) modern sound and recording
technology, (b) mass production and consumption of music/art and (c) modern
political ideology or objectives

Urban folk forms:

There are few urban folk forms in the Brahmaputra valley. Graffities could be
treated as an example of such urban folk discourse. The political turbulence in
the valley has generated a significant form of graffiti in the urban areas of the
valley. Oral narratives on political violence in the region are another form of
urban folklore. Rumours have emerged as a significant form of such urban
folklore. Political in nature, these rumours are based on the violence that has
become a way of life in the region. Such rumours could be found in both rural
and urban as well as in the hills and plains of the entire north eastern region. It is
important to note that rumours or grapevine have also been of much political use
in information generation and dissemination, secret or otherwise. However, the
limited number of urban folk forms in the valley is also indicative of the limited
urbanization in the region. A significant issue here could be how much of the
urbanization has been a result of the indigenous people.Most census data indicate
a high preponderance of people from outside the North East India in the urban
locations in the valley.

FOLKLORE AND MODERNART

FORMS
MODERNARTAND CULTURE
World history from 1800 onwards has been a whirlwind of ever-accelerating
social, political and technological changes. Although many segments of the
world’s population still live in traditional societies, they have not completely
escaped the storms of change. Many of the things, like more developed social
segments, taken for granted, are actually quite new, in terms of the broader scope
of human history. Since art is a reflection and amanifestation of personal, social,
and historical influences, many of the previous models of artistic expression
have also undergone radical transformations in the last two centuries. These
changes reflect the effects of wars, science and technology, and evolving social
structures. Thismovement toward new forms has also awakened a desire to look
back towards traditional modes of cultural expression. Folklore and modern art
has a deep impact on each other. The preservation of traditional arts and culture
is also the preservation of traditional social models, beliefs, and skill sets.
However, these traditional modes of expression are affected by social and
technological changes that bring both promise and peril to their continued viability.
In order to understand how modern art has evolved and how it reflects society
and influences on folklore, wewill first review recent discoveries and inventions
that have transformed the ways in which many people live. The arts reflect these
changes in the expression of the complex construction of individual and collective
meaning.

Technological developments and social change

The greatest impact on current human life comes from the revolutions in energy
technology, communication methods and the computer, mass production, and
engineering inventions. These changes have rapidly transformed many parts of
the globe in a very short time span, leading to social disruption and conflict, as
well as improvements in living conditions and health. The creative arts, therefore,
reflected these rapid changes by breaking with traditional methods and styles of
expression. However, these changes were not without their detractors. There
were anti-technology movements such as the Luddites in Britain, and art
movements such as the pre-Raphaelites, who sought to emulate earlier art styles.
The internal combustion engine and electricity have revolutionized modern life,
bymaking mass and individual transportation cheap and easy. Electrical power,
for both industrial and domestic use, made mass production and factory work
faster, more efficient, and simpler. These changes also had a profound effect on
handicrafts and home industry, displacing many people from their traditional
cultures and homes. The revolution in transportation, by train, bus, auto or air,
have made it possible to travel or ship items almost instantly from one part of the
world to another, blending cultures.
Communication technology and computers have dramatically changed the nature
of human discourse. The telephone, both wired and mobile, radio, television,
and the internet have transformed the speed and reach of bothmass and personal
communication in developed areas. The power of electronic images and sounds
to alter awareness of the wider world has affected all levels of society, and also
brought change to traditional life with the awareness of other modes of living.
Mass production with the aid of machines, as typified by the factory assembly
line, has made profound changes in the nature of human work and the relationship
between the worker and the product. This disassociation between the workers
and their product, between creativity and personal expression in handicrafts, has
resulted in profound changes in societies everywhere, and led to much social
unrest.

Modern thought and cultural change

Scientific discoveries from astronomy to nuclear physics transformed the way
many people viewed their religious traditions and cultures. Oldmyths were seen
to have no basis in fact, and for some, this conclusion was devastating. “God is
dead” was the proclamation of the German philosopher Nietzsche; society was
cast adrift from its traditional foundations.
Another thinker, Sigmund Freud, wanted to study the personality scientifically.
Freud’s use of “psychoanalysis” was a major step in psychological theory that
had a tremendous impact on literature, the arts, and state institutions. The opening
of the unconscious as a field of inquiry meant that artists attempted to utilize
different avenues to communicate with the subconscious. It also created a renewed
129
Impact of Technology in
Transforming Folk Art to
Commodity
interest in “folk art” and “primitive forms” of expression. In terms of the state,
the belief that most people were essentially ruled by unconscious forces led to
the creation of propaganda campaigns that manipulated these basic instincts to
control society, such as National Socialism in Germany.
Einstein’s theories of relativity revolutionized the concepts of space and time.
They provided an entirely new model with which to conduct scientific work and
also were highly influential in the arts. This model states that space and time are
fundamentally linked. This unitary conception is known as space/time. Einstein’s
theories are close in many ways to the conceptions of reality described both in
Hindu and Buddhist literature.

Political thought and the rise of nations

Old empires and forms of government began to crumble under the onslaught of
these social and cultural revolutions. Democracy, communism, socialism, and
totalitarianism brought about sweeping changes in many areas, and new nations
and states arose fromthe fragments of the old.National unity and identity became
an important goal, and governments reached back into history, using elements of
traditional culture as a tool to unify their citizens, and create a national identity.
Political thought as a result gave development to the rise of nation states. The
arts were a method of communication, and many artists supported this goal in
their work.
4.2.4 Definition of modern art
The term“modern art” was first used after 1850. This periodwas the culmination
of separate developments in the patterns of patronage, art instruction, and the
artist’s position in society, brought about by the profound social and political
upheavals of the Industrial Revolution and political revolutions in France and
elsewhere.Artists produced totally new variations on 19th century realism, known
as Impressionism. Some art historians point to a specific date, 1863, whenManet
showed his shocking painting, Dejeuner sur l’herbe. This work overturned the
artistic conventions of the time, both in its subject matter and technique. Post-
Impressionism, as exemplified in Matisse and Picasso, was the start of
nonrepresentational art, which many see as the major trademark of modern art.
Thus, one might define modern art as that which consciously rejects the past,
and seeks out constant innovation. The phenomenon of abstract or nonobjective
art rises from the many cultural changes listed above, and gave rise to many
styles, including realism, abstract art, surrealism, cubism, and Dada. Modernism
in art appears in different societies at different times. The modernist period in
Indian art is generally dated from the 1930’s, while Raji Ravi Varma (1848-
1906) is considered the first western style painter of note. The major issue in
decolonized countries is establishing a sense of identity which incorporates
technological and social changes while maintaining connections to the past.
4.2.5 High modernism
Modernism is generally dated from about 1890 and reached its peak as a
movement by the mid-twentieth century. It is typified by the emergence of an
oppositional culture that producedworks that wereminimalist and abstract, often
of an experimental and fragmentary nature, for the elite. At the same time, the
rise of popular or mass culture produced art thatwas easily understood and lacking
originality, called “kitsch” by its critics. Among the hallmarks of the High
Modernist period are the mass production of new technologies and new designs,
emphasizing optimism, forward thinking, ‘the future is now’ feeling, and the
discarding of the past.
An example of this is the new architecture or new design in the 1950s known as
ultra-modern. A skyscraper represents many important aesthetic elements of
modernism, designated below in italics. The skyscraper was a simple box, all
straight lines, pure design and materials. It had no frills or ornaments, used
steel, glass and concrete, with colors of white, black, or grey. The stripped down
aesthetic was abstract, boxy, and uncompromising. The emphasis is on a feeling
of abstraction, or ‘pure line.’ In this case, the elite style becomes the popular
style and box architecture can be seen in department stores, shops, and office
cubicles mainly because its no-frills approach is cheaper, not necessarily
welldesigned.

Modernism in the arts

The advent of Modernism brought the development of the avant-garde culture.
The unified taste of the social elite who rewarded artists who did not innovate,
was replaced with the republican, democratic opinions of mass culture and a
middle class, who scorned what they did not understand. The artist became an
outsider, seeking to protest bourgeois values, often with revolutionary social
and aesthetic values. The works produced were expression of the subjective
imagination of the artists, rather than a depiction of reality. Currently, the avantgarde
has lost meaning, as the modern media lead the entire population into
constantly embracing the very newest trend and discarding the last fad.
4.2.7 Visual arts
The rejection of tradition and the embrace of the new are seen in many of the
modernist schools. One trend was the use of industrial artifacts, as typified in the
works of Marcel Duchamp, whose works Bottlerack and Fountain displayed
common non-art objects as art, turning the elitist distinctions about art upsidedown.
Another example in painting is abstract expressionism, which completely
avoided representations of any concrete shapes or figures.An example is Jackson
Pollack, who would create his works by flinging or dripping paint on a canvas.
In this process, the human element is removed or diminished in the work, and
131
Impact of Technology in
Transforming Folk Art to
Commodity
the techniques of the past are rejected. Another aspect of modernism is the use
of tribal or ‘primitive’ motifs, which will be discussed in detail in the coming
section.

Literature
Modernist literature has many similarities with the other arts. As in the visual
arts, there was a tendency to break with traditional structures of the past. In the
case of literary works, this was manifested through the subversion of narrative
structures. This also included the juxtaposition of multiple subjectivities and
time/space locations.
Modernist literature also expressed much of the alienation and social
fragmentation that was experienced by individuals as traditional modes of life
faded away. T. S. Eliot is a poet who uses these themes. Another innovation of
modernist literature is that of “stream of consciousness”, a practice that was
directly influenced byFreud. This can be seen inwriting of James Joyce, especially
in the novel Ulysses where the author attempts to recreate the subjective stream
of impressions occurring in an individual. Modernist literature strongly called
into question the social changes that were dislocating and isolating individuals.
Arundhati Roy, in The God of Small Things, employs variations of these
techniques and themes.
4.2.9 Music
Modernism had a strong influence on many styles ofWestern art music. Serialism
was a form that used purely mathematical constructs to composemusic no longer
dependent on tonal structures. The composers wanted music of pure science,
fromwhich the irrational human elementwas removed. Thismusicwas extremely
difficult for the average listener, and so never gained a great deal of popularity.
Another style of music which became popular during this period is known as
minimalism. Minimalism utilized very sparse, repetitive patterns which were
stacked on top of each other. This style, while abstract, was much more pleasing
to the average listener than serialism, and is still used today. However, popular
music, with its bouncy beats, lyrics, and relentless marketing, has captured the
mass audience.
4.2.10 Post-modernism
Post-modernism is generally considered the designation of the current period,
although some scholars believe that we are in the post-post-modern era. In the
post-modern worldview, the particular models of progress described by
modernism are shown to be false constructions. For post-modernism, scientific
truth is just another mode of constructing reality. That means that the scientific
worldview is just one possible model, no truer than any other. One important
trend in post-modernism is that of deconstruction.

FOLKLORE AND MODERNART

We have discussed the interplay between social change and artistic creativity in
terms of Modernism and the cultural elite. We will now look at some elements
of traditional artistic expression i.e. folklore and how they have influenced by
themodern era. Listed below are some characteristics of folk-culture and folklore,
and the differences between it and modernism.
1) Traditional folk-culture is often linked to a particular location. This means
that many of folk tales, folk arts and crafts, and music often celebrate the
local experience of the participants. This is quite the opposite from modern
forms of art which are often distributed throughout the world, and usually
have very little connection with the local.
2) Traditional folklore is often orally transmitted, passed down from parent to
child or from master to disciple. In cultures without literacy, the forms for
the storage and dissemination of ideas and expressionswere dependent upon
memory. This can be contrasted with the modern mass dissemination of
culture through media such as television, books, or radio. The permanence
which many take for granted in modern culture depends upon a variety of
external storage and transmission media.
3) Folklore is grounded in communal life. Folklore and folk artistic expressions
are almost always rooted in larger social structures and communal ways of
life. This gives these types of art a different relationship with society than,
for example, modernist literature, which often criticizes the alienation of
modern life from nature. This sense of grounding is dependent on the
continuity of particular social structures.
4) Folklore is generally linked to a more static conception of history.The modernneed
for change and innovation is usually not part of folk-culture., although
there maybe variations on a given form.
5) Folklore and the folk arts are for the whole community. The sophisticated
tastes of the wealthy elite have shaped ‘high’ art for millennia, but folklore
and the folk arts are usually shared among all members of a community,
providing a shared identity and links to a shared historical tradition. It becomes
a way to link the past with the present.
4.3.1 Folklore’s influence on modern art
When confronted by the rapid changes in the modern era,many people looked to
the future. However, many wanted some way to return to a vision of the past.
Folklore and folk arts represent many of the values that have been displaced in
the modern period. Folklore and the folk arts can also give new stimulus to
artistic works.Many painters,musicians, and others have been drawn to traditional
cultures in the search for inspiration.This can include everything fromtechniques
to subject matter and materials. Nostalgia for a cultural golden age, when life
was simpler and seamless, was also a motivation.
Another way that folklore and folk arts are influential to modern art was the
desire for a return to a primal source of power. The writings of Freud and Jung,
with their ideas of the ‘subconscious’ and the ‘collective unconscious’ led many
artists to believe that the traditional societies and arts were linked more directly
to this inner energy, and they would be able to tap this potential.

Folk art’s influence on modern art

An early artistic movement which extolled the value of the ‘natural man’ was
primitivism. Primitivism was first expressed as a concept by the philosopher
Jean Jacques Rousseau during the 18th century. His influential concept was that
of the noble savage, a belief that culture alienated people from their fundamental
nature. Someone in a natural, primeval state was fundamentally pure. Organized
society was viewed as constraining, corrupting, and destructive. Technology
increased the alienation of humanity from the natural world.
Some European artists, such as Paul Gauguin, sought to escape western
civilization by moving to more natural environments, where they drew their
inspiration from the culture that surrounded them. Gauguin’s depiction of the
Tahitians sought to express through the imagination subjective meanings filled
with innocence and a sense of mystery that could not be found in industrialized
societies.
Other artists, in emerging nations, used folkmotifs, colors and forms as a way to
express their identity and that of their homeland. Rabindranath Tagore, in his
famous painting, Bharat Mata, used elements ofArt Nouveau and Japanese art,
integrated with Indian images in an effort to create new aesthetic modes. The
struggle for an authentic art that draws on the multiplicity of tribes, religions,
cultures and states that is modern India,while expressing the creative imagination
of the individual artist, is ongoing.

Modernity and folklore

The rush to modernity has affected the traditional folk arts and culture. The
migration from countryside to the city has disrupted age-old patterns of society,
as well as destroying many of the handicraft traditions that gave identity and
meaning to local tribes and peoples. Modern artists, even using traditional
techniques, are still producing work for moneyed elite, not for the masses.
Many traditional arts have been lost, due towidespread cultural change, relocation,
and lack of interest of the younger generation in these types of expression. Second,
many oral forms which are dependent on memory are changed when forms of
cultural transmission such as print, recordings, and films, have changed how
people related to these art forms. Often new storage technology supplants the
important memory traditions and leads to the forgetting of many tales and skills.
Third, modern techniques can influence the way arts are produced. This includes
new mechanical techniques of production, and motifs taken from mass culture.
This is seen in music, where traditional styles are mixed with popular forms of
music such as film music and hip-hop. Fourth, themes related to modern life can
become more relevant than traditional ideas, and create new artistic, literary and
musical styles. Fifth, certain types of art can be mass-produced for economic
benefit, and this can result in a dilution of traditionalmethods. Thus,
preservation.

PRESERVATIONOFTRADITIONALCULTURE
4.4.1 History of cultural preservation in India
India’s traditional culture is so varied, rich and complex, that its preservation
seems an overwhelming task, especially in the face of the challenges ofmigration
and modernization. This has leed to the establishment of many agencies and
boards in India. The founding of the All-India Handicrafts Board in 1952, and
associated regional design centers for training in traditional crafts were
established. They have also begun a thriving export business.
Many traditional practices have been kept alive in India. However, we should
say that, if the crafts are being produced apart from the community that inspired
them, the item loses its context and its function can be obscured. However, many
crafts are still produced in the traditional village context. Thus its cultural
preservation takes place. This can be observed in traditional paintings.
Paintings done in villages include many varieties. The painted walls of theWorli
of Maharastra, the Saora of Bihar and Orissa, and the Mithila region of Bihar,
have moved to paper and are now being sold to city dwellers. These designs
have lost their original function.At the other end of the spectrum, other traditions
of wall painting in the Bhil region of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have been
unaffected. Rangoli,or kolam diagrams using colored powders placed on the
ground at the entrance of the house, are used in many villages and towns

Many varieties of decorative arts of folklore can be seen in the urban cities.
Decorative arts also flourish in cities. Vans, buses, walls, signs and billboards
are covered with colorful designs and motifs, advertising specific products or
just celebrating with exuberance the imagination of the artist. .
Textile crafts are extremely popular in the village context, and some are very
well known for their quality and craftsmanship. These are also traditionally
preserved in India. They are usuallymade exclusively bywomen, and embroidery
is themost common formof decoration.Weaving, dyeing and printed are usually
done by professionals. Northern and western India is the focal points for these
crafts.Mothers make decorated wedding garments for their daughters. In Gujarat,
men of theAhir and Rabari communities wear embroidered jackets and trousers.
In Bengal, embroidered quilts, or kanthas, are made for the home, with designs
similar to those in rangoli. Applique work is popular in Gujarat, is used for
shrines and weddings, wall hangings, bedcovers and cart decorations. Among
 themostwell-known are thosemade by the Kathi families of Saurashtra,
Gujarat.

Organizations for the preservation of traditional arts

UNESCO, a specialized agency within the United Nations, has implemented
many projects for the protection of cultural heritage. These programs have had a
varying degree of success. One of the controversial aspects of these preservation
programs is deciding what is traditional culture, how it should best be preserved,
and how to decide the aspects of a culture which are worthy of preservation.
Many different groups within a society have different opinions on what is
important, and often people with differing agendas come into conflict over these
questions.
There are a number of ways to preserve traditional culture. Many methods are
used by the organizations to conserve them. One of them is to preserve artifacts,
sound recordings, write down traditional folktales, and othermethods of storage.
Many aspects of traditional culture have been preserved in archives throughout
the world and recordings of music can be purchased. Although the objects are
preserved, without a community to recreate them or understand them, their value is
slightly diminished, as it is not a part of a living process where interaction
between the audiences and the folklore becomes lesser.
The second method is to encourage people to continue to create art works. This
can be done by workingwith the youth or educational systems to keep traditional
knowledge alive.Knowledge about traditional cultures is important for our history,
and the folkways have value for understanding how to live within a particular
environment. The preservation of a traditional culture also involves the protection
of the environment that sustains it. This includes tribal people living in rain
forests and coastal communities that can be exploited for tourism or rawmaterials.
Thus organizations have greatly helped to conserve and protect the folk forms in
the modern context and their methods of preservation should be lauded and
appreciated

DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO
FOLKLOREAND CULTURAL
PRESERVATION
INTRODUCTION: LANGUAGE, CULTURE
AND IDENTITY
We all care about our identity.AWelsh proverb captures the essence of the answer
to the question 'Why should we care if languages die?' "Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl
heb gallon" meaning 'A nation without a language is a nation without a heart'.
(David Crystal). 'Language…is not only an element of culture itself; it is the
basis for all cultural activities.' Bloch and Trager (1942:5). So much of one's
culture is articulated in its language that it is not possible to be a member of a
community if one does not speak its language for language is an essential attribute
of its customs. What elements of the old language can be taken over by the
latest, without major cultural slaughter? It might, however, still be possible to
narrate the old literature through the medium of the new language, and much of
the old lore and wisdom can also be elucidated and referred to in it. But the fact
is that a great deal will be lost in the conversion, and the new language will be
incapable of putting into words the tenderness or fortitude of the literature that
the older language could do so well. In the process, the repartee will be lost,
anecdotes and gags will lack a convincing thump and ritual terminology would
not have the same alliterative or graceful magnitude.

DEATH OF FOLKLORE AND LANGUAGE

DEATH
In the last Unit, we studied that language is a sacred activity and this is
predominantly correct about our local languages. Theworld of all native tongues
is personal and subjective rather than objective. There is nothing more essential
for local young people than to know their native language and the tribal lore and
wisdomembodied in that language. It is the very heart of individuality. Language
has to be a foundation upon which education can be built and it is through this
institution that the personality is built up by gaining knowledge of our inherited
wisdom and the language controlling that wisdom. In this context, I shall quote
MK Gandhi, the father of our nation, "Of the Languages of the people we know
next to nothing.We hardly understand their speech. The gulf between them and
us, - the middle class, is so great that we do not know them and they know still
less of what we think and speak. Folk-lore is the literature of the people, but it
belongs to an order of things that is passing away, if it has not already done so".
(Folklore of Orissa)
A folk-song is a natural outpouring of the life of those people who live in more
or less primitive circumstances outside the sphere of sophisticated persuasions.
It is the original poetry of any people, unpremeditated and unwritten, fresh and
simple, genuine and natural. It is popular because it alludes to incidents connected
with people's lives. It carries the voice and vocabulary of the masses. With
modernization, the death of our folklore has become a major concern at par with
language death. In folklore, the individual author is so unimportant that he usually
is lost - precisely due to its oral traditions - but the lore should not get lost in the
process.

FOLK CATEGORIES
Let us discuss some of the folk categories which have been an integral part of the
folklore, and which are slowly moving into the clutches of oblivion, causing a
cultural decline.
4.3.1 Folk tales
Story-telling is the historically oldest folk art. It is the intellectual pastime of
some villagers, specially old men and women who are gifted with great skills,
thoughts, power of expression and theatrical action. To recount a story is the
easiest possible thing but demands greater sanctity, greater concentration and
attention to detail. Folk-tales have their roots in the hoary past when Man acquired
the power of articulate expression. He proudly expressed his heroic feelings
when hunting a ferocious tiger, lion, killing his inveterate enemy or narrated his
pitiable lot in the face of storms, floods, famines or earthquakes. He used his
rich imaginative power in devising the circumstances of the creation of the earth
and voiced his eternal interest in natural phenomena. He painted his nascent
feelings and emotions on the wall, sang them in song or expressed them in the
form of tales. We can find a trace of those very ancient stories among the
aborigines. It either forms a part of their current tales or some traditional social
beliefs, which are slowly fading into oblivion. To preserve folk culture, their
revival has to be the first step.
Folk-Stories are generally classified into Legends and Folk-Tales. Alegend is a
storyline of things which are assumed to have happened about a historical
dignitary, region or occasion. But a Folk-Tale is a complete fantasy which may
not have any relation to reality. But there has not yet been any standard effort to
collect the thousands of legendary tales associated with historical personages

Classifications of folk tales

Folk-Tales may be broadly divided into the following categories:
1) Saga of kings who were dim-witted, capricious and dictatorial;
2) Stories of voyages by the sons of kings, ministers, merchants ;
3) Tales of monsters, witches, ghouls and demigods;
4) Tales of birds, beasts, snakes, illusory beings, magic boats, magic jewels
and fishes; and
5) Myths of patriotic warriors when they are caught between love and loyalty
to nation, and where duty wins over love, leading to sacrifice.
4.3.3 Oral traditions of the folk tales
Thosewho come under the enchanting charmof folk tales in their impressionable
and budding years must be considered particularly privileged, because folk tales
help them to build up the power of imagination, hone their appreciation and
sensitivity to beauty, stimulate the spirit of sympathy and co-operation and a
love for humankind and literature.
In villages, boys and girls gather at the door of the story-teller who, in most
cases, may be an old woman on whom rests the responsibility of keeping the
children in good humour. The children have finished with their play and they
have no assignments at home except to disturb and trouble their mothers and
other members of the family. So the best means devised to keep them engaged
and quiet is story-telling. It makes them sit noiselessly and uncomplainingly for
hours, inculcates the habit of good listening, and a readiness to attend to others'
interests. It also keeps the oral tradition of the folk art alive and flowing from
generation to generation.

Proverbs or 'Dakbachans'
Poets and writers frequently make use of proverbs and local sayings to make
their language forceful and rooted to the soil. Sometimes the wise and pithy
words of great writers are repeated by the people and they gradually become a
part of the treasury of proverbs. Thus the illiterate as well as the intellectuals
participate in this exciting and basic exchange of each other's culture and ideas.
There are popularly accepted proverbs in every culture on interesting themes
like co-wife, villainous mother-in-law, conjugal life, worthless husband, sarcastic
comments on various aspects of human society, cultivation, maxims, gods and
goddesses. In the course of time, dakbachans are also going into decline towards
the void of extinction.
4.3.5 Community features in proverbs
Society is a system of associations of a diversity of persons who form its structure.
Our predecessors believed that the social order was created by God who entrusts
his powers to the king. Noncompliance to the king was considered the equal of
disobedience to God. Individuals gave up many of their legitimate rights to this
emblem and assurance of security, the king, however oppressive he might be.
Leaders of society, in their attempt and eagerness to play the role of the savior,
sometimes acted in the most inhuman way. Some people were excommunicated.
Thus many of the aspirations of the people were crushed under the wheels of
social laws.The basic urges and interests of men are modified bysocial and cultural
influences of primary groups of which the most familiar types are represented by
234
Documentation,
Preservation and
Conservation of
Culture
family, caste, community or neighborhood. In the process of socialization the
younger generation accepts the behaviour patterns, the values and ideals of the
family group. Economic, intellectual, moral and aesthetic traditions play a part in
the moulding of his character. The society we are introduced to in the proverbs of
the folk groups is a feudalistic one dominated by kings, nobles and priests. Ideal
characters such as those of great conquerors, famous heroes, poets, philosophers,
artists or sculptors are rarely depicted. We come across mostly common people
who are vital for the existence and well-being of each other.

Legends
A legend is generally about a place of pilgrimage, a fetish god, and there is,
almost about every god, some legend or the other. Through the folk legends, we
can find our ancient world silently breathing within us. These legends, if
documented and made available, will give us a picture of our past which, though
it may not be historically genuine or verifiable, can offer fascinating insights
into the lives of the people and their culture and institutions.
Most families tell stories of various gods and goddesses specially during the
time of festivals. The narrator of these stories are usually elderly women of the
family and the art of this type of story telling is gradually dying out under the
onslaught of modernity, TV and film.
Activity
What are the stories told in your family during festivals?Are they same as those
of other families or communities? How do these stories depict the gods and
goddesses?
4.3.7 Beast tales
In BeastTales, the protagonists are animals who converse and behave like human
beings. These beasts are clever, considerate and dignified. They never show
disloyalty to Man. Sometimes strange happenings are described in Beast Tales,
like for instance, the lives of men or animals are saved by a benign prince when
a forest fire breaks out. The thankful tiger and tigress accept him as one of
themselves and are ready to serve him at any time. Or a princess is lost in the
forest in childhood, she is brought up by a lioness who becomes a mother to her.
But ultimately she is united with her family after falling in love with her prince
charming. The lioness sacrifices her life for the princess. These are always stories
with amoral.The stories are like fables inwhich the animal characters are imbued
with human traits, nobility and even, occasionally, failings and always have a
lesson to offer to both young and old people.

Ploughman's songs
Culture has two main torrents. One flows among the erudite in the form of the
Vedas, Upanishads and different branches of higher literature and the other among
the primitive, unrefined common mass of people in the form of folklore. The
common public is a prevailing force in directing the fortune of a nation and its
civilization. Their God, Ganapati, though it possesses the head of an elephant
(Gaja means a 'Fool') is worshipped as the most scholarly being in the world.
This group adopts a country's culture in its own way, gives it a new character, a
new shade and a new energy. The ploughmen comprise the major segment of the
mass who sell their labour for two square meals a day. They work hard all day
long. All the doors of culture are closed to them. They have no learning, no
leisure. A cultivator's life is one of hard toil, stern realities and no imaginings.
His only entertainment, his songs, forms a part of his daily work. They are not
the compositions of idle hours. Work and song and work - one stimulates the
other; both are interlinked in a knot of companionship. Thus, there is no point in
seeing whether the lines rhyme properly or not, whether the ploughman has been
able to generate a new meter or not, or if the idea expressed is creatively original
or plagiarised. Typically the songs are very short - three or four lines each - all
composed in a limited repertoire of one or two meters. The ploughman
reverentially keeps away from the songs of great poets, his songs are the songs
of the common man, down to earth, which are passed on to himthrough an oral
tradition from his forefathers. He sings his own songs, is the protagonist of his
own poetry, the performer of his own life's theater. His own life is his best source
of inspiration. These interesting songsmust be preserved, documented, andwritten
down as these are an important facet of our culture.

The puppet play: a folk art

We are the proud originators of an important folk art - the puppet play. The
motionless puppets come alive under the expert hands on stage and generate
great curiosity in the minds of the viewers at the very first sight. The audience
lose themselves in the dancing movements of the lifeless puppets in the hands of
the artists. Like the actors and actresses of flesh and blood, the puppets appear
lively, filling the viewers with awe and delight. Puppet plays do not require a
screen, but in order to hide the strings hanging from above and preserve the
mysteries of the play, only one screen-like cloth is suspended from above while
another is raised up from the ground. Behind these two purdahs, the artists do
their work. They send out the puppet-actors and actresses through the dividing
line between the strips of cloth. The puppets aremade of wood and carved by the
village carpenters. Puppet-making has been developed as a family art through
centuries in the villages.
As a family art, it has its good points. It is independent, self-supported and remains
under the authority andmanagement of the guardian of the artist. In this way this
art goes on developing for generations and is conventional and specialized as
well. For the development of this art, neither wealthy support nor great investment
is necessary. It is fundamentally a folk art. The supporters of the village folk
have been helping the puppet tradition to flourish, which is again struggling
against the challenge of the impact of information technology on us. Due to our
disinterest and indifference, this fascinating art form is going into oblivion.

CONSERVATIONAND
PRESERVATION: SOME LEGAL
 AND ETHICAL ISSUES
INTRODUCTION
In general conservation means to preserve and restore all kind of objects getting
to deteriorate. But here we are going to discuss specifically about conservation
of all kind of material/art objects/sound recording that depreciates right from
the time they aremade or created for several purpose. The term conservation can
thus be defined in following order:
242
Documentation,
Preservation and
Conservation of
Culture
􀁸 any action that is determined about the character or properties of materials
used in any kind of cultural set up or in their housing, handling or treatment,
􀁸 any effort taken to understand and control the causes of corrosion, and
􀁸 any action taken to better the condition of such natures
Let us first understandwhy conservation is important and also know the difference
between restoration and preservation as they are fundamental principles.
"Restoration means any action taken in order to try to return the objects as far as
possible to its original and physical and aesthetics state. This attempt is to rectify
the result of deterioration for a limited purpose and period. Preservation is an
attempt to keep any objects in a sound physical and chemical condition. It is an
ongoing process. The objects for preservation can be broadly divided in to two
groupsmaterial/art objects andOral traditions (O.P.Agrawal. 1993. Preservation
of art objects and library materials. pp.xii-xiii).

CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION OF

CULTURE PROPERTIES
It is very much essential to conserve cultural properties for a good understanding
of the history and culture of any country.As the cultural properties are priceless
national assets and form the foundation of future progress it is important to
conserve them. Therefore, every individual must conserve and preserve such
properties and pass them on to future generation.We also need to understand the
materials needed for conservation. The material for conservation of cultural
properties are all types ofmaterials; paper, paintings,manuscripts, textiles, metal
objects, wooden objects etc. Cultural properties thus can be broadly divided in
two groups-tangible and concrete and intangible and abstract.
A brief note of tangible and intangible cultural properties:
􀁸 Tangible: a property or thing that is perceptible by touch, such as
1) Buildings, picture, sculpture, applied art, calligraphic works, and other
items of great historical or artistic value to our nation
243
Conservation and
Preservation: Some
Ethical and Legal
Issues
2) Archeological specimens and other historicalmaterials of great scientific
or academic value
􀁸 Intangible: a property which do not have any physical presence such as
dramatic arts, music, folk performing art, textiles, costume, applied arts
technology, and other cultural assets of an intangible nature which are of
great historical or artistic value (WIPO Publication 913-E)
There are thus varied tasks involved in conservation of all objects, for which a
good understanding of the perspectives and techniques of preservation is needed.
Some of the common conservation procedures of such properties includes physical
or chemical processes such as; removing dirt from the objects, which can cause
damage, in case of acid paper; removing the chemical products or agent of decay
etc, preservation of environment-temperature, humidity, light control etc.

There are thus varied tasks involved in conservation of all objects, for which a
good understanding of the perspectives and techniques of preservation is needed.
Some of the common conservation procedures of such properties includes physical
or chemical processes such as; removing dirt from the objects, which can cause
damage, in case of acid paper; removing the chemical products or agent of decay
etc, preservation of environment-temperature, humidity, light control etc.
Conservation of all kind of material/art objects/sound recording are done under
three main headings and involving specific institutions: (1) Conservation of
museum object (2) Conservation of library materials (3) Conservation of archival
materials. Although they have separate identity, basically they are one institution
divided under three divisions. The museum, library and archives, therefore, play
an important role in our society to provide comprehensive and specific need
based information to their users with special reference to information
management, information retrieval, networking and relating one another with
their collection. Let us now look into these institutions in specific.
5.2.1 Conservation of museum objects
"Museums is a permanent institution in the service of society and of its
development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches,
communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and
hold in its environment, for the purpose of education, study, and enjoyment, as
defined by the International Council ofMuseums.According to theUK Museums
Association. Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration,
learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make
accessible artifacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society. (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/museum)
Conservation in museums includes all kind of processes of looking after a place
where art /material objects/recordings of any cultural significance will be retained.
It includes the continuation and protection of the objects, setting of a place, its
maintenance and also its preservation, restoration, reconstruction etc.
Awell organized library is an integral part of a museum,whose purpose is having
a library in the museum. This is for the collection of books, periodical, guide
books and catalogues relating to it. We also have specific museums which are
specicaily designed like folklore and ethnographic museums which houses
collection of sound recordings of oral traditions such as folkmusic, tribal music,
folk dance, folk theatre, oral history etc., in their archives for the use of scholar
who wish to undertake serious study.

Conservation of Library materials

Library houses collection of published printedmaterial frombooks,monographs,
and journals, news paper clippings etc, as sources of information, resources and
services for the utilization of its users. It is often maintained by a public body,
institution, organization or individuals. Apart from keeping books and other
related published materials, many libraries also have storage for microform
(microfilm/microfiche), audio tape, CD, etc and other sound recording formats.
Following are few policies that library follows for its preservation of their
materials:
􀁸 climate control, fire protection and security of materials from theft;
􀁸 best possible condition for storage, use of good material for exhibiting /
shelving printed materials;
􀁸 protecting material from insect, mould and fungal destruction;
􀁸 keeping a track of issue and return of books, journals or any other printed
materials.
5.2.3 Conservation ofArchival materials
Archives are the place where the non-current records (the term records refers to
any written and reference material, regardless of format) of an organization,
institutions/individual or research scholar that has been selected for preservation
because they have continuing value. They are important also from the view point
of research. Archival materials are kept because the materials themselves are
unique and important as a type ofmaterial. The archives are a body of functionally
and organizationally related material that has grown originally out of some activity.
Archives are maintained by the National governments, Universities, Cultural
institutions, social organization,Museums, Hospital etc., wherever it is important to
preserve non-current records indefinitely. These records have greatest historical
and fullest potential and use to their creators and other researcher in documenting
and understanding the past, dealingwith the present, and preparing for the future.
Following are few preservation policy followed by the archives:
􀁸 acquisition of material,
􀁸 determining the material in terms of worth keeping their value against the
costs in time, space and money
􀁸 a proper storage for archival materials
􀁸 plan for preservation such as documentation, cataloguing, accessioning
􀁸 climate control, fire protection and security of materials from theft
The overall duty of the archivist (individual who is responsible for managing
archival records), librarian (person responsible for managing the library) and
curator (keeper or custodian of a museum) is to ensure that all the items/objects
of their collections aremaintained in an appropriate condition for use. Therefore,
it is essential and amust for all three to formulate a policy of their own in respect
of preservation of their valuable collections to fulfill the aims and objective their
founding organization. They should thus ensure best possible storage for keeping
thematerials, use of thematerial, displaying the materials, care and maintenance
of the equipments.
Some of the most importance aspects of conservation and preservation are
financial resources, accommodation and climate. For these, a good planning is
verymuch necessary to continue the task of preservation in a smooth space. Last
but not the least is the concern of the staff and co-ordination of their work, to
ensure and promote best use of their respective institutions/organization to the
user and ensure its optimum usage.

PRESERVATION AND ITS METHODS

We have already mentioned about the definition of preservation in beginning,
here, we will discuss the methods related to preservation of material/art objects
and recording.
Preservation of Material/art objects
All art objects of any types are created in various materials such as wooden
objects, stone sculpture, textiles, manuscripts, paintings etc., and they are
continuously subjected to dangers of damage and deterioration. Therefore, it is
essential for museum curators and art collector to preserve this collection of
objects and to understand the nature of the dangers, their causes, effect and control
the techniques.
The material/art objects are broadly divided into two categories: (a) inorganic
and (b) organic. The inorganicmaterials do not decay that easilywhile the organic
one does with the passage of time.
a) Inorganic materials are ceramic, stone, metal etc.
b) Organic materials are paper, wood, textiles, leather, ivory, bone etc.
The inorganic materials have therefore long lasting effect then organic objects
but they also decay in slower rate organic objects. Organic objects need greater
care for preservation.
Before going in details to understand themethods of preservation ofmaterial/art
objects it is important to know howdeterioration takes place andwhat the various
factors which damage objects are. Deterioration is the alteration in an objects
produced by interaction between objects and factors of destruction. There are
several factors involve for deterioration of an objects, such as dust, direct sunlight
and constant heat etc., for objects being kept in an open environment. For the
objects inside a building are prone to get damage mainly from natural causes
such as climatic conditions and environment, light, micro-organisms like fungi,
insects etc., in the atmosphere. Apart from these, other most frequent causes of
damages are mishandling of objects, bad storage, fire or accidents. Abrief note
on some of the important cause corrosion andmethods of preservation ofmaterial/
art object are given below:

Climate
The two most important components of the climate are humidity and temperature.
Humidity and temperature are interrelated, the relative humidity of an enclosed
space increases if there is a drop in temperature, and decreases if the temperature
is
raised. The main cause of humidity is water in both liquid and vapor form,
accelerates chemical process of deterioration. For example, the presence of water
deteriorates metal and stone much faster then under dry condition. Objects like
paper, wood, leather etc., becomes limp and losses its crispness in a moist
atmosphere. High humidity favors rapid reproduction of insects and microorganisms
like fungi. Most often climatic condition also damages objects for
example, when any objects becomes adjusted to a particular balance of relative
humidity, and transported to a different climate, tend to suffer damage

Humidity and temperature control

To keep records of temperature and humidity of a museum building, it is necessary
to record the temperature and humidity of all the rooms and galleries. There are
various devices formonitoring humidity and temperature, one of the easy devices
to measure is hydro thermometer. This equipment is placed on the wall in the
gallery or any specific area where it is desired to measure the relative humidity
and temperature of the building.
5.3.3 Monitoring humidity and temperature
For measuring climatic conditions of all the rooms of a building where objects
are kept usually do not maintain a same climate. The process of monitoring
humidity and temperature is undertaken throughout the year and in different
period of the day. This kind of study helps to determine the necessary measures
to be taken for conditioning the climate of the rooms. For controlling constant
humidity and temperature in museums or libraries or art gallery, it is recommended
that the relative humidity should range between 45(45%) to 60(60%) per cent
and the temperature between 20 to 24 degree Centigrade (68 to 76 F)
The significant measure taken for controlling climate is air-conditioning.
Airconditioning
norms are chosen according to the outside condition of climate of
the museum or library or art gallery or archives. In humid climate, a higher
figure of relative humidity can be chosen for control at 55 percent (55%) or
more, but within 65 per cent (65%), and for dry climate, it should be about 45
per cent (45%) in lower limit. The measure of controlling climate changes
according to regions. It is very important to note that whatever be the type of
airconditioning
that it must run continuously day and night. Lowering airconditioning
in different time of the day or night or operated during summer and
turning off during winter is dangerous, because it causes artificial fluctuations
which damage the objects, especially for archiving any kind of sound recordings.
For example, (1) mould and fungus will permanently damage all recorded material
from wax cylinder to digital tape. (2) metal objects which would otherwise
remained in good condition due to fluctuation it will start corroding. In this case
it is better not to have air-conditioning and humidity control than have wildly
varying levels.

The air-conditioning is excellent process for controlling climate but it is very

expensive and generally not possible for entire building ofmuseums, libraries or
art galleries or archives. In this case, it is possible to control a limited number of
rooms or selected area should be examined.
5.3.4. Light
Light is a form of electro-magnetic energy, whether natural or artificial, poses a
threat to certain categories of works of art and sound recordings formats (like
cassettes, spool etc).Although objects like stone,metal and ceramics are normally
not sensitive to light, but all other object of organic material such as textiles,
paper, paintings etc., are liable to be affected by it. Specially in the tropical
countries where the sun is bright almost throughout the year, the damage from
light can be serious.
The control for light in museum or archives or in areas where vulnerable objects
are to be stored or exhibited must observe following three factors

􀁸 Minimize the intensity of light falling upon the objects

􀁸 Expose objects to the light for a minimum period of time
􀁸 Eliminate the photo-chemically active radiations from the light
5.3.5 Insects
One of the worst enemies of all kinds of paper/recording formats/organic
materials, natural objects etc., they bore holes in to material they infest and eat it
voraciously.
In tropical climates, insectmenace is greater in than in temperature zones because
high temperature and humidity favor insect growth.
To control insect from the object the material used for construction of building
play an important role of prevention of insect attack. Following are few factors:
􀁸 Insect proof materials, like steel should be used for shelving sound recording
formats and books.
􀁸 Timber should be properly treated to make it insect proof for displaying
museum objects.
􀁸 To prevent reproductive activity of insects use of insecticides is advisable
(such as pest control) in tropical climates especially where air-conditioning
and humidity control is very expensive.

Fungus
Fungi or fungus are a type of bacteria, a great danger in tropical countries because
of their humid climate. Fungi are serious threat to museum objects (specially to
organic nature), sound recording formats etc:
To control fungus following factor should be taken care of:
􀁸 Time to time cleanliness of the building and the objects is necessary.
􀁸 All books, art objects, sound recordingmaterials etc. should be taken out for
dusting with soft brush or low vacuum.
5.3.7 Fire
Fire is one of the major danger and destruction for the art objects both organic
and inorganic, specially organicmaterial like textiles, paper etc., all kind of sound
recordings materials. The protection measures against fire should be taken in
following ways:
􀁸 while the planning the building by keeping provision for appropriate exits
door for quick evacuation of the staff as well as the visitors.
􀁸 Easy availability of water supply
􀁸 Installations of electronic items should be of best quality for museum or
archives or library buildings
􀁸 Fire extinguish should be installed
􀁸 Installation of fire detector

METHOD OF PRESERVATION OF SOUND

RECORDING
The aim of any sound archive is to preserve its collections into the indefinite
future. Most of the preservation work requires technical expertise and expensive
equipment, but certain principles require nothing more than common sense. Some
of the important preservation principles for everyone as follow:
1) keep storage area dust-and insect free
2) keep temperature and humidity stable
3) keep material away from light
4) handle only when necessary
5) store in a secure vault to protect from theft, loss, or accidental misuse
6) develop an emergency plan for natural disasters, such as flood or fire
7) keeping multiple copies of a document is an important preservation
principle. Specially, make working copies of original recording and keep
the original into permanent storage, and, use only the newcopy or working
copy.
LEGALAND ETHICAL ISSUES
When a collection/material object is deposited or acquired in an archive/museum,
there is certain level of writing; negotiation with terms and conditions of legal
procedures takes place among the archives, performer and depositor/researcher.
The procedure of such kind are known as legal issue.
In general Ethical issues are concern with moral principle. For example, in a
field recording archives the recorded materials of a particular community are While
signing for any kind of commercial releases, archives should make
communication with both the community and the depositor/collector, which can
be consulted as to the uses of the recordings.
Before going into details about Legal and ethical issues, we need to understand
the subject matter which needs to be protected under this regulation: they are
Traditional cultural expression/Expression of Folklore often the product of day
to life and communities' identity and cultural heritage.This product are constantly
recreated and reproduced by the traditional artists and practitioners. Following
are the subject matter of traditional cultural expression:
1) verbal expressions, such as folktales, folk poetry, riddles, jokes, words,
symbol and indication;
2) musical expressions, such as folk songs and instrumental music;
3) expression by action, such as folk dances, plays and artistic forms or rituals;
whether or not reduced to a material form; and
4) tangible expression, such as:
— production of art, in particular, drawings, painting, carvings, sculptures,
pottery, terracotta, mosaic, woodwork, metal ware, jewelry, basket
weaving, needlework, textiles, carpets, costumes
— crafts
— musical instruments
— architectural forms
Expression of traditional culture/folklore may be either tangible or intangible,
most often they are combination of two.An example ofmix expression of folklore
would be a (1) recorded piece ofmusic (tangible expression) thatwhile performing
a song or dance is intangible (2) a woven piece of cloth (a tangible expression)
that while expressing a traditional story (an intangible expression). (WIPO
publication no. 912(E).pp. 7-10)
TheWorld Intellectual PropertyOrganization (WIPO) has an active programme
of policy development, legislative assistance for preservation, protection and
promotion of traditional cultural properties.Abrief note on Intellectual Property
Rights:

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR)

Copyright legislation is part of wider body of law known as Intellectual Property
Rights. This right protects the interests of creators by giving them property rights
over their creations.
WIPO is an international organization dedicated to promoting creativity and
innovation by ensuring that the rights of creators and owners of intellectual
property are protected worldwide, and that inventors and authors are thus
recognized and rewarded for their ingenuity

The convention establishing theWorld Intellectual PropertyOrganization (1967)

gives the following list of subjectmatter protected by intellectual property rights:
􀁸 Literary, artistic and scientific works
􀁸 Performances of performing artists, phonograms, and broadcasts;
􀁸 Invention in all fields of human endeavor
􀁸 Scientific discoveries
􀁸 Industrial designs
􀁸 Trademarks, service marks, and commercial names and designations
􀁸 Protection against unfair competition
􀁸 All other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific,
literary or artistic fields
The importance of protecting intellectual property was first recognized in the
Paris Convention for the protection of Industrial property in 1883 and the Berne
Convention for the Protection of Literary andArtisticWorks in 1886. Both treaties
are administrated by theWorld Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Generally all countries have two types of protect intellectual property and they
are:
a) to give statutory expression to the moral and economic rights of creators
in their creations and to the rights of the public in accessing those
creations.
b) to promote creativity, and the dissemination and application of its result,
and to encourage fair trade, which would contribute to economic and
social development.
(WIPO Publication No. 909 (E).pp.3-4)
5.6.1 What is copyright law?
Copyright law protects the rights of intellectual creation with the respects to
their original works. It is applicable to all types of literary and artistic works and
will be protected as long as these are original expressions of an idea. Generally,
copyright protection begins automatically from the date of creation, usually
without being subjected to any was first recognized in the Paris C formalities.
Copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus fifty years after the death
of the author. The following categories of work are protected under copy right
law:

1) literary works
2) musical works, including all types of accompanying words
3) dramatic works, including all types of accompanying words
4) pantomimes and choreographic works
5) painting, graphic, and sculptural works
6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works
7) sound recordings
(WIPO Publication.913 (E)

The Copyright protection law varies from country to country. In the following
sections, we are going to discuss about the Act of Copyright Protection for
folklore/traditional cultural expressions in India.
5.6.2 Laws for protection of folklore/traditional cultural
expression in India
In India the legislation that takes care of the rights relating to literary and artistic
works, sound recordings, films and the right of performers and broadcasting
organizations, is the Copyright Act, 1967. The act has been amended a number
of times with most recent update in 1994.
The Indian Copyright act does not contain any provision for the protection of
folklore/ expressions of folklore. There is no separate legislation along the lines
of the model provisions, to serve the purpose of offering legal protection to
expressions of folklore.
There is no scope for the tangible elements of folklore under the Patent Act or
Designs Act
Under the amendment incorporated in the Copyright act in 1994, a certain amount
of protection is offered to the performers. As per the Act, a performer includes,
"an actor, singer, musician, dancer, acrobat, juggler, conjurer, snake charmer, a
person delivering a lecturer, or any other person who makes a performances."
Again, performer, in relation to a performer's right, is defined as "any visual or
acoustic presentation made live by one or more performers"
It is to be noted that a concept of a performer is not limited to "one who performs
a literary or artistic work, as per provisions of the Rome Convention, rather the
performer as per the Indian Act can be any one who makes a performance. To
that extent, a person who performs folklore is a performer and his rights are
protected under this Act.
The rights of performers given under the Act are limited and offer only the
"possibility of preventing' certain acts undertaken without the consent of the
performer. The following Act are taken from "Performer's right" chapter VIII,
section 38.

where any performer appears or engages in any performances, he shall have

a special right to be known as the " performers right" in relation to such
performance
2) the performer's right shall subsist until twenty-five years from the beginning
of the calendar year next following the year in which the performance is
made.
3) During the continuance of a performer's right in relation to any performance,
any person, who without the consent of the performer, does any of the
following acts in respect of the performance or any substantial part thereof,
namely:
a) makes a sound recording or visual recordings of the performance; or
b) reproduces a sound recording or visual recording of the performance
or any substantial part thereof, namely:

􀁸 made without the performer' consent;

􀁸 made for purposes different from those for which the performer
gave his consent; or
􀁸 made for purposes different from those referred to in section 39.
c) broadcasts the performance expect where the broadcast is made from
a sound recording or visual recording other than onemade in accordance
with section 39, or is a re-broadcast by the same broadcasting
organization of an earlier broadcast which did not infringe the
performer's right; or
d) Communicates the performance to the public otherwise than by
broadcast, except where such communication to the public is made
from a recording or a visual recording or a broadcast, shall, subject to
the provision of Section 39, be deemed to have infringed the performer's
right.
4) Once a performer has consented to the incorporation of his performance in
cinematograph film, the provision of above mentioned sub-section (1), (2)
and (3) shall have no further application to such performance.
Section 39 deals with certain fair use provisions in relation to performer's rights
and the right of broadcasting organization, like private use, and the reporting of
current events.
Section 39 (1) No broadcast reproduction right or performer's right shall be
deemed to be infringed by-(a) the making of any sound recording or visual
recording for the private use of the person making such recording, or solely for
purposes of bone fide teaching or research; or (b) the use, consistent with fair
dealing, of excerpts of a performance or of a broadcast in the reporting of current
events or for bone fide review, teaching or research; or (c) such order acts, with
any necessary adaptations andmodifications,which do not constitute infringement
of copyright

(WIPO Publication No. 912 (E). pp.19-21)

5.6.3 Commercial exploration of folklore/traditional
cultural expressions in India
As mentioned earlier, there is no provision to protect expressions of folklore/
traditional cultural expressions in the intellectual property laws or in any other
legislation. As such exploration of folklore expressions without taking the
permission of the communities and compensating the communities concerned is
not illegal. The general outlook of those business interests who extensively borrow
from the collection of the folklore of the communities or tribal settlements is
that of exploitation of material available in public domain.
In the music industry, there is a trend towards greater opportunity for popular
music (film music, contemporary music etc) mixed with folk music. The mix
andmatch products have become very popular throughout the country, including
young music enthusiasts. Albums of popular folk songs orchestrated by folk
music instruments like vibrant drums and other wind and string accompanist are
flooding the market. The companies concerned collect the music through thelocal
communities, ormany times, the performer himself takes the responsibility
of arranging such music from the villages or tribal belts. The musical forms
reproduced or adapted from folklore or public religious contents or those related
to village traditions like harvest and festivals.Acase study of plagiarism inmusic
industry
A popular Hindi film song " Achha sila diya tune mere pyar ke/yaar ne hi loot
liya ghar yaar ka" in the movie Bewafa Sanam, is reportedly a ghazal of noted
Pakistani poet and singer Ataullah Khan. This song was sung in the movie by an
Indian singer and marketed by the proprietor of super cassettes Industries Ltd.
Late Gulshan Kumar without giving credit to the original singer; laterMr. Khan
filed a law suit against Gulshan Kumar for illegal use of his song in the movie;
is clear violation of the copyright laws (Tribune: Chandigarh, dated 2 July
1995)
Like the music industry, Indian films also have more of folklore contents in the
new productions. High tech films built on folktales or folk-themes and even
mythological themes as a basis take special care to shoot in typical tribal or
village settlements to add a realistic touch to the films, with a view to earning
public applause and entertainment value. Other then these, many times, folk
dances like Garba ras of Gujarat, Bhangra of Punjab, Koli dance of Maharashtra
etc., and traditional rituals like weddings, Child birth etc., are depicted bymaking
use of artists from the communities concerned.

FESTIVALS AND RITUALS

INTRODUCTION
Festivals and rituals are cultural performances which serve to keep alive the
spirit of social communication. In ancient cultures all over the world, specific
days and seasons were marked for public festivals. A large number of people
participated in these events.Over a period of time,with the advent of newreligious
forms and practices these primitive celebrations underwent great change and
transformation.

Etymology
A study of the origin and semantic development of words reveals the various
connotations these have occupied on the coordinates of human enterprise and its
ever changing contexts. Festivals and rituals have been perceived and actualized
differently by people across space and time. For example, we speak of a ‘food
festival’being organized at a particular shoppingmall or we describe ourmorning
cup of coffee as a ‘ritual’. These connotations would have been completely alien
to our ancestors. Let us look into the origin of these concepts:
Festival: Its origin is inMiddle English derived from Old French, derived from
Low Latin “festiualis” which in turn is derived from Latin “festiuus”
L. festiuus = belonging to a feast
L. festum = a feast
L. festus = bright, joyful

Ritual: It is an English word derived from Latin “ritus”

L. ritus = custom

Festivals and rituals: definition and characteristics

A festival is a pubic event in which members of a particular social/religious
group take part. Festivals serve as markers of historical or mythological events
and commemorate the legends and heroes intrinsic to the identity of a particular
community. They also mark the end/beginning of seasons, of important phases
in the solar/lunar/agrarian cycle. The celebration of festivals involves specific
ceremonies, use of special crafts such as clay-work/drawing of ritual motifs/
symbols, ceremonial preparation of particular food items. Thus public rituals are
an essential part of festivals. As compared to festivals, rituals have a deeper
reach into the social fabric. There are rituals which mark the life of individuals

from birth to death. There are daily rituals which mark the passage of each day
from dawn to dusk. Each culture has its own set of rituals which symbolize
particular aspects of existence and human endeavour through which the
community defines itself, its place in the universe and its relationship with
nature
 FESTIVALS AND RITUALS OFANTIQUITY
deadwas known to the early Palaeolithicman and it showed that theNeanderthals
exhibited concern for their dead and treated them with careful last rites. As
civilization progressed,man becamemore closely engagedwith natural processes
like the changes of day and night, the coming and going of seasons and the
cultivation of crops. Festivals and ritualized rest from work havemarked the life
of people across cultures since ancient times. The lives of the ancient people
were centred round agriculture. They were mainly agrarian communities whose
existence depended on a good harvest. These communities were also subject to
the ravages of changing seasons with little or nomeans of protection. The earliest
festivals are related to these aspects of human existence. People welcomed the
coming of Spring and the end ofWinter with celebrations. The spring equinox,
the autumn equinox, the summer solstice and the winter solstice were occasions
for celebration. Planting of new crop was also an important event. People prayed
for a good harvest and expressed this through various rites. Planting and harvesting
of cropwere occasions for community celebration andmerry-making. Man being
governed by the elements of nature, attributed the mysteries of nature to various
elemental forces such as sun, wind, rain, fire, earth. Later gods and goddesses
came to be associated with these forces.

TYPES OF FESTIVALS
Festivals originated in man’s natural urge for bonding with his fellow men, to
reaffirm solidarity within families, clans and communities. These concerns have
manifested themselves in various forms of festivals. One must remember that in
the earlier times, man’s dependence on his fellow men was greater than what it
is now. There are many types of festivals.
􀁸 festivals of seasons
􀁸 festivals of crops
􀁸 festivals of cattle
􀁸 festivals of Gods/ Goddesses
􀁸 festivals of saints/legendry heroes
􀁸 festivals of the state/national festivals
􀁸 Modern fests
However, most of these categories are overlapping and flexible, so that a single
festival can be seasonal, agrarian, and religious. In the United States two festivals
are celebrated tomark seasonal changes. TheMother Earth Gathering is celebrated
to mark the Summer Solstice and the Middle Earth Gathering is celebrated to
mark the Fall Equinox. The ancientRomans celebrated Saturnalia and Sol Invictus
to celebrate theWinter Solstice. The Summer Solstice is celebrated variously as
146
Market and Cultural
Property
Feast of St John the Baptist, Feast of Epona, All Couple’s Day. Similarly,
Deepawali, the festival which celebrates Ram’s return toAyodhya, was originally
a three day harvest festival. In the month of October-November the members of
the Oraon tribe celebrate a festival named Sohrai in honour of cows, buffaloes,
bullocks and goats. Gau Giraaj Vrat, Go-vatsa Dwadashi, Govardhan Puja are
other cattle festivals celebrated in India. Modern Fests are celebrations structured
to commemorate important events such as the foundation day of a particular
organization, the launching of a new brand or product.

TYPES OF RITUALS
Rituals are characterized by repetitive and highly symbolic features. Each society
has its own set of rituals. These may involve specific performances by an
individual or a group of people. The site of performance may be one’s own
house, or a public site such as a river banks, wells, hills, fields, water tanks. It
may involve only a specific community or may create opportunity for exchange
between more than one group occupying different hierarchies. Over a period of
time ritual practices have come to be associated with particular religions. The
Hindu samskaras, the Christian ceremonies of christening, baptism, and
conformation are also rituals. The Jewish observance of the Shabbat is highly
ritualistic. In the Vedic period there were special fire rituals to be practiced by
every householder.
􀁸 rituals of birth
􀁸 fertility rituals
􀁸 rites of initiation
􀁸 secret rites
147
Impact of Technology in
Transforming Folk Art to
Commodity
􀁸 rituals to appease Gods
􀁸 mourning rituals
Rituals deeply affect the individual and collective lives of people. They serve to
reaffirm one’s allegiance to a particular social order. Rituals occur at each stage
of our lives. From sunrise to sunset, from summer to winter, from birth to death,
rituals are the milestones which measure out our existence. Rituals are not only
performances, they also serve to create and validate our identity.
In ancient times, rituals were cult practices related to nature, welfare of the
community, protection against disease, protection of crops and cattle. The elders
of the community attempted to pass on this knowledge through rituals. Often the
knowledge component was lost in transmission or eclipsed by the ritual
performance. Thus, rituals survived in communities long after the reason behind
conducting these was lost.

FESTIVALS IN AGLOBALISED WORLD

The world today has become a small place. Populations have moved from native
spaces and people now live in close contact with each other. Themass dislocation
of people which started with the colonial enterprise was furthered by the forces
of industrialization and urbanization. This has led to an intermingling of cultures
often termed as the “melting pot”. Festivals and rituals provide an important
interactive interface to the members of a multi cultural society.
5.5.1 Demands of a new cultural milieu
With the loss of familiar landscape, people have devised fromthe sources available
to them, newsymbolic features for their rituals and celebrations. Thus distinctive
features of these practices are becoming homogenized. Communities try to resist
this homogenization through variedmeans. For example, theHindu communities
in the United States send their children to weekly scripture reading sessions
similar to the Bible reading groups. Hindu children in contemporaryIndia however
do not frequent any such sessions. Through this example we can see how
communities adopt features of a different culture while attempting to preserve
their cultural uniqueness.

Demands of the workplace

The modern work culture views holidays, feasts and festivals as a loss of
productive potential which translates into economic loss. The policies are framed
so as to achieve optimumprofit. Festivals, ritual holidays and celebrations which
served to break the monotony of life and provide a period of rest after intense
activity are either overlooked or compressed into the minimum possible time
span. Since work remains the source of livelihood the cultural expression is
pushed into the margins. As a result some festivals and rituals have been
completely wiped out whereas others have undergone major transformations.
For example, the austerities of the month of Ramzan, the celebrations of Easter,
the solemnities of Lent, the three day celebration ofDeepawali ending on Bhratra
Dvitiya (Bhai Dooj) are curtailed and in some cases restricted to a single evening.
The rituals related to marriage, birth and death are also curtailed and performed
in an abbreviated style.
5.5.3 Decreasing participation quotient
The preparations for festivals and rituals traditionally required active participation
from all members. For example, the preparation of garlands from flowers and
leaves, drawing of ritual designs, ritual pounding of food-grain, cleaning of houses
and barns, worship of weapons and agricultural tools such as plough and axe
involved men women and children of all age groups. The older members
supervised and instructed the processes.Various caste groups or clans had special
roles assigned to them. The barber and his wife, the potters, the water bearers
had their own place in the scheme of things.With changing social structure and
the emergence of a consumer culture, most of these roles have been eliminated
or replaced by readymade products in the market. It is no longer possible or
necessary to involve the whole family in preparations. In the absence of active
participatory roles, the public celebration becomes a personal event.
5.5.4 Increasing independence of the individual
Although individuals live in close contact with diverse cultures in the present
dayworld, they are not dependent on their fellowmen or neighbours. In traditional
communities, man’s dependence on his neighbour was immense. People looked
up to their neighbours and kinsmen in times of trouble and need. Festivals served
to strengthen this bond. Today this responsibility has been taken over by the
state. The state machinery is responsible for nurturing and protecting the
individual. As a result the individual has become totally independent. Lack of
dependence combined with changing attitudes to wealth has led the family/
individual into self imposed isolation.

Threat of terror
Festivities and revelry have encountered a new enemy in the form of terror.
Celebrations by organized religious bodies or by co-operative housing societies
havewitnessed a sharp decline in the number of people attending these functions.
The urban populations are wary of fairs and festivals and prefer to remain away
from large religious gatherings. This has seriously limited the possibility of
community celebrations for city dwellers.
 5.5.6 Will our festivals and rituals be lost ?
Are we to assume that festivals, rituals and traditional revelry will succumb to
the pressures of modern existence, that the old festivals will be lost over a period
of time? There is a general conjecture that the number of festivals and rituals in
modern society is drastically reduced. Industrialization, secularization, mass
movements of populations, and numerous other forms of entertainment are bound
to take the place of festivals.
In this connection, let us take up a case study and discuss in detail regarding the
rituals and festivals in Orissa folk traditions, the religiosity and historicity
connected to those.

A CASE STUDY: RELIGIOSITY BEHIND

ORISSA FOLK TRADITIONS
In this case study, I would like to discuss the different cultural identities and the
homogeneity associated with the folk culture as well as the tribal culture in the
rural villages of Orissa and how there is the obvious presence of historicity,
religiosity and oral tradition in their literature and culture. Even if folk culture
and tribal culture are correctly and commonly used as synonymous to each other,
folk culture, as a policy, is different from the tribal culture.Both are fundamentally
different in the sense that folk culture is dependent on different traditionswhereas
tribal culture is independent; it is an end in itself. A larger social unit, an elite
culture, rural Hindu traditions are the components of folk culture. The folk group
was interpreted as a contrast to the tribal tradition in the 1950’s by critics like
Robert Redfield. Folk tradition is a substructure of the macro tradition of the
tribal. The idea of cultural identity and group feeling is less in the folk tradition.
Qualities like regional identity in terms of culture, sharing of the common group
behaviour, common religiosity, historicity, oral traditions, caste and tribe are the
factors that constitute the folk tradition. It is all the more so in case ofOriya folklore
literature.Common characteristics like homogeneity, cultural consciousness, group
identity, language, speech, folk beliefs, rituals and practices, less interactionwith
the outside world are found in the folk culture of Orissa from every section and
subsection. The distortion of cultural items, meanings and values are a threat to
its literature which needs a constant evaluation. It is an accepted opinion that
folklore literature follows an oral tradition which is handed down to us from
generation to generation through folk songs, folk tales, legends, mythology,
superstitions, and proverbs. To Foster, “a folk culture may be thought of as a
common way of life which characterizes some or all of the people of many
villages, towns and cities within a given area”( Foster, G.M.), which emphasizes
on the ideas like sharing a culture, group identity in terms of the culture and
regional identity. In this study, I will be emphasizing on these characteristics and
their presence in the folklore literature of Orissa and the role played by religious,
historical and oral traditions behind the rich cultural heritage of the folklore
literature of Orissa. A group may belong to different sub-groups in sharing a
common way of life which creates a cultural awareness and a sense of oneness
among the folk which may be defined as homogeneity. This wider cultural
system which may be tribal, rural, ethnic, urban or industrial—all of which have
the common religiosity and historicity—will be the point of focus in this case
study.
THE UNESCO INITIATIVE
The 2003Convention of theUNESCO has addressed the abovementioned issues.
According to the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage, the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) – or living heritage – is the
mainspring of our cultural diversity and its maintenance a guarantee for continuing
creativity. The Convention states that the ICH is manifested, among others, in
the following domains:
􀁸 Oral traditions and expressions including language as a vehicle of the
intangible cultural heritage;
􀁸 Performing arts (such as traditional music, dance and theatre);
􀁸 Social practices, rituals and festive events;
􀁸 Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;
􀁸 Traditional craftsmanship.
The 2003 Convention defines ICHas the practices, representations, expressions,
as well as the knowledge and skills, that communities, groups and, in some
cases, individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage.The depository of
this heritage is the human mind the human body being the main instrument for
its enactment, or – literally – embodiment. The knowledge and skills are often
shared within a community, and manifestations of ICH often are performed
collectively. Many elements of the ICH are endangered, due to effects of
globalization, uniformization policies, and lack of means, appreciation and
understanding which – taken together – may lead to the erosion of functions and
values of such elements and to lack of interest among the younger generations.
Source:< http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=00002>
The initiative taken by the UNESCO is an important step towards creating
awareness about the immense value of cultural heritage and the important role
played by festivals, rituals and such performances in its preservation and
transmission. There is enough evidence to support the claim that new festivals
are constantly created and older ones are revived in various forms. Therefore an
attempt to preserve a particular ritual or performance will make it more archival
than real.
GROWTH OF FOLKLORE STUDIES : AN INTRODUCTION
Through the concept of folklore as an academic discipline was introduced in the
middle of the 19m century A.D. as the study of ancient observances and customs, the
notions, beliefs, traditions, superstitions and prejudices of the common people, the study
of folklore ( Folkloristics) gradually generates its momentum from a mere antiquarian
hobby to a major discipline.
'A folklorist is to face the onerous task of raising folklore to the pedestal of a
creative art through a series of meticulous efforts. He envisages a critical, comparative,
rational and impartial analysis, observation of the micro-cultural as well as macro-cultural
milieu by delving into the tradition and the cause of changes. He draws artistic conclusion
which reveals the merits and demerits of the changes thereby suggesting, homogeneous
directive turns. Thus, the latitude of folklore holds the mirror of both rural and urban
culture. Its operation does not necessarily extends only in segregated rural life. Folklore
aims at the reconstruction of the spiritual history of man, not as represented by the
outstanding works of poets, artists, and thinkers, but as exemplified by the more or less
inarticulate voice of the folk. The numerous folklore genres and their study accentuate in
discovering principles controlling human culture generally

HISTORICAL-GEOGRAPHICAL THEORY:
The Historical-Geographical theory of folklore is known as Finnish school and
comparative methodology too. In fact, it is a method than a theory. A comparative
folklorist want to reconstruct a complex myth, tale or folksong historically and
geographically. Under this theory or method, a folklorist is to collect hundreds of
variants
of a particular myth, tale, ballad or folksong. Then he goes for analysing the basic plot
into essential components, makes percentage of frequencies of occurrences of each
trait,
finds out the regional distributions through map, judges the early literary or oral
version and fixes the oldest form of the tale known as archetype.’16
The hypothesis of the Finnish school is that, there are hundreds of variants of a
tale.myth.ballad, proverb etc. in fact, there is one original version which was certainly
created once at a particular spot consciously by a particular person . Later, the tale
spread to other places through diffusion. On the other hand folk tales are migrated to
other geographical region through manuscript and printed text.

THE THEQRY QF pQLYGENESIS:

According to this theory, a cultural artefact of an element of folklore could have
originated at two or more different unrelated places independently at the same time
or at
different time, but under the same circumstances and same favourable environment.
It is sometimes call as anthropological school. The followers of anthropological
school or polygenesis theory believe that, as all men evolve in on evolutionary path
through absolutely identical stages of savagery, barbarism and civilization, so
creation of a cultural artefact in two or more different culture independently is not
unnatural. On
the other hand, 'The theory of polygenesis is often quoted in support of the concept of
the
psychic unity of man by those who believe that because of the psychological
uniformity
of man, folklore created in different culture can be the same.'17

THE THEORY OF DIFFUSIONISM : THEORY OF BORROWING :

The followers of this theory believe that, cultural traits were born in one place or
probably in a very few places and they were transmitted to other places through
diffusion.
This theory is a combination of monogenesis and diffusion. Theodore Benfey, a
German
Indologist was the profounder of the theory and her termed some nations of the world
as
borrowers of folklore, and some suppliers, some are manufacturers and some
consumers.lt is not possible to decide and pinpoint such positions in fact, 'Folklore
travels,
but does not travel up to the extent as to destroy the independent birth of folklore in
other
areas where they travel. The elements are transmitted and diffused, they also exert
influence over the other, one variant is mixed up in a peculiar way with the other
variant
of another country, near or far away, which has given folklore an international
character;
but in spite of these factors which are true, every culture gives birth to its folklore
according to its own requirement and characteristics.'18
STRUCTURALISM: SYNTAGMATIC AND PARADIGMATIC APPROACH :
50
Structuralism is an influential and attractive method in the folklore studies as well
as in linguistics and literature. Though, the real father of this method is Vladimir Propp,
a Russian folklorist, and structural approach appeared in his famous book Morfoloaiva
skazki (Morphology of the folktale) published in 1928, this method entered to the
American foikloristicsin the sixties only when Alan Dundes used the Propp’s method in
The Morphology of North American Indian Folktales ft 964VAfter the pioneering work of
Propp, western scholars such as Claude Levi Strauss, Alan Dundes, E.Kongas Maranda,
P, Maranda and William O. Hendricks have attained a remarkable level of sophistication in
structural analysis of various folk genre,'20
The structuralists believe that, folk-narratives change in subject matter and theme,
but its structure remains almost unaffected.Propp observes that:
(i) "Function is understood as an act of a character, defined from the point of view
of its significance for the course of the action."
(ii) "Functions of the characters serve as stable constant elements in a tale,
independent of how and by whom they are fulfilled. They constitute the fundamental
components of the tale."
(iii) "The number of functions known to the (fairy) tale is limited."21

in structural analysis of various folk genre,'20

The structuralists believe that, folk-narratives change in subject matter and theme,
but its structure remains almost unaffected.Propp observes that:
(i) "Function is understood as an act of a character, defined from the point of view
of its significance for the course of the action."
(ii) "Functions of the characters serve as stable constant elements in a tale,
independent of how and by whom they are fulfilled. They constitute the fundamental
components of the tale."
(iii) "The number of functions known to the (fairy) tale is limited."21

identical. "22 Hence, functions, being the constant elements of a narrative, one could
study
the narratives according to the functions of the dramatis personae (characters). Thus
function became the basic ciassificatory and analytical unit" 23
Claude Levi-Strauss, a France anthropologist introduced another method of
structural analysis of folk-narrative. Levi-strauss believes that a myth can be
decomposed
and reduced to its basic components named as "mythemes" (which according to him,
are
its molecules). These mythemes can then be rearranged into meaningful or logical
paradigms so that the relations thus established reveal the mythic message.These
messages are binary in nature and always turn out to be logical formulations to
overcome
contradictions humans or cultures face. This method thus gives new interpretations
to
myths.24
'Unlike Propp, Levi-Strauss does not see any possibility of analysing structurally
a given item of folklore in isolation, i.e., when the item is separated from its cultural
context. This basic difference is due to the fact that Levi-Strauss’ structural analysis
does
not separate form from the content while Propp's work gives more emphasis to form,
in
other words, Levi-Strauss* methodology is concerned about the structured meaning
in
myths, which according to him, is a single reality and observable as such. Propp on
the other hand, does clearly distinguish between the form and the content and treats
them
53
as two separate entities. This is precisely why Propp does not go beyond the surface
structure of a folktale and discerns its morphology in terms of its linear syntagmatic
Structure. Levi-strauss, on the other hand, delves into the deep structure of myths and
rearranges the elements into meaningful paradigms.'25

CONTEXTUAL THEORY
The followers of this theory believe that, foikloristics is not only the study of folklore
text. As Malinowski says, * The text, of course, is extremely important, but without the
context it remains lifeless’.28 Therefore, the contextualists insist that the concept of
folklore
apply not to a text but to an event in which a tradition is performed or communicated.
Hence , they stressed to record not only the text but the whole circumstance (even
gestures) in which the text is delivered by the narrator and received by the audience.
Roger Abrahams, Dan-Ben Amos, Alan Dundes, Robert Georges, Kenneth Goldstein etc.
followed this method.

6.FUNCTIONAL THEORY
The main object of functionalists is to determine properly the functions of folklore
element in the society. According to Bascom, there are four functions of folklore:
(a) Amusement is, obviously, one of the function of folklore, but folklore,27 also
reveals man's attempts to escape in fantasy from the conditions of his geographical
environment and from his own biological limitations as a member of the genus and
species Homo sapiens.28
(b) Folklore plays in validating culture, in justifying its rituals and institutions to
those who perform and observe them.29
(c) Folklore plays in education, particularly but not exclusively, in non literate
societies,30
(d) Folklore fulfils the important but often overlooked function of maintaining
conformity to the accepted patterns of behaviour

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY :
This theory was introduced after Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis. According to
Freud, myths, folktales, and otherforms of folklore looked like dreams and the myths
and tales are nothing but sex symbols. 'Many folklorists following Freudian principles
believed
that the "dream is the myth of the individual" some even declared that myth is the dream
of a culture; and therefore the same psychological mechanisms operated in dreams and
myths and were subject to the same interpretations. According to those scholars if the
dreams expressed the infantile desire of one human being, myths revealed psychic
repressions of the whole race or culture.32
Freud, Oppenheim, Earnest Jones, Erich Fromm, Gaza Roheim etc. have done
remarkable work in analysing myths, tales and literary works of different cultures
according to psychoanalytic method.
Apart from the above seven theories or methods, there are more theories and
methodologies, which are followed by different eminent folklorists. Here, we have no
scope to discuss all the theories and hence, we have given outline of only a few important
theories to show the line of the growth of folklore in this century.
tales are nothing but sex symbols. 'Many folklorists following Freudian principles believed
that the "dream is the myth of the individual" some even declared that myth is the dream
of a culture; and therefore the same psychological mechanisms operated in dreams and
myths and were subject to the same interpretations. According to those scholars if the
dreams expressed the infantile desire of one human being, myths revealed psychic
repressions of the whole race or culture.32
Freud, Oppenheim, Earnest Jones, Erich Fromm, Gaza Roheim etc. have done
remarkable work in analysing myths, tales and literary works of different cultures
according to psychoanalytic method.
Apart from the above seven theories or methods, there are more theories and
methodologies, which are followed by different eminent folklorists. Here, we have no
scope to discuss all the theories and hence, we have given outline of only a few important
theories to show the line of the growth of folklore in this century.
Modern Folklore/Folktale Studies in India:
Though there is evidence to believe in the establishment of folklore studies in India
long before such studies were deliberated upon in the West, modem folklore study in
India has largely followed western paradigms. The first studies into Indian folklore in
modem times were largely philological with the researcher being primarily interested in
finding the origins of the folklore material under study. Field collections of folktales and
other folklore material were started mainly by British government officials, Christian
missionaries and some enthusiasts. Folklore studies received a huge boost with the
publication of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal from 1774. Another
important platform for folklore study was provided by James Burgess who started the
Indian Antiquary in 1872 from Bombay and encouraged the study of tales, songs and
other oral traditions in India. The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay was started in
1886 where emphasis on the collection and publication of folklore material was
noticeable. Besides these journals, some important collections were also completed by
scholars. In 1868 Merry Frere published The Old Deccan, a collection of Indian folktales
mainly from south India. This was followed by another collection by M. Strokes in 1879
named Indian Fairy Tales. Another collection, Wide Awake Stories, mainly dealing with
tales from the Punjab region was published by Flora Steel in 1884.
The nationalist movement for independence from the British that raged all over India
augmented folklore studies as part of the very attempt to create an Indian identity.
Rabindranath Tagore established the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad in 1893 and in its
journal folklore material from various parts of Bengal found place. Among many other
enthusiasts and collectors motivated by this nationalistic zeal, one may include the names
of Kakasaheb Kalelkar, Zhaverchand Meghani, Ram Naresh Tripathi and Lakhminath
Bezbaroa who were able to inspire people to collect and preserve various folklore genres.
These works were primarily based on field collections. A subsequent approach that is
seen emerging soon after was a combination of field 'collection and philology. The
inclusion of anthropological and linguistic methodologies in the study of folklore marked
another line of development in Indian folklore studies. The post-independence period
saw more in depth analysis of folklore and many prominent scholars became interested
in the field. Indian folklore scholars continued to closely follow the line of development
in international folklore studies and the structural/semiotic study of folklore, which will
be discussed below, was also attempted in the Indian context.

The Semiotic Approach:

2.4.1. Semiotics:
Our understanding of the phenomenal world, as the above mention of the
meditational role of signs indicate is not a direct sensory one. It is mediated by signs of
all kinds, some natural and some created by us as responses to other signs, and thus by
the images that they elicit within our mind-space that is physical, psychical as well as
cultural. The interconnectedness that body, mind and culture share in sign production,
 distribution and reception can be shown graphically as follows

The notion that human thought and communication function by means of signs is an
idea that runs deep in the Eastern and Western traditions. In the celebrated Mahayana
text, Lankavatara Sutra, Mahamati Says, “ The Bodhisattva Mahasattva asked the
Blessed One: Pray tell me ... the signification of two things, expression and expressed

The relationship between words and their meaning had been a matter of deep debate in
ancient India. Semiotic awareness was quite potent in many other regions of the ancient
world. The sophist, Prodicus (c. 460-395 B.C.E.), founded his teachings on the practical
idea that properly chosen words are fundamental to effective communication.
Questioning this notion that words possess some universal, objective meaning, Plato
(427-347 B.C.E.) explored the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign. He suggested
separateness between an object and the name that is used to signify that object: "Any
name which you give, in my opinion, is the right one, and if you change that and give
another, the new name is as correct as the old," (Cratylus, 360 B.C.E.). Plato’s main
findings include the assertion that verbal signs only represent reality incompletely, that
the study of words cannot reveal the nature of reality as the realm of ideas is independent
of its representation in words and that knowledge through sign mediation is incomplete
and inferior to immediate knowledge (Noth 1995:15). Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
recognized the instrumental nature of the linguistic sign, observing that human thought
proceeds by the use of signs and that spoken words are the symbols of mental experience
(On Interpretation, 350 B.C.E). He also maintained that written marks are symbols for
spoken sounds, that mental impressions are similar to actual things, that even though
mental events are same for all mankind speech is not so. Aristotle also recognizes the
conventional nature of the sign in his Peri hermenneias (Chap 2; 16a 19, 26-29) by
saying—‘A name is a spoken sound significant by convention... I say by convention
because no name is a name naturally but only when it has become a symbol”. Six
centuries later Augustine of Hippas (354-430 A.D.), elaborated on this instrumental role
of signs in the process of human learning. For Augustine, language was the brick and
mortar with which human beings construct knowledge. "All instruction is either about
things or about signs; but things are learned by means of signs," (On Christian Doctrine,

Charles Sanders Pierce and his Semeiotics:

Charles Sanders Peirce(1839-1914), the American pragmatist philosopher founded
Semeiotic as a formal doctrine of signs. His type of sign study stems from his “attempt to
explain the cognitive process of acquiring scientific knowledge as a pattern of
communicative activity in which the dialogic partners are, indifferently, members of a
community or sequential states of a single person’s mind” (Parmentier 1994: 3, cited by
Yassine 2012: 55). His semiotic is primarily based on signification, representation,
reference and meaning as constituents in semiosis as a process. He proffered a triadic
model (somewhat akin to Roger Bacon’s) which is open, dynamic and always changing
and always developing into other signs in a continuous process of meaning making,
unlike the dyadic model of Saussure in which the sign is static and has value only in
relation to other signs. This model of the sign consists of a representamen or sign
vehicle, an interpretant or the sense made of the sign and the object it refers to. Pierce explains a sign
as ... something, which stands to somebody for something in some
respect or capacity. It addresses somebody, that is creates in the mind of that person an
equivalent sign, or perhaps a more developed sign. That sign which it creates I call the
Interpretant of the first sign. The sign stands for something, its object. It stands for that
object, not in all aspects but in reference to a sort of idea, which I have sometimes called
the ground of the representamen (Pierce 1931:58). The interaction among the three
components is called Semiosis. In this dynamic interaction the correlation of three
components can be characterized in terms offirstness, secondness and thirdness making
the number of possible signs practically infinite to result in what Eco calls semiosis ad
 infinitum.

Pierce and Folklore Semiotic:

As eminent semiotician and folklorist Thomas Sebeok notes, "folklore. . . is, and
has been for some time, richly permeated with semiotic ideas and practices. . ."
(1991:51). Richard Bauman, while taking about four key modem semioticians-Vladimir
Propp, Petr Bogatyrev, Jakobson, and Mikhail Bakhtin were informs that they were also
principally concerned with folklore (1982). Predominantly Saussurian, with a few
exceptions (refer to McDowell 1986; Bauman 1982), Semiotic study of folklore has been
providing significant insights into meaning making in traditional art and human societies.
Generally mention of Piercian sign theory in folkloristic or anthropological discussion
concerns mainly with the second-trichotomy signs (index, icon, and symbol) only. It
appears that till date Peirce's major channel of influence is an indirect one: Peirce filtered
through other authors. Pierce’s influence is acknowledged by numerous thinkers,
including Derrida (Bamouw 1989:73-94), Jakobson (Fisch 1986[1983]:430), Singer
(1984(1978]), and Eco (Sebeok 1991:76-79; Innis 1985), and the concepts he left inform
others' work through these. Singer's essay "For a Semiotic Anthropology" (1984 [1978])
opened the route for a Piercian anthropology. Singer’s work created a niche for a
Peircean semiotic inquiry-particularly with regard to the social conception of the self
(Lee and Urban 1989). Benjamin Lee and Greg Urban look to Peirce's processual,
constitutive semiotic to emphasize that the self is constructed semiotically (1989:2). Like
much performance-oriented folklore research owing a great deal to linguistic
anthropology (see Capuchin 1998:479-508; Bauman 1982: 1-20, 1989:175-89;
Abrahams and Bauman 1981), Peircean works in the 1980s were primarily concerned
with questions of language: whether with the first-person "I" as a constituent of a cultural
sense of self (Lee 1989), or with the shortcomings of language to express the experience
of suicide (Daniel 1989). Several recent efforts to theorize non-linguistic signification
have turned to Peirce directly for a model.

Ferdinand De Saussure’s Semiology:

The by now canonical Saussurian tradition in semiotics emerges from Saussure’s
studies and lectures on General Linguistics that he conducted in the University of
Geneva culminating in the posthumous publication of his A Course in General
Linguistics (1916) as a postulation of a general science of signs and their role in human
signification. He envisaged such a general science to contain the discipline of Linguistics
and shed light on sign use:
It is ...possible to conceive of a science which studies the role of signs as
part of social life. It would form a part of social psychology, and hence of
general psychology. We shall call it Semiology (from the Greek semeion
‘sign ’). It would investigate the nature of signs and laws governing them.
Since it does not yet exist, one cannot say for certain that it will exist. But it
has a right to exist, a place ready for it in advance. (Saussure:2009:15-16)
Though he was aware of the possibility of including all types of signs, Saussure
Concentrated mainly on language as the sign system per-excellence and tried to explain
how all the elements of a language can be taken as components of a larger system of
language in use (Chandler 2003:4). His subsequent theorization about sign and
signification was taken up and further developed by the structuralists. It proved to be
influential enough to be applied to the analysis of texts as well as a range of social
practices and cultural phenomena including clan system, dress, food, music and
particularly, the study of the folklore and the folktale, as we will discuss below. This
paved the way for the emergence of structural semiotics, which has been one of the post
significant critical approaches in the 20 century.

Semiotic/Structural Study of Folktales:

The emergence of modem Semiotics and Linguistics, an overview of which has
been attempted above, as a new orientation to the study of human signification and
culture in the beginning of the 20th century and the eventual methodological and
theoretical extension that these disciplines received meant the growth of totally new and
radical ways of looking at things. The phenomenal reception that Saussurian linguistics
received all over Europe and the eventual engagement of scholars in applying or
modifying its tenets proved instrumental in the generation of a whole movement of
critical thought, now commonly known as Structuralism. Saussure’s view that there are
inherent structural and systemic relations amongst signs in a system of signification like
language that make meaning making possible and that the aim of scientific study of
human interaction is to discover these relations among signs influenced subsequent
intellectual activity to concentrate on investigation of structural/systemic patterns and
principles in signifying systems. The discovery of these internal relations or deep
structures, it was claimed, enables the investigator to understand the langue in its totality
and infer structural principles that may have relevance outside particular languages.
Further, as language was regarded as the model signifying system and as considerable
advancement was made in the systematic study of language structure which revealed that
languages can indeed be systematically understood with a sense of logical coherence,
scholars began to extend the structural study beyond language to include cultural
practices of all sorts. It was claimed that cultural practices also contain deep structures
the discovery of which enable one to understand the real import of cultural practices.
This type of study gave utmost importance on the formal properties of discourse and it
was argued that the aim of studying artistic texts is to discover the formal features that
make them artistic. The Russian Formalism and related developments all over Europe
created a kind of scientificity, which maintained that everything can be understood by
unearthing the inherent binary relation of difference it existed vis a vis other elements in
a system and all texts including folk-narratives began to be structi rally studied.

Vladimir Propp and Morphology of the Folktale:

Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the folktale1 (1928), by common agreement may be
regarded as one of the most significant contributions to the structural study of the
folktale despite the fact that the work remained unknown to the outside world for almost
three decades and was often dismissed as formalistic in the place of its nativity. The
English translation in 1958 and its subsequent revision in 1968 paved the way for its
reception by the outside world and today the work is available in almost all European
and other ‘major’ languages. Anticipating significant structural typological research that
was to follow it reception, Propp’s work can be regarded as opening new perspectives in
folktale study. Seen from this side and also from the fact that Propp’s work has incited
much related study and some criticism too, but as Dundes says “from the' criticism has
come even more insight” (Dundes 1968: xi). Scholars of as diverse persuasions as
Dundes (1968), Reaver (1959), Bremond (1964, 1968, 1970), Greimas (1965), Levin
(1967), Taylor (1969), Drobin (1970), Putilov (1971), Maranda (1972), Luthi (1973) to
mention only a few in their representative submissions, have either benefited from,
commented on or criticized Propp’s semiotically/Iinguistically oriented search for the
underlying structure of folktales.
Propp for whom the term morphology meant the study of forms or structure as the
it was used in the botanical sciences, clearly revealed his affinity to linguistics as he
submitted that folktales should be studied in terms of a common abstract grammar
underlying the concrete manifestations of particular tales. The idea that all the properties
of language or other semiotic systems signify by means of the internal structural
relationship among properties and that this relation can be studied in a linear, A-Z
fashion or a syntagmatic way informs the Proppian study. This syntagmatic
understanding of linguistic units at a particular level of analysis can be understood with
reference to the Figure 2.8 below.

Proppian Structuralism: Methods and Modifications:

Vladimir Propp’s displacement of the earlier historical methodology in favour of
the structural proclaimed a dramatic turn in folklore studies in entire Europe. While
discussing the kind of enthusiasm that Propp’s study generated among European
folklorists, rightly does Dorson compare it with the reaction that Aame and Thompson’s
pioneering work had elicited some years ago and just as the earlier work was received
eagerly, “so Alan Dundes and others responded to the delayed translation in 1958 of
Propp’s system. The shift from typology by content to typology by structure caught the
mood of the fifties and sixties” (Dorson 1972:34).Being an excellent example of the
syntagmatic structural analysis envisaged by Saussure, Propp’s work soon influenced
numerous similar attempts all over Europe and the subsequent translation of the
Morphology into many European languages made Propp a household name. Yet, as so
many scholars engaged in similar attempts, many methodological insights were
generated in the light of which certain extensions and modifications of Propp’s line of
enquiry were also achieved. Thus, Alan Dundes in his 1964 attempt at a structural
analysis of the North American Indian folktales “made certain refinements of Propp’s’
i
agenda and stated his conception of the structural theory in broad (a) intellectual
perspective, He substituted Propp’s analytical unit function with motifeme, a coinage
derived from the linguist Kenneth Pike” (Medhi 2004: 24). However, Dundes was alive
to the fact that Propp’s careful distancing of the study of structure from all social and
contextual considerations was a shortcoming as he clarifies in his j famous introduction to the 1968
edition of Propp’s work and in his work he came to imbibe the belief that
Structural analysis could represent social context and the linguistic texture as well as the
folklore text and achieve a multiplicity of similar expectations. The extension attempted
by Dundes inspired many others and in subsequent times one notices scholars like
Greimas (1965), Meletinskij (1969), Bremond (1970), to mention only a few attempting
structural analysis of narratives with diverse revised and modified approaches. While
these scholars tried to extend the legacy of Propp with certain revisions, the French
anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss looked at the problem of the structural analysis of
narratives from a vertical/paradigmatic approach. Levi-Strauss’ attempt at entrenching
narrative study with contextual considerations stemmed from his 1960 critique of Propp
and his belief that folklore genres are deeply engaged in the socio-cultural milieu of a
society. Besides Levi-Strauss, many other scholars were aware of certain lacunae in
Propp’s work and they were careful to state their reading lucidly.

Levi-Strauss and the Structural Study of Myth:

Levi-Strauss can be credited for his review of Propp’s work from a strictly
structuralist perspective, criticizing the overtly formalist paradigm in the latter’s work.
He insisted on the semantic and contextual aspects, which were mostly to be identified in
the specific use of the vocabulary in proposing his own method of analyzing myths and
tales. He pointed out the usefulness of the theory of distinctive features based on the
principle of binary oppositions, developed initially in the domain of phonology by the
Prague school linguists, Roman Jakobson and Nikolai Trubetzkoy here as also in his
earlier analysis of kinship. He extended the notion of binary oppositions to the
functioning of the universe itself and postulated that the same principle can be applied
for understanding myth structure with the analyzing unit of mytheme. To this elementary
notion of the binary understanding of the universe, he added certain other of his
postulates which include the idea of the universe being a continuum, limitation of
Human brain lying in its perception of the facts through binary opposition and its
mediation only and as perception is through binary and its mediation, creation also is
through binary and its mediation, a belief in Culture as the man made part of this
Universe, and that Whatever man creates is in accordance with how he perceives the
Universe. Related to this initial cosmology, Levi-Strauss believed that myths function in
universalizing such a cosmology and hence, he proffered elaborate discussions on the
properties of myths. Accordingly, myths are narratives narrated in a language of higher
level, the essence of myth lies in its narrative part, multiple texts of myth are functional,
myths do not operate in isolation —they are part of mythology according to whose rules a
I

myth undergoes the process of transformation. Further, reviewing Propp’s work, he

comes to believe that as a syntagmatic analysis fails to communicate the essence of
narratives, one has to go a deeper level constituted by a paradigmatic analysis. For such
an analysis to be functional, one has to Chop out the figurative part without losing the
story, arrange the story in such a way that one Sentence will be one unit and each unit is
in isolation and then re-arrange the sentence from left to right in; syntagmatic order and

Claude Bremond and the Ethical Model of Narrative:

Known for his translation of Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale into French in
1970, Claude Bremond offered a reduced rearrangement of Propp’s structural schema
from an ethical point of view. Using a structural approach somewhat akin to Greimas’,
Bremond maintained that many of Propp’s functions can be reduced to six from an
evaluative perspective in terms of whether a function causes negative or positive
outcome for the personae involved. Thus, Propp’s function A (villain causes injury) can
be put under the rubric of deterioration; function K (liquidation of misfortune) under
improvement/amelioration; A (villainy) and L (claims of the false hero/villain) can be
put under unworthiness; functions E (hero’s reaction to the donor’s test), I (hero’s
victory over villain), K (liquidation of misfortune) and N (difficult task solved) can be
placed under the category of merit; under punishment one may place functions U (the
villain’s punishment) and Ex (the false hero is exposed) and lastly, F (hero acquires use
of magical agent), Rs (rescue of the hero from pursuit), T (hero is given new appearance)
and W (hero marries and ascends the throne) can be considered cases of reward (1977:
52). These six functions deterioration, improvement/amelioration, unworthiness

punishment, merit and reward can be taken together to organize what may be called an
“elementary sequence” (Bremond: 1977:49). Thus
deterioration --^ improvement
merit ---► reward
unworthiness ---► punishment
This elementary sequence allows Bremond to present the basic dynamics of narrative.
Thus, the deterioration of the victim is due to the unworthiness of the villain that results
in the latter’s eventual punishment; the improvement of the victim is based on help from
the worthy helper for which the helper is rewarded. As Bremond says (1977:50), the
deterioration of the victim due to the unworthy villain creates a movement towards the
valuative opposite: an improvement in the victim’s condition due to the worthy helper.
However, the unworthy villain’s action generates its valuative opposite, punishment,
while the worthy helper’s action (merit) generates the valuative complement, reward.
Reward is also the outcome of the hero’s projection of merit. Thus—

Semiotic/Structural study of Folktales in India:

* Among the many Indian scholars, who in the latter half of the 20th century attempted
to study the folktale using semiotically oriented approaches, the influence of Propp and
Levi-Strauss and their subsequent interpolators in the west has been paramount. Yet
many of them were able to direct their studies with insight and acumen suited to the local
traditions here. Freeing themselves from the shackles of the romantist-nationalist trends
of folklore study that were in vogue since the colonial times, most of these scholars were
able to compare with international scholarship. Thus, the work of Praphulladatta
Goswami, Birendranath Datta, Nabin Ch. Sarma and others from Assam, were very
much in the international academic lines. Further, scholars like A. K. Ramanujan,
Jawaharlal Handoo, Lalita Handoo, Komal Kothari and others contributed towards
enriching the contemporary structuralist paradigm. Institutions like Gauhati University,
CHL, Mysore and various universities offered significant service as seats for the growth
of these novel studies of Indian oral narrative and other genres of folklore. Jawaharlal
Handoo can be credited with examining the cross-cultural and the cross-general applicability of
Proppian structural analysis (1977, cited by Medhi 2004:82). Indian
folklore and folktales as inherently multilingual and multicultural provided Handoo with
ideal material for such a study and he was able to show the limited validity of the
structural model in this regard. He has also done significant work using Nikiforov’s
(1927) model of tale analysis based on a linguistic model of word-formation where the
notions of prefix, root and suffix as related to tale actions are employed for analysis.
Handoo is also seen to arrive at the significant conclusion that the Russian model may
not be universally applicable and it may be better and methodically sounder to advocate
a limited application along with a judicious selection of context bound orientations. The
eclectic approach that he prefers allows him to go beyond the narrow confines of
Proppian and, to generalize, typical western scholarship and address, for instance issues
like that of tale transformation which he finds to embody the “transformation in the
sense of shifting the role of the seeker hero to victimized hero (eventually becoming
victimized hero) is possible, but to have a tale which at the same time follows seeker and
victimized heroes, is normally not possible” (1978: 102). Handoo’s work explicates the
limited applicability of any fixed model as a meta-model and hence, in many ways looks
forward or shows the application of alternative and post-modernist perspectives to the
study of the folktale. Related work of some significance was also carried out by Lalita
Handoo who as part of her research work attempted an application of the Proppian model
for the analysis of Kashmiri folktales (1994). Like Propp, she also does not collect the
tales form field situations but rather uses an already published anthology, in this case J.
Hinton Knowel’s Folk tales of Kashmir (1893), and shows the applicability of the
Proppian model in a cross-cultural context. Her work does not appear to be critically
motivated as she desists from questioning the foundations of the Proppian model but
applies it as it is for the analysis of the material. While such studies, important though
they are, may not provide new orientations to the study of folklore, they may be regarded
as significant still in so far as they offer an evaluative paradigm vis-a-vis an established
model. The fact that in the Indian context, this appears to be one of the first attempts at a
detailed structural analysis also makes this work important for our perusal. Using the
criterion of the number of moves used, Handoo classifies the folktales investigated into single move
and multi move tales (1994:61). While single move tales are further subdivided
on the basis of Villainy and Lack , as she finds them to be the only obligatory
functions in a tale (A-K (W) and a-K (W)), multi-move tales are classified into tales
(83) ■
having direct moves, interwoven moves, embedded moves and simultaneous moves, with
direct move tales being further sub-divided into those having positive and positive
negative-moves