Documentation, Preservation and UNIT 4 FOLKLORE AS DISCOURSE Conservation of Culture Structure 4.0 Objectives 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Popular discourse of insurgencies 4.3 Crime and criminality: a counter-discourse 4.3.1 Crime and poverty 4.3.2 Crime and punishment 4. 4 Religious discourse and folk cults 4.4.1 Worship of the killer 4.4.2 Invoking the defending deity 4.5 Counter-belief and elements of its discourse 4.5.1 Evil spirits 4.5.2 Benevolent ghosts 4.5.3 Carnivalisation of a deity 4.5.4 Nature 4.6 Let us sum up 4.7 Activity 4.8 References and further readings 4.9 Glossary 5.0 Check your progress: possible answers 4.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit you will be able to: x see the connection between folklore and some common discourses; x acquire some idea about the way popular discourse of insurgency has made way into our folklore; x understand the idea of 'Counter-Discourse'; x become familiar with the functioning of religious discourses as part of folk life and memory; and x know the operation of counter-beliefs as shown in folk customs about ghosts, spirits, the supernatural, etc. 4.1 INTRODUCTION

Studies of folklore gained momentum in the early 19th century with the efforts of several folklorists and collectors of folklore both in colonial India and in other countries all over the world. Though the basic aim was to trace archaic customs and beliefs, nationalistic aims of reinforcing ethnic identity became a great motivating factor for the study of folklore. Records of folk struggles and 46 tales of folk heroes inspired generations of people struggling for political Conservation and Preservation: Some independence. A prominent goal which can be called a methodological goal was Ethical and Legal to make comparative study of tales across regions and times. A catalog of motifs Issues or prominent themes and events bearing similarity across various cultures was drawn up by various folklorists towards making comparative studies easier. There was a shift of emphasis in the mid-20th century, "from the past to present, from the search for origins to the investigation of present meaning and function", as the Britannica Ready Reference Encyclopedia notes. Indeed the role of folklore in changing economic and socio-political conditions worldwide is being seen as a resource for both understanding societies and enriching the self perception of communities.

During the recent decades attention has been turned from actual narration to the embedded discourses hiding behind the narration. The apparent meaning may cover a deeper meaning and often contradict the values manifested at the surface. Discourse theory sees power as manifested in relationships which can be traced in behavioural rules, conduct rules, social mores and strictures, among others. However, at the same time there can be protest within the discourse. Thus discourse structures are also subject to change and variations and mutual conflicts. Discourse involves grounds on which social relations between individuals can be negotiated. In what ways do folklore and discourse coincide with each other? While looking at folklore as a source of the history of the 'folk' or common people and a record of the ways in which they engage with prevailing power structures to affirm their social identity is one way of understanding the relation between folklore and discourse, there can be other approaches.

Some of the typical approaches to folklore today as broadly enumerated by eminent folklorist, M.D. Muthukumaraswamy include, the discourse of Regionalism, historical discourse including social history and literal history, the discourse of colonialism, the discourse of festival, popular discourse, the discourse of gender and the discourse of ideology, religion and worldview. This includes a wide spectrum of topics and indeed looking at folklore as discourse can involve many more approaches suited to particular social and political conditions. Given below are some perspectives on the ways in which folklore can become the discourse of various communities through history.

4.2 POPULAR DISCOURSE OF INSURGENCY

Rebellions and insurrections are sometimes envisioned as a divinely sanctioned activity. The Munda tribes of the eastern states of India have a rich lore of rebel leaders who are believed to have been divinely inspired. On the eve of the Munda rebellion the rumour of the advent of 'Birsa Bhagwan', a great healer and religious guru, at a remote village called Chalkad, spread through songs and stories. Large numbers of Mundas, Oraons and Kherias set out for Chalkad, each with a gift of a small amount of rice. Among them were also crowds of armed men who came and stayed on. The armed mobilization was thus done as if it were a pilgrimage. "Quite clearly a religious enthusiasm fanned by rumour had laid the basis for a massive and armed mobilization of the Munda peasantry…" (Guha, Insurgency 267). The political was thus made to acquire a religious dimension and sanction.

Some of the rumours on the eve and during peasant rebellions in our country in the 18th and 19th centuries which envisaged divine interference also attributed 47 Documentation, divine qualities to the leaders, real and imaginary. Thus on the eve of the 'hool' Preservation and Conservation of there was rumour of the appearance of a Subah, a deliverer, around Hazaribagh, Culture a man born of a tribal virgin. Kanu Santhal too, a leader of the 'hool', said, "The sonthals went for Shikar to Charichunaro… 1 man, 1 woman and one girl/a virgin/were there & cut the Lyo / a sort of grass/ they rubbed it & threw it about & it became Lyo fort or Lyghur the girl had a son who grew up at once and began to talk & became a soubah" (Guha 269). Eventually such rumours became part of the collective repository of legends.

The deliverer, folk hero or rebel leader was to be divested with magical power. He was believed to be a healer, magician, saint or trickster.Asimilar phenomenon can be noted in Africa where the insurgents against foreign rule would ascribe to their leaders the attributes of a saint, healer, or magician. The tribal people, with their few and inadequate weapons perhaps sought confidence and affirmation in spreading such lore. The belief of the tribal insurgents that the bullets of the British would be turned to water by the magical powers of their leaders is an example of such lore.

Similar myths were propagated about Birsa Munda, the great tribal hero from Chhotanagpur. A Munda song about a summer day of 1895, when "deep amidst [the] wild forest on [a] burnt and cleared upland Singbonga entered [Birsa's] heart" (Guha 274) describes the beginning of Birsa's career as a rebel-hero. After this Birsa could walk on water and heal, and deliver people. Similarly legends of the magical power of the queen of Jhansi were circulated by folk songs and ballads during 1857: The Queen can make soldiers Out of earth and stone. She can mould a wood Into a sword. She has made every hillock A horse - on which She has chased upto Gwalior. (Hemango Biswas) Similar legends about a leader of the 1857 mutiny, Khan Bahadur Khan abound. A rumour spread like wildfire through Bareilley in June 1858 "that Khan Bahadur Khan will re-enter Bareilley under [the] shelter of a miraculous dust-storm and annihilate his enemies" (Guha 270). This is no clever hypocritical propaganda. The collective imagination, eager to believe and regenerate their sense of identity, created these myths in an act of spontaneous imagination.

Rumour, an 'intermediate form' (Levi-Strauss) between tale and myth, plays a very important part in this popular discourse. It is a free folk form that arises from the mass, changes quickly and gets increasingly stronger in the course of transmission. Thus it can have tremendous impact during insurgencies, rebellions or any kind of mass movement. Rumours are not spread as part of a planned scheme-rumours come up automatically from an ideology operating among the insurgents. The rumour about the polluting agent in the cartridges during 1857

48 proved inflammable and led to the first war of Independence. “The unity of all Conservation and Preservation: Some Indians and the opposition between them and their alien rulers were thus expressed Ethical and Legal in terms of a single theme-that of ritual pollution … That a little fear could Issues spread so far by means of simple verbal manipulation… was what made this type of popular discourse so alarming to “the rulers”. (Guha Insurgency 263- 264).

Images of the enemy as perceived by the insurgent people are an important subset to myths, legends and rumours. During the times of insurgency the enemy was perceived in terms of a binarial frame: oppressor/oppressed, enemy/friend. Diku was the connotation of betrayer for the Munda rebels under Birsa Munda. The Mundari images for Diku signified the 'Other' or one that was not part of the community. The zamindar, the moneylender and the colonial overlord, all were referred to by this term. The big enemy or the colonial masters were bing (snakes), najom (witches), kula(tigers), etc. The victims standing up in defiance and revolt thus defined the oppressors from their own standpoint in terms of betrayal, treachery and depravity.

Space formed a vital part of the discourse of tribal insurgency. Behind every tribal insurgency there operated a notion of a real space and the consequent grievance of dispossession along with a longing for reclamation of the same. Thus the discourse of a lost home and space as age-old birthright gave tribal people a certain impetus for the movement.As Singrai, a Cole leader, said: 'They have taken away from us our trees, fishes, lands and jagirs.' On the eve of the ulugan the Mundas sang ritual songs that lamented the loss of an original homeland and was meant to stir a longing towards the reclamation of the same. Here is one such song in translation: 'The land given to us in the beginning by Singbonga was snatched away by our enemies We shall assemble in large numbers with weapons in our hands ……… Birsa Bhagwan is our leader… We shall not be afraid of the monkeys We shall not leave the zamindars, moneylenders and shopkeepers [alone] They occupied our land We shall not give up our khutkatti rights From leopards and snakes we reclaimed our land The happy land was seized by them O Birsa, our land is afloat Our country drifts away… The big enemy, the sahibs donning the hat Seized our land… (Guha, 288) Thus the sense of loss and the hope of reclamation operated as a strong emotional factor behind the discourse of space. The Ferazis, a religious sect of East Bengal, claiming that land was God's gift and none had the right to impose tax or rent on land, launched a peasant's movement in 1838-47 against the extortion of 49 Documentation, zamindars and the British indigo planters. Thus as we have seen in the above Preservation and Conservation of section the lore of certain communities is the discourse of insurgency where Culture myths, legends and rumours have an active and affirming role to play in disseminating ideas of rebellion, defining the enemy and providing courage to the insurgents. Check your yrogress 1 Note: 1) Your answers should be around thirty words each. 2) You may check your answers with the possible answers at the end of this Unit. 1) What types of discourses are included in the list provided by eminent Folklorist M. D. Muthkumaraswamy? ...... 2) What do you understand by the term 'Rumour'? ......

4.3 CRIME AND CRIMINALITY: A COUNTER- DISCOURSE

Judicial discourse of the ruling powers are so designed as to support the political establishment. The strictures and language of legal structures in a society perpetrate and support existing power structures. This was especially so during colonial rule in India. This means that the definition of what was illegal or criminal would necessarily be a reflection of colonial policies. Certain communities traditionally living in the fringes of society or living a nomadic lifestyle came to be defined as 'criminal' by colonial authorities. The imposition of such titles and the ensuing curtailing of the social rights of certain communities gave rise to a lot of confusion and resentment. This colonial definition of 'crime' and 'criminality' has been questioned in folklore. An instance of this can be seen in the Chauri Chaura incident which happened during the Indian struggle for Independence. The judicial discourse of colonialism would sell off Chauri Chaura as 'a series of criminal acts rather than a violent instance of mass peasant politics'. ( Baxi 260). 50 Similarly the mass uprising of 1857 was established by the judicial discourse of Conservation and Preservation: Some colonialism as an event of 'mutiny' and criminal act/s instead of a 'movement'. Ethical and Legal The common folk engaged furtively, covertly, or defiantly in a sort of counter- Issues discourse to this discourse of power as their folk forms celebrated and valorized the so-called 'criminal acts'.

The peasant's own perception of 'criminality' or 'violence' can be the reverse of that held by his enemies and the establishment. The establishment perceives all violation of law or defiance of law as 'crime'. On the other hand the rebellious peasants can perceive the same acts as gestures of social protest and therefore valorize them as honourable and just acts of protest. This we have seen in the Robin Hood ballads of pre-industrial England which used to enjoy great popularity among poor villagers. The popular local tales about Banjara Singh, who operated around the Chambal ravines, ring with reverence for a man who was merciless to the rich and benevolent to the poor. Sympathy and admiration for the outlaw are visible in similar stories about Goreya Baba. Goreya Baba was originally the chief of a robber gang who came from Delhi to Bihar. Goreya had many encounters with the police and landed gentry. Finally he was killed near Sherpur (district Patna) and a shrine was built there. A mound of earth came to represent Goreya and gradually Goreya worship spread through Bihar. Eventually he became a "popular godling" with the Dushads. After deification there was an interesting image shift. The Dushadhs in Champaran district of Bihar came to worship Goreya "mainly for the exorcism of the malignant spirits who have taken possession of some persons and also by lepers for recovery" (Roychowdhury 42). Thus the affirmation of community identity which may be in opposition to official definitions of the criminality or criminal or outlaw nature of that community can be called 'Counter-Discourse'. 4.3.1 Crime and poverty Mutually opposed discourses, the official and the counter can synchronically evolve round the issue of criminality and law. This is particularly seen in the folk-view on crimes which were generated by poverty. Crimes, which were caused by poverty especially when they were part of collective action such as rebellion or mutiny, were held as no crime. Crime itself thus came to be viewed as an act of protest. An instance of this can be seen in the accounts of a folk hero of Bengal, Titu Mir. Titu Mir initially worked as hired mercenary for landlords. He eventually became a folkloric hero emerging as an insurgent leader giving lead to collective acts of violence against the oppressive landlords. Collective defiance of a police officers or landlords would only help the rebels overcome their own fear of the law. Law, divorced from the fear it generates, loses authenticity and this is perhaps the crux of a counter-discourse. 4.3.2 Crime and punishment

The notion of crime involves the notion of punishment. This punishment can be imposed by authorities within the community according to tradition. Usually, punishment is inversely proportionate to the social status of the offender. The socially powerful can get lighter punishments for the same crime as compared to those of lower social status. An instance of this can be seen in some tribal communities. Among the 'Mishimi', a hilly tribe of Nefa-Arunachal, the punishment for homicide is strong.Anyone from the 'khel' or 'gosthi' of the killed 51 Documentation, can kill the killer. However if the killed one is somebody's slave then the owner Preservation and Conservation of is to be paid the fine of five wild buffaloes. If the owner himself kills his slave he Culture is not culpable to any punishment (Das 71). Similarly among the 'Mishimi', if a woman is proved to be unfaithful to her husband the fingers of her palm can be chopped off, whereas a male found out to be involved in illicit relationship with somebody's wife is just to pay some fine to the husband of the woman (Das 71).

Medical and ethical discourses appear to get intersected in this notion of punishment commensurate with crime. Hos, Mundas, Santals and Kurmi Mahatos believe leprosy can be the result of some grievous crime like tabooed sex, cutting a young Sal or Segun tree, or killing a calf or a child, or burning a grain store (gola).

4.4 RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE AND FOLK CULTS

Shrines of the High gods often involve the controlling authority of high-caste priests.

The Baul songs prevalent among the outcast and poor community of Bengal, present a kind of counter-discourse to the Hindu and Muslim religious establishments. The emphasis of the Baul sect on 'manush' (man) is itself a protest against the authority and teaching of the people forming the religious establishment. The songs that go in the name of Lalan Sain or Madan Seikh amply bear out the message. This is a counter discourse to mainstream discourse of religion which involves institutional hierarchy and priestly imposition in the name of superhuman deities. He who knows the real tattava of man Does not need any scripture He has no fear of gods or demons, made of earth or wood Who knows man. (Translation, Rama Kundu) Rabindranath Tagore wrote about the Baul: "…some songs which I have often heard from wandering village singers, belonging to the popular sect of Bengal, called Bauls, who have no images, temples, scriptures, or ceremonials, who declare in their songs the divinity of Man, and express for him an intense feeling of love. Coming from men who are unsophisticated, living a simple life in obscurit…what struck me in this simple song was a religious expression that was neither grossly concrete, full of crude details, nor metaphysical in its rarefied transcendentalism. At the same time it was alive with an emotional sincerity. It spoke of an intense yearning of the heart for the divine which is in Man and not in the temple, or scriptures, in images and symbols. The worshipper addresses his songs to Man the ideal, and says: Temples and mosques obstruct thy path, and I fail to hear thy call or to move, when the teachers and priest angrily crowd round me." (in The Religion of Man 1930) The evolution of the Satnampanth cult and the Satnam among the Chamar 52 community, an 'untouchable' group in Chhattishgarh, presents a unique case of religious counter-discourse put into practice. The Satnami mythic narratives tell Conservation and Preservation: Some about Satnami guru Ghasidas's life and the emergence of Satnampanth. Ghasidas, Ethical and Legal being chosen and initiated by Satnampurus, healed people from snake-bite, Issues disease, blindness, other ailments and even death.

The Satnampanth rejected temples, and abolished the worship of village gods and goddesses for its followers. According to the myth "Satnampurush had asked Ghasidas to chase out the gods and goddesses from their houses" (Dube 144). They even replaced the Brahmin 'priest' by a nominated representative called 'bhandari'. The Satnamis rebelled against their own social powerlessness and prevalent ideas of untouchability.

When face to face with modern imperialism a traditional folk can mix politics and religion to produce a new ideological basis for resistance. The notion of some great impending natural, social or political catastrophe and the anticipated arrival of a superhuman deliverer is a prominent pattern in folklore. Both religious discourse and its counter discourses employ this pattern to deify their heroes.

While official or socially powerful religious structures embrace the idea of a hero or Divine being descending to the earth from his/her celestial realm, the folk hero or divinity can literally ascend to divine status from a local and human context. Tribal Gods can be of the same professions as the tribal folk and can share the basic lifestyle of the people. For the Munda tribes, God is a shepherd. K.A.Seetalakshmi writes, "A Munda would point out the milky way as the Gai Hora, i.e., the path of the cows. The Singh Bonga God leads his cows every day along this path - the dusky path on the sky is due to the dust raised by the herd. The dust raised by the cows sends down the rains" (7-8). For the fishermen the ancestor-deity is also a fisher. The Sunderban fishermen envision their ancestor- deity as a beautiful, black, strong man in loin-cloth with a wild shack of curly hair, a 'kanc?' (kind of sharp knife used by fishers) in hand, keenly watching the sea beach for fish. The 'machmara'/'malo' (fishernmen) of lower South Bengal around the Sunderban delta, worship "Meeneswari"(the fish-goddess), who watches over fish and fishermen with her inscrutable fish-like eyes, "meencakhsu". They also invoke a boy god "Khokathakur", who stares at them through the eyes of the fish. The fisherman in Samaresh Basu's Ganga prays to Khokathakur, "When I kill fish with my own hands and look at its unblinking round eyes, I feel you are staring at me. O God, you are my hunt". The deities of hunting communities are part of their hunt as well. Will Durant writes, "The Gallas of Abyssinia ate in solemn ceremony the fish they worshipped, and said, 'We feel the spirit moving within us as we eat'" (The Story of Civilization. Vol.1, N.Y., 1942, 61-62). 4.4.1 Worship of the killer In North Bengal there was a custom among the Rajbangshi community of worshipping three deities, Gorakhshanath, Sona Roy and Rupa Roy. While Sona Roy and Rupa Roy were tiger deities, Gorakshanath, the eldest brother was the protector of cows from tigers, and eventually identified with Krishna in his cowherd shape. The ballad song says: "Sona Roy calls brother Rupa Roy and says, We three together enjoy the offerings of mortal men." 53 Documentation, The worshippers sing in praise of the trinity through the harvesting season of Preservation and Conservation of winter, and collect subscription in terms of rice from door to door. It is interesting Culture that while appealing to the protector of the cows, they also synchronically seek to propitiate the potential attackers as well. Sona Roy, alias Bada Khan Gaji, is not a tiger himself, but is supposed to ride the tiger, and rule the entire tiger community.

The killed animal and the killer are worshipped by forest people. Dakhsin Roy is the tiger-god worshipped by the poor dwellers of the Sunderbans. Dakhsin Roy is a tiger-god, a terrible god in the shape of a royal Bengal tiger. He is the terror of the poor panicked fishers of the area, and is held to be the king of the Sunderbans, wielding magical powers. The people of Bhantir desh believe that all the delusions that trap the poor fishers into danger and death, including mirages and misleading calls from supposedly endangered men, are the work of Dakshin Roy's magic of which there is no end. (Basu Ganga 7). His name is a taboo among the fishermen, collectors of honey and woodcutters of this coastal zone. He is the fearsome demi-god of the forests where even the roaring wind through the trees sounds like an angry tiger. The image of Dakshin Roy is that of a very strong human riding a tiger. Propitiating the killer can perhaps be traced to a time when over the Sunderbans and its neighbouring forests the man-eating tiger was the greatest terror. The forest tribes imagined some ferocious vengeful demonic spirit as ruling the tigers and propitiating it could save them from the beast. 4.4.2 Invoking a defending deity

Bonbibi was added as a benevolent deity to balance the power of the malevolent demon in the Sunderbans. Local ballads suggest that Bonbibi might have been originally a Muslim lady with some rare spiritual gifts who had later been made a deity. According to the P?nc?li (gospel) Bonbibi was one of the blessed twins born to a Sufi faqir in Arabia , and sent by the archangel to 'the country of eighteen tides' in order to make it fit for human habitation. Thus Bonbibi and her twin brother Shah Jongoli came to the mangrove forests as Sufi mendicants. Amitav Ghosh writes about the performance of a Pala, 'The Glory of Bon Bibi', in The Hungry Tide:

"The jungles of 'the country of eighteen tides' were then the realm of Dokkhin Rai, a powerful demon king, who held sway over every being that lived in the forest - every animal as well as every ghoul, ghost and malevolent spirit. Towards mankind he harboured a hatred coupled with insatiable desires - for the pleasures afforded by human flesh he had a craving that knew no limit.

One day Dokkhin Rai heard strange new voices in the jungle calling out the azan, the Muslim call to prayer; this was his notice that Bon Bibi and Shah Jongoli had come into his realm. Rousing his hordes the incensed demon set upon the tresspassers, only to be put to rout in a pitched battle. But Bonbibi was merciful in victory and she decided that one half of the tide country would remain a wilderness; this part of the forest she left to Dokkhin Roy and his demon hordes. The rest she claimed for herself, and under her rule this once-forested domain was soon made safe for human settlement. Thus order was brought to the land of eighteen tides, with its two halves, the wild and the sown, being held in careful balance…" (Ghosh, 103) 54 Amitav Ghosh speaks of 'that great wealth of popular tradition', which has Conservation and Preservation: Some managed to keep alive against all odds. He calls it 'that other image of religious Ethical and Legal life', the "anti-structure" … 'that range of folk practices and syncretic beliefs Issues which have always formed the hidden and subversive counter-image of the orthodox religions of the Middle East: the exorcism cults, the magical rites, the customs of visiting saints' graves, and such like… that no-man's land of inarticulate counter-beliefs…"(Ghosh 199). Check your progress 2 Note: 1) Your answers should be around thirty words each. 2) You may check your answers with the possible answers given at the end of this Unit. 3) What do you know of certain tribal gods? ......

4.5 COUNTER-BELIEF AND ELEMENTS OF ITS DISCOURSE

Folk belief systems have a noticeable presence of supernatural, semi-divine and sub-natural or malevolent beings such as ghosts, spirits etc. This can be at odds with accepted ideas of religious structures or beliefs prevalent in a society. The pattern of a poor peasant or bonded labourer avenging himself in ghost form upon his cruel master in earthly life can be commonly found in many folk tales and belief systems. These patterns show the relationship between masters and servants in a community. At times this pattern can be reversed as can be seen in the following instance.

There was at least one category of ghosts in Gaya which was called 'malik devatas'. They were 'purchased' by maliks or landowning masters to protect their crop and property. The 'purchase' had to be made through the mediation of some Bhuinya guni(ghost-charmer). Thus the supernatural power of the ghosts was appropriated by the landlord toward advancing his own interest; the master-servant relationship of loyalty-patronage was extended in the domain of the occult. Relationship between the malik and the labourer was founded on a discourse. It was not just the malik's ownership of the land that gave him all the control over his labourer. The control/power could be further enhanced through such belief systems. These belief systems are called counter beliefs as they are at variance with accepted ideas of the Divine as prevalent in a society. The elements of the discourse of 55 Documentation, counter-belief are belief in evil spirits, benevolent spirits, tree-worship and Preservation and Conservation of popular or folk versions of great deities like Shiva etc. among other practices. Culture Let us look briefly at some of these elements. 4.5.1 Evil spirits

The spirits of the dead are feared as the dead were supposed to be envious of the living and could persecute not only their former enemies but also friends. Therefore it was the duty of the near ones of the dead to frighten away the ghost by means of mock fights, and other funeral games. At a later stage, the custom of propitiation is said to have replaced the frightening away of these spirits.

P.C.Roychowdhury writes about Baghaunt, a popular spirit-being in Bihar, who "represents the spirits of the persons killed by tiger… Baghaunt worship is common in the jungle areas of Gaya and other districts of Bihar." Again persons who die by drowning , become in these areas 'Ponduba', a female underwater spirit, who is fond of pulling people down into the water. Like Baghaunt, she too is worshipped out of fear and towards propitiation.

Panikkar mentions 'Thekkan Pattukal', the songs of the region south of Quilon (in Kerala). Among these songs sung to the accompaniment of the villu or bow and pot, there is one type of songs, "which are sung in the praise of spirits which trouble human beings by possessing their bodies… The evil spirits are propitiated at certain places by singing in praise of them. Such songs were sung by a set of singers known by the name 'Pulavar' (112). Panikkar mentions the use of "a strange practice of sending spirits to do harm to the enemies." The Vilppattu song, "Moovottu Mallan Katha", narrates how the nephews got the favour of the spirit of Moovottu Mallan and killed the uncles. The song of Panchavankattu Nili is a Vilppattu in which the spirit of a girl cruelly killed comes back to avenge her death. 4.5.2 Benevolent ghosts

Certain spirits like ancestor-spirits have been traditionally seen as benevolent or even as 'guiding' spirits. In many instances the presence of a spirit which bestows good health or cure for maladies is sought to be invoked by peculiar or particular rituals.

Sengupta cites a practice in Bihar of offering worship to a local spirit, Chaudari, who was originally a Brahmin widow. In order to get cured of malaria this spirit is propitiated. Though fish is taboo for a (living) Brahmin widow "this spirit is invoked with cooked tiny fish in a bamboo clump or grove where she is supposed to haunt" (1975: 157)

Sometimes these cure-deities are subject to transformational discourse. In such a gesture Lord Buddha is transformed into Telia Baba. "To make a rickety child better mustard oil is put on the gigantic black statue of Lord Buddha at Nalanda, known as Telia Baba. Rubbing the same oil on the body of the rickety child makes it cured" (1975:157). For curing ailments huge shady trees were worshipped as abodes of gods or powers. Usually the Neem tree is seen as a favourite or a symbol of female divinities, the Peepul is often seen as representing male deities especially Shiva. The seat of the deity Vana Durga is on the top of Seora tree. 56 Initially the forest tribes had no temples. Trees instead served the purpose of Conservation and Preservation: Some temples. Panikkar writes about folklore of Kerala: "Trees used to be held in Ethical and Legal great veneration not only for their life-sustaining powers on earth, but also for Issues their being the seats of either divine or evil spirits. Some of them had greater spiritual significance than others. Among those which were believed to be the abode of spirits were the peepal tree, the Bel tree and Pala tree. The peepal and the pala trees were the abodes of all departed ancestral spirits from the dawn of mankind, and the feet of those trees formed the feet of Kali, the mother god. Later when godheads were consecrated in the sanctum sanctorum of temples, the earlier practice of attaching their presence to the feet of trees was continued by placing a branch of the peepal tree or Pala tree at the place of worship."(44) The peepal tree inside the temple premise is common and held as sacred. 4.5.3 Carnivalization of a deity The great deities of a pantheon can often take on a 'popular' or 'human' form in folk beliefs and religion. From being the subject of esoteric and metaphysical debate and the icon of high aesthetic values and philosophic traditions, the Shiva of folklore is defiantly made out to be a god close to the tribal man in the forest. Thus it is only in the fitness of things that this Siva should have tiger skin and snakes for his wedding costume; Dhol and kada are now being played Siva is on the way to his betrothal Soldiers of heaven and army of demons Accompany Him on the way. Putting on tiger skin and earthen tobacco-fire-pot in hand, He rides ox Wearing a necklace of snakes around the neck, He is now a bridegroom. (Roy 3) Joges Das writes in Asamer Loksanskriti, "Among the rural folk ofAssam Shiva is still a very 'jagrata' deity and the most popular image of Shiva is that of a rural old man who is absorbed in his enjoyment of ganja, bhang and other drugs. There can be found lot of fun and mirth in Assamese folklore about this Shiva" (Das 30).

Gajan is the last day of the Bengali year. The songs on this occasion invoke Shiva not as a distant noble sanctified god, but as a person much like the poor worshipper himself. Shiva is seen consoling Parvati when she laments for a broken bangle made of conch shell. The 'dhan bhangar gan' could seem a popularisation of the god, as the deity is made out to be a wayward husband and to win him his wife assumes the form of a bagdi(low caste) girl. Shiva is at once allured and the pauper lover tries to charm her with the prospect of saris and the show of his own charming beard.

God is imagined to be like men, and therefore to be lured by the offer of female body. 'Huduma' is the local name of the rain god amidst the hilly tribes of the Jalpaiguri region. In the moonless night women, completely naked, move from 57 Documentation, house to house while singing in chorus. As soon as they approached a house all Preservation and Conservation of the lights would be put off. The male folk would have left the precincts prior to Culture the ritual. No male, not even a child of three, would be allowed to see this song and dance. This is a form of prayer in which the women offer themselves to the rain god, ' Hil hilache kamarta mor sir sirache gao… … Huduma dakha deo. Patani khani padeche khasia Huduma dekha deogo asia Aisore Huduma deo rasia rasia Tor pade mui ache basia… (in Deb 31) [I feel a shudder in my loins/ my whole body shivers/I am waiting for you, Lord Huduma, it is time you came to enjoy me.] Some Santhal songs seem to carry a core of carnivalistic discourse, for instance, Saya chet?n kuri Lipir lipir s?ri Hayate hil? k?n hipir hipir Rath n?kich b?giben Gech gurich chetben B?ngben s?h?o led? hiram sikir (we shall eat, drink and make ourselves merry. This body, this lump of earth will not stay on. Life slides along, like water on an arum leaf. This body, this lump of earth will not stay on.) (cited by Manish Kumar Raha) This kind of discourse also helped them to conquer fear during challenging times like rebellions or natural calamities. 4.5.4 Nature The concept of wealth, a subject of economic discourse, is twined in the folk imagination with their simple way of life tuned to nature. A Santhali song thus explains the genesis of wealth: Wealth, Wealth O, Mother Wealth Where was your birth? I was born In the soil I was born In the splash of rain. (cited by Manish Kumar Raha) Nature is also a mystery. The ripening of the crops is seen as a mystery which is 58 related to the divine. In Nepalese folklore, during the month of 'Sawan' no instruments are played and noise is kept at a minimum as the gods are supposed Conservation and Preservation: Some to have come down for their yearly rest under the earth, and should not be disturbed Ethical and Legal if a good harvest was desired. Issues

Check your progress 3 Note: 1) Your answers should be around thirty words each. 2) You may check your answers with the possible answers given at the end of this Unit. 4) What do you understand by the term 'Counter-Belief'? ...... 5) What are the popular or folk versions of Lord Shiva? ......

4.6 LET US SUM UP

From the early studies of folklore which were focused upon tracing the archaic customs of a society to later studies involving nationalistic aims and goals of reinforcing ethnic identities, the study of folklore has a varied spectrum of approaches. In recent decades, attention has moved to understanding the meanings behind the narration or performance of folklore. These meanings may be different from apparent meanings and there may be deeper subversive elements in them. This whole process of understanding performances and narration according to various theoretical contexts is an element of viewing folklore as discourse. Discourse involves grounds on which social relations between individuals can be negotiated. This means that all forms of communication and social behaviours can be seen as discourse.

The discourses operative in folklore can be seen sometimes, though not always, as counter-discourse to a prevalent mainstream discourse. These are products of the entire community and not of an individual. Folklore contains countless micro- narratives in contrast to the grand/macro-narratives of history, and thus can open doors into new horizons in discourse studies.

Folklore offers narratives about past, present and about the land and people. These are micro-narratives reflecting different discourses. The discourses of insurgency as recorded in oral or folk memory, contain forms such as tales, 59 Documentation, rumours, folksongs, etc. which give images of the enemy and information on Preservation and Conservation of events in history. Culture Discourse is complemented by counter-discourse. In any society law and legality support existing power structures. Definitions of crime and criminality may marginalize entire communities or individuals living at the fringes. In this context the figure of the outlaw can sometimes acquire a heroic status and though he may be an outlaw in legal terms, he may be a hero of the people, remembered in tales and cults. Crimes generated by poverty and social inequalities can also be read as acts of rebellion. This sort of perception and its expression can be called a counter-discourse.

The discourse of prominent religious establishments in any society is contested by the counter-discourses of folk-cults. This can be seen in the instances of the Bauls and the Satnampanth to name a few. The opposition of these two cults to organized religion and caste definitions and their support of the individual seeker form the core of their counter-discourse. Close to this is the idea of counter- belief. This term refers to beliefs held by communities in their daily lives which may be at odds with religious values that are officially embraced by that society. Belief in ghosts, spirits, faith-healers, etc. are elements of counter-belief.

Viewing folklore as discourse is a process involving varied opinions and theoretical frameworks. This offers interesting points of analyses for folk narratives and performances with a view to understanding how communities affirm themselves in various contexts. As discourse involves the study of all forms of communication and social behaviour, folklore as discourse encompasses a large number of approaches.

4.7 ACTIVITY Try to look for further reading material from the list given below and from other sources if they are available to you. Try to attend folk performances wherever possible. If you have a folk performer/s living in your neighbourhood try to interact with him/her or try to watch their performance. Make notes on the content of their performance and discuss with your friends etc. 4.8 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Baxi, Upendra. 'Law in Subaltern Studies' in Subaltern Studies VII, (eds.) Partha Chatterjee and Gynendra Pandey. Oxford India Paperbacks: New Delhi. 1993. Bronner, Simon J. Following Tradition: Folklore in the Discourse of American Culture. Utah State University Press: Logan. 1998. Das, Yogesh. Assamer Loksamskriti. NBT India: New Delhi. 1983. Ghosh, Amitav, 'The Slave of MS. H.6' in Subaltern Studies VII. The Hungry Tide, New Delhi, Ravi Dayal, 2004. Guha, Ranajit. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Revolution. OUP: New Delhi. 1983.

60 Kaviraj, Sudipta, 'The Imaginary Institution of India', in Subaltern Studies VII. Conservation and Preservation: Some Writings on SouthAsian History and Society[ed. Partha Chatterjee and Gynendra Ethical and Legal Issues Pandey] OUP India, 1993. Krappe, A.H. The Science of Folklore, (1930). Metheun & Co Ltd.: London. 1962 Muthukumaraswamy, M.D. (ed.) Folklore as Discourse. National Folklore Support Centre: Chennai. 2006. Panikkar, K.N. Folklore of Kerala. NBT: New Delhi. 1991. Prakash, Gyan, 'Reproducing Inequality' in The World of the Rural Labourer [ed. Gyan Prakash.] Oxford India, 1994. Raha, Manish Kumar, 'Folksongs of the Tribals of West Bengal' in Folkmusic and Folklore: An Anthology, Vol.1 (ed. Hemanga Biswa), Calcutta: Folkmusic and Folklore Research Institute, 1967. Roy, Buddhadev, Folksongs of Bengal, Firma Klm Private Ltd.: Calcutta. 1980. Seetalakshmi, K.A. Folktales of Tamilnadu. Sterling Publishers Private Ltd.: New Delhi. 1989. Sarkar, Dinendrakumar. Bibaher Lokacar. Akademy of Folklore: Kolkata. 1980. Sengupta, Sankar. Folklore and Folklife in India. Indian Publications: Calcutta. 1975. Upadhyaya, K.D. 'Folklore and Folkmusic of Uttar Pradesh', Folkmusic and Folklore: An Anthology.Vol.1 (ed. Hemanga Biswas). Folkmusic and Folklore Research Institute. 1967. 4.9 GLOSSARY Insurgency : a revolt or rebellion by large numbers of people in an organized manner. Criminality : the criminal nature of certain acts or persons. Judicial discourse : the course of language formations, procedures related to the laws of a particular legal system operating in a particular society. Political establishment : an organized group, political in nature, exercising authority, influence and control over others in a society. Outlaw : a person who is on the run from the law, a fugitive. Folk cult : a body of beliefs around a folk deity or hero with a particular system of worship, ritual etc. Carnivalization : a term used to denote the festive, popular aspect of any phenomenon. It refers to the grounding of any 61 Documentation, icon or idea within mass consciousness, often in Preservation and Conservation of apparently irreverent and familiar ways. Culture Subversive : having ideas of overturning apparent structures and to change apparent meanings. 5.0 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE ANSWERS 1) The types of discourses included in the list provided by eminent folklorist M. D. Muthukumaraswamy are the Discourse of Regionalism, Historical Discourse, the Discourse of Colonialism, Popular Discourses and the Discourse of Ideology, Religion and Worldview among others. 2) Rumour can be understood as a free folk form of expression and communication that arises from the mass, changes quickly and gets increasingly stronger in the course of transmission from person to person. It is said to occupy a space between myth and tale. 3) Tribal Gods are close to the daily life of the tribal people and are often thought to belong to the same professions as the tribal people. For the Mundas God is a shepherd. The 'Singbonga' leads his herd across the milky way. Similarly for the fishermen of the Sunderbans, their ancestor-deity, a fisherman, watches over the sea. 4) Counter-belief refers to beliefs held by people of any society which may be at variance with the beliefs embraced by that society. This may include personal beliefs or beliefs in ghosts, spirits etc. that are at odds with religious beliefs which are formally held. 5) The Shiva of folklore is seen as being close to the tribal man in the forest. Among the rural folk of Assam, Shiva is a rural old man absorbed in the enjoyment of bhang etc. in certain folk songs of Bengal, Shiva is shown in homely domestic situations either quarreling with or placating his with Parvati.

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