Chapter 1 Introduction Part- 1: Folklore

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

“Folklore comprehends all knowledge that is transmitted by word of mouth and all crafts and techniques that are learnt by imitation and examples as well as the product of such art.” William R. Bascom, professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, has given an elaborate and illustrative definition of folklore. According to this definition, folklore is a generic term, which includes a whole range of material namely “folk art, folk craft, folk tools, folk customs, folk beliefs, folk medicines, folk recipes, folk music, folk dance, folk games, folk gestures and folk speech as well as those verbal forms of expression which have been called Folk literature” (283).

Encyclopedia Britann ica (2006) defines folklore as “ traditional knowledge and beliefs of cultures having no written language. It is transmitted by word of mouth and consists as does written literature of both prose and verse narratives, poems and songs, myths, dramas, rituals, proverbs, riddles and the like.”

Standard Dictionary of Folklore Mythology and Legend, 1st volume, contains 21 concise definitions regarding folklore, wherein the most common criterion is its transmission of word by mouth, suggested as ‘Verbal art’ or ‘Spoken words’.

In Zaverchand Meghani’s words, “F olklore is the Gangotri of shista sahitya ”. (Source of elite literature)

Well known Gujarati scholar Dr. Hasu Yagnik says that Folklore is a public wealth of that particular region of the people speaking the language and it lives on throbbing in the traditions of its people” (1).

Martha Sims and Martine Stephene have explained their views on folklore vividly, “Folklore is many thi ngs, and it’s almost impossible to define it succinctly. It’s both what folklorists study, and the name of the discipline they work within. Yes, folklore is folk songs and legends. It’s also quilts, Boy Scout Badges, high school

1 marching band initiations, jokes, chain letters, nicknames, holiday food…..and many other things you might or might not expect. Folklore exists in cities, suburbs and rural villages, in families, work groups and dormitories. Folklore is present in many kind of informal communication, whether verbal (oral and written text), customary (behavioral, rituals) or material (physical objects). It involves values, traditions, ways of thinking and behaving. It’s about art. It is about people and the way people learn. It helps us who we are and how to make meaning in the world around us .” (1)

After this preliminary knowledge of folklore, it is not difficult to see that folklore is almost as old as the human society. There has been no society, not excluding the most ancient or primitive in which knowledge, beliefs, customs etc. have not been shared and handed down. “Folklore is one of the important parts that go to make up the culture of any people…..There is no known culture which does not include folklore. No group of people, however simple their technology, has ever been discovered which does not employ some form of folklore. Because of the same tales and proverbs known to both, folklore is a bridge between literate and non-literate societies” (26).

While folklore in the first sense has always been a part of culture since the very beginning of human society itself, the study of folklore is hardly two hundred years old. Scholars agree that interest in systematic collection and preservation of folklore started in Europe- in Germany, to be precise; towards the last part of 18 th century, almost in synchronization with two intellectual movements of Romanticism and Nationalism.

Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803), a German nationalist poet and thinker discovered what he called ‘Volksseele’ - soul of the people - in traditionally preserved tales, songs and beliefs of the peasantry living in the German country side. His famous anthology of folksongs ‘ Simmer der Volker in Leidern ’ was published in 1778- 79. He used such terms as ‘Volkslied ’- folk song, ’ Volkseele’ - folk soul and ‘Volksglaube ’ - folk belief. He was the first to argue that language contributes to shaping the frame works and patterns with which each linguistic community thinks and feels. Thus, Herder put forward the idea of national conscience in the literature of the common people.

Among those inspired by von Herder’s appeal were two young German brothers, Jacob Grim (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grim (1786-1859), who assiduously took up the task of collecting, examining and publishing German tales and myths in a systematic manner. The rise of Romanticism in Europe during 19 th century revived interest in traditional folk stories. Grimm Brothers undertook this work with dedication with the goal of researching a scholarly treatise on folk tales. Thus, they introduced the methodology for collecting and recording folk stories that became the basics of folklore studies. Grimm Brothers published the first collection of eighty-six stories - the first volume of their celebrated ‘ Kinder-und Haus marchen’ (1812), translated as ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales ’. Grimm Brothers collected more than 200 stories from the country side peasant societies of Germany, which became available in more than 100 languages and also adapted by the film makers. Even in the 21 st century, in the time of science and technology, the Grimm Brothers’ stories are ever fresh and provide subject matter for the new versions of the st ories like ‘Cinderella’, ‘Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’ etc. Three generations of our time have grown up reading these stories. These stories ignite imagination of the young minds and satisfy their curiosity.

Folklore did not receive its due respect as the area of interest until the end of 18 th century. It was mistakenly thought that only people who study folklore are antiquarian type, devotees of ballads which were no longer sung and collectors of quaint customs which were no longer practiced. It was considered as the product of deprived people. Many fallacies had been attached with the term itself. Elitists believed, folk has something to do with unlettered and uneducated. Folk were understood to be a group of people who constituted the lower stratum: the so called ‘Vulgus in populo’ in contrast with the elite society. Literate class of the people believed that much of the folklore was fantasy. It was associated with error, myth, superstition, old wives’ tales and as irrational relics of the past. (Dorson 1)

Folklore emerged as a new field of learning in the nineteenth century, when antiquaries in England and philologists in Germany began to look closely at the ways of the lower classes.

Folkloristics:

Folkloristics is the formal academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. Occ asionally, it is also known as ‘ Tradition Studies’ or ‘Folk -life Studies’, in Britain. This term gained currency in1950.The term itself is derived from German designation ‘Folkloristik’ . Ultimately, the Folkloristics is used to distinguish between the material studied - Folklore, and the study of folklore - Folkloristics. In scholarly usage, Folkloristics represents an emphasis on the contemporary, social aspects of expressive culture, in contrast to the more literary or historical study of culture texts. It was established as a field of study across both, Europe and America. Folklore did not emerge as the systematic study of branch of knowledge until 19 th century; however the work in the field of study of folklore had already been undertaken by the interested and committed persons since much earlier.

Grimm Brothers had used the word ‘volkskunde ’ to denote the subject of folklore. But the term ‘Folklore’ was coined by William John Thomas (1803-1885), a British antiquarian in 1846. He fabricated the term folklore to replace the various other terms used at the time including ‘Popular Antiquities’ or ‘Popular Literature’. While writing to a respected English weekly, ‘Athenaeum’, Thomas William declared, “W hat we in England designate as popular antiquities……would be most aptly described by a good S axon compound ‘Folklore’ - the Lore of the People”. He began a column entitled ‘Folklore’ in Athenaeum. His early attempts to produce a collection of folk tales advertised as ‘Folklore of England’. Within a year , Thomas could proudly announce that his term had achieved a household currency. William was very proud of finding the new term; he says, “I claim the honor of introducing the epithet folklore’, as Disraeli does of introducing ‘Fatherland’ in to the literature of this country”. Doing so, Thomas was echoing scholars from across the European continent to collect artifacts of older, mostly of oral cultural tradition still flourishing among the rural populace. Thomas’s concept of folklore and his definition includes manners, customs, observance, superstitions, ballads, proverbs and so forth.

Describing the development of folklore as the discipline, American folklorist Alan Dundes says that, the increasing awareness of folklore was closely associated with nineteenth-century intellectual currents of Romanticism and Nationalism. The

4 glorification of the common man included a nostalgic interest in his speech and manners which were believed to be dying out (4).Thus, discipline of folklore studies developed considerably as a new branch of knowledge in 20th century.

Folklore Studies or Folkloristics found its due respect as an interdisciplinary branch of knowledge dealing with auspices of literature (Humanities) and Anthropology. Folkloristics opened the new branches of knowledge in the fields of Philology, Ethnography, Sociology, Culture Studies etc. So, twentieth century saw sudden rise and development in the discipline of Folkloristics.

The key phrase in Thomas’s proposal was ‘popular antiquities’, a term too cumbersome for his taste but well understood by his countrymen. The quest for antiquities of all kinds had intrigued English - men throughout the 17 th and 18 th century. They wrote books on Greek, Roman and Norman antiquities. His successors explored this subject with an intellectual vigour and brilliance that excited all England in the late Victorian decades. The classicists and medievalists, anthropologists, literary scholars and philologists as well as the parsons, doctors and school masters found stimulus and reward in the method of folklore. In 1878, as if to confirm its permanence, a dedicated group of private scholars calling themselves ‘folklorists’ founded a ‘Folklore Congress’ in London to study traditional vernacular culture of England and Ireland. To name a few revered members of the society had been William Thomas, G. L. Gomme, Richard Dorson, Andrew Lang, Edwin Sidney Hartland, Alfred Nutt, William Alexander, Joseph Jacobs, Sophia Burn etc.

The inquiry of antiquities does not owe its impetus to the Renaissance interest in classical mythology, although handbooks in mythology were abundant , nor does it derive from the romantic affection for folksong, although an enduring interest in ballad studies had commenced in 1765 with Bishop Percy’s ‘Reliques of Ancient English Poetry’, which was a collection of ballads and popular songs. The basis of the work was the 15 th century manuscript came to be known as ‘Percy’s Folio’ contained 180 ballads in three volumes. Percy’s Reliques captured the imagination of the people and poets like William Wordsworth and Coleridge who composed their immortal work Lyrical Ballads (1798) in imitation. Ballad proved most suitable literary genre for Keats to represent his

5 mystic, tragic feelings. It also made the collecting and study of ballad a popular pass time. This awakened wide-spread interest in English and Scottish traditional songs. Such movement acted as the foundation for the Romanticism and Nationalism.

Describing this bubbling interest for the antiquities a rose in England, “The boarders,” says Lasely Bishop of Ross, “take much interest in their old music and chanted songs about the deeds of their ancestors or about ingenious raiding tricks and strategies.” These ballads were of raids and rescue which were far-more romantic than scientifically accurate.

The history of folklore reveals that Folkloristics in many different countries has often been inspired by the desire to preserve their national heritage. People started taking interest in peoples’ history and customs. This movement stimulated Scottish poet and writer Sir Walter Scott (1771- 1832), who enjoyed travelling through Scottish border and talking to the older people (high-landers) in an effort to collect the stories, poems and songs that had been passed by word of mouth, which he published as The Minstrelsy of Scottish Border , expressing his concern over such ‘wild flowers’, Scott said, ‘They were fast falling into oblivion ’. National poet of Scotland Robert Burns (1759-1796) made original compositions and collected folksongs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them.

In Scandinavia, intellectuals were searching for their authentic, Teutonic roots and had labeled their studies ‘folkminde’ (Danish) or ‘folmimne’ (Norwegian). Thomas Crofton Croker (1798-1854) published fairy tales from Southern Ireland and with his wife documented keening and other Irish funeral customs.

Elias Lönnrot(1802-1884) is best known for his collection of Finnish oral poems published under the title ‘ Kalevala ’. It is the National Epic based on Finnish folklore or mythology. It played an instrumental role in the development of Finnish national identity.

In the United States, John Fanning Watson (1779-1860) published the ‘ Annals of Philadelphia’ in 1830. ‘American Folklore Society’ was founded in1888 and since its founding year, it publishes prestigious quarterly ‘Journal of American Folklore’.

American scholar and folklorist Francis James Child (1825-1896) published five volumes of ‘The Ballad of England a nd Scotland’ collected from oral tradition. Ballad was the most popular form enjoyed by the French and English people since 12 th and 13 th century.

As the need to collect these vestiges of rural traditions became more compelling, the need to formalize this new field of cultural studies became apparent. The British Folklore Society and American Folklore Society were two plethoras of academic societies founded in the latter half of the 19 th century by educated members of the emerging middle class.

In one sense, ‘folklore is a religious teaching ’, observes Dundes. It is derived from Latin (ligare membra) means to bind, to unite. Folklore binds greatest distance together. Wider distances are spanned by the far reach of human touch of folklore. Folklore is the knowledge of life handed down to us from generations.

Misconceptions about folklore:

Before the study of folklore came to be accepted as the branch of scientific study, lot of misconceptions were attached to the word folklore itself. It was considered as an item of folk speech means fallacy, untruth, error. One can see that the basic mistrust of folk material is part of a general ambivalence, about the material of the oral tradition were celebrated as a national treasure of the past; and on the other hand folk were wrongly identified with the illiterate in a literate society and thus the folk as a concept was identified exclusively with the vulgar and uneducated people. Think of the phrase, “That’s folklore !” (56).

Thus, folklore was the equivalent of falsehood and the people who studied folklore were considered as insane antiquarians studying dead customs and beliefs of the bygone days and it has nothing to do with the present. As per elitist view, folklore was dying out. It has been argued that, one of the purposes of education is to help stamp out folklore. As human evolve, they leave folklore behind such that the truly civilized human is conceived to be folklore-less. Dundes clarifies, “From this kind of thinking education and folklore have been placed on the two opposite sides”. It is pity that our education philosophy continues to worship the written word. We tend to trust what is down in black

7 and white and distrust oral testimony, regarding it as unreliable. Folk were understood to be a group of people who constituted the lower stratum, the so called ‘vulgas in populo’ in contrast with elite society. (57)

Father of American folklore, Richard Dorson wrote in 1976 that no subject of study in United States today is more misunderstood than folklore. Not only in USA but in whole Europe, folklore is a much misunderstood and much abused term. Judging from common journalistic parlance, folklore stands for humbug and removed from reality. Ironically, it was considered as the old wives’ tales.

For literate urban intellectuals, the folk was someone else and the past was recognized as being something truly different. Folklore became an indicator to show the material and industrial advancement and removed ourselves from a past marked by poverty, illiteracy and superstition.

Dorson says that since its emergence as a new area of knowledge and subject of inquiry, it has also caused confusion and controversy. To the layman and to the academic man too, folklore suggests falsity, wrongness, fantasy and distortion (1).

Victorian elitists characterized folklore as ‘meaningless survivals’. Strongly refuting these misconceptions, American folklorist Alan Dundes observes, “ Folklore is a rich and meaningful source for the study of cognition and values of the culture .” He championed the modern view that folklore is an artistic process rather than dusty artifacts. It is alive and dynamic rather than dead and static. It is not something relegated to primitivize others - historically or socially - but rather than a behavioral pattern that everyone exhibits.

In 21 st century, folklore and Folkloristics have been identified as the new fields of discoveries. Every effort has been put in to trace out, record and preserve this cultural national heritage across the world. Today, when the world has reduced to a global village, the study of folklore and folk material is more significant. Folklore is a window to see the society and culture. It is the prime evidence of culture, indeed of humanity. It is as old as humanity and it is no more an irrational relics of past.

In recent years another term, “Folklife” has vied with and even threatened to dominate folklore. T he supporters of ‘Folklife Studies’ claim that folklorists are too narrowly preoccupied with verbal forms and neglect the tangible product of folk-artisans. They maintain that folklife embraces the whole panorama of traditional culture, including oral folklore (2).

Not only do folklorists in different counties have different concept of folklore, but also folklorists within one country may have quite diverse views concerning its nature. Because, folklore definitely comprises extreme diversities of both the material of folklore and the methods of studying these materials. Folklorists themselves have widely divergent views about what constitutes folklore. One of the reasons for this is that the concept about the nature of folklore itself has undergone considerable change over the years. Thus, the dual affiliations of folklore with the discipline of Humanities on one hand and on the other with the field of Social Science; make it difficult to survey the discipline with any degree of detail. There was a scholarly and long debate among the members of the American Folklore Society who wanted to establish it chiefly as the field of literary discovery and their counterparts liaisoned it with the cultural anthropology, although both these approaches are clearly essential and complementary. Bascom firmly believes that study of particular group of the people, their farming, fishing and hunting techniques, marriage and their family systems, kinship terms, legal and political system, rituals and magical practice etc. will give us ethnographic ideas which will be only incomplete description. To get the complete picture they must include the folk tales, legends, myths, riddles, proverbs and other forms of folklore employed by this group of people.

Interdisciplinary Nature of Folklore:

Having a very remote antiquity in ‘The Collection Study ’ and analysis of the subject of folklore has always been regarded as the most distinctive and scholastic venture in highlighting human dimensions. Folklore embraces a boundless heterogeneous field of studies. Thus, its affiliation to the humanities in one hand and to the social science on the others hand is highly distinguished and unique in itself.

Folklore and Anthropology:

Stating his views vividly about the affiliation between folklore and anthropology, Bascom observes, “Culture is the basic concept of anthropology. Culture has been referred to as man’s ‘Social heritage’ and as the “man made part of the environment”. Since folklore is the product of society or culture that is why anthropologists tend to believe folklore as the branch of cultural anthropology. Thus, folklore is studied in anthropology as a part of culture, as a part of man’s learned traditions and customs, a part of his social heritage. (25)

The basic difference in anthropological view of looking at folklore is that folklore includes myths, legends, tales, proverbs, riddles, the text of ballad, songs and other forms of lesser art but not folk art, folk dance, folk music, folk costume, folk medicine, folk custom or folk belief which are the important parts of culture. These are an essential parts of complete ethnography, which are unquestionably worthy of study, folklore has important place in every primitive tribe. It is through the medium of folklore that the culture of primitive society is transmitted from one generation to another. How the world was evolved is the theme of many existing tribes. Most of the folklore contains mutual relation of the people and their Gods, various forms of folklore aim at socialization and point out how different offences are punished by the supernatural powers in different ways. Description about birds, animals, trees and topography of the specific region, provides very important information for the anthropological survey of any tribe.

From the anthropological point of view folklore is considered as the mirror of culture, however, what so ever picture is presented through folklore is not the complete mirror image, it is the partial dimension of the culture. To undertake the complete ethnographic study of the particular society, folklore proves an invaluable means to get complete whole of the culture under study.

Hence, a student of folklore should have good exposure to ethnological background and any anthropologist cannot avoid folklore if he/she wants to do comprehensive study of the culture.

Folklore and History:

Folklore and history are the first cousins. Two can complement one another and give us a finished product. History and folklore go hand in hand; their subjects are closely related. The study of folklore is often historical in its focus. Folklore is the traditional knowledge of the culture and the word, ‘traditional’ carries the idea of the things that are established, time honored. A well known scholar has said, “T here is a great deal of history in folklore and that’s good; there also is a great deal of folklore in history and that’s not good’. We can quote lot of examples where the revival of glorious past have stimulated strong national fervor e.g. in Finland and Ireland, Scotland and in India too, like many others during freedom struggle, Meghani inspired his generation for freedom struggle with soul stirring poems. The same contribution was made by Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Lönnrot, which was no less heroic than the heroes themselves. A people’s perception of their history is often formed not so much from the knowledge of facts as from the traditional knowledge passed on to them through folklore. Thus, history has been preserved and kept alive through folklore. Though, there are no authentic records found today, every Indian has the knowledge of great traditions of Mahabharata period ( Untiedt 4 ).

In some aspects, folklore stands in strong contrast with history. History deals with records and fact, whereas folklorist are naïve or don’t care about truth. It is just the very nature of folklorist that he does not need proof or skepticism. Folkloric forms of legend, epic, ballad are very close to history and particularly myth stands the closest; so, scholars have often tried to find out common and contrast between mythology and history.

Leopold von Ranke says, “History tells us as it really happened’. It reveals to us the objective truth, with no ambiguity. The voracity of history is proven by the evidence of truth; on the other hand, mythology stands at the other end of objectivity. All of it is products of imagination, much like fiction with no evidence open to rational, scientific scruti ny but dependent, instead on one’s faith and beliefs.

However, the difference between history and mythology does not amount to dichotomy and they do have much in common. Both, history and mythology are creation of human imagination. History, however is limited to retrieval of verifiable ‘facts’ and evidences from the past. Mythology is not bound by space, chronology or evidence that is indisputable. It doesn’t mean that mythology is totally baseless. Indeed, the reach of culture in any society is far more pervasive than the historical facts. For e.g. Rama’s pervasive presence in India is because he is a cultural icon. No real ruler’s presence in the life of India’s millions, even that of Ashoka comes anywhere near it (Mukhia The Hindu).

Alexander Crape says that folklore is a historical science, historical because it throws light on the past of the mankind.

Folklore and Psychology:

Even when the study of folklore was accepted as the systematic study and as a branch of knowledge, scholars were strongly against the belief that folklore has something to do with psychology. Folklorists concentrated upon the objective study of physical phenomena or outer-world which they believed remains uninfluenced by the mental process. But now it has been well established that psychology is also one of the important factors concerning the origin of folklore. The study of folklore material reveals that customs, beliefs, or folk songs are the product of dynamic mental process; the response to the folk soul to either outer or inner needs, the expression of various longings, fears, aversions or desires. Prior, “ desire for more food and better crop were considered as the common human attributes, not worthy of investigation any further ” (Jones 90).

But, it was an Austrian neurologist and father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Schlmo Freud (1856 – 1939), who explained human behavior in a particular manner. He gave his famous analysis of Oedipus Myth in 1899, The Interpretation of Dreams . Freud explained the working of ‘psychic apparatus’ with the analysis of the Greek mytholog ical tragedy ‘Oedipus the King’. According to it, psychosexual development of infant proves an important point to develop him/her in to a mature identity. Freud believed, “R epressed

12 wish that would rather not admitted to as an unfulfilled wish, indicative of conflict within the psyche.” Like literature and art, mythology was one of the first cultural fields to be explored by applied psychology.

Psychoanalysis has produced much evidence to show that all our conscious ideas, feelings, interests and beliefs, originate in the unconscious; the conscious mind’s function is confined to criticism, selection and control. Many savage beliefs and folklore customs can be shown to be closely related, in both form and content. There is a far reaching parallelism between survivals of primitive life from the racial past and survival from the individual past. The study of survivals in folklore can be usefully supplemented by the study of survivals in living individuals. Every custom or ritual or formula designed to bring about the results in the outer world is based ultimately on the idea that the human mind possesses the power to influence the course of nature in the outer world, a power which religion deputes to deity and achieves by the more indirect technique of prayer. Giving the example of the custom of throwing rice at wedding couple (Which is found in almost all tribes), Ernest Jones says, “Throwing of r ice in this context represents idea of fertility.” Folklore is replete with symbols which has the deeper meaning than the surface level which can be worth of psychoanalytical investigation.

Folklore and Sociology:

Sociology is the branch of study which examines the interpersonal relationship between human and the society. Human behavior, actions and his/her consciousness are shaped by social relation and social institutions. Sociological analysis depends upon careful gathering and analysis of evidence about social life, observation, survey, interpretation of historical documents, analysis of census data, interview and on lab experiments. To get the complete idea of the people under study, folklore provides invaluable information about the human society and their culture.

Dundes aptly says that study of folklore is the study of ‘text within context.’ Folklore is the product of society and it cannot be studied without the social context of the item. The text of the folklore is extremely important but without the context it remains lifeless (9).

Man is the social being and even the humans of earliest races had some kind of institutions and family is one such example. Folk represents group of people which is at the centre of sociological analysis, Folklore falls squarely with the study of the customs, traditions and institutions of living people. It is one of the important parts that go to make up the culture of any people even if the collector’s major concern is folk songs and tales, he may find customs and beliefs a gift he can not overlook (20).

The analysis of the oral tradition of the folk is more rewarding as a source of socio -cultural data. Examining sensibilities of men and women of low caste, folk literature proves of an immense help. For example, the attitude of lower caste people towards upper caste, which would have been concealed for fear or disapproval and reprisals, are well revealed in proverbs and short tales told among the lower caste people.

The real value of folklore as a source of sociological data lies not in its concern with particular person or incidents but in its typical portrayal of situation, relationships and attitudes.

In spite of its limitations, folklore remains a valuable source of sociological data. However, the more formal methods of collecting sociological data are expensive and time consuming (Devdutt 4).

Folklore and literature:

The relationship between folklore and literature is rather complex. Folklore and literature have been opposed and interdependent. Borrowing of motifs, themes and patterns from an oral tradition is a legitimate aspect of creativity. Great masters of all languages have freely borrowed from the folklore and have given a new shape and form to their literary pieces.

The striking contrast between the folklore and the literature is the oral tradition of folklore, while literature is in black and white – printed. Creation of folklore and literature and their different ways of circulating can also be considered as the other differences. Stylistic variation and variation in subject matter also differentiate the two.

Folklore has to do with the people belonging to bourgeois, agrarian, rural and illiterate class of the society while the elite literature has been created by the literate and learned class of the society. An obvious difference is that folklore uses conventional themes and stylistic devices and makes no efforts to disguise their conventional quality while the literary artist charges them with new content.

Literature has enjoyed the greater culture prestige, yet the source of the literary work might be taken from the folklore. Similarities between the two are also identical. If we compare literary themes and manner of treatment with the folklore material, the generalization can be readily discovered.

Folklore is in many cultures indistinguishable from the elite literature. Finnish epic ‘Kalevala’ is the best example of it. Literature of the countries like India and Greek is highly charged with folkloric elements. Literature of any country, in any language, cannot keep itself aloof from the folkloric tradition. Great literary artists like Hesiod and Homer, Petrarch and Boccaccio, Chaucer and Shakespeare, Kalidasa and Tagore… all were very much influenced by the folklore and they have freely borrowed the sources of their literary works from the oral tradition. English Romantics had tried to imitate the folklore tradition ditto. Seeds of modern literature are lying in ballad, narratives and folk tales. Well known Gujarati scholar and folklorist Hasu Yagnik correctly observes that (folk) lore is the preliminary stage of all branches of knowledge; sciences and arts found today. (my trans.)

In the time of general non-literacy, word of mouth pervaded the life of all the people who could not write and read. It was in a quite encompassing sense, their means of both ‘instruction and delight’. In modern period, many of fol kloric functions are gradually taken over by print, writing and official education, but it has been continued adaptively within its contracted range.

If we examine interdependence of literature and folk literature in Indian literature, we find that Sanskrit has the largest representation in modern literature, because it itself is the source of most of the stories that appear in other literatures.

Significance of the study:

American folklorist Alan Dundes says that folklore is the prime evidence of culture, indeed of humanity, folklore is a people’s “symbolic autobiography”, folklore gives an inside out view of society, folklore is a mirror of culture, a lens for society, a key to behavior, a projection of mind; folklore is as old as humanity. Folklore is an autobiographical ethnography. It is People ’s own description of themselves (1).

Study of folklore is important to preserve the back values, to remember the rich past and to transmit the ancient culture down to generation through stories and songs and riddles etc. It is crucial to knowledge of human experience. Folklore or tradition is called the root of all literature. Many of our great writers including Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Ravindranath Tagore, Rudyard Kipling, and Girish Karnad are highly influenced by folklore tradition. Hasu Yagnik says, “ Folk tradition is the common treasure”. Advantage of folklore is that it conveys what people think in their own words and action, and what they say or sing is expressed in folklore, what they might not be able to in everyday conversation. Dundes argued that in folklore, more than in other forms of human evidence, one finds a people’s own unconscious picture of themselves, which is not always pretty and often it includes ethnic slurs and abusive imitations.

Andrew Lang considered study of folklore important because he believed that history of mankind followed a uniform development from savagery to civilization, and that relics of primitive belief and custom survived still among the rural peasantry, and among contemporary savages. These relics or ‘survivals’ could assist in reconstruction the earliest stages of human life and culture, much as the fossil bones of a prehistoric creature co uld conjure up an extinct species. He made a statement, ‘The most brilliant civilization of the world never expelled the old savage from its myth and ritual ” (66).

Folklore is a wide ranging expression of rich and complex, archaic culture. It is no more dead fossil but a vital element of living culture. It represents the ancient thought of mankind, their feelings and world view, their shared experiences and wisdom. It is one of the important parts that go to make up the culture of any people (Jadav 1).

The folklore lays down maxims and constitutes instruments to be inculcated amongst its members for individual’s well being as well as general welfare of the

16 community. Folklore has a remarkable capacity for acculturation, assimilation, adjustment and conservation and at the same time to support the institutions and behavior patterns of a culture. Besides suggesting rules for conduct, folklore also drives home the need for holding up to scorn those who depart from socially accepted norms, and eulogizing those who follow them, exemplifying the standard bearers of values and goals of the community. Apart from its didactic function as the charter for belief, model for action etc. Folklore serves as a critique of the socio – cultural mores of the sections of society of which, it is an ethno-poetic documentation – that is, folklore being a collective creativity of a collective psyche, its essential function is to be self – reflective, to be critically realistic. Thus, the folklore also provides instruments for socio – cultural protest or criticism. Some folklorists from East European countries and Soviet Union have even gone to the extent of saying that folklore arises from the people; the folk is the expression of protest and outrage against the exploiting nobles and land owners. Hence, in the Soviet Union, folk bards and story tellers are also honored along with novelists and poets (28).

Folklore is the assimilation of human sensation, feelings, philosophy of life, material culture and lore, since time immemorial. Folklore is always dominated by the social, cultural and political consequences with the flow of human life (182).

It is very interesting to note that for such a pure soul of people, folklore was used as a tool to propagate the political ideas and to establish superiority of the races.

Folklore has chronicled mythological origin of different peoples across Europe and established the national pride. By the first decade of 20 th century this originally innocent movement was usurped by nationalistic, political forces in several European countries. First and foremost in Germany, Hitler being himself so imbued with the spirit of ‘volk’ became the arbiter of German folk culture who regarded the “folkish” state as the central point of his political thought. For soviet Russia, folklore proved as a powerful force to advance communism. Y. M . Sokolov (1950) quotes Lenin who said, “In Russia, folklore must be considered from the social political point of view, as an aid to understanding the ‘hopes and expectation’ of working masses in the past.”

Under the soviet regime a new genre of popular tradition came to the fore, came to be known as “martial revolutionary song”. Folklore also proved a fighting ground not only over conflicting reactionary and socialistic interpretation but also between classes preempting the traditions of the workers. The petty bourgeoisie or criminal elements had in the past appropriated the people’s folklore. In America too, folklore proved a bone of conflict between the Reactionary and Progressive forces. It also proved a powerful medium to give voices to the Negro expressions.

Indian Concept of Folklore:

The significance of the study of folklore and folk literature in India is quite different from what it is in the industrialized countries of the modern west, where the oral tradition of folklore and literature has lost much of its vigour. In India the folk and elite streams of culture have existed in close proximity to each other for thousands of years. But the traditional elite culture has not in any way threatened the existence of the culture of the folk. This was possible because two streams of cultures have basically shared the same and weltanschauung stream of values. The chief difference between the folk and elite streams of culture has been that of the degree of sophistication and articulation. From time immemorial, there has been in India a continuous process of give and take between the folk and elite streams of culture, whether it is literature, music or religion (1).

“Any one studying the culture of India needs to study not only its written classics, but its oral traditions of which folklore is an important part. Folklore pervades childhood, families and communities as the symbolic language of non-literate parts of the people and the culture” (Ramanujan Preface ).

Indian culture comprises of two major tiers. These have been variously referred to by pairs such as ‘Great and Little Tradition, High and Low Culture, Learned and Popular Tradition, Elite and F olk culture.’ Undoubtedly, there have been mutual borrowings between the Great and Little traditions and until recently many studies of Indian civilization have been conducted through Great tradition means from the view of Sanskrit written texts, which can be considered the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, one way of

18 defining verbal folklore of India is to say it is the literature of the dialects, those mother tongues of villages, streets, kitchen, tribal hut and wayside teashop. This is the wide base of the Indian pyramid on which all other Indian literatures rest (15).

Indian culture has unique ethnic identity. India’s cultural diversity is more segregated by its linguistic airs comprising scheduled languages, 880 regional languages and speech variety. India houses almost 300 tribal communities having unique oral tradition.

Compared to any other literature in the world, Indian literary tradition played a dominant role in the preservation and propagation of oral tradition. In India, linguistic records begin with the appearance of Brahmi script from about 3 rd century BC (Grierson 324).

Scanning the available literature and evidence of world folklore, one fine evidence we find is that India has been a renowned subcontinent for folklore from primitive era. It is crystal clear that all type of folklore come into existence with the development of human society, material culture, verbal folklore, performing folklore, psychological folklore and magical folklore are the major kinds of folklore. These all are found in developed nature at the Sindhu Cultural Period of India that is around 5000 BC. Since the period, all types of folklore are transferred from generation to generation by oral transmission.

At first, the Sindhu folk had collected the folklore material like narrative songs in the nature of Gatha. After that Vedic people had collected lyrical folk tales in the nature of Sukta in written form. This followed the intellectual persons like Valmiki and Vyasa, who composed the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata came into congregation with the support of folk tales, which were famous in various folks of India. The well known Indologist Joseph Jacobs says that even in pre-vedic age, ‘the established pure tales existed; means the tales which are found in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Brahmans , the Aranyakas, the Smritis , the Darshans and the Puranas are folk tales of the pre-vedic Indian folk.

Apart from the contribution of the epics, the credit of collection and its pragmatic application goes to Lord Buddha and Lord Mahavira, the great philosophers used the folk tales for the exposition of philosophy and religious propaganda. Lord Buddha preserved traditional folk tales from the Jatakas and Mahavira through Churnis. Apart from Ramayana and Mahabharata, very graceful collection of folk tales was done by Badhaha Kaha (Brihat katha) in Paishachi language, first of its kind in written form. After that Vararuchi and other Jain devotees collected various folk songs and tales in written form and began to use them in Jainism.

The outstanding feature of the oldest Indian education and Indian culture in general, especially in the century BC is its orality. The Vedic texts make no reference to writing, and there is no reliable indication that writing was known in India except perhaps in the North- West provinces when those were under Achaemenid rule since the time of Darius or even Cyrus. Mahabharata tells us, “Those who writ e down the Vedas, go to hell,” which is also confirmed by Kumarila, “Knowledge of truth is worthless which is acquired from the Veda, if the Veda has not been rightly comprehended or else it has been learnt from writing.’ Sayana wrote in the Introduction of Rigveda commentary, that the text of Veda is to be learned from the lips of the teacher and not from a manuscript. Several reasons are to be given for this restriction. One is the fear that sacred knowledge may fall into the hands of low caste. Another reason is to recite Vedic mantras with correct accent and intonation, if disaster is to be avoided, the need for the oral instruction was reinforced. Vedic Indian tradition at every occasion stresses the orality of the culture and literary herit age. Biblical tradition says, “A s it is written in the book of prophecies of Isaiah” while Indian tradition advocates, ‘T hus it is heard in the ‘Sveta svetra Upanishada ’ (Schrfe 12).

The older Indian literature including some texts as late as the early Century A.D. belongs to one of two classes- Shruti - hearing and Smriti – remembering. Vedic hymns are timeless revealed truth, something, ordinary man can never hope to perceive them but can ‘hear’ through the endless chain of oral tradition.

Orality is an integral characteristic of Indian literary tradition. This tradition was passed on through hearing from the lips of the Guru and to memorize it through repetition. Luv and Kush chanted the Ramayana in the court of Rama.

In order to trace the growth of folkloric studies, we must focus on the scholarly works done in Asia, particularly in India bef ore the Grimm’s Fairy Tales namely, Kathasaritsagar, Panchtantra and Jataks . A German scholar, Theodor Benfey, even claimed in his Introduction to Panchtantra (1859), ‘India the seat of an a ncient, highly developed civilization that had spread to Europe, was the home of master tales su bsequently found in the Grimm’s collection. Along with language and mythology, these wonder tales had diffused from India to Europe in ancient and historic times along well-traversed trade routes.’ The famous ‘Histori cal-Geographical’ school known as Finnish school was highly inspired by this Diffusionist Theory (5).

Nothing can sum up Indian folklore tradition more aptly, than Ved Vyasa’s words:

यदश लोकानां सवदश भवतर :। ( उधग पव – 43 – 36)

Migration Theory:

One of the early compiler of Indian folk tales and scholar of Indology - Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) - believes that there are abundant evidences of the early transmission by literary means of a considerable number of drolls and folk tales from India about the time of Crusaders. The collection known in Europe by the titles of ‘The Fables of Bidpai, The seven wise Masters, Gesta Romanorum and Barlaam and Josaphat’ , were extremely popular during the Middle Ages, and their contents passed on the hand into the exempla of the monkish preachers, and on the other in to Barlaam, the Novelle of Italy , thence after many days to contribute their quota to the Elizabethan drama. Perhaps, nearly one tenth of the main incidents of European folk-tales can be traced to this source. (Jacobs 6)

It has been proved with the historical evidence that Jatakas - the birth stories of Buddha-contain a large quantity of genuine early Indian folk tales, the earliest collection of the folk tales in the world, a sort of Indian Grimm ’s, collected more than

21 two thousand years before the good German brothers went on their quest among the folk with such delightful results.

Perhaps, this was one of the reasons which attracted Colonial rulers to undertake the close study and analysis of this treasure of oral tradition of Indian sub - continent.

RISE OF FOLKLORE STUDIES IN INDIAN SUB – CONTINENT

Colonial collectors of Indian folklore:

Darwin’s evolutionary ideas and Spencer’s developmental hypothesis sparked many Victorians to pursue philosophical and anthropological queries. Evolution intrigued Victorian thinkers, for it established their civilization at the height of a cultural progression. A basic presupposition was the ultimate superiority of modern European civilization and their interest in the empire which spread into ‘savage’ areas, whetted their appetites for insight into exotic customs, stories and people.

Those who set about systematic collection of folklore and material in the nineteenth century in India were a varied crew: Colonial administrators, missionaries and the women attached through their husbands or fathers to the Colonial enterprise.

In order to make suitable changes in administrative practices, the British officers began to make ethnological studies in their respective areas of India. They studied languages, customs, ceremonies, rituals, myths, legends and habit etc. through the folklore of particular areas where they had been working. In this reference Mr. Ashraf Siddiqui noted that with the gradual consolidation of the British power in India, the rulers felt that the people being ruled should be understood. For the missionaries it was necessary to know the language, religion, superstition and customs of the country in order to preach effectively. They read the religious books of Hindus and Muslims thoroughly and wrote and debated on the various aspects of native religions and superstitions (Bronner 57).

Indeed, the first collection of folk narratives from the oral tradition was undertaken by the Governor of Bombay’s daughter, Mary Frere published with Mr. Murray in 1868 under the title, Old Deccan Days. Her example was followed by Miss

Stokes in ‘Indian Fairy Tales’ (1880). Three years later, Mr. Thomas Steele includes in the appendix to his translation of ‘ Kusa Jatakya’ , fourteen short house-hold stories from Ceylon. The same year Mr. G. M. Damant began to publish his stories from Bengal in the “Indian Antiquity’, which continued to appear till 1888. Other noteworthy wo rks are J. A. Duboi’s Hindu Manners ,Customs and Ceremonies (1871); J. Hinton Knowle’s Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings (1885), and Folk-tales of Kashmir (1893); Charles E Grover’s The Folk Songs of Southern India (1871), and Irish administrator and linguist George Grierson, who conducted survey of British Indian territory documenting 179 languages and 544 dialects. His exhaustive study was published in 19 volumes, is known as Linguistic Survey of India ( LSI ) ( 1898-1828).

A Dictionary of Tamil Proverbs (1984), Flora Annie Steel’s Wide Awake Stories (1814); William C. Crooke’s Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India (1874), and Natives of Northern India (1884); Indian Folk-Tales (1900), R.C. Temple’s The Legends of the Punjab (1884-1900); Robinson Edward’s Jewitt’s Tales and Poems of Southern India (1903-1907), E.M. Gordon’s Indian Folk Tales: Being Side-lights on Village Life of Bilaspore, Central Provinces (1908), Cecil Henry Bompas’ Folklore of the Santhal Pargana (1909) and James Tod’s Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (1920), are worthy of mentioning. Verrier Elvin ’s contribution is very important in the sense that he inhabited hostile tribal areas. His personal contacts and travel among the tribals made him very popular field worker, dedicated ethnographer and folklorist. Elvin ’s works particularly in the North -East and Central Provinces, for e.g. The Baiga (1939), Folk-tales of Mahakosal (1949), A Philosophy for NEFA (1959), foreword of which is written by Nehru, and many of his works attracted the attention of British policy makers towards the hitherto neglected people.

Folklore analysts have divided the growth and development of folklore in three categories.

(1) The Missionary period (2) The Nationalistic period (3) The Academic period

In the first phase Anglo-Saxon missionaries studied the manners and customs of the natives for the spread of Christian faith. Though, the writing suffered from many weaknesses, it was the first representation of Indian culture in its actual setting which was not seen from the Sanskritic point of view. Journal of Asiastic Society of Bengal and The Indian Antiquities were founded in1874 followed by The Journal of Anthropological Society of Bombay in 1886, catering to the needs of Indology. British administrators’ sincere attempts for the study of Indology are very significant for the development of folklore studies in India because this gave new direction to the study of folklore. Though, they completely ignored the material culture, these works can be considered as the great treasure of folklore studies and possess great historical value to measure the conceptual growth of folklore studies in India. The Nationalistic folklore studies marked the difference in the approach which has changed from the foreign rulers to the native scholars. It was the positive side effect of Folklore Studies started by the British which played an instrumental role to inspire for the Nationalist Movement. It made the native Indians aware and the Indian scholars realized that nationalism in India could not be made recognizable until the deep collective emotions of the deprived massed are brought together. Collectors and analysts began identifying themselves with the native lore and in the cultural context it is accurately represented. The nationalist movement helped folklore studies grow and in return revitalized the movement by bringing it closer to the rural masses. This remains as an inevitable face related to oral tradition in India. Folklore in this period served as a vehicle for the transmission of ideas and news reaching equally to the literate and unlettered. Indian folklore scholars like Dineshchandra Sen’s Sati (1917) and The Folk Lliterature of Bengal (1920), Meghani’s Halarda (1928), Dadajini Vato (1933), Lok Sahitya, and Kankavati (1947), Suryakaran Parikh and Narottam Swamy’s Dhola Maru ra Doha (1940), Ramnaresh Tripathi’s Hamara Gram Sahitya (1940) and Devendra Satyarthi’s Bela Phule Adhi Rat (1948), Dharati (1948), Dhire Baho Ganga (1948) and many similar works. During the academic period Folkloristics related to the other areas of disciplines. Many universities included Folkloristics as the subject in their regional academic departments and have formed an independent research programmes. Many regional

24 bodies, either by government or voluntary nature have also helped collection of folklore. Orgnizations like Institute of Languages, Bhasha Research and Publication Center, and projects conducted with the financial aid by the University Grants Commission of India, have given a momentum to the folklore studies in India. India is a culturally diverse nation possessing the cultural milieu of four major Language Families of the world. Indian culture is the incrustation of various cultures which can be traced back to ancient period. India is the country which has been preserving the cultures of several nations. In our vast nation, in the field of folklore ‘what has been done is very less and vast to be done’.

Characteristics of Folklore:

Folklorists have ageed upon common features of folklore. Scholars describe the following common traits, which are applicable to all the forms of folklore more or less.

(1) Oral : Most of the folklorists agree at the common trait of folklore is its orality. It normally stands in direct contrast to written literature. Item of folklore is created in individual mind and it is transmitted through speaking and singing before the members of the group, who go on sharing it with their groups. Folk is the product of living cultureand living persons are the bearers of this oral tradition. Manifestation of folklore item depends up on human memory and skillfulness of the person involved; depending up on the individuals, who add and edit their contribution. Because of this, folklore item changes continuously.Because of their oral existence, narrative genres float in an unlimited numbers of variants around a limited number of plots (Degh 59).

Dorson divides this feature into four grouping.

1) Oral literature or verbal art which includes folk narrative, folk song or folk poetry, folk tales, proverbs and riddles, joke, numskull etc.The folk speech embraces the local and regional turns of phrase that deviates from the standard language, which are sometime taboo words or expression from passive vocabulary ( 9). 2) Physical folklife or material culture stands in direct contrast to oral folklore and deals with the visible aspects of folk behaviour. Its formula transmitted across

generations. This aspect is more significant when the tribal society is under the study where all processes and products are traditional although innovation occurs. It is subject to the same force of traditions and individual variations as verbal art, which is visual rather than aural. Decorative painting embellishing the walls and entrances of ritual tribal homes having both ritualistic and aesthetic significance is a pan – Indian phenomenon. Although the motifs of such paintings of one region or culture zone may vary from that of another, but their structural unity remains the same. 3) Social folk customs which deal with group interaction rather than on individual skills and performances. Customs are often closely bound up with deeply held folk beliefs, which in themselves constitute a folklore genre; e.g. hailing up the horse shoe and tying up lemon and chilies on the front door to avert witchcraft. Here, the emphasis is upon the group behaviour. This trait also includes group performances as a religious procession during festivals and celebrations; e.g. Garba performance of Gujarat. This also includes religious aspects of social customs affiliated to the folk healers who can remedy ailments beyond the capacity of physician. 4) Performing folk art involves traditional music, dance and drama, which often appear in conjunction with the oral expressions. Manifestations of music, dance and drama of the regional peasants and the tribals attract urban audiences and these performances have got wide popularity as an entertainment in the present days. These performances are passed on to the generations and performed by memory rather than by printed musical scores and relevant literature. The folk music is ‘functional’ in the sense that it is not only the entertainment or of only particular aesthetic interest, but is an accompaniment to other activities. It is perpetuated and venerated as a spontaneous creation by ethnic, occupation or religious minorities. Folk music is an embodiment of the common experience of inhabitants of the local to promote self – esteem, self- preservation and social solidarity. Scholars of ethnomusicology consider folk music as a repository of archaism - a legacy from which the prehistory of language, literature and other cultural traits could be adduced (11).

Considering dances as a manifestation of rituals and entertainments, the English scholar Douglas Kennedy has rightly pointed out that when primitive religion weakens, some of the mystery and magic depart from the dances that express it. Some dance performances echo ancient animistic rites, for exampl e Kerala’s “Puli Kali” tiger dance. Folk drama has the close affinity with music and dance and is associated with rituals and festivals which is recognized as a new genre of dance-drama namely, Bhavai of Gujarat and Tamasha of Maharashtra.

It is difficult to make clear categorization because these four divisions are not all inclusive. There are non-verbal expression like traditional gestures, they may form the part of ‘folk speech’. Traditional gestures are the part of every culture, but as far as Indian sub – continent is concerned, traditional gestures form an integral part. For example most of the classical dances employ different ‘mudras’ – hand movements and facial expression to show the various moods; traditional gesture of taking ‘dookhana’ by an elderly ladies to vindicate miseries of the person in Saurastra region of Gujarat.

2) Formulaic Expression:

This characteristic of folklore mostly covers the rest all subsidiary traits; e.g. setting, plot, action and characters. Close examination of the various forms of folklore reveals these patterns, e. g. Journey undertaken by the central characters. Some fix action and usage of figures are also found e. g. characters are stereo – typical; wicked step mothers, faithful friend, poor Brahmin, brave prince, beautiful maiden etc. Usage of numbers like 3, 7, 12, is common e. g. three sisters, seven brothers, seven gates, twelve years etc.

This technique is employed to aid the story teller to memorize the events. Combination of such stereotype action and numbers offer uniqueness to the folklore item. Story teller or singer reproduces it without the least efforts. Often, disguise technique is also used.

Arne – Thompson prepared Motif – Index based on the typical recurrent patterns of the folk tales describing each with a specific number type.

3) Repetitions :

Especially in folktales and epics, it is common to hear the same episode repeated with little or no verbal change. Repetitions soon involve the listeners or the other member of the group to sing or recite with the signer though he or she might be listening the particular folk items for the first time. Long repetitions are found mostly in verse form of folklore namely, ballad, narrative songs, folksong etc. This trait is used as an aid to mnemonic device. Certain bards, minstrels and song makers develop special techniques of singing or telling epics or a heroic tales with the accompaniment of a musical instrument. As a device, it could be a word, a phrase or a full sentence or a line / lines which gets repeated. Repetition soon catches the concentration of the audience and they fully engross and echo the repetition in chorus.

4) Supernatural Intervention :

All major forms of folk literature make use of supernatural elements; gods, deities, semi-gods, fairies, angels, elves, witches, wizards, sorcerers etc. Appearances of such characters add enchantment to the action and increase curiosity of the listeners. Intervention of supernatural readily transforms the audience to the unknown, mysterious realm of huge castles, dark chambers, dense forests, remote huts etc.

Humans are always curious to embark up on unknown and this trait exploits human curiosity fully. Sometime, the supernatural intervenes through objects e.g. magical wand, magical lamp, broom, glass sleeper, potion, tree etc. In the conflict between good and evil, good overpowers the evil with the help of the divine. Setting like big castle, dense forest and dark night, add mystery and suspense to the manifestation of the ballad or folk tale.

The above major traits can be sub-divided into universal theme, multiple variants, unknown origin, fantasy, irony, hyperbole and the use of dialect; because dialect gives unique identity to the item of folklore of specific region. Though folklore has a universal appeal, it is the product of culture and it is the native document.

American folklorist Alan Dundes has unfolded folklore in to four categories; (23)

1) Multiple Existence across Space 2) Persistence through Time 3) Poetics and Projections 4) Rational of Fantasy

Functions of Folklore:

Different types of folklore can share similar, if not identical functions; any one item of folklore may have several different functions. Particular function can not be assigned to one form of folklore alone. Dundes attempted to address this basic question negating the view of ‘irrational survivals’. He says that folklore is a product of mind that responds to and constructs culture. Hence, there is a deep meaning behind the existence of folklore item at a specific time and this has a great significance between those who transmit and receive it.

William Bascom, an American folklorist and anthropologist, analysed the four functions of folklore, they are as follow:

1) Folklore lets people escape from repressions imposed upon them by society. Quoting Malinowski’s (1884 – 1942) Myth in Primitive Psychology (1926), Bascom here emphasizes the social context of folklore. Understanding of the social context of folklore and its setting in actual life is very important. The text is extremely important but without the context, it remains lifeless. The interest of the story is vastly enhanced by the manner in which it is told. The whole nature of performance, the voice and the mimicry, the stimulus and the response of the audience mean as much to the natives as the text, because stories live in native life and not on paper. Dundes too, validates that folk material involves personal and societal anxieties that are repressed and avoided, and when expressed, typically disguised. Folklore reflects and (and thereby reinforces) the value configuration of the folk, but at the same time folklore provides a sanctioned form of escape from these same values. Folklore provides socially sanctioned forms of behavior in which a person may do what can’t be done in real life. 2) Folklore validates culture, justifying its rituals and institutions to those who perform and observe them.

Bascom highlights here the projection of folklore as a mirror of culture. He firmly believed that the folklore of a people can be fully understood only through a knowledge of their culture. The full meaning of ‘Origin Myth’ becomes clear only when the kinship system, the legal concept of local citizenship, and the hereditary rights to territory, fishing grounds and local pursuits are understood. Another aspect of folklore and culture is that characters in folktales and myths may do the things which are prohibited in daily life; violence, incest, polygamy, obscenity represented through songs, tales or myths may be shocking to non – natives. Folklore entertains the people of different age, having different social background and having different psychological set up. The concept of compensation and escape mechanism are fully suggestive when applied to the Cinderella’s tale.

Amusement is, obviously, one of the chief functions of folklore, but it can not be dismissed simply as a form of amusement. There are basic ideas projected in folklore which go beyond symbolism. Viewed in this light folklore reveals man’s frustration and attempts to escape in fantasy from repression imposed upon him by society. Malinoswsky, thr ough the examples of myths emphasized that it serves as “a warrant, a charter and often even a practical guide” to magic, ceremony, ritual and social structure. Folklore also reveals man’s attempt to escape in fantasy from the condition of his geographical environment and from his own biological limitations.

3) Folklore is a pedagogic device which reinforces morals and values and builds wit.

The importance of the many forms of folklore as pedagogic device has been documented in the many parts across the world. Ogre tales and lullabies are sung to put the general public in good humour. Fables or folk tales incorporating morals are introduced “t o inculcate general attitudes and principles, such as diligence and filial piety, and to ridicule laziness, rebelliousness and snobbishness e.g. ‘Pa nchtantra’, famous Indian fables; dated back about 300 BC attributed to Vishnu Sharma which are based on oral tradition, created with a view to educate the foolish sons of the king. Myths and legends contain detailed description of sacred rituals, the codified beliefs or dogmas of the religious system, accounts of tribal or clan origins, movements and conflicts.

Proverbs have often been characterized as the distilled wisdom of past generations. Some of the verbal instructions during the initiation ceremonies of boys and preparation of girls for marriage is given in the form of songs.

In many non-literate societies, it is regarded as historically true, its teaching is considered important, it “contains practical rules for the guidance of man”. 4) Folklore is a means of applying social pressure and exercising social control. Folklore is also used to express social approval and disapproval. In many societies folklore is employed to control, influence or direct the activities of other. Folklore may also become an internalized check on behaviour. Folklore forms like proverbs, songs and tales, express the morals or ethics of the groups, they are convenient standards for appraising behaviour in terms of the approved norms. Folklore expresses praise for those who conform to accepted social conventions and criticism or ridicule of those who deviate; warning, defiance, or derision, of a rival or enemy and advice, counsel or warning to a friend when either contemplates action which may lead to social friction, open hostilities or direct punishment by society.Multiple examples can be cited from the remotest tribes. Such folklore forms emphasis on the conformity to the moral code, to the social convention and to the ideal form of behaviour. For example, a famous Gujarati Proverb ‘if you sow ‘Baval’ (a thorny tree) you will only get thorns’; projects disapproval of the people who deviate from the set norms of the society. Through the concept of psychoanalysis projection of the folklore, Freud suggests that it brings the dark suppressed desires and sexual drives and gives vent to such desires.

Theories of Folklore:

Scholars have propounded many theories about the origin, development, diffusion and structure of folklore throughout the world in the last one and half century. Besides, ‘comparative mythology’ developed by Max Mulle r, on his publication of translated version from the Sanskr it ‘ Sacred Books of the East,’ ‘Evolutionary’ theory of culture and ‘Devolutionary’ theory of folklore emerged which were put forward by the Western folklorists. Let us take a look at these theories and put a glance on the hypothesis propounded by them.

1. Mythological School:

19 th Century saw the significant advancement in the modern approaches to mythology. Scholars like Sir James Frazer, Sir Edward Burnet Tylor and Andrew Lang advocated for the study of mythology as a social institution. Mythology came to be considered as the common psychological or emotional basis and the universal religious impulses.Frazer in The Golden Bough (1980) connected the myths with the recurrent ideas of fertility, birth, death and resurrection. Carl Jung considered inherent tendency of human beings responsible for the formation of same mythic symbols. Max Muller, through his comparative mythological theory suggested that absurdities in the myth is the result of people forgetting or distorting the meaning of the word and named it as’ malady of language’. Freud tried to examine psychological angle suggesting myth as the symbolic reflection of unconscious and repressed fears and anxieties. Levi Straus considered tales as miniature myths. 20 th century modern mythological approaches tried to study the myth as the multi-functionary within the culture and differing from culture to culture, to serve the various purposes. (13)

The eternal quest of man to know the truth in the natural surroundings led him to invent myths in which the rudiments of history can be discerned. The purpose of the myth is to explain matter in the science of pre-scientific age. The primitive man’s reaction to the immediate or to the concrete is quantitative and multi-dimensional. Therefore,the myth can never be interpreted only on one level; myths consist of inter-relationship of several explanatory levels and are elaborated from direct reaction, they are expressed in imagery as in poetry.(17) Myth come from racial unconsciousness and there may be real meaning concealed beneath its surface meaning. (Vaja 47)

2. Historical - Geographical School: (Finnish School) Through this method, folklorists endeavour to reconstruct the history of a complex folktale, or occasionally folksong or other folklore item devised to thwart rash generalization about the origin and meaning of the folktales through a thorough and unprejudiced examination. It is the dominant force of folklore theories which endeavours to establish one time, specific place and conscious invention responsible for the creation of folklore genres. Followers of this method believe that a folktale has sprung at some

32 geographical starting point and diffused in variants in its ideal historical routes of travel. This method rests upon certain theoretical assumption and rejects blanket theories of polygenesis origin and independent creation of complex tales, however the procedures of this school have given rise to considerable theoretical controversies because of its rigidity and mechanical nature. Leading disciples of this school were Albert Wesselski, Carl von Sydow.

3. Migra tional School : Benfey’s School German scholar Theodore Benfey claimed in his introduction to Panchtantra (1859) that India, the seat of an ancient, highly developed civilization is the home of the Fairy Tales, that had spread to Europe in ancient and historic time along well traversed trade routes. Joseph Jacobs, the British Indologist too, discusses this in his work History of the Aesop’s Fable (1889),that, a goodly number of the fables that pass under the name of Samian Slave, Aesop, were derived from India, probably from the same source whence the same tales were utilized in the Jatakas, before two thousand years of Grimms’ collection. Other scholars of folklore namely M. Cosquin in France, and Clouston in England, have declared that India is the Home of fairy tales and that all European fairy tales have been brought from thence by crusaders, by Mongol missionaries, by Gipsies, by Jews, by traders and by travelers. The Fables of Bidpai, The seven wise Master, Gesta Romanorum , and Barlam and Josaphat were extremely popular during the Middle Ages. Even the Historical – Geographical School was highly inspired by this Diffusionist Theory. This theory is also known as Indic School.

4. Anthropological School:

This thought was the part of general intellectual climate of the later half of nineteenth century. Disciples of this school like Tylor, Lang Mcculloch, Laurence Gomme, van der Leyen and Frazer, believed that in the folktales were preserved certain remnants of the past; men pass through the same stages of development and consequently that they embody the details of their development in essentially the same stories. In brief, this school emphasized on the belief that folklore was the science of survival. Gomme and Boas supported the principle that folklore must be studied item by item, in its home

33 because the aspects of European tales and practices could be traced back to source in primitive life. It has been pointed out that in primitive cultures the non-verbal aspects of the total field of folklore are studied by the anthropologist as part of general ethnography.

5) Historical Re-Constructional School: Re-constructionists stressed upon the use of folklore and folklife materials to reconstruct the vanished historical periods for which other evidences are scanty. Even Jacob, of Grimm brothers was more influenced by this School of thought. He in his Teutonic Mythology sought to recreate the old pantheon of German gods and goddesses now shrunk to withered specters and goblins in the popular imagination. The basic idea of folklore studies have been inspired by the desire to preserve national heritage. Japanese folklorists were very much influenced by the hypothesis of this school and sought to recapitulate the ancient Japanese animistic religion. Andrew Lang, Lord Ragland and Robert Lowie reject historical tradition as mythical or trivial but Hector and Nora Chadwick, see a kernel of historical facts in all the great folk epics. Offering solution to some basic question raised by this theory, Dorson says that with folklore, evidences like linguistic, ethnological, and documentary should also be considered.

6) Psychoanalytical School : Psychoanalytical theory is considered as the most controversial theory dealing with the origin of folklore. Psychoanalysts deduced the conclusion that all our conscious ideas, feeling, interests and beliefs originate in the unconscious; the role of conscious mind is only confined to criticism, selection and control. Unconscious impulses compared with primitive and infantile. The mental process known to consciousness is only a transformed selection of the whole mind, derived from its deeper and absolutely unconscious layers and modified by contact with the stimuli of the outer world. These relics of the primitive mental state, fragments left over in the process of evolution would be termed as survivals in living individuals, where they could be far more accessible to direct investigation of the context in which they occur. Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis heavily rests on myths and fairy tales, taboos , jests and superstition. He hypothesized that, dreams express latent repressed wishes and fears of infantile sexuality

34 in symbolic disguise. The other name, that supported this belief was Carb Abraham who said “The dream is the myth of the individual” in Dreams and Myths (1913), the other energetic analyzers of folklore tradition tried to explore the symbolical projection of individual’s innate drives were, Ernest Jones (1879 – 1959) Erich Fromm (1900 – 1980) and Geza Roheim (1891 – 1953)( Jones 92).

7) Structuralism: This is also known as pattern approach. It was the most influential and enticing theory that emerged in American folklore circles in 1960s. German scholars namely Andre’ Jolles and Lord Raglan had already laid d own the roots of Structuralist Theory elaborating a general pattern of episodic experiences for classical and mythological heroic narratives. Vladimir Prop can be considered as the father figure of this new movement, who designated function of dramatis personae within a linear plot sequence. Prop analysed Russian tales and enumerated thirty one functions – the action slots in to which variable actors fit. In his landmark work Morphology of the Folktale (1928), he describes morphology as the component parts and the relationship of these components to each other and to the whole”. The structuralism, the study of interrelationship or organization of the component parts of an item of folklore, is not limited to narrative analysis. Because of Levi – Strauss’s concern with myth and Prop’s with Marchen, structuralism analysis is wrongly thought to be limited to folk narrative materials, but structuralism can be applied to any genre of folklore, and it is easier and brief to investigate the minor genres like proverbs and riddles than myth and a tale. The structural method employs discovering or defining a minimal structural unit. It is more concerned with the relationships or organizational patterns of the units than with the units. Claude Levi-Strauss – French anthropologist analysed the folklore text through another method of structural analysis, who proposed that reason behind the similar features of myth across the world, could be found in a logical structure within the human mind, even the savage mind. He analysed ‘B undle of narratives’, the repeated narrative elements representing certain common ideas such as ‘the denial of the autochthonous origin of man. Levi -Strauss’s theory relies on a sorting out and rearrangement of the narrative features in the myth to reveal the inherent

35 structure, while that of Prop follows the story line. American folklorist Alan Dundes too, applied structural analysis to a corpus of tales (207).

8) Ideological School:

Idea of identifying national bodies of folk poetry was first proposed by the German poet Johann Gottfried von Herder. This idea grabbed the scholars of the Europe who searched for the soul of the people revealed in the native dialects, literature developing the themes of the folklore, and the history glorifying the deeds of the national heroes. Grimm brothers in Germany, Asbojornsen and Moe in Norway, L ̈nnrot and Krohns in Finland, Douglas Hyde in Ireland got stimulus to study folklore as the national pride. Drawback of this ideology was that it was used ,rather misused by the political parties like National Socialist Government in Germany and by the Communist Party in Soviet Russia. Nazis used ‘volk’ as the political tool to concentrate on things G erman and the Marxists hailed it as the creative expression of the working class(17).

9) Functional School:

This approach basically, deals with the question of origin and the role played by folklore in a give n culture. The problem of the ‘cultural context’ or the relationship between folklore and other aspects of culture is in itself far more important cultural context deals with two distinct facets, the first of which concerns the extent to which folklore is a mirror of culture and incorporated description of the details of ceremonies, institutions and technology, as well as the expression of beliefs and attitudes. American anthropologists in particular, in the first half of nineteenth century tried to examine, how does folklore function in the culture? This was the concern of anthropologists as well as the folklorists who believed that folklore of a people can be fully understood only through a thorough knowledge of their culture. Franz Boas examined the ethnographical aspects of the culture, while his student Ruth Benedict propounded the functional use of folklore in her Zuni Mythology (1935). She showed with illustrations that the folklore often violates the cultural norms as a means of gratifying fantasies and expressing the hostilities o f the culture bound, recognizing that ‘tales tally with, and yet do not tally with’ the culture. The tales constitute a fantasy world, constructed from the cultural

36 realities. William Bascom regards folklore as the creative composition of a functioning society, dynamic, integrated and central component of the culture and he discusses on the various functional roles of folklore. In some of the culture, the information embodied in folklore is regarded as historically true, its teaching is regarded as important, it contains practical rules for the guidance of man, these norms may be found humourous in some other culture.

10) Oral-Formulaic Approach: This theory looks to the narrator and his performance for the key to the composition and structure of epic, ballad, romance and folk tale. Chief proponents of this view were Milman Parry, Albert Lord and David Bynum. Parry and Lord analysed the oral style of the Homeric epics comparing it with a living tradition of European heroic poetry. They were of the view that the chief factors that distinguish oral epic from the written is the formula, enjambment, the theme which involves a study of the structure of the poem as a whole, that can be applied to the other forms of folklore like folktales and ballads. The role of the folk singer is also considered important because he relies on a stock repertoire of descriptive phrases and formulas and a set metrical or episodic structure to bolster his memory and enable him to improvise each new rendition. The narrator composes rather than merely transmitting the folklore item. Every time the narrator tells a tale or ballad, he becomes the proponent of folklore creativity,that takes plot and the traditional phrases and stanzas common to their particular community. 11) Cross-Cultural Theory: This folklore theory was prominent in the later half of the nineteenth century, which attempted to sought bold generalizations of all the cultures of man. In the wake of Edward Tylor, Andrew Lang and Eduien Hartland to accept a scheme of uniform cultural development from savagery to civilization. They worked on the theory that folklore represented survivals of primitive beliefs held by all races of men at the lower rungs of the evolutionary ladder. James G. Frazer brought extension by his myth-ritual theory propounding that all myths and all folklore stemmed from ancient sacrificial fertility rituals. The journey of myth passed through human and animal sacrifices and the rites survived as the harvest customs. Based on evolutionary uniformity, Alan Lomax (1915- 2002) came up with cultural equity through his Cantometrics research. He accepted cross

37 culture generalizations based on evolutionary uniformity. This method involves linguistics kinesics, ethnology, psychology, ethno-history, musicology, economics and sociology. It relies on empirical evidence collected through fieldwork and tabulation of statistical records. 12) Folk-Cultural :

This theory was advocated by the sponsors of folk life studies, the chief aim of the followers of this view to broaden the concerns of the folklorists so that they will embrace the physical products of the folk and the totality of folk life. Henry Glassie has set forth some guidelines. According to him, for the study of culture, knowledge of cultural theories and fieldwork is equally important. Modern study of material culture includes field data, historic- geographic connection of types, construction and uses, as well as functional and psychological speculations (36).

13) Mass Cultural :

This approach shows the conflict between urban and rural, industrialization and peasant folk culture. Advocates of peasant culture allege, industrialization and mass production culture responsible for the destruction of country folk traditions; however the new school of folklorists in 1960s, attempted to find out some comprehensive solution of this problem. They suggested that ethnic and rural people migrate to cities, they carry their unique cultural identity with them, and in new urban environment, struggle to maintain their folk identities. These sub-urban centres become conglomeration of various folk cultures. Folklore items are represented through the means of electronic media like radio, T.V films and recordings, what is represented through the giant medium to their audiences. These mass media presentations contain folklorist elements in varying degrees. Folklorist McLuhan believed that ‘oral – aural’ culture represented through electronic means is the reversion of folk culture. Investigation of such ethnic element in the urban set up also become the fertile research subject and also becomes means of entertainment for the masses. This gave birth to a new kind of celebrity folklore artist. Herman Basinger points out this altered scenario, like this, “we no longer believe that industrialization necessarily implies the end of a special folk culture but rather we

38 attempt to trace the modification and maturation undergone by folklore culture in this industrialized and urbanized world.”

14) Hemispheric: This theory was given by Richard Dorson who divides Old and New worlds for analytic purposes. Base of this theory is historical fact of Colonization that has taken place in America and Australia, where the people from all the parts across the world have mixed with the natives. According to this theory, the folklore of each new world country needs to be analyzed in terms of its ethnic, racial, historical and environmental elements that have shaped the tradition. Generalization of these cultural blending can not be done, as some societies are more retentive than other and the intensity of genres also vary from one country to other. 15) Contextual Theory : Advocates of this view were the University - scholars of United States in 1960s. Inclination of their scholarly research and practice was folklore as the discipline of social science. They strongly object the text being extrapolated from its context in language, behaviour, communication, expression and performance, overlapping terms the users continually employ. This young generation of folklorists insist on applying the folkloric concept not to text alone but to an event in which a tradition is performed or communicated. Goldstein, Georges, Kenneth Burke, Alan Dundes are the members of this younger generation of folklorists.(45)

PART: II TRIBAL IDENTITY

India is one of the religiously and ethnically most diverse nation in the world. Since the ancient days, India has served as ‘the cradle of human civilization’ which not only nurtured on its soil one of the earliest civilized communities of the Homo – Sapiens, but also made a substantial contribution towards the religious, moral and material advancement of many other countries of South East and Central Asia. India is one of many oldest civilizations began about 4500 year ago. (Dudi Preface)

The culture of India refers collectively to the thousands of distinct and unique cultures of all religions and communities present in the country. Indian culture is the overlapping of several cultures.Indian sub-continent, the homeland of Hindu followers and the third largest religious faith in the world, is the synthesis or fusion of various Indian cultures and traditions with diverse root- stands and has no single founder. Hindu is an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious phenomena and cultures. (21)

Shashi Tharoor aptly observes, ‘If the phrase ‘ethnic melting pot’ had been coined two thousand years ago, India would have had a fair claim t o the title.’

Since time immemorial, Indian civilization has attracted various races, invaders, warriors, foreign travelers, scholars, navigators and merchants from across the world.Unity in diversity is the most prominent feature of Indian culture as it has flourished from Indus Valley Civilization covering an area about one million sq.km which was geographically larger than the Mesopotamia and Egypt. Traditionally, it has been the home of different cultures and people. In India, one can find almost a new dialect, culture and people after moving 50kmin any direction. (Vaghela1)

India’s one billion people have descended from a variety of races. The oldest are the Negroid aboriginals or the first settlers of the sub-continent. Some anthropologist hypothesize that the Indian sub-continent was settled by multiple human migrations over tens of millennia which makes it ever harder to select certain groups as being truly aboriginal. (Rawat 12)

This has been proved through historical facts that different races had entered into the Indian sub-continent from the different parts of the globe.Anthropologists like Guha, Majumdar and Risley tried to analyse this phenomenon but they have not reached to some conclusion except that some primitive races were the early settlers of the Land of Sindhu before Aryan Invasion.

India is home to large indigenous people with population of about 84.4 million. In terms of geographical distribution of these tribes, about 55% reside in Central India, 28% in the West, 12% in North-East, 4% in South India and 1% elsewhere. According to census 2011, primitive tribes in India comprise 8.6% of India’s total population. India houses concentration of tribal population next to Africa. Each tribal community is rich in its culture and they have folk tales, folk songs, proverbs and riddles preserved in their tribal language and dialect.

Indian aborigines or the tribal people play a key part in constructing the cultural heritage of India. They occupy a major part in the history of India as they are considered the true habitants of the country. The tribals are scattered in different parts of India and they form a considerable number of population of India. The traditional and cultural distinction of each tribal community has made them distinguishable from each other and their cultural and traditional heritage add colour and variation to the Indian culture as a whole and form a compact culture. (Sharma 1)

The term ‘tribe’ originated around the time of the Greek city -states and the early formation of the Roman Empire and occurred in English literature as referring to one of the twelve tribes of Israel in mid12 th century. The term is derived from Old French Tribu in term from Latin Tribus referring to the original tripartite ethnic division of the ancient Roman state (9).

In general, ‘tribe’ has become a technical term denoting territorially defined political unit. It was the British who designated these people as tribes, to distinguish them from Hindus and Muslims. The Constitution of India defines them as the Scheduled Tribe, as specific indigenous people whose status is acknowledged to some formal degree by National Legislation,(Order 1950). This list also includes some of the‘Criminal

Notified T ribes’ who were declared criminal tribes by the British through ‘Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 ’ (Devy x). Tribe is a contested term due to its roots in Colonialism. Some argue that it conveys a negative connotation of timeless unchanging past. As there are various negative implications attached with the usage of ‘tribe’, many people prefer to use ‘ethnic group’. The term ‘tribe’ is not so popular across the globe, however, in India, it is deep rooted in scholarly writings and in the legal and administrative structure of the state. Its use in state administration is partly a result of the Colonial administrative structure that India continued with after Independence. But more importantly, it is rooted in the state’s concern to address the issues of the protection, welfare and development of the ‘tribal’ population. Its rootedness lies not only in relation to social backwardness or stage of development, but also in opposition to a structure of society characterized by caste. (Xaxa 35)

Indian tribal people are referred to as primitives, nomads and Adivasis. Those who worked with these people variously called them adivasis, adimjatis, vanyajatis, vanvasis, girijans, or pahadias. Kakasaheb Kalelkar addressed them as ‘Bhumijan’ an d Gand hiji called them ‘Rani Paraj’ - people residing in the forest - replacing the detesting term, ‘Kali Paraj’.

Imperial Gazetteer of India defines them as “a collection of families, bearing a common name, speaking a common dialect, occupying or professing to occupy a common territory and is not usually endogamous, though originally it might have been so” . The term ‘adivasi’ meaning original inhabitants, has a wide currency in mainland India and the Indian tribals prefer to be known as ‘Adivasis’. The historian David Hardiman traces the origin of this term to the1920s in Jharkhand. (43) This was first used in the Chhota Nagpur region of Bihar in 1930, by A. V. Thakkar who worked among these communities and other regions in the 1940s. Some also believe that it originated from British administrators scholars, ethnographers and more importantly Christian missionaries. The idea of ‘adivasi’ or its equivalent ‘indigenous peoples’ have now become a part of the consciousness of tribal people in India. The idea expressed by the

42 term ‘adivasi’ is an expanded identity cutting across tribes bearing different names, speaking different languages or dialects (Xaxa 42).

It is very difficult to define the tribal communitirs of India, as various perspective should be taken in to consideration before concluding some base distinctions

After India’s Independence, sociologists and anthropologists made serious efforts to arrive at a base of distinct between tribes and castes. It was generally agreed that the caste and tribe represent the different forms of social organizations. (128) In 1916, the Indian Legislative Council had decided to include in ‘Depr essed classes’ with W andering and Criminal Tribes. The 1931 census separa ted out under the category of ‘Primitive Tribes’ instead of ‘ Forest T ribes’. In 1941, the census used just ‘tribes’ and today , the Constitution of India refers to them as ‘Scheduled Tribes’, but nowhere tried to define them. The veteran anthropologist Stephen Fuchs categorically affirms that in fact, there exists no satisfactory definition of the term “tribe” anywhere. In other words, ‘tribe has clearly become an ideological concept, a concept which fails to recognize the reality it expresses’ (Patty 25). Today, for almost all Indian researchers, a tribe is a tribe which is included in the list of Scheduled Tribes’ (22). Even the ethnographic data about the number of tribes is not fixed; different sources show different numbers of the STs, which is also a big hurdle for policy formation for them. Still, there is no common agreement on a substantive definition of the tribes among different agencies. However, what the commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Tribes underlined in 1952, still remains true: “No such uniform test has however been evolved for classifying Scheduled Tribes with the result that in view of the divergent opinions held by census authorities and public men, from time to time, difficulties have been experienced in determining as to which tribe can rightly be included or excluded from the Scheduled Tribes. I consider that, some definite criteria for this purpose must be devised so that full justice is done at the time of re - specification of the ‘Scheduled Tribes .” (Government of India 1952:77)

Article 342 does not contain the criterion for the specification of any community as STs. An often used criterion is based on attributes such as: · Geographical isolation – they live in cloistered, exclusive, remote and inhospitable areas such as hill and forests. · Backwardness – their livelyhood is based on primitive agriculture. A low – value based economy with a low level of technology that leads to their poverty. They have low level of literacy and health. · Distinctive culture, language and religion – communities have developed their own distinctive culture, language and religion. · Shyness of contact - they have a marginal degree of contact with other cultures and people. ( Pande 39)

History of A-historic People:

From a historical point of view, there are broadly two kinds of peoples – people with history and people without history. Indigenous are considered without history, because their writing has not been intimately connected to state making.

Tribals have been considered as the societies without history. Whatever the earliest records we get, are from the perspective of others. It is very embarrassing that Indian subcontinent, one of the greatest civilizations of the world has the record of its invaders beginning from the Aryans to the British, but there is no authentic records about these original inhabitants. In the rapid and radical changes that are sweeping through India, the tribals are clearly a very vulnerable group. Their iden tity as the ‘first settlers’ is in fact negated, and their dignity as humans all often violated. Historical referent is missing for the construction of community identities and the whole community is deprived of their cultural heritage. Inquiry in to the origin of the Indian tribes is equivocal, as the historical references of tribes’ origin are merg ed in to mythology. Due to the lack of historical evidences, oral records are dismissed and no sincere efforts have been made to look in to the depth because of the isolation on the part of the tribes and limited worldview on to these people on the part of historians- ethnographers. D.D. Kosambi insists that the entire course of Indian history shows tribal elements being fused

44 in to a general society. The Sanskrit word ‘ Janaha ’ referred to non –monarchial societies outsides the Jati system. However in ancient Indian literature there is no equivalent word. The early Sanskrit references are ‘ Janaha’ or people. Jagannath Pathy writes that prior to the British annexation, most of the presently called tribes were unselfconscious of their ethnic distinctiveness an d referred themselves as “people” vis -a-vis outsiders, in their own distinctive speech (Pathy1948 :2).

Infact, the indigenous people were the first to resist the British Rule in India.From the ‘Peasant Uprising’ of Bengal (1783) to Independent India the tribals have revolted against their oppressors but these actions were ignored or not given that much importance by the historians and the rulers. Their leaders were annihilated systematically. For example ‘ Mangadh Hill M assacre’ (1919), which is known as Jallianwala Bagh of Gujarat in sub-altern history.

Currently, in India, there are 645 tribal communities residing, strengthwise varying from 31 people of Jarwa tribe to over 7 million Gonds. Most of the tribes are economically backward and they belong to weaker section of society. After Independence, Government of India has launched many development programmes to bring them into mainstream.

In 1959, Nehru in his foreword to Verrier Elvin ’s A Philosophy for NEFA , set out the basis of the national policy on tribal development. This has remained its ‘Magna Carta ’, its ‘Panchsheel’ till today:

(a) People should be allowed to develop on the line of their own genius and nothing should be imposed upon them. (b) Tribal rights on land and forests should be respected. (c) Induction of too many outsiders into tribal areas should be avoided. (d) There should be no over administration of tribal areas as far as possible, and (e) The result should not be judged by the amount of money spent, but by the quality of human character that is involved.

India is a major country in Adivasi (Ādi – primitive, vāsi – settlers) population after South Africa, constituting 8.6% of the total population. Indigenous tribal people or

‘Adivasi’ is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous phylum of ethnic or tribal groups living in various regions of India. In India, particularly in central tribal populated areas, this new term, ‘Adivasi’ has gained wide popularity to identify the tribes since some decades. Historian David Hardiman traces the origin of the ter m ‘Adivasi’ to the 1920s in Jharkhand. The term ‘adivasi’ meaning, ‘First Citizen’ was first used in the Chhota Nagpur region of Bihar in 1930, by A. V. Thakkar, who worked among these communities and other regions in the 1940s.

The earliest literary sour ce that sheds light on India’s past is the Rig Veda, believed to be composed in 1500 BC and 1000 BC. It suggests the Invasion Theory of the Aryas, who migrated from their original home in Europe, and brought with them their language and transcendental philosophy to civilize the primitive and materially backward Dravidians of the sub-continent, dwelling in India in the far away times when the Aryas streamed in to it probably as various in blood and civilizaton than they are now. Some of them probably the more advanced tribes of Dravidians blood, may have been quite as civilized as the Aryas, even if less warlike, others the lower Dravidian strata and the munda – mon – khmer and mongoloid were probably degraded. (Barnett 3) The opponents of Aryas onslaught, t he despicable enemy who dares deny Indra’s supremacy in heaven and on earth, are referred to as the ‘dāsyu’ or ‘dāsa’. ‘They have black complexion, no noses to speak of (anasa), they are of unintelligible speech and above all, they are infidels. They have no rites, they are indifferent to Gods, they follow strange ordinances, they do not perform the Aryan sacrifice and they probably worship phallus as the sublime power of cosmic energy ’ (Rig Veda , Book- 9, Hymn- 41).

Tribals have a long cultural past extending till the pre-historic period. Ancient Sanskrit literature is replete with the description of primitive people namely,. Panchtantra, Katha Saritsagar and VisnuPuran etc. Two epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata refer to such communities as Sudras, Ahiras, Dravidas, Pulindas and Sabaras or Soaras. The Mundas and Nagas claimed to have fought on the side of the Kurus against the Pandavas. Shntanu’s Nishad wife Matsygandha, christened as Satyavati, Bhima’s wife Hidimba, Arjuna’s wife Naga princess, belonged to such tribes. Tribe known as Asuras were residing in the forest and often they came in conflict with

46 the Aryas. In the Ramayana, references like ‘Nishad King Guha, a woman devotee- Shabari and Asuras clearly suggest that these tribes were out of caste system and residing far from the Aryan societies.

The ‘Dasyus’ were clearly the group of people that held religious belief different from Arya and they believed them superior than the Aryas. ‘Dasa’ was the generic name of the people and ‘Dasyus’ were the religious/ ruling heads of these people, which also means decoits in present day.These early settlers who could not defend the warlike Aryas, went deep into the forest as they did not want to intermingle with the Aryas, they turned to hunting, food gatherers and criminal activities. (15)

Historian D.D. Kosambi convincingly points out in his Introduction to Indian History that many of India’s Brahmins rose from ‘Hinduised’ tribes that earlier practiced animism or totem worship or prayed to various fertility gods and goddesses or revered fertility symbol such as the lingam (phallus) or the Yoni (vagina). A majority of these Hinduised tribes retained many elements of their older from of worship and several Brahmin gotra (clan) names were derived from non-Aryan clans, totems and other tribal association.

Each tribal community is rich in its culture and they have folk tales, folk song, proverbs and riddles preserved in their tribal language and dialect. Embraced within the tune of geographical diversities, the mystical, the mythical, the historical and the natural tribes of different regions of India have their own distinctive oral tradition, colourful handmade clothing, intricately woven bamboo handicrafts, colourful attire and pastoral way of life .( Mukharji 4)

India has rightly been called the museum of tribes. Scheduled Tribes of India are notified under article 342 of the Constitution. They speak about 100 languages and 255 subsidiary languages, many of which have no written scripts. Tribal people are warm, hospitable, simple and sincere judgment of the opinions are some of the traits that mark their culture. Most of the tribes have their own Gods and Goddesses, which is the Nature itself in different forms that reflect their dependence on nature. They follow animal-based pre-Hindu faith, so they are also known as animists. (23)

India’s multi–cultural identity is more segregated by its linguistic diversity. Far too often historians and (and philologists) have tended to downplay (or ignore) the contribution of the Adivasi and Tamil language streams in the development of Indic Languages (5). Defining such a vast linguisti c diversity, A.K.Ramanujan says,’ Indian traditions are organised as a pan –Indian Sanskritic Great Tradition (in the singular) and many local Little Traditions (in the plural). Older Indian notion of marga, desi and modern India politicians’ rhetoric about unity in diversity fall in line with the same position. The official Indian Literary Academy the Sahitya Akademi, has the motto, ‘Indian literature is on e but written in many languages’.

The Indian Constitution has recognized 23 languages including Hindi and English as official languages and total 880 spoken languages. Over the past 50 year, India has lost about 250 languages. UNESCO has classified 197 languages between endangered and vulnerable, out of these most of the languages are tribal (Devy The Times of India). Tribal communities use altogether unique languages. These are dialects as they do not have written form or script. These tribal languages have limited vocabulary but linguistic and imaginative creativity of such languages call for careful conservation and sincere promotion before they become extinct. Languages and ethnic identity are the significant cultural parameters in the life style of its native speaker. A language is the vessel of culture and extinction of languages results in irrecoverable loss of unique culture from the face of the earth. Recently, on the occasion of release of ‘The People’s Linguistic Survey of India’ (PLSI), former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stressed on the fundamental importance of languages to human society, addin g that “innovative research related to languages needs to be encouraged”. If concrete efforts are not made to preserve the language spoken by country’s endangered tribal community, as the chairman of PLSI puts it, “Each time a language is lost, the corresp onding culture is killed ” ( The Sunday Times).

ESSENTIAL ASPECTS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT

In the present research project: Folklore of Gamit tribe: A study of Socio- cultural Ethos as Expressed in their Songs and Tales ' attempt has been made to explore the 'elusive' identity of 'Gamit Community; one of the major tribes of South Gujarat region. It is one of the tribal societies, which has been living in geographical isolation for the years. Gamit people have distinct culture traits, social customs and they have deep-rooted faith in their plethora of tribal deities. Like other tribes, they are also fond of haats and fairs and they express themselves fully while singing and dancing. People of this community are found shy of the social contact with elite class of people. In this fast changing world, Gamit community is passing through a period of transition. Everyday people have been migrating to the towns and cities to pursue higher education or in search of employment, shedding their cultural roots behind. The people who are left in the village are too, not able to escape the invasion of metro-culture. Tribal culture is attacked by various religious faiths as well as the many dangers created within the community, e.g. widening gap between the city dwellers and villagers. Apart from its literary value, this research work will prove helpful as an ethnographical document and will also prove helpful to future researches undertaken into the field of cultural studies as well as in social science.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE: In 19th century, many 'Colonial collectors' studied the various races and the culture of India from socio-cultural and anthropological point of view. James Forbes-an East-India company officer has given a varied account of the fierce community of Grasia Bhil of 'Guzerat' in Oriental Memoir (1812-1813), volume-II. He, very closely studied the customs and manners of the Indian races including their dances, festivals and drinks. Whatever picture that revealed of the tribal communities, is very faint, though it is very important from a historical and anthropological point of view. Another Colonial administrator, George A. Grierson studied the language of the tribal communities of Gujarat in his monumental work Linguistic Survey of India (1830 Vol-ix). He has given the detail account of the of Bhili language family including the sample of a folk tale and

49 grammar of the language. This was the maiden effort ever done by the authority to study spoken languages by the marginals in Indian subcontinent. Grierson's work is exhaustive and the accuracy of the printing that has been maintained must be acknowledged. After Independence, anthropological surveys like, 'The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India' by Robert Vane Russell ( 1916), The Tribes and Castes of Bombay (1920-22) by R.E. Enthoven, The Aboriginal Tribes of India (1973) by Stephon Fuchs etc.tried to study the people, their way of living, customs and dressing. Then, came the generation of native Indian anthropologists in to this field, to name a few; G.S.Ghurye's survey, 'The scheduled Tribes (1959),N.K. Bose's Tribal Life in India (1971),P.G.Shah's Tribal Life in Gujarat (1964), who conducted the survey of the tribes of these regions from socio-cultural and ethnical point of view, however,the discription of the tribe that we get is restricted, often some tribal communities were missed out or the representation given about the particular tribe is only a partial picture. Referring strictly to the target community,the works undertaken are the research works or the surveys that have been carried out are very less.There are total 11 major and 25 minor sub-tribes in Gujarat.These communities have been living in geographical and sociological margins.Whatever attempts were made earlier to study about these communities were undertaken by the non-natives. Under the auspices of Gujarat Vidyapeeth Research and Training Centre, many authentic studies pertaining to tribes and about their way of life were carried out with the financial assistance provided by such institutes.Majority of the research works were done in state vernacular Gujarati. As there are no scripts of all these primitive languages,Gujarati transcription was being used by the researchers to record the expressions of native language. Well known Gujarati folklorist Dr.Siddhraj Solanki's monograph, Gamit: Gujaratni Ek Anusuchit Janjatino Sanskrutik Abhyas (1983) presented the vivid picture of these Adivasis including samples of folk literature. The different theories prevalent about their origin, traditions, customs related to their life cycle their economies and their belief in supernatural, their religious life etc. Documentation and compilation of the tribal languages caught momentum in the end of nineteenth and in the beginning of twentieth century. Bhagwandas Patel has done invaluable service documenting Bhili folklore of Panchmahal and Sabarkantha and

Banaskantha regions. His exhaustive list of published works includes two Bhili epics respectively, 'Rom-Sitmani Varata' (Bhili Ramayan), and 'Bheelonu Bharath' (Bhili Mahabharath), which have also been translated into English. Scholars like Balwant Jani, Hasu Yagnik, Puskar Chandarwaker, Harivallabh Bhayani etc. not only documented and compiled the tribal oral literature but also suggested various ways of compiling and also analysed the problem of compiling tribal literature. Comprehensive socio-cultural account of Gamit tribe, (1993) was undertaken by Dr.Daksha Vyas and Dr.Navin Modi, who have attempted to give complete study of Gamit society. Their effort is so honest that even the members of Gamit community will be surprised to admit that this study has been carried out by the non-native researchers.This research project provides socio-cultural aspects of Gamit populace. Many researches were carried out as an attemp to do comparative evaluation of the tribal languages of South Gujarat, namely, Chaudhari, Gamit, Dhodia and Kukana etc. Rekhaben Maheta has done her doctoral research in Comparative Studies of Gamit and Chaudhari languages of Kalamkui village (1989), of then, Surat district. Second generation of the researchers is of the native research scholars.They evaluated their respective community and tribal languages on literary,cultural and social parameters. Dr.Vikaram Chaudhari's doctoral research, Dhodia, Gamit ane Kukana Bhasha (2009), Dr.Maheshbhai Gamit's contribution, Gamit jati: Samaj ane Sanskruti (2012), Dr.Umeshbhai Gamit, Dr.Jayshree Chaudhari and many more have been exploring this fertile field. Father Raymond .A. Chauhan S.J. has contributed through his very useful works about the community which he undertook while working among them; 'Gamit Bhasanu Vyakaran (1997), Gamit Geeto (1994) and Gamit Dantkathao (2002) had also been prescribed in the syllabus of Veer Narmad South Gujarat University Surat at M.A. degree programme. Journal of Gujarat Research Society, literary magazines 'Adilok' and 'Dhol' are echoing the tribal voices across the tribal areas of Gujarat. Seminars and conferences conducted in various Higher Education Institutions regarding the tribal communities, their languages and culture have contributed considerably in to this field.

The latest feather into this field of exploration is Peoples Linguistic Survey of India, (2010), a linguisict survey launched to update the existing knowledge about Indian languages under the chairmanship of Dr.Ganesh Devy. Edited by Kanjibhai Patel, vol.9 Part.3, of PLSI comprises the overview of tribal languages spoken in Gujarat and Dadara Nagar Haveli. As Devy puts it, 'The most useful indicator of tribal identity, then is language. And as per census data, Gamit dialect can be considered near to 'potentially endangered' as majority of Gamit young generation no more speaks native dialect. It is very sad to be a dumb viewer of this gradual disapperance of language and a distinct oral tradition becoming an extinct. Aims and Objectives: The Primary Objective of the present research is to study the songs and tales of Gamit tribe-a tribal community- inhabiting South Gujarat region from a social and cultural parametres. Besides, being one of the community members, documenting and analysing the songs of various occasions and the study of folk tales is an humble effort to preserve the rich oral cultural heritage represented through their songs and the tales. Moreover this research also aims to put forward the literary values that have been encapsulated into this oral folkloric forms. · To explore and analyse songs of various occasions and folktales collected through fieldwork of this ethnic group. · To study the interrelationship of the folklore and Socio-cultural back ground of the target community. · To study heterogeneous traditions, customs and tribal consciousness represented through their songs and tales. · To study the existing opportunities of facilitating the preservation, promotion and dissemination of tribal folklore.

Research Methodology: To fulfill the aims and objectives of the present research work, Empirical and analytical research methodologies have been adopted. Field work conducted in Vansada Taluka of Navsari district and also some region of Tapi distict. One- to- one dialogues

52 were organized with the respondents. Participatory research methodology was also adopted as important data were collected while attending social functions. Respondents were also contacted frequently while analyzing the data provided by them. These data were well documented electronically. A detail and systematic literature review has been undertaken to comprehend the various theories prevalent in to the field of folklore. Latest theories and development in the field of folklore has been searched thoroughly. Attending various seminars, conferences as well as telephonic conversation with scholars of the field also proved of immense help. The detail of URL and the websites visited will be provided in bibliography. For citation and quotation references MLA Handbook for the writers of research papers, 8th edition (2016) has been followed.

Sources: Being a community member and native speaker of Gamit dialect, the attempt has been made by the researcher to record the songs and tales she has been listening in the family as well as from the community. Interview with community respodents provided very important data which have been well documented. Besides, the primary sources, reading of reference books, research papers, research work carried out into related field, T.V. interviews, magazine and newspaper articles have also been referred to. Television documentaries on tribal societies were watched to cultivate neutral and thorough perception of the community under the study. Gazetteers, anthropological and sociological surveys, latest census data (2011), as well as Annual Reports published by the Tribal Ministry of Gujarat have also been studied to get the information about the latest policies and welfare schemes introduced. Tables giving detail about population figures and photographs have also been provided as the supporting details.

Use of Digital Technology: Apart from referring to library based books, several e-books, e-thesis repository Shodhganga and research articles published in online journals have been found of immense use for the present research. Documentation of folktales has been done electronically which is well preserved. You tube audio-visuals have also been

53 visited to observe the latest trends in marriage functions, festivals of the tribal communities.

Limitations: The present study focuses on the socio-cultural ethos represented through the songs and tales which have been selected depending upon the research design. Hence, it is not possible to represent the complete account of the socio-cultural background of the target community. Customs and rituals of the same community people may vary from the people residing in another regions.

Definition of Core Terms: Few terms of vital importance that can be viewed in various contexts, occurring very often into this work have been defined: Tribe: A social division in a traditional society consisting of families, of communities linked by social, economic, religious or blood ties with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader. Folklore: It is the traditional art, literature, knowledge and practice that is disseminated largely through oral communication and behavioral example. Culture: The way of life especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time. Ethos: The distinguished traits. Sentiments, moral nature or guiding beliefs of a person, group or institution. Song: Short musical composition of words and music. Tale: A usually imaginative narrative of an event. Community: A group of people with common interests especially when living together.

Findings/Outcome of the Study: Justification to select this topic is the gratitude that has been long overdue to the community and to the society in general. This research is a kind of echoing representative tribal voice, answering from within. The present work is in response to the great poet and folklo rist Meghaniji’s call to come out of the university towers and to endeavor to bring back the rich cultural legacy of folklore preserved among ‘Rani Paraj’ and ‘Kali Paraj’.

· On the part of the researcher, this research is going back to roots and reconnecting with the community. · Folklore (songs and tales) is the rich cultural repository preserved in oral tradition which provides deep insight to understand about the community and the tribal society in general. · As Gamit language is only a spoken language having no script, very little is known about it. Hence, it is an humble effort to represent these unheard voices on larger platform. · It has been observed that this tribal literature has the potential and creative energy enticing to undertake further exploration into this field. · Day- by- day, the speakers of Gamit language are reducing and hence it is very necessary that this language should be conserved and its use should be promoted. · Tribals are struggling to assert themselves into the mainstream consciousness. They are facing the issues of displacement, migration and domination of foreign forces and destruction of their natural resources and their natural habitat. Research on such related issues provides insight to study tribes’ shifting and migratory ways and solution to their changing needs in changing time. · Folk songs and Folk dances are the symbols of social integration. Promotion of tribal culture provides an opportunity for their social upliftment. · The present research helps bring about the tribal issues, which are of immense help to government for policy formation to achieve the broader goals. · Indigenous communities have traditional knowledge of eco-system and of herbal medicines which needs to be promoted.

Future Scope in the Research Area: · It has been aspired that bringing the socio-cultural aspects of the target community on the surface will encourage many researchers to explore the subject/subjects further. · There are wide opportunities to carry out comparative study of two tribal languages or comparition with any Scheduled Language.

· As the present study offers multi-disciplinary openings into the field of social science, cultural studies as well as in language and literature, there are wide scopes of research into these respective areas. · The present research will prove helpful to explore tribal languages, as an attempt to preserve endangered tribal languages. · It is hoped that the present study will provide an avenue to explore theories about the relationship between language and culture. · Present research will prove useful to scholar and students of English literature and of comparative literature.

Significance of the Study: “The importance of a historical perspective in Adivasi studies has not always been conceded. Too easily this has been dismissed because the documented referent was missing. Due to their isolation, the limited worldview of the Adivasi was said to be characterized by lack of historical depth, where history merged into mythology. Unfortunately, little efforts have been made to use oral history, mostly because of ignorance on the part of the historians-ethnographers in interpreting folklore metaphors and symbols for tracing the past of the people.” (Heredia). Tribal society is undergoing rapid transition. Indian tribals are trying to acertain their identity in all wakes of life. Because of lack of referrents, it is unjust to think that tribals are without history. In some cases, they were dominant power and their history too was filled with medieval ballads and chronicles. After British penetrations, the physical distance between the elite and Adivasis reduced. And after systematic national government policies, tribals are gradually coming out of their inhibitions. Many researches about the language and literature have been carried out by the non-natives as well as by the natives themselves. · In a multi-lingual subcontinent like India there are more than 800 languages unexplored. Speakers of these languages are reducing day by day. Hence, so far unheard voices should be recorded. The research and development projects should cater to the needs of the unwritten tribal languages.

· Tribal communities which have been pushed into socio-political margins, will play an important role to form a new cohesive India as the people of the nation. · Research studies initiated into socio-political, economic, and cultural fields will prove as the bridges to reach the tribal culture and the society, reducing the rift.

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