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mkmishra · Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 11 Location: Bhubaneswar India

Public Sector Folklore
Mahendra Kumar Mishra

FOLKLORE: NOW SKY IS ITS LIMIT

Traditional perception of folklore as a discipline of academic studies has changed now days and interestingly the gap of folk non-folk and folklorists is gradually bridged. It is true that the changing definition of folklore indicates the use of folklore other than the academic domain, for study sake in which the folk has nothing to participate other than supplying the data for research. Instead of it, the possibility of learning from the folk has become more important than studying them without its context. The real purpose and meaning of folklore, also the cultural context of creation and sharing of folklore among the creators and consumers has much to say and much to do than viewing folklore in isolation.

Now, fortunately with the changing scenario of society, folklore has gained a place both in rural and urban areas in public domain and academic domain. The interchangeability of texts and context of folklore both in urban rural areas have brought a revolutionary change in understanding folklore from a broader perspective. For instance the folk dance once used by the rural girls are now performed by the educated university girls/college girls/ cultural organizations of urban centers. Like wise the folk artists of rural villages are performing in the urban centers and the taste of such art forms has attracted many a lovers of arts and culture to understand that the folk classical cycle is inherent in the Indian folk lore.

The acceptability of folklore in urban life is conditioned to the saturation point of amusement available in urban setting.The usual trend of modernization has inverted in the acceptance of folklore from the rural and tribal settings that represents"other cultures".
The wider use of folklore in pubic domain is a good sign to involve and recognize the creator of folklore. Also the values and norms ingrained in the folk items with the purpose and meaning has again reminded the society that the tradition has its social role to play.
The use of folklore in public domain may be understood from the following activities
I. Story telling (both traditional and modern- in home and in schools)
ii. Singing and playing
iii. Wall paintings (the motifs of Idtal - a Saora wall paintings have been popularized in starred hotels, walls of big hotels, T- shirts
Iv.regenerating folk festivals in a wider social context
v. Reusing the oral narratives / epic songs/ caste genealogies for ethnic identity
vi. Recreating popular and written literature for the common people from the folk elements like oral epics/myths
Vii.Making TV serial and Radio play and songs from folklore
viii. Folk festivals in new social context
ix. Preparation of audio cassettes on folk religious stories
x. Using folk stories and songs/ riddles in schools/ preparation of tribal language primers and supplementary readers/riddle books
Xi.folk arts in form of greeting cards/paintings in palm leaf/hand kerchief
Xii.handicraft/ weaving/bamboo craft etc.
ix. Folk music and dance performance in urban centers (Chhatishgarhi Pandavani/ Ramayani/Chandeni/Allah Udal/Dhola Maru/ malu sahi etc. songs)
xiv. Craft exhibition/Gramasree mela/Baisakhi/Art Exhibition

The verbal expression generates knowledge and creativity in the mind of the people. Story telling itself is education and learning in non-literate society. Unfortunately the Indian Schools attach seldom importance to story telling. The Schoolteachers attach more importance in written texts than the oral texts in the primary schools. The rich depository of story used in public domain is not found in the schools. But now a days, story telling festivals have become a fascinating profession in English medium schools of western countries, and it has become a practice in Indian urban schools to develop the competencies in speaking and listening skill, of course for understanding and enjoying in ingrained in it. In multicultural schools story telling is a source of cultural unity and mutual understanding. Teachers learn from the children and the children learn from the teachers. Teleconferencing on story telling in distance mode of education, also in TV and radio, folktales are presented in very interesting manner.
Folklore is used differently in different context. By doing this real purpose and meaning may have changed. But the art is changed with the changing mind of the artists. The Saora wall paintings once used in the worship place as the representatives of many a Gods and Goddesses have lost their meaning on the big wall of a star hotel, but it certainly represents a meaning, a different meaning which attracts, giving a new taste and vision to the lovers of art to see the eternal modernity from the traditional art.

Folk festivals also have taken new shape with the changing of society. The traditional festivals observed in the cluster of villages have reshaped in the urban setting. Tribal and folk festival in the district head quarters like Parav-1993 to Parav 2002 signifies the changing model of tribal and folk festivals conducted by the councils of culture supported by the government.
The tribal and folk dances are performed, the arts and crafts are exhibited for sale, and the elite rewards the folk artists. The context of the folk festivals in an urban setting signifies the reduce of gaps between the elite's and the folk.
.
In public sector folklore also gets a public support for marketing, by the producers of arts, and crafts. The exploration of cultural artifacts for the economic development is a possible means of earning of the folkartists.

Interestingly, the forest products form the basic attraction for the women folk of urban centers in the folk festivals, and a huge purchase takes place. Like wise in Gramasri mela, Craft exhibition the urban people find their choice in getting pieces of materials for interior decorations and exterior design. This fascination purports the growing popularity of folklore in the society irrespective of rural and urban.

The oral narratives, tales, myths, legends, oral epics, ballad, riddles and songs have special function in a non literate society. The purpose is to combine the in formal experience and learning of the neo literate/non-literate with that of the new learning of language and literacy and numeric can be bridged through folklore. So it is important to mould the textbooks or primers with local culture.

Similarly in the bilingual classrooms or in multilingual schools, use of indigenous knowledge and associating the experiential knowledge of the children with the formal curriculum to offer learning from the cultural context is more scientific and systematic than the pedocentric learning which does not bear the cultural context.

Folklore as a learning system in the society shapes the cognitive ability of the children through texts; contexts and a language in which she perceive the world around them. So the tales, myths, and narratives have been regarded as the source of learning. The small books with illustrations based on folklore and myths have been used in the schools for enrichment of reading, peer learning.

Another area of retaining folklore in religious rites and sacred festivals both in domestic domain and public domain is the Vratakatha-sacred narratives listened by the women folk. Now a day instead of the priests recite the narratives, the video -audio recorder is played at the public gathering and the purpose is solved. Sri Krishna Janma- birth of Srikrishna is celebrated n ritual form at first and when the narrative is to be recited the audio- video show is displayed among the audience. Not only this, a number of Vratas are observed by the womenfolk are now available in audio form.So the dissemination of folklore in the society as a whole has reduced the gap of folk and urban dichotomy.

The oral epic singers, story tellers (galpasagara) are gradually vanishing away from the society.But the trend of writing down the traditional knowledge for the future generation has taken place.

Folklore in public domain has changed the concept of folklore and has brought a new dimension in the society.
1. It has reduced the gap of folk and urban
2. It has its new social context, which believes in transformation in new social order
3. The folk have direct bearing in the performance, may be the purpose is different, but it has meaning
4. The performers/creators of folklore are recognized by the public
5. The possibility of recreating the folk art / craft forms for the artists economic benefit and marketing is found in public sector folklore
6. It changes according to the need of the people. It attracts the urban public for its originality
7. The folklore items have the potentialities to energize the creative activity in designing the arts,Now folk motifs are the real modern motifs!!
8. The folk literature, comic books, tales, myths and such other items bear the cultural identity, and it promotes understanding the other culture.
9. Folklore in multicultural society brings mutual harmony and cultural integration through learning from each other and respecting each other.
10. Folklore in public domain permites the mass to participate in collective creativity and sharing.

It is also expected that with the changing of global order folklore will develop a new cultural meaning in which its definition, function and meaning will be more complex than earlier one. At this juncture, the combined efforts of folk and the folklorists could help in using folklore in a more useful manner in different platform for different purpose.

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Dr Mahendra K Mishra
D-9 Flat , kalpana Area Bhubaneswar 751014
Orissa, india

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