Society, Oral Tradition and Folk Literature (original) (raw)
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U Thlen and the Nongshohnoh: Folklore, Experience, and Reality
Literatura Ludowa, 2022
The need to better understand the supernatural is an ever engaging aspect of any enquiry into the matter due to the changing paradigms of time and space and the existence of numerous misconceptions and observations on the same. Such is a case of the legend of "U Thlen" and the "Nongshohnoh" phenomenon of Meghalaya, a northeastern state in the sovereign country of India. U Thlen, ("U" being connotative of the male gender) an evil mystical being is ascribed in Khasi legends and recounted in Khasi folklore as an entity, thirsty and ever un-satiated for human blood. He was however tricked and captured by the Khasi people but never ultimately destroyed. As an act of deceptionof reward and mainly revenge, U Thlen promised riches in exchange for human sacrifice. An existing belief is that U Thlen was adopted by a Khasi household which saw the beginning of the Nongshohnoh or the "cut throat" phenomenon. The surrounding belief about the keeping of U Thlen functions on the basis of prevailing social notions that human sacrifice offered to U Thlen equates to riches. While the legend of U Thlen has witnessed transcendence from narratives to lived realities over an incredible part of the history of the Khasi people, the Nongshohnoh phenomenon has however, seen its fair share of criticism with time as well. It is in this regard, that this study aims to (re)look into this very phenomenon as a living reality of the Khasi society. This paper also aims to look at existing beliefs and disbeliefs in U Thlen and the Nongshohnoh phenomenon in order to arrive at an understanding proper to the contemporary setting of the Khasi society in the twenty first century.
Oral narratives are the earliest forms of storytelling as they exist in every culture as a part of religious rituals, folk music and songs. They include ritual texts, curative chants, epic poems, musical genres, folk tales, creation stories, songs, myths, spells, legends, proverbs, riddles, tongue twisters, word games, recitations and other narratives not recorded in writing. With the invention of writing, the ancient forms of oral narratives have undergone a lot of changes and have become valuable works of literature. However, the charm of oral narratives often told by improvisation and even gestures as a part of tradition cannot be transcribed into literature. As oral stories are brought down from generation to generation and are committed only to the memory, the various stages of the growth of such narratives give an account of the culture of the people. These are the sources of popular entertainment and are closely associated with festivals and religious ceremonies. At present, our society feels the need to safeguard and protect these indigenous forms of arts from the danger of extinction due to the impacts of globalisation and commercial entertainments. The exploration of the meanings and themes of ancient narratives, in a broader social context, and the significant role of the variant folklore genres in maintaining collective wisdom, national identity, solidarity and traditional moral values are points of great concern in this study. Keywords: Oral Folk Literature, Ancient Meiteis, Cultural Significance, Manipur, India
FOLKLORE OF SERPENT IN NORTH-EAST INDIA
NorthEast India consist seven states namely, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. This region of India is a home land of the different ethnic groups from Mongoloid and Aryan stock. Serpent Lore is a main component of the folklore of this region. From ancient times serpent takes a pivotal role of the folklore of NorthEast India. It percolates in Oral Literature, Material Culture, Social Folk Custom and Performing Folk Arts. Innumerable folk or oral literature is available related with serpent in NorthEast India. Manasa (Serpent deity) Puja (worship) is an important festival of Assam which percolates every groups of the society. This paper is an attempt to study the position of serpent in Folklore of NorthEast India.
A STUDY OF CULTURAL REFLECTIONS IN THE KOKNA FOLKTALES
NTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND TRANSLATION STUDIES (IJELR) , 2020
Folk literature occupies a sufficient score in the mainstream literature in most Indian language literatures. And to that extent, it is studied too. But as of the tribal folk literature is concerned, there is lot of scope as both being brought to the readership by its due publication for common readers as well as study in the universities. Major population of tribes ie adivasi inhabit in the northeast region of India, along with Jharkhand in the second place and rest in other parts of the country. Maharashtra too boasts of having some of major tribes along the borders of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Constitutionally they are known as scheduled tribes (ST). Each of the tribe, regardless of Maharashtra or elsewhere, is culturally exceptionally rich and most of them share many practices, traditions and customs that have continuously been passed from one generation to the next generations. Though civilization and industrialization has affected their lives too, they have positively preserved their culture in oral practice; folkdance, folksongs, folktales etc. To some extent, educated tribal individuals along with the other scholars have brought their oral folklores to the common people. This paper attempts to interpret the human relations and their affinity with environment of Kokna tribe folktales.
The Legend of " U Ramhah " and " Devil's Tower " : A Comparative Study of Oral Traditions
This paper proposes to study some aspects of folk beliefs prevalent in the Khasi Oral Tradition. The Khasi are an ethnic community residing in Meghalaya, a state of North East India. There are the existent multiple genres of folk beliefs within their religion and worldview. Such beliefs have no foundation in the rational explanation but are widely accepted as truth by the members of Khasi community. The Khasis in their small corner are not behind rest of the world in story telling, as they also have on record the legend of U Ramhah. According to a popular legend the fossil zed stone basket belonged to an evil giant who troubled the people through his greed and unsocial behaviour. The Khasis have their own mythological discourses to account for the extensive formations. They believe that the caverns are the bones of the giant U Ramhah, who died alone and unattended in hills. The other similar giant rock formation is “Devil’s Tower” which is based on Native American Lore. It suggests Devil’s Tower is a “gift of god" and its existence can not be explained. The Ancient Native Americans have several stories that explain its creation. Some Native American tribes in the area believe that what we see today is what has always been there and the tower is the same shape and size that it has always been. Looking at giant rock formations, it obviously delivers a common message of victory of good over evil and god always arrive to save mankind and preach prosperity and harmony. And also as a great source of entertainment. The function of such stories is to elucidate the Khasi philosophical thought on every aspect of Khasi culture and make sure that it reaches and hold captive even the simplest of men. Folk tales have no known origin and are transmitted spontaneously as oral tradition from generation to generation. Folk tales while dealing with situation familiar to listeners, are not usually based on historical facts, but are mostly of fictitious nature and have a predominance of fanciful ideas of the folk. Taking the clue from similar stories referring to natural objects and materials found in different corners of the world, the paper attempts to discuss how the popular beliefs of different communities serve similar functions in the regions they are found and thus become the raw material for studies under comparative framework.
ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIAL AND MYTHICAL ASPECTS OF KASHMIRI FOLKTALES
Kashmiri folk literature is a repertoire of the culture, tradition, and rituals of its people. Folktales are a significant part of Kashmiri culture. These tales are widespread due to their oral nature. They portray a socio-cultural history of Kashmir which has been neglected by both official histories and travelers' accounts. This paper is an attempt to explore the social and mythical aspects of Kashmiri folktales. These tales provide a unique representation where the historically subjugated groups like lower classes and women are the heroes while the ruling classes are perceived as the evil forces. In terms of myth, there are roughly three types of mythical tales in Kashmiri folklore: the ones that are unique to Kashmir, the ones that are shared with other cultures, and the ones where actual historical figures have achieved a mythical status. This paper aims to understand the significance of such representation with an awareness of the oral nature of these tales.
Al Khadim Research journal of Islamic culture and Civilization
Traditional societies in all over the world carry a great sum of knowledge and wisdom which is constructed in the course of cultural process which is seldom heard and least understood. Folk forms of poetics and prose expressions are sole repositories of these societies which helps researchers, ethnographers, and cultural anthropologists to reconstruct an image of these societies which primarily rely on oral tradition. The folkloric genre of Pashto accumulates unprecedented texts and contexts to be unearthed. The most pervasive folkloric genres like Tappa, Sandara, Kakarai Ghardi, Char-Baita, Sarwakai, Loba, Da Attan Narey, Balandai, Mathnavis and several others have rich contents to unpack the popular notions of spirituality and people’s sense of religion and divinity. In order to study a unit of the Pashto folklore, this paper is taking on the Kakarai Ghari, a genre specifically created by the ordinary men and women in Northern Balochsitan predominantly inhabited by Pashtuns. The...
THE STUDY OF MYTH AND SNAKE IMAGE IN GIRSH KARANAD 'S: NAGMANDAL
International Multidisciplinary e-Journal Shree Prakashan, 2013
Indian dramatists uses the myth in their play, such myth are closely related to the human beings culture and their controlled passion. Any activity of human being is governed by the social custom and law. Every festival is celebrated to teach something to the next generation every symbol is teaches some basic morals. The present paper attempts to study myth and the snake symbol in the play of Girish karnad's Nagmandala in relation with Northrop Frye and Sigmund Fride's Psychoanalysis theory.
FROM FOLKLORE TO "FOLKLORESQUE": TRANSLATIONS AND ADAPTATIONS OF HIMALAYAN FOLKLORES
Journal of Higher Education and Research Society: A Refereed International , 2024
The Central Himalayan region of Kumaun is a land which has stirred the imagination of people since time immemorial, by virtue of the diverse range of prevalent oral traditions and customs. However, this region has suffered prolonged cultural isolation owing to its geographical position, and also on account of the inclusion of Kumauni language and culture with Hindi. This sentiment has been shared by various Kumauni artists, scholars, and academicians who attempted to integrate Kumauni oral traditions and culture with cosmopolitan popular culture by translating and adapting the oral narratives, leading to changing the dynamics of folklores considerably in the popular culture world. The integration of oral narratives into the popular culture with the change of context and structure, through films, comics, songs, games, literature, etc., has led to the emergence of the genre of folkloresque, which has further challenged the traditional perspectives and predefined social and cultural constructs. This paper attempts to examine the emergence of folkloresque in various genres of Kumauni folklores, as they find their way into the popular culture through translations and adaptations. The paper also seeks to analyse how these translations and adaptations have not only led to the preservation, popularisation, and digitalisation of folklores, but they have also challenged the traditional perspectives in which the oral narratives and traditions were viewed, thereby creating liminal cultural spaces leading to a growing sense of cultural ambiguity.