Folklore of India
[citation needed] Although India is a Hindu-majority country, with more than three-fourths of the population identifying themselves as Hindus, there is no single, unified, and all-pervading concept of identity present in it.
However, folklore goes beyond religious or supernatural beliefs and practices, and encompasses the entire body of social tradition whose chief vehicle of transmission is oral or outside institutional channels.
[citation needed] [1] The folk and tribal arts of India speak volumes about the country's rich heritage.
Local fairs, festivals, deities and heroes (warriors) play a vital role in this art form.
Devendra Satyarthi, Krishna Dev Upadyhayaya, Prafulla Dutta Goswami, Kunja Bihari Dash, Ashutosh Bhatacharya and many more senior folklorists have contributed for the study of folklore.
[citation needed] Recently scholars such as Chitrasen Pasayat, M. D. Muthukumaraswamy, Vivek Rai, Jawaharlal Handoo, Birendranath Dutta, P. C. Pattanaik, B. Reddy, Sadhana Naithani, P. Subachary, Molly Kaushal, Shyam Sundar Mahapatra, Bhabagrahi Mishra and many new folklorists have contributed in their respective field for shaping folklore study as a strong discipline in representing the people's memory and people's voice.
[citation needed] Indian folk heroes like Rama, Krishna in Sanskrit epics and history and also in freedom movement are well known to every one.
[citation needed] But not only heroes, the heroines of Indian folklore have also significant contribution in shaping the culture of India.
Dr Mahendra Mishra, a folklorist, has conducted research on oral epics in Kalahandi, taking seven ethnic groups.
[citation needed] In the rural areas of Kerala, there was a practice known as Odiyan (or "odian") where a group of individuals claimed the ability to terrify people to the point of death using a technique called otiviki.
[4][5] Odiyan is a legendary figure in Kerala folklore, described as half-man, half-beast creatures that would lurk in alleyways during the night.
[6] These Odiyans would apply specific herbs to certain parts of their bodies, chant spells, and transform themselves into various animals like bulls, buffaloes, or foxes, depending on their desire.
[citation needed] Recently, Odisha, a state in eastern India, introduced a child-friendly programme called Srujan (creativity) in the primary schools.
In "Where Mirrors are Windows," (1989) and in "Three Hundred Ramayanas" (1991), for example, he discusses the "intertextual" nature of Indian literature, written and oral...He says, "What is merely suggested in one poem may become central in a 'repetition' or an 'imitation' of it.
During the same period, Helen Bannerman penned the now notorious Indian-themed tale of Little Black Sambo, which represented itself to be an Indian folktale.
[citation needed] After independence, disciplines and methods from anthropology began to be used in the creation of more in-depth surveys of Indian folklore.
Phase I was the British Administrators who collected the local knowledge and folklore to understand the subjects they want to rule.
[citation needed] After independence, scholars like Dr Satyendra, Devendra Satyarthi, Krishnadev Upadhayaya, Jhaberchand Meghani, Prafulla Dutta Goswami, Ashutosh Bhattacharya, Kunja Bihari Dash, Chitrasen Pasayat, Somnath Dhar, Ramgarib Choubey, Jagadish Chandra Trigunayan and many more were the pioneer in working on folklore.
[citation needed] The pioneer of the folklorists in contemporary India is Jawaharlal Handoo, Sadhana Naithani, Kishore Bhattacharjee, Kailash Patnaik, VA Vivek Rai, late Komal Kothari, Raghavan Payanad, M Ramakrishnan, Nandini Sahu.M.N.
He has written Saora folk literature, Paharia Folkliterature, Visioning Folklore, Oral Poetry of Kalahandi.
The analytical work of Dr Mishra has been widely studied in the western and eastern world as a part of South Asian folklore.
One important breakthrough in the field of folklore is that it is no more confined to the study in the four walls of academic domain, rather, it has again found its space within and among the folk to get their true meaning.
