Central University of Punjab, Bathinda June, 2014 CERTIFICATE
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TRIBAL CONCERNS IN LITERATURE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THINGS FALL APART AND THE ANCESTOR Dissertation submitted to the Central University of Punjab For the award of Master of Philosophy In Comparative Literature By Sayar Singh Chopra Supervisor: Dr. Rajinder Kumar Centre for Comparative Literature School of Languages, Literature and Culture Central University of Punjab, Bathinda June, 2014 CERTIFICATE I declare that the dissertation entitled “ TRIBAL CONCERNS IN LITERATURE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THINGS FALL APART AND THE ANCESTOR “ has been prepared by me under the guidance of Dr. Rajinder Kumar, Assistant Professor, Centre for Comparative Literature, School of Languages, Literature and Culture, Central University of Punjab. No part of this dissertation has formed the basis for the award of any degree or fellowship previously. (Sayar Singh Chopra) Centre for Comparative Literature, School of Languages, Literature and Culture, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda-151001. Date: i CERTIFICATE I certify that Sayar Singh Chopra has prepared his dissertation entitled “TRIBAL CONCERNS IN LITERATURE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THINGS FALL APART AND THE ANCESTOR ”, for the award of M. Phil. degree of the Central University of Punjab, under my guidance. He has carried out this work at the Centre for Comparative Literature, School of Languages, Literature and Culture, Central University of Punjab. (Dr. Rajinder Kumar) Supervisor Centre for Comparative Literature, School of Languages, Literature and Culture, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda-151001. Date: ii ABSTRACT Tribal Concerns in Literature: A Comparative Study of Things Fall Apart and The Ancestor Name of student : Sayar Singh Chopra Registration Number : CUPB/MPH -PHD/SLLC/CPL/2012-13/10 Degree for which submitted : Master of Philosophy Name of Supervisor : Dr. Rajinder Kumar Centre : Centre for Comparative Literature School of Studies : School of Languages, Literature and Culture Key Words : Tribal, Tradition, Belief, Things Fall Apart ,The Ancestor, Chinua Achebe, Gopinath Mohanty ‘Tribe’ means a group of people living at a particular place from times immemorial. Tribes are named differently at different places according to their geographical positioning, their social stratification in the society and so on which makes them distinctive from others. Tribes are rich in their culture, customs and folk tradition etc. There are few authors all over the world who writing tribal literature and their social life is rich in their creative works. The foremost objective of this research is to analyze the tribes issue in literature as a discourse in societal, customs, traditional, rituals within the reference of the writings of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Gopinath Mohanty’s The Ancestor . Chinua Achebe (African novelist) and Gopinath Mohanty (Indian novelist) are two significant novelists who have made a bold attempt in raising of Canon in tribal literature. Both Achebe and Mohanty represent to their traditional or historically transformed images, rituals and social structures of their own common, but diversified culture. A thematic approach from tribal concerns perspective has been adopted for this study. (Name and signature of Student) (Name and signature of Supervisor) iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS From the deepest corners of my heart, I want to express my gratitude to the greatest source of inspiration – Almighty. Without His wish, this work would not have ever been materialized. Thanks are due to my dissertation Supervisor Dr. Rajiender Kumar, Assistant Professor, Centre for Comparative Literature. I was fortunate to have such scholars to help and advise me. They have been an endless source of inspiration, motivation and support. I am also grateful to Dr. Amandeep Singh, Assistant Professor, Dr. Alpna Saini , Assistant Professor, and Dr. Neetu Purohit, Research Associate Centre for Comparative Literature for their acute insightful suggestions, ungrudging assistance and guidance. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my family for their untiring support. With all the continuous inputs from my father late Sh. Chhitar Mal and mother Smt. Mohani Devi, Sister Smt. Bhagavati, Brother-in-law Sh. Sager, Brother Prahlad, Sister-in-law Sushila. I was well able to keep myself up, both mentally and emotionally. I highly appreciate for unsolicited cooperation and cheery assistance of my dear friends, Aditi Swami, Aditya, Deven Gora, Pramatesh, Sapinder, Showkat and Shyam Kiran. I am thankful to the employees of the Library and the Computer Centre, Central University of Punjab for providing me the opportunities and materials to pursue my research. (Sayar Singh Chopra) June, 2014 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Sr. No. Content Page Number Tribal Literature: Thematic Understanding 1. 1 – 22 (Chapter - 1) Comparative Studies of the Literary works of Chinua 2. 23 – 39 Achebe and Gopinath Mohanty (Chapter - 2) Comparative Study of Things Fall Apart and The 3. 40 – 61 Ancestor From Tribal Perspective (Chapter-3) 4. Comparative Analysis and Conclusion (Chapter - 4) 62 – 71 References 5. 72 – 77 v CHAPTAR 1 Tribal Literature: Thematic Understanding Tribe is a group of people, are living at a particular place from ancient times. Tribal society is a system of the world and organisation, which includes various local groups, villages, and normally includes a common culture, common language, a common name, belief religion and education system. This society lives in isolated areas and their social life style is different from the main stream society. Its culture, customs, rituals and traditions are in heritage from the earlier generations and moves to the next generation. The term ‘tribe’ is derived from the Latin word ‘tribes’ meaning the ‘poor or the masses’. In English language the word ‘tribe’ appeared in the sixteenth century and denoted a community of persons claiming` descent’ from a common ancestor. The tribal society is a unique society with diversity of nature and people (Varghese 21). Reader’s Digest Encyclopaedic Dictionary defines the world ‘tribe’ as “group of primitive or barbarous clans under the recognised chiefs. The third volume of tribal history of central India makes an attempt to explain the term in a literary sense” (qtd. in Chaturvedi 12). The word ‘tribes’ refers to a culture heritage and historical concept. It is used for the tribe as a separate group of persons having their own identity, and cultural traits. Tribal is studied as a application of discourse theory to specific empirical cases showing how this approach can be used to study different aspects of the tribal society, like their beliefs, customs, religious, practices myths and the way of life of people that has not changed for a long time. According to D.N. Majumdar the tribe is "a collection of families or common group bearing a common name, the members of which occupy the same territory, speak the same language and observe certain taboos, regarding marriage, professions and have developed a well assured system of reciprocity and mutuality of obligations (Majumdar 367). The term 'Adivasi' (Adi = original and Vasi = inhabitant) has become current among certain people. The International Labour Organization has classified such people as 'indigenous'. According to ILO conventions, the aboriginals or tribals have been defined as the "tribals or semi tribal groups of the independent countries deprived socially or economically and having their own customs, traditions and traits or they have their own special customary laws/ conventions” (qtd in Varghese 4). According to the tenth volume of Britanica Ready Reference Encyclopaedia the term ‘tribe’ means “Any of a variety of social units including some defined by unilateral descent and some defined by ethnic origin” (qtd in Chaturvedi 13). According to L.P. Vidyarthi; the tribe is a social group with definite territory, common name, common district, common culture, behaviour of an endogamous group, common taboos, existence of distinctive social and political system, full faith in leaders and self-sufficiency in their distinct economy. (Vidyarthi 12-14) P.G. Krishnan defines, "tribe is a social group of simple and kind, the members of which speak a common dialect, have a single government act together for common purposes and have a common name, a contiguous territory, a relatively uniform culture or way of life and a tradition of common descent" (qtd. in Varghese 2). Cultural anthropologists now usually apply the term ‘tribe’ to a unit of social organisation that is culturally homogeneous and consists of multiple kinship groups such as the family, lineage or clan that prohibits marriages within themselves but endorse or require marriages with persons of the other kinship groups. Most tribes are organised as unitary political entities within which people share a common language and culture. Tribals are spread across large territories as individual members who might never meet or know each other very well. Another definition of the term ‘tribe’ rendered by The Britanica Reference Encyclopaedia relates to the political and demographic sub-divisions of the population. The groups divided into tribes were distinct by location, dialect and tradition, and they included the Ionians, Dorians, Achaeans and Aeolians. In Attic, Cleisthenes replaced the four Ionian tribes with ten new tribes each of which was named after a hero (qtd. in Chaturvedi 13-14). 2 Tribes are named differently at different places according to their customary, geographical positioning, their social stratification in the