Verbal Art: A Short Survey

CHAPTER IV

Verbal Art: A Short Survey

HE TERM VERBAL ART WAS used to define oral folklore that is,

T folktales, myths legends, proverbs and other literary forms. Samuel P.

Bayard gave his opinion on verbal art by saying that “....it was suggested as
a convenient and appropriate term for folktales, myths, legends, proverbs,
riddles and other literary forms.” 1 According to W. R. Bascom, “ in verbal
art it is only necessary to compare myths, folktales, proverbs and riddles
with the direct statements of ordinary speech to see a similar concern with
the form of expression, over and above the needs of communication.” 2

Verbal art generally implies such type of art, even the literary
art, which is oral or spoken in nature. It is an indispensable part of literature.
Without the verbal art literature cannot reflect itself in society. Therefore
“the oral literature has association with the dental hygiene on the one hand
and with Freudianism on the other.”

Though song, myth, tale, proverb and riddle etc., are the verbal
art, yet there remains some kind of differences among them as special
genres, which can easily mark them out and we have to face some

I. W.R, Bascom, Contributions’ to Folklorist ics. p.65.

2 .Ibid, p.68.
3 Jbid, p.67.
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difficulties in finding them out. But for Bascom “ the concept of verbal art
avoids all these difficulties and has the further advantage of emphasizing the
essential features which distinguish the folktale, myth, proverbs and related
forms.” 4

About the medium of verbal art, Bascom has his view: “The
medium of expression of verbal art is the spoken word rather than material
substances as in the graphic and plastic arts, tones and rhythms as in music,
or movements and gesture as in the dance.” 5

A folktale may survive for centuries but it does not have an

independent existence out of the mind as people enjoy it if it is told only and
after listening to it, it strikes the ear and remains in the memory. It has its
original form that is told only in the spoken word; that is when it is verbally
expressed or elaborated, it can be enjoyed but we must not forget the fact
that it has written form now. Therefore Bascom says “the verbal art dies
when people stop telling it and when they learn it by reading rather than by
hearing it told by others.” 6

Dorson has given another analytical view about verbal art when
he observes, “Verbal art is sometimes called expressive literature. They are
spoken, sung and voiced forms of traditional utterance which show a
A Ib id , p 67
5 .Ib id , p. 69.
6 Ib id , p.74.
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repetitive patterns. Its one of the large subdivision is folk narrative which in
turn has its manifold distinction which may fall on the spoken, sung and oral
traditional things. All oral folk expression is not verbal. Yodels, hollers,
cries, chants and laments may acquire their own traditional character based
on non lexical Sounds.” 7

Verbal art is a tradition, which is handed down orally from

generation to generation. This tradition is of two kinds:

1.Oral tradition
and 2.Written tradition

Oral tradition is transmitted orally while written tradition is

transmitted in a written form. Therefore it seems that verbal art is the oral
art. Folk literature is related to written tradition yet it cannot deny the verbal
form. Suppose we have collected a particular tale from a particular person of
a definite place and have given the written form to it, it doesn’t mean that it
has the written form only and not the verbal form. Initially folk narratives
were transferred from person to person verbally or in the oral form and later
on it has been given the written form.

Oral traditions can be termed as oral literature but some

scholars don’t accept it because the scope of oral tradition is much wider
than the oral literature. The Vedic literature or hymn were originally
transmitted orally but nevertheless we can call this genre an oral creation
7. Richard M. Dorson, Folklore and Folklife: An Introduction, p. 9
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and as oral literature. W. R. Bascom has suggested using the term verbal art
in lieu o f oral literature or folk literature. He observes that oral literature-
folk literature—is verbal art and it will be better if we use the term verbal art
in place of folk literature or oral literature.

Bascom has explained “the word folklore in English is nearly

twenty years, older than the word culture, and it was twenty five years after
Thomas had described folklore that Taylor defined culture in much the same
terms.” 8 He presumes the verbal art as “ folklore proper.” The term verbal
art was suggested with the hope that the Anthropologists would accept it in
place of folklore. Both folklorists and anthropologists have felt the need for
a term to distinguish folktales, myths, proverbs, riddles and related forms of
verbal art from customs, beliefs, rituals and other materials of folklore. 9

According to him,
“the terms ‘unwritten literature,’ ‘popular literature,’ ‘folk
literature,’ ‘primitive literature’ and ‘oral literature’ emphasize the relations
of these forms to literature but all are premised upon the irreconcilable
contradiction that literature is based upon letters and writing, whereas
folklore is not.” 10
Verbal art is the common term to avoid all these difficulties.
8.W. R. Bascom, Folklore and Anthropology, Pp. 284-85.
9.Ibid.
I0.W. R. Bascom, Contributions to Folkloristics, p.67
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Again Bascom says, “In Verbal art it is only necessary to

compare myths, folktales, proverbs and riddles with the direct statements of
ordinary speech to see a similar concern with the form of expression, over
and above the needs of communication.” 11Bayard has said that verbal art is
one “which is neither art nor literature in any definable sense of those
terms.” 12

There is a difference between graphic art and verbal art—“ the

graphic art and plastic art resemble literature and written music whereas the
verbal art resembles unwritten music and dance, which depend upon
repeated performances for their continued existence.” 1’

“Literature, like sculpture or painting has an independent, semi

permanent and static existence. Verbal art on the other hand, is intangible
and dynamic.” 14 If the narrator has the scope or if he is expected to repeat a
tale there might be probabilities to have some discrepancies or changes in
his elaboration or expression. The amount of change, which occurs, depends
upon the complexity of form. There are two subjects in which the variation
occurs:

1 Ubid, p.68.
12. Bayard, The Materials o f Folklore,$A.
13. W. R. Bascom, Contributions to Folkloristic, p.70.
\ A.Ibid, p.70.
 93

1) The variations on a familiar theme introduced by the

individual narrator,
2) The origin of the theme or the tale type itself.15

Verbal art differs in both method of transmission as well as

method of creation. The aesthetic experience and creative act o f the audience
are simultaneously expressed in verbal art. In written music and the dance
also it happens if the private rehearsals don’t happen.

It is always seen in case of verbal art that it is composed and

transmitted verbally but in case of literature it is composed in writing and
transmitted in writing. But they both are intermingled and influence each
other. The result is tales, proverbs or other forms of verbal art, which have
been adopted, in verbal art through generations.

From these above discussions there is a general agreement that

the verbal art or the oral narratives is the most accepted term for the folklore
material like folktales, myths, proverbs, riddles and other related forms of
verbal art from customs, beliefs, rituals etc. There are four basic genres of
oral narratives:
1) Ethnic genres,
2) ,Academic genre,
3) Functional genre,
4) Contextual genre.

15. W. R. Bascom, Folklore and Anthropology, Pp. 286-87.

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Mainly the verbal art or oral narratives may rightly be classified

into two broad groups:
a) Verse narratives
b) Prose narratives

Both these above divisions contain stories which recount

unusual happenings that are accepted as truth on faith or incidents rather
vaguely believed to have taken place, and stories of purely factious
formulations. In verse narratives stories are told in song or verse or the verse
narratives are transmitted in the verse form and the prose narratives are
transmitted in prose forms or storytelling form, in this genre Myths, legends
and folktales have been accepted as the three basic forms. These three have
the universal distribution. “These three are called ‘the prose narrative
forms,’ in western folklore scholarship.” 16

a) Verse narratives

The genre of verse narrative is transmitted in verse form; hence it is called

verse narrative. The term verse narrative is used to suggest the ballads
besides other genres of oral poetry. Ballads are an important branch of
verbal art. The term ballad has emerged from the word ballade, which
means dance. Kittredge observes it as “a song that tells a story, or to take
other point of view, a story told in song. More formally, it may be defined as
a short narrative poem, adopted for singing, simple in plot and material
structure, divided into stanzas and characterized by complete impersonality
16, Birendra Nath Dalta, N.C.Sarma, Prabin Das (Eds.), A Handbook o f
Folklore Material o f North East India, p.36.
 95

as far as the author or the singer is concerned. This last trait is of the very
first importance in determining the quality or qualities, which gives the
ballad its peculiar place in literature. Unlike other songs, it does not purport
to give utterance to the feelings or the mood of the singer.” 17 according to
Prof. Ker, “It is not narrative poem only; it is a narrative poem lyrical in
form, or a lyrical poem with a narrative body in it.” 18 Prof. Gerould says, “
What we have come to call a ballad is always a narrative is always sung to a
rounded melody, is always learned from the lips of others rather than by
reading.” 19

The ballads hold up a picture of an unsophisticated society

where a king talked like a peasant. A princess cooked and wove like any
ordinary maid. The people seem to have faith in supernatural but they could
do wonderful things.
Ballads are sung in a describing manner. The discovery of
ballad was a part of movement, which is known as modem nationalism. It
grew up as a world phenomenon after the American and French revolutions.
W. Edson Richmond writes about ballads: “ ....narrative folksongs
concentrate on a single episode, develop their stories dramatically and are
impersonal in their approach to their subject matter. This is true no matter
whether the narrative folk poem is a Yugoslav oral epic, a Russian bylina, a
Scandinavian or English ballad or any of a number of particular types of folk
poem .” 20
17. P. Goswami, Ballads and Tales o f Assam, Pp.7-8.
\U bid, P.8.
19. /£/</, P.8.
20. W. Edison Richmond, Narrative Folk Poetry, p.86.
 96

Ballads are a form of narrative folk song, which was developed

in the Middle Ages in Europe. Ballad varies in different places in different
time. But they seem to having some of their own characteristics, which can
be considered to be the essential structural qualities of the ballads
everywhere. The Standard Dictionary o f Folklore, Mythology and Legend
defines ballad in the following way:

i) A ballad is a narrative.
ii) A ballad is sung to the accompaniment of dance.
iii) A ballad belongs to the folk in content, style and
designation.
iv) A ballad focuses on a single incident moving itself by
dialogue and incident quickly to the end. 21

A ballad is a story of four elements and these elements are

action, character, setting and theme. Characters are normally types and more
>
than the individuals, action carries the interest. The action is usually highly
dramatic. The ballad practices a rigid economy in relating the action:
incident antecedent to the climax.

Ballads were sung without exception and usually accompanied

by instrumental music. The tunes are traditional containing a story and a
melody. It has a rhythmical chant and almost recitative. The long ballad may
be termed as oral epic or folk epic. According to P. Goswami, “a ballad is
primarily a tale in the verse form originally said to have been sung to the
21. Leach, Maria, Standard Dictionary o f Folklore Mythology and Legend, First Harper
and Row paperback edition, 1984, p.106
 97

accompaniment of dance. The primitive ballad has tended to loose certain

characteristics like the refrain and repetitive phrases, which made it easy for
the dancing throng to sing it in a choric manner. The ballad at present is
chanted by the minstrel to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument or
cymbals.” 22

The Assamese ballads came to be in vogue in the neo-

vaisnavite revival movement of the sixteenth century. There is a story about
it: “The disciples of Sankaradeva used to recite the versified tale of King
Harichandra and receive fat alms from the people. This was not
countenanced by Sankaradeva for, as he declared, the verses of Harichandra
had been composed by him only to lay the foundation of Bhakti or devotion
and not enable anyone to realize fat alms.” It seems that the songs sung by
the beggar disciples attracted many people. This kind of verse narratives
disseminated among the masses, which aroused the imaginative feeling in
each and every mind.

Terms like kahini-git, git or gid and malita are used in

Assamese language for ballad . The term gitika is used in Bengali language
as a synonym of ballad. Similarly the term gatha is popular in the Hindi belt
of India for a ballad. This term was popular even in the Vedic literature. The
term gatha leads to gaha in the Prakrit. Similarly the people of Bengal,
Tripura and Bangladesh use the term gitika for ballads.

22.P.Goswami, Folk Literature of Assam, p. 2L

23 .Ibid, p.21.
 98

Classification of ballads

Looking at the situation from various angles, P. Goswami has classified the
Assamese ballads in the following heads:

i) Historical ballads
ii) Ballads of Magic
iii) Realistic
iv) Satirical. 24

Though this division is convenient to classify ballads yet they

sometimes overlap. According to P. Goswami “There is no mythical ballad
in Assamese, though certain mythical elements are found incorporated in the
ballad of magic Janagavarur git. The Sonowal Kacharis near Dibrugarh in
upper Assam recite at their springtime agricultural ceremony a doggerel
known as Haidang g it” But N.C. Sarma says that there is no dearth of
mythical ballad in Assamese materials . Therefore, he has classified ballads
in the following manner:
i) Mythical ballads,
ii) Etiological ballads,
iii) Historical ballads,
iv) Legendary ballads,
v) Magical or wondrous or supernatural ballads,
vi) Satirical ballads,
vii) Realistic ballads,
viii) The baramahi songs.26
24. P.Goswami, Ballads and Tales o f Assam, p. 11.
25.Ibid, p.I l
26. N.C. Sarma, Lokasanskriti, p.28.
 99

Mythical ballads:

The mythical ballads may be termed as Puranagata malita. The theme of

this type of ballad is based on myths. The incidents, which happened in the
remote past, have been depicted here. The characters in these ballads are
above human being in the sense that they are superhuman. The narrative of
such ballads is supposed to be sacred and believable. The world here is
different from our own world. Most of the time these ballads solve different
problems like the dogma, charter (hukumnama) and guidebook
(pathapangi). Again the description of the origin of the world, religious
works and related things-how they have come to the sight of the general
people are the main themes of mythical ballads and these ballads are sung in
Manasa-puja and sitala-puja. In different pujas related to different religious
activities, these ballads are recited with various musical instruments with the
help of ojapali.

1) In Ainam the singer sings the birth of Ai in the hymn of the

SitalaDevi. This is a mythical ballad. The village women sing in adoration of
Sitala Devi:

KailasaraparaAi nami ahe sorore mandir sai harie

Kailasare para ai nami ahe paila manahi ihai harie. 27

[Ai, the sitala devi hails from heaven by looking at the lake
temple and has reached the place of human being or the earth].

27. In fo r m a n t: L a te Pabitra D eka , S ex -F e m a le ,A g e -7 1 (a t the tim e w h en

she d ie d . ) D ate o f c o lle c tio n - 3 M arch , 1978
 100

A ike pranam karo dui chara m dharo

Air charanat bhakati kari sukh sagaraka taro.28

[Let us bow down to Ai and hold her feet and if we adore her
like this we can lead our life happily].

2) In the context of Vasudeva Puja the Oja and Paliis o f the

Vyasa - Ojapali sings various mythical ballads containing the
Origin of the musical instruments ,Ghee, betel leaf and areca
nut ,ragas and raginis and Rabha( Pendal) and so on . These
ballads may rightly be treated as mythical ballads .

„ 3) Among the Sonowal Kachari, very relevant to the baith puja ,

haidang git is sung with musical instruments in Assamese Sa’ot
month. It is sung at the Baith Puja while coming out from the
temple. The singing continues till reaching “Bargharar saruhalir
barsang (Indrapuri)”. The musical instruments like taka, baht,
manjira, mayur pakhi etc. are brought down from barsang
(Indrapuri). The following haidang song is highly creative:

ha yah nomo narayana

ha yah prithbi heno srijayaise
ha yah akas heno srijayaise
ha yah pr kas heno srijaylse
ha yah nimakh heno srijayaise
ha yah thal heno srijayaise
ha yah agni heno srijayaise
ha yah bayau heno srijayaise
28. Ibid
 101

ha yah barunheno srijayaise

ha yah uran h e m srijayaise

ha yah buran heno srjayaise
ha yah gajan heno srijayaise
ha yah Brahman heno srijayaise ...
29

[Let us bow down to god Narayana who has created the things
as follows: the earth, the heaven, the salt, the thal, the fire, the
air, the barun (rain), and buran, gajan and brahman etc.].

Etiological ballads:
•»

Similary the relation between etiological ballad and mythical ballad is

always plausible. In these ballads the creation o f the world, the creation of
different things and beings, the description of the nature, the creation of the
mountains, hills etc., is sung with devotion and detail. How trees, creepers,
vegetation and woods etc., were created or came to exist in the world are
depicted in detail and seem to form a part of the Assamese worldview.

The Ojapali Chorus in a special worship context in the sitting

position generally sings this genre of ballads. The Qiyah-gowa Ojapali sings
various etiological ballads such as origin of Rabha, origin of ghee and
mango tree and so on. One such song is given below:

1.The etiological ballad of the Rabha:

29. Khamnikar, D, Sonowal Kacharir Loka Git in Sifung Gunga, (ed.) Birendra Nath

Datta,( ct-al) p.\5A

 102

Suna sabhasada dosa nadhariba moka

Sabadharte suna manakari
Rabhara janma katha ekamana kari etha
Kaho abe suna karnabhari
Nashileka purbakale manushyata abikale
Kaliyuge karila bekat
Hastina purata asi dharmaputra raja bhaila
jn
Rabhakhan nirmita tathata

[Dear Sabhasada please listen carefully without finding fault

«• about the birth o f Rabha, which did not exist earlier but first
came into existence in Kaliyuga. Coming to the Hastinapur the
religious son has become king and has built Rabha].

2. The etiological narration o f the Ramagiri raga as sung by the

Byasa Ojapali is given below:

srirama swarupe balirajak badhila /

a kantaka rajyabhara sugrivaka dila //
rajya pai pasarila sugriveRamaka !
sanaya bujhiya nase banare lataka !!
henadekhi Laksmanara krodha upajila
sugrivara mandirata gargibe lagila
ramakarjya pasarili are durashar.
30. N.C. Sarma, Asomor Pariheshyakala Ojapali, p. 104.
 103

ekapata sare toka peso jamadyara!!

bhai p a i kapiraja ramar pose goila !
phokari phokari hire krandana karila !!
nI
sugribara krandanata ramagiri ramabhaila !!

[As Sri Rama He (God) has killed Baliraj the king o f banaras
and handed over the kingdom to Sugriba the younger brother o f
Baliraj. Riding on the chariot Sugrib forgot Ramchandra, which
aroused the anger of Laksmana and chased Sugrib to kill him at
his temple. Threatened by Laksmana Sugrib went away to find
out Ramachandra and cried out by repeating his name. By this
crying the Ramagiri turned into Rama].

3. In the context of Manasa or Bisahari worship the malitas in

connection with the origin of rice powder, dheki, cymbal,
earthen pot, areca nut, and betel leaves are sung in the Ojapali
style of singing ballads. To consider for example the etiological
description of Dasbhuja in Manasa Puja by Suknami Ojapali:

Vandana

bando dasabhuja mahitale puja

asur badha h e tu !
Jijane kare puja durgar sarane
sansar sagar s e tu !!
Bhukuti mukuti ausharajya bibhuti
31. Ibid, p.249
 104

durgak pujile p a i !

Durgapada bine bhaba sansarat

udhyar karta n a i!!
mahisa asure debataka khedi

laila sabe a m ra va ti!

sab,e deba mili nami harihara
brahmata laila sanmati l!
sabake katar dekhi harihara
param a kopita bhaila /

sabare saunit eka sthana kari

durgara janam a k a ila !!

[The worshipers glorify the goddess Bisahari by saying that she

is the goddess who kills the ashur, the elements of evil among
the humans. Without the durga pada there is no salvation on
this earth............. ].

Historical ballads:

Historical ballads are built from the authentic historical incidents and events.
These ballads contain some elements of the historical truths. Scholars
believe that these .ballads can form the core of the modem oral histories of
the communities and as such can be highly useful for writing new history
books. The adventure of the hero or the heroine gets an important place in
historical ballads. Therefore, these ballads can be identified with the famous
32 ibid, p. 222
 105

and important heroic poetry. These ballads because o( their undiscovered

real historical content can be highly useful to boost the true nationalism of
the ethnic communities. Therefore it is not surprising that the themes of
these historical ballads have been used for creative written literature in the
postcolonial discourse of many countries. Here is an example:

i) Barphukanar git

Let my lord pay me Jive quarter-rupees

1 sing the ballad o f Barphukan
It is my good luck
That / have met my lord here..........
33

This ballad is the most important historical ballad and it

“narrates the event which took place between 1815 A.D. and 1824 A.D.
These events center round Badanchandra Barphukan, the Viceroy of Lower
Assam, who was instrumental in inviting Burmese invaders into the
kingdom of Assam 34

The following are some parts of this ballad in which, the

illiterate minstrel describes how Purnanda became Burhagohain and tried to
recognize the administration of the land:

In the land o f Assam, O Sire, there is no Minister

Then is incarnated the Burhagohain;
The Burhagohain looks forw ard (he four quarters

33 Ibid, p.226
i

!34. P. Goswanii, Ballads and Tales o f Assam, Pp. 17-18.

 106

He finds no enemy towards the east

'But then what to do?

In the west is my foe, the Barphukan
The subjects are suffering,
The Barphukan alone is oppressing them.
In whom shall I confide?
I f I could only put him in a cage o f iron ’?
You may decapitate me, but indeed
< }C

He causes the Parbatia Phukan to be called in.

ii) In “Joymati Kunwari’s Song,” the events appeal to or shock

the people’s imagination. This tragic narrative serves the inspiration for
many songs and ballads. “Joymati, a princess who was tortured to death
publicly by an oppressive king because she did not reveal news of her
husband, has bben bewailed by the people in songs and ballads. Her son the
powerful Rudra Simha (1695-1714) constructed a temple and a big tank to
commemorate his self sacrificing mother.” 36

iii) In “Moniram Dewan’s Song,” the verse is constructed on

the basis of Maniram’s death in the “Sepoy Mutiny” (First War of
Independence) in 1858. At the execution of Maniram the people were
shocked and they were in helpless condition. The condition has been
, j!
depicted in the jollowing ballad:

35. P. Gosw am i, Literature o f Assam, p.29.

36 .Ibid, p.31. i i
t
 107

You smoked upon a gold hookah O ’ Maniram,

You smoked upon a silver hookah
What treason did you commit to the Royalty
That you got a rope round your neck!
How could they catch you, Maniram
How could they catch
Jorhat this side, Golaghal on that side,
Through a letter did they catch.
Secretly did they arrest you, O ’Maniram
Secretly did they take you,
Holroyed Sahib on the Tokalai bank
Had you secretly hanged...

Assam has many more historical ballads besides the ones we

discussed above. These are:

1) Ajan Phakir’s song,
2) Bakhar Bora’s song,
3) Patharighat’s Ran,
4) Songs o f the peasant’s revolution,

5) Gandhi’s so n g ,
6) Phulguri’s Dhawa etc.38

Realistic ballads:

Many Assamesi [ballads are more or less transcripts from life and reflect the
t!

realistic attitude to life. Sometimes these may describe ordinary love affairs.
21.Ibid. Pp.31-32;
38. N.C.Sarma, Lokasanuskriti, p.30.
 108

Occasionally these types of ballads deal with marvelous incidents. They are
mostly found in the Kamrup and modern Darrang districts. According to P.
Goswami the realistic ballads “reflect a more or less realistic attitude to life
and may describe ordinary affairs, even love, occasionally. The marvelous
hardly enters into them.” 39 Examples of realistic ballads are given below:

1) “Dubalar Santir Git”: In this ballad a young merchant seems to

be angling for the fish and Santi, the chaste lady of Dubala who
arrives at the lake for a bath, notices him when he was fishing.
She asks him what fish is he catching. We answers that he was
not catching fish but looking at her beauty. She does not reply
but is angry with him. He then goes home sad and enters the
“house of dissatisfaction.” His mother wants to know what has
happened to him and a female wreath-maker is called who asks
the merchant about the cause of his sorrow. He answers:

la m telling you the truth, do listen,

If you bring me Santi o f Dubala I shall eat and drink.
Or else l don 7 take any fo o d or drink

The wreath-maker directly goes to Santi and tells her how the
merchant is feeling about her and suffering. Her reply is that “he can come
1

to her if he brings for her dog a cup of rice, for her elephant a banana tree,
39.P.Goswami: Ballads and Tales o f Assam, p.51.
 109

for her two sons gold cymbals, for her father-in-law a gold stick, for her
mother-in-law a sari of ‘fire’ silk, for her husband a garment of white silk
and for herself a gold necklace.” The wreath-maker goes back and repeats
what the chaste lady had told her.40 The ballad strangely ends without a
conclusion. However one can presume that the merchant was proposed some
impossible tasks before he could possess the woman. The general fairy tale
structure seems working here in this ballad too. However, the difference is
that in the fairy tales the hero does, more often than not, fulfill the
commitment concealed in the difficult tasks, but the ballad remains more
realistic and its narrative ends without completing the difficult tasks.
Therefore the social code of conduct for a married woman, a mother and a
chaste housewife is reestablished by deviating from the general fairy tale
ending in the ballad. One must notice that from a psychological point of
view the tasks proposed in this ballad are all what can be termed a bunch of
“impossibles” and have certain symbolic meanings in the context of the
social code which, reinforces the impossibility of this relationship. Terms
such as “fire silk,” “banana tree,” “gold cymbals,” “gold stick,” are loaded
with connotations matching impossibles, thereby underlining the impossible
relation the merchant had tried to establish.

2) “Saudar Git” : This ballad is also about the wife of a

merchant and her name is Lilavati. The merchant prepares to

' go abroad on one of his trading missions. He builds his boat.

40. ibid; p.51.

 1 1 0

Lilavati objects to his leaving her behind alone. Let her father-
in-law go instead and the merchant stays at home. When the
husband remains adamant, she prays—“Let the sea dry up” and
cries. The merchant is touched by Leavati’s crying and puts his
1i
‘gplden flute in Lila’s hand:
|i
4You give me your flute; should 1 eat or give it away? ’

'No, no, hold the goldflute tight to your bosom;

Lilavati continues crying and the merchant’s heart is touched.

He puts his rupee coins in Lila’s hand:
j j

'You give your rupee coin: should J eat them or give them away? ’

1'When you remember me hold them to your bosom. ’

Thus the merchant gives her his golden girdle, his red
waistband, his wooden sandals and his gold cup. But she is not appeased.
She continues praying to the gods to cause the sea dry up. Then she proposes
that let him go by water and she will follow him on land. He gives her his
wishing ring and when he sails westward she is able to follow him on the
land. Both at last arrive at their home. “Thus Lila tests the love of her
husband ...”41 The other examples of realistic ballads are:
1) Kanya Baramahi
2) Fagala Parvatir git
2) The young wife’s sorrow etc.
41. P.Goswami, Ballads and Tales o f Assam, Pp 5 1-52.
 Ill

Satirical ballads:
The village buffoon generally composes the satirical ballads. In Kamrup the
buffoon is known as Bhawra or impersonator. In upper Assam the term
Bahuwa is used for this character, in these ballads the things or incidents
which are socially unpleasant and the acts of the ruling class are satirized
morbidly. The ballads of this type have an aim to reform the particular class
of people, which is the object of the satire. Normally these ballads are
composed by word of mouth by the ballad singers and these compositions
are improvised in tune with the context of the singing event. This kind of
improvisations are often done by folk singer be he a Bhawra, Bhawaria,
Bahuwa, Ojapali, or the Dhulia. According to P. Goswami, “ballads of this
facetious type are not few in number, but they have no large circulation and
are not popular in the best tradition. They don’t have an essential element of
the ballad, the story. They may be composed about the opium-eater, the
harmful effects of tea, a circus party which visits the locality, the girl who is
not expert in spinning and weaving, and such subjects.” '12 Again there are
some other themes as well, on which these ballads are raised. These include
corrupt and selfish behaviour of the politicians such as the Minister, Member
of the Legislative Assembly, the bureaucrats such as the Maujadar, or the
village officials such as CJaon Burba. The village buffoon generally
composes the satirical ballads. In Kamrup the buffoon is known as Bhawra
or impersonator. In upper Assam the term Bahuwa is used for this character.
In these ballads the things or incidents which are socially unpleasant and the
acts of the ruling class arc satirized morbidly. The ballads of this type have
an aim to reform the particular class of people, which is the object of the
satire.
42. Ibid, Pp. 56-57
 112

Even day to day events that touch the community such as “the murderer
husband, the bad days, when people don’t get vegetables, fish and meat
...”43 are also very well taken subjects of these ballads. The following are
some of the examples of satirical ballads.

1) “Bhuikapar Git”: This ballad is the attribution to Ningna

Bhaura. “It describes certain incidents in the earthquake of
1897 which caused heavy damage to the district of Kamrup,
the Khasi and Jayantia hills and Goalpara.” 44 Moreover,
“the ballad draws a satirical picture of the confusion created
by the earthquake.” 43 The people rush out of their homes to
save their lives. The earth opens up in cracks and water and
j sand pours out. Domestic animals float in water. Even the
cooking pans start floating. The earth swallows things like
the spinning wheel and the gin. Confusion and destruction in
every direction:

/ was putting up fo r the night in the shrine o f syamraj

Unripe jackfruit / wav cutting up and swallowing.

“The description ends in an anticlimax.” 46

43.Ibid, p.57. !
44. Ibid, p.57. !
, |
45.Ibid, p.57. , j
46.1bid, Pp.57-5a
 113

2) “Bhaurar Ghar”: Again this ballad is the attribution to Ningna

Bhaura, The baffoon gives a record of his material wealth:

On foreside o f the quadrangle are four iron-roofed houses,

But if it rains / have to seek shelter at someone else’s
I keep seven servants I have seven ploughs
But debaters look me up before I wake upfrom my sleep...
1 roam about talking and people pay me respects,
Only those of my own village pay no heed to what l say.

He talks big but has to beg from door to door. The description
seems to throw some light on the roaming life led by the minstrels.”47

3) “Maluar Git” : Malua is a popular name for monkey and the

song is recited by the drummers when they make a puppet
monkey dance:

U-u-u she cries

Ah, my Malua
Leaping from tree to tree.
\ I

4) "Naharar Juna”: Here the young and inept Nahar finds that he has
nothing to eat at home. He tells his old mother that he will go out for

47. Ibid, pi57.

 1 1 4

tr a d in g . H e s e ts o u t w ith a lo a d o f s ix s c o re fo w ls . “ T h e w a te r o f th e

r iv e r D ik h o w is u p to th e b r in k a n d th e fe rry m a n w ill n o t ta k e h im

a c ro s s . S o it is f o u n d th a t th e tr a d e rs a re a t th e f a ir th e m o th e r s

d a r lin g is n o t th e re . In s te a d o f lo a d o f s a lt N a h a r b r in g s b a c k a lo a d o f

c la y . T h a t w o u ld a t le a s t e n a b le o n e to s m e a r-c le a n th e f lo o r ...” 48

5 ) “ J a ta r a r G it” : T h e b a lla d d e s c r ib e s th e a tte m p ts o f a w o m a n to

s p in a n d w e a v e . T h e y o u n g w ife p u rc h a s e s s o m e c o tto n a n d

a f te r g in n in g a n d b le a c h in g it s h e b e g in s s p in n in g :

A s e e r o f th e c o tto n s h e s p i n e s r e - le u - te u ,

A s e e r s h e s p i n s in to y a r n a s la r g e a s

T h e f i b r e o f th e b a n a n a ,

A s e e r s h e s p in s in th e m id d le o f th e n ig h t,

W ith th a t is t i e d th e tu s k e r e le p h a n t

A s e e r s h e s p in s in to y a r n th e f i n e s t o f a ll.

W ith th a t i s t i e d th e b u llo c k

S h e p u t s th e y a r n u p o n th e s h e lf ... 49

S o m e o f th e o th e r w e ll k n o w n S a tiric a l b a lla d s a re a s fo llo w s :

i
1

48. Ibid, P58

49. Ibid, p.59
 115

6) OkanirJam
7) Chah Puran
8) Puranar Git
9) Paehala Puran.50

Magical or supernatural ballads:

In the supernatural ballads, the supernatural, unreal, the magical and

wonderful incidents get the prominence or the pivotal role. For some
scholars of folklore the mysterious happenings are the important part for
supernatural ballads. In this type an ordinary man’s magical experiences
j

with unreal powers and the tactfulness with which he solves things
magically have been depicted nicely. From that point of view these ballads
can be called the Romance. Sometimes in these ballads the sub-hero or the
heroine seems to be present who take the main part o f the action. Again, a
magical world has been reflected here where the ancient people gave
importance in the Pan-animism. Further, here different animals, the power of
nature and things are to be turned into human being. 5,According to P.
Goswami, “there are three ballads of this class besides a fragment, all
comparatively long. The first two: Manikowarar git and Phulkowarar git are
closely related, for the hero in the second is the son of the hero in the first.”

5 0 . N. C. Sarma, Lokasanskriti, p.40.

51 .P.Goswami, Op-cit, p.34-35
52. Ibid, P.33
 116

“Manikowarar git”: The ballads Phulkuwar and Manikowar appear to be

two parts of the same story of a father and son Sankhadev and Sankardev,
king of Baskala, and his principal queen Mayavati, who was blessed with a
son Manikowar. After the birth of the child the astrologer assured him only
sixteen years. The Phukan’s daughter Kanchanmati got married to
Monikowar at his early age. At the age of sixteen, one Saturday Manikonwar
went to a secret underground tunnel into the Dikhau River to take a bath.
Jalkowar took him away. The widowed Kanchanmati gave birth to a male ‘
child whose name was kept Phulkowar. e.g. “The shooting star in the sky”:
The following is the ballad which expresses the happenings when
Manikowar went to a secret underground tunnel into the Dikhau.

The ten directions are lighted up,

He has come for twelve years,
But would stay sixteen years
Then the Water goddess would carry him off.
Brings shoots o f the athiya banana,
Put a pair o f betel leaves (there)
Consult your relatives and the bhakats,
Only then do you keep the name Manidhar'

Manidhar or Manikowar (Prince Mani) grew up in to a sport-

loving lad. He used to ride about witnessing the sport of falconry.

53 P. Goswami, Op-cit, P .34

 117

Baramahi Git

The Baramahi git (songs of twelve monthed) has taken an important role in
ballads of Assam. In other states other than Assam, they are known as
Baramasi or Baramasa songs. In some other states of India we find
sowmash (quarterly) and saymash (half yearly) songs as well. In the ballads
of this type the twelve months of the year have been described. Here the
description is about how the nature changes itself in each month. In A
Handbook o f Folk Materials o f North East India , have given an illusive
description of Baramahi Git as follows:

“Baramahi is a class of songs that depict the state of the mind from
month to month, usually of a young wife, while her husband is away on
business: a few (e.g. Ram-Baramahi) also speak of a sentiment of the
separated male. Most of them could be classified, as songs o f love -love
between husband and wife - expressed against the background of nature in
the different seasons. While some are small pieces simply describing the
lovelorn wife’s plight in successive months, quite a number have a strong
element in them, mostly concerning the return of the husband after a long
sojourn, the test of the fidelity of the wife, and their eventual happy reunion.
Such baramahis naturally approach the ballad. There arc few in which the
themes are deviations from this common pattern e.g., growing up of a child,
bride up to her jeoming of age, a young man’s infatuation with a married
i
woman etc. Assamese baramahis have echoes in those found in Barak
Valley.” 54
54.Birendranath Datta, N.C.Sarma, Prabin Das (Eds.), A Handbook o f Folklore Material
1 s

o f North East India ip.71. also P. Goswami, Bara Mahar Tera G it , / ’p.72-73.
 118

Baramahi songs often have a special kind of musical mode. It

speaks of lovelorn women whose husbands are away for a long time trading
in far off places. There are several of them prevalent in lower Assam, such
as Radha baramahi, kanya baramahi, santi baramahi, and sita baramahi.
There are other baramahi git named as Sita and Ram baramahi. This two gits
reproduce the Ramayana story in nutshell. Each song speaks of a woman
who gives vent to her sorrows for prolonged separation from her husband.
There are many couplets and each couplet speaks of a different month and
different mood o f the woman the mood changes at the change of nature. In
the Sita baramahi, forlorn Sita in her banishment wails in the following
manner:

kande mor janaki sita 1

baihagar mahare bapu ashokar tale
' moi nan nidra gailo bharatar shitane
jethare mahate bapu rabane nei haria
indre dile rnuktar mala brahmak lagai

aharar mahate bapu paki pare aam

situ bela thako mai risir ashram... 55

The following is the beula barmahi that starts from the month of
bahag. The Oja and Pali in “Mare Gan” sing this song.
i"
I

55. P.Goswami, Bara Mahar tera Git, p. 73

 119

Beula baramahi

bashagar mahate provu sile barahile

seina pamir gune rtarta phul phule

'ethar mahate rade kare hura hurt

1yargharto vangaile se bina

altar mahate pravu aakase kare asha

>

barter dhaalia soka sio bandhe basha

Normally, Assamese Baramahi gits begin from the month of

Aghon month though there is not any particular rule when it should he
started. There are two classes o f the Baramahi-git. One is the description of
1 i

sorrows due to forlorn love from the very beginning to the end. The other is,
in the first eleven months there is the description o f the sorrows due to the
separation o f the lover and the beloved and in the last month is devoted to
the union between the two.

b) Prose narrative:

Prose narrative is a term for the wide spread and important category o f
verbal art which includes myths, legends and folktales. These three are
related to each other in that way that they are narratives in prose. This fact
distinguishes them from proverbs, riddles, ballads, poems, tongue twisters
and other forms' o f verbal art. Prose narrative is clearly less equivocal for the
broad category jthan folktale. Folktale has often been used by folklorists to
, I
mean Marchen. The English term “ folktale” is equal to the German term
 120

Mdrchen. Many American folklorists employ the term Marchen in English

because they use folktale to include all of these three subtypes— myths,
legends and folktales. But W.R Bascom thinks this is unnecessary as prose
narratives better serves this purpose. He suggests that when the term prose
• i

narrative proves clumsy or inept, tale will be used as a synonym.

Boggs uses prose narrative to include myth, legend and tale in his article on
folklore classification (cf. Boggs, 1949).56

According to Stith Thompson, “ although the term ‘folktale’ is

often used in English to refer the ‘household tale’ or ‘fairy tale’ such as
‘Cinderella’ or ‘snow white’ it is also legitimately employed in a much
)

broader sense to include all forms of prose narrative, written or oral which
■ t

have come to be handed down through the years.” 57

Thompson says that the oral art of tale telling is far older than
history. It is not bounded by one continent or one civilization. Stories may
differ in subject from place to place. But the conditions and purposes of tale
telling may change as we move from land to land or from country to
country. It seems that everywhere the tale telling process administers to the
same basic social and individual needs. They are told for entertainment to
fill in hours of leisure. Modern urban civilization has found that the telling
of stories is one of the most satisfying processes. Curiosity about the past
has always brought eager listeners to tales who can tell the old history of his
folk.

56. W.R. Bascom , Contributions to Folkloristics, p.96

57. Stith Thompson , The Folktale ,P. 4
 12!

Religion has also played a mighty role in encouraging the narrative art.
For religious mind has tried to understand the beginnings and for ages has
told stories of ancient days and sacred beings —that might be acknowledged
as legends. In fact the whole cosmologies have unfolded themselves in these
legends and hierarchies of gods and heroes. Thus Thompson has found the
hero tale, the explanatory legend, and the animal anecdotes everywhere in
this world.

Prose fiction preserved its life primarily orally. According to

Dorson, “The folktale embodies the highly polished artistic story genres
which have a relatively consistent, furnished form. Their origin, goals and
themes are diverse. Like novels and short stories, their sophisticated
counterparts, folktales are told primarily for entertainment although they
may have secondary purposes. The tale whether composed of one or many
eg

episodes is always a well proportioned whole.”

In Assemese the oral tale is called Sadhu Katha - the word
derived from Sanskrit sadhu, which means a traveling merchant and katha
having the meaning tale. Therefore, the sadhu katha is a tale told by a
merchant who wanders all over the world. The tale is told only for
amusement. In English the true oral tale is called the nursery tale or fairy
tale. Considering that the German use of Marchen in place of English
Folktale, Stith Thompson has given a definition for Mdrchetv. “A Marchen is
a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves
in an unreal world without definite locality or definite characters and is filled
with the marvelous.” 59
58. Richard M. Dorson ed Folklore and Folk life. An Introduction, p.9
59,Slith Thompson, Op-cit ,p.4
 122

The Assamese people are a composite heterogeneous

community entity with a good deal of the Mongoloid features. The
Assamese culture shows different cultural layers like Mongoloid, Austric,
Dravidian and Indo-Aryan. We find that the tales remind us of the
affiliations of this different culture of our land. For example, even the tribals
have absorbed puranic tales; in fact they seem to have modified them to suit
the local cultural conditions. Again the tales of Jatakas and Panchatantra
have become naturalized among the Assamese with modification. There are
Assamese tales, which show a close relationship with tales recorded by
Verrier Elwin in Gond tribal areas. The trickster tales of the land seem to be
a Mongoloid contribution to Assam’s folk literature.

But we cannot acknowledge that the tales are the traditional

fictional stories told by old men and women to children. It relates to heroic
incidents, the supernatural, the rogue, beasts etc. Anybody who can go
through these tales can find the characters and their actions, but also
simplicity and broad contrasts, not realism but also an imagination that can
translate even historical figures into supernatural beings and bridge the
animate and inanimate with human consciousness. The method of story
telling is closely connected with the dance and specially the song. How
songs string together incidents in a tale may be seen best in the Bengali
folktales collected by D. R. Mitra Mazumdar in Thakur MarJuli. The tale of
“Kamala Kuwari” is an Assamese example of the same type.

i . 1
Some of the Assamese tales explain rituals and related to gods
and spirits. These are usually called myths. In the villages of Assam popular
Hinduism flourishes in which the belief in large number of spirits emerges.
 123

These dwell in fields, forests, lakes, and large trees. The tribal gods and
goddess like Burha-Gosain and Burhi Gosain worshipped by the Kacharies
have also been drawn to the Assamese Hindu villages. This way tales of the
nature came in vogue, which are supposed to be true.

Animals have played an extra ordinary role in Assamese

folktales. We find the animal tales all over India and other countries too. The
fox figure takes prominence in such tales. Like man the animal does things,
thinks about different matters, and takes decisions and above all one animal
cheats other and even man too.

When animal tale is told with an acknowledged moral purpose

it becomes a fable. The best known is the great literary collections, A sp’s
Tales and the Panchatantra. They usually attach to an actual maxim but the
moral purpose is the essential quality, which distinguishes the fable from
other animal tales.

The Cinderella types or the stepmother tales are a group of

stories where the theme o f stepmother’s treatment towards her stepdaughter
or stepson gets prominence in the narrative. The most well known tale of
this type in Assamese is Tezimala. The European Cinderella tale has a close
parallel in Teja and Teji or (Tula and Teja). But Tezimala is unique in its
beauty and popularity.

Bascom again asserts that folktales are prose narratives, which

are regarded as fiction. They are not considered as dogma or history, they
may or may not have happened, and they are not taken to be seriously__it
 124

is often said that they are told only for amusement, they have other
important functions, as the class of moral folktales should have suggested.

Prose narrative: classification

Dr. P. Goswami in his book Ballads and Tales o f Assam has classified oral
narratives in this following manner:
A. Tales and tradition
B. Songs
1. Narrative ballads
2. Lyric: m ostly love songs

3. Work songs
4. Play songs
5. Children songs etc.
C. Riddles
D. Proverbs
E. Sayings
F. Charms.60

Again prose narratives have been divided into the following heads:

/) Legend tradition: sage, purpose - to tell the truth.

A. Place legends: “Lady Godiva at Coventry”
B. Legends about persons: “King Alfred and Cakes”
C. Etiological Tales: Nature legends, tales of causes.
“How the Bear Lost His Tail” - he fished through
60. P Goswami, Ballads and Tales o f Assam, p.3
 125

the ice and his tail froze off. The importance of

this type is exaggerated, for the explanation is not
the main reason for a tale. The plot is the chief
thing.

D. Tales of fairies, giants, dwarfs, troll, witches etc. tales that

represent real beliefs. “So and so saw on a certain
occasion the person who tells he sees them as actual
history not fiction.”
E. Legends of events: Hoods
F. Marchen: purpose to tell a fictional tale.
G. Animal tale -Tar baby
H. Supernatural -Cinderella
I. Jokes
J. Trickster Tale.

Linda Degh has added to this aforesaid classification and made it much more
scientific:

A. Complex ta le :

1) The Marchen or magic tales (Type 300-749):

Marchen is a German word for what normally in English is translated

as magic tale, wonder tale or the fairy tale and the hero tale. This tale
kind of narrative tale is a very important phenomenon in folklore
 126

studies and as such has received plenty of attention from folklore

scholars.

The themes of Marchen center around man’s fascination with

supernatural adventure stories and the quest for conquering the world
of the unfamiliar. They tell about ordinary human beings encounters
in the superhuman world and his becoming endowed with qualities
that enable him to perform supernatural acts.

2) The religious tales (Types 750-849):

It deals with Christian virtues and has a close relationship with

Christian legends. It is personal and divided between vicious and
virtuous human being and supernatural characters.

3) The romantic tale or novella (Types 850-999):

In romantic tales the themes are more adventurous, pathetic and

sentimental than wondrous narrative. Here more emphasis on human

qualities like cleverness, wit, wisdom, trickery, endurance and
patience than on heroism. The patterns are: the Princess’ hand is won
-the heroine marries the prince- fidelity and innocence—the shrewish
wife reformed - the good precepts - clever acts and words - tales of
tale - robbers and murderers.
 127

B. Simple tales:

1) Animal tales (Types 1-299 ):

The wild animals, wild and domestic animals, men and wild animals
birds fish and other animals and objects: All these put together create
narratives with definite massages.

2) Jokes and anecdotes (Types 1200-1999):

This large group of humorous narratives is colled “Jests and

anecdotes” by Thompson. These three terms jokes, Jests and
anecdotes are used more or less interchangeable, replacing the original
German and Finnish term Schwank.

The joke defined by philosopher Kunofisher as a “playful

judgment” is always short built on a double meaning of words and
therefoire not open and obvious to every one.
, !

3) Numskull stories (Types 1200-1349):

The group of tales that mocks the stupid acts of an individual

numskull of the whole community he comes from. This technique
brings the numskull stories close to the anecdote. They are brief, often
reduced to a simile or a proverbial saying. They are variable and tend
to cluster around localities presumably settled by silly people.
 128

4) The tales of lying (Types 1875-1999):

Closer to formula tales, the hunting stories, the adventurous of

soldiers, travellers and fisherman and other sportsman, these kind of
tales are some kind o f tall tales and mainly present an exaggerated
view of things.

58) Formula tales (Types 2000-2399):

This group of tales includes playful, witty game like forms with brief
narrative core. The single motif can be used for the introduction and
the conclusion o f a complex tale, for children’s entertainment or for
humorous trick of refusal to tell a tale. As with certain lying tales, the
narrator of the formula tales does not demand attention to and concern
for the context but rather expects emotional response to the stylistic
devices he employs.

0, 4 ) The catch tale (Types 2200-2249):

This tale is a traditional child teaser that forces the listeners to

interject !a question that is rebuffed by an obvious or a ridiculous
answer. Other kinds of formula tales include the endless. Endless tales
(AT 2300) in which an introductory action of a prospective complex
tale is repeated until the audience gets tired of it and realizes the trick,
and the clock tale (AT 2320) a form of endless tale that always returns
clockwise to the point of departure.
 129

«^§) Cumulative tale or Kitten Marchen

It has definite narrative core that must be repeated exactly. The action
may be launched at a wedding through the death of an animal by
eating of the object. Types “Death of the little hen,” “The old woman
and her pig (AT 2030), “The house that Jack built (AT 2035 6 .6 .) 61
Again W. R. Bascom has divided prose narratives into the
following sub genres. They are myth, legend and folktales. According to him
myths are prose narratives, which in the society in which they are told, are
considered to be truthful accounts of what had happened in the remote past.
They are accepted in faith; they are thought to be believed, and they eon be
cited as authority in answer to ignorance, doubt, or disbelief. Myths are the
embodiment of dogma; they are usually sacred, and they are often associated
with theology and ritual. Their main characters are not usually human beings
but they often have human attributes; they are animals, deities or culture
heroes, whose actions are set in an earlier world when the earth was different
from what it is today, or in another world such as the sky or under world.
Myths account for the origin of the world, of mankind o f death or for
characteristics of birds, animals, geographical features and the phenomena of
nature. They may recount the activities of the deities, their love affairs their
family relationships, their friendships and enmities, their victories and
defeats. They may, purport to explain details of ceremonial paraphernalia or
ritual, or why taboos must be observed but such etiological elements are not
confined to myths.

6 1 . L i n d a D e g h , “ F o l k N a r r a t i v e ” in Folklore and Folklife : A n In t r o d u c t io n , e d . R ic h a r d M .

D o r s o n , T h e U n iv e r s it y o f C h ic a g o a n d L o n d o n , 197 2 ,P p .5 3 -8 0
 130

The next subtype of prose narrative is the legends. According

to Bascom legends are prose narratives, which like myths are regarded as
true by the narrator and his audience, but they are set in a period
considered less remote, when the world was much as it is today. Legends
are more often secular than sacred and their principal characters are
human. They tell of migrations, wars and victories, deeds of past heroes,
chiefs and kings, and succession in ruling dynasties. In this they are often
the counterparts in verbal tradition of written history, but they also include
local tales of buried treasure, ghosts, fairies and saints.

Again the third subtype is for the folktale. Folktales are

prose narratives, which are regarded as fiction. They are not considered as
dogma or history, they may or may not have happened and they are not to
be taken seriously. Normally though they are told only for amusement yet
they have other important functions. Folktales may be set in anytime and
any place and in this sense they are.almost timeless and placeless. They
have been called “nursery tales” but in many societies they are not
restricted to children. They have also been known as “ fairy tales.” But W.
R. Bascom has refused it as the narratives about fairies because such
narratives are usually regarded as true and because fairies don’t appear in
most folktales. Fairies, ogres, and even deities may appear, but folktales
usually recount the adventures of animal or human characters.

A variety of subtypes of folktales can be distinguished including

human tales, animal tales, trickster tales, dilemma tales, formulistic tales and
moral tales or fables. It is far more meaningful to group all these fictional
 131

narratives under a single heading, the folktale than to list them side by side
with myths and legends.

These distinctions between myths, legends and folktales may be

summarized in the following table.

Three forms of prose Narratives

Form Belief Time Place Aiiiiude Principal

characters
Myth Fact Remote past Different Sacred Non-
world: human
other or
earlier
Legend Fact Recent past World o f Secular 1luman
today or
sacred
Folktale Fiction Any time Any Secular Human or
place non­
human

Myth, legend and folktale are not the only major categories of
prose narratives, under which all other kinds of prose narratives must be
classified as subtypes. Reminiscences or anecdotes, humorous or otherwise
jokes and jests may constitute the fourth and fifth such categories.
Reminiscence or anecdotes concern human characters that are known to the
narrator or his audience, but apparently they may be retold frequently
enough to acquire the style of verbal art and some may be retold after the
 132

characters are no longer known at first hand. They are accepted as truth, and
can be considered as a subtype of the legend or a proto-legend. The
Kimbundu and the Marshallese distinguish anecdotes from the legends, as
well as we shall see but the Hawaiians do not. Anecdotes are not well
represented in any of the studies reviewed here. In contrast, jokes or jests do
not call for belief on part of the narrator or his audience, and in this resemble
folktales. It may be possible to distinguish jokes from folktales and other
prose narratives on formal grounds. Both jokes and anecdotes require more
attention by folklorists than they have received and yet they have got proper
attention as Dorson has made them the subtypes of the folktales and the
legend.

In some societies the conventional opening of formula, which

introduces a folktale, gives warning to the listener that the narrative, which
follows, is fiction. It doesn’t call for belief and the notice may be repeated in
a closing formula. These nominees serve as a frame to enclose folktales.

Provisionally one can establish a series of steps to be followed

in differentiating myth, legend and folktales ag outlined in the following
table.

1 Formal Features Prose Narratives

2 Conventional None Usually
opening
3 Told after No Rcstrictions/Restrictions Usually
dark
4 Belief Fact Fiction
5 Setting Sometime and some place Timeless
Placeless
5a Time Remote past | Recent past Any time
 133

5b Place Earlier or other World as it is Any place

world today
6 Attitude Sacred Sacred or Secular
secular
7 Principal Non-human Human Human or non­
Character human
Form of Myth Legend Folktale
Prose
Narrative

In these definitions the distinction between fact and fiction

refers only to the beliefs of those who tell and hear these tales and not to our
beliefs, to historical or scientific fact, or to any ultimate judgment of truth or
falsehood. This is a subjective judgment based on the opinions o f informants
rather than the distinction between sacred and secular and in practice it may
be even easier to establish. Besides the nominees and taboos mentioned
above, some languages have separate terms, which distinguish fictional from
factual prose narratives. Unfortunately these terms have not been reported as
often as could be desired.

These above mentioned distinctions are important for

understanding the nature of prose narratives and their role in human life.
Myths, legends and folktales differ in their settings in time and place, in their
principal characters and more importantly in the beliefs and attitudes
associated with them. In addition they often appear in different social
settings being told at different times of day or year and under quite different
circumstances. They may be told for different purposes and have distinctive
functions. They may differ in the degree of creative freedom allowed the
narrator, in their rates of change and in the ease with which they spread by
diffusion. They may also be distinguished by the presence or absence of
 134

conventional opening and closing formulas, stylistic differences, the manner

of delivery, the identity of the narrator and the composition of his audience,
the degree and nature of audience participation, and the factor of private
ownership.

In case of telling tales there are some restrictions too. Some

tales are told in the morning, some are told in the afternoon and some in the
evening. And there are some, other which, can be told at night only. Some
tales cannot be told at night. It can be told at daytime. Likewise, some tales
can be told in summer season and some in the winter. The following notice
will indicate the dissimilarity in case of different tales like myth, legend and
folktales.

The classification of folktales

Dealing with the subject matter of a tale we can classify the folktales in the
following sub-genres:

1) Animal tale,
2) Magical or wondrous or romantic or supernatural tale,
3) Etiological or explanatory tale,
4) Jokes and humorous tale,
5) Trickster tale,
6) Cumulative tale or chain or formula tale,
7) Dilemma tale,
8) Cante fable,
 135

9) Endless tale,
10) Religious tale.62

Animal tales

Animal tales have a noteworthy place in the genre of folktales. In the famous
animal tale animals seems to act like humans. All cultural categories the
humans have devised are imposed on animal characters so that the symbolic
messages humans want to communicate are communicated through this
medium. In that sense then animal tale is a symbolic mask to communicate
that, which, may not be communicable otherwise.

In the Assamese tale tradition, there are many interesting tales,

which are based on the trickery of the animals. Here the animals play the
main role and two animals try to beat one another with wile and bluff. Thus
“animal tales are designed usually to show cleverness of one animal and the
stupidity of another, and their interest usually lies in the honour or observed
predicaments the animal’s stupidity leads him into” ‘

Animals play a large role in all popular tales. They appear in

myths, especially in the myths of the primitive people where the cultural
hero often has animal form, though he may be conceived of as acting and
thinking like a man or even on occasions, of having human shape. As
mentioned above, this tendency of ascribing human qualities to animals also

62. N. C. Sarma, Lokasamkriti , Pp. 57-58.

63. P. Goswami, Ballads and Tales o f Assam ,p. 85.
 136

appears when the tale is clearly not in the mythical cycle. It is such non-
mythological stories, that we designate by the simple term “animal tales.”
They are designed usually to show cleverness of one animal and the
stupidity of another, and their interest usually lies in the humour or the
absurd predicaments the animal’s stupidity leads him into. The American
Indian series of the coyote and the popular European cycle of the fox and the
wolf, best known in America as the tales of Uncle Remus, are outstanding
examples of this form.” 64

Rightly docs observe: I\ Goswami,

all over India we fin d animal tales in which one animal tries to outwit
another. The fo x figures prominently in such tales, fo r instance, in the
Assamese “The Fox and the Monkey," fox plays the hero-role and in a
Kachari tale the fox's place is occupied by a hare. 65

Yet in some animal tales it has been observed that many human
characters play their roles very effectively alongside the animal characters
and more often than not sharing the major concerns of the tale or tales.
These characters speak and act like human beings to such an extent that the
narrator cannot distinctly identify the role-boundaries between man and the
beast.

64. Stith Thompson, The Folklale, London, p.9

65. P. Goswami, Folk Literature o f Assam, P 7
 137

In all Assamese tales it is seen that the fox takes the pivotal role
and outwits jother animal characters. It is depicted as a cunning and
resourceful type character while the tiger appears to be dull though it can
outwit others in matters of strength and speed. The point is that such tales
seem to emphasize that one does not always win by virtue of physical
strength; it may be that the wit may be more important than the strength.
This becomes the message of tales of this nature. However, among the “wild
animals the tiger plays an important role ”66in the tales in Assam.
The animal tale is not very long in size and form. The tales
mainly deal with different adventures of the hero-animal. The animals play
role in the tale just like human beings do. These talcs are very simple, so are
the characters also. One character, mainly the chief character wants to assist
others but consequently it wants to help the human being on its own. The
chief tales relating to fox are mentioned below.

a) Siyal tamuli or officer fox

b) The fox and the prince
c) The fox and monkey
d) The fox and the elephant

Again there are some other tales, which mainly deal with the
tiger as the chief character of the tales. These are:
1. The tiger and the crab
2. The long legged one
3. The tiger’s marriage

66. Ibid, p.7

 138

4. The tiger in the trap

5. The tale of the cakes
6. The tiger and the Billy goat
7. The cat and the tiger

In other animal tales the frog too is a popular character.

Singara fish, and the cat besides many smaller animals and insects are also
located nicely in character roles in Assamese animal tales.

Supernatural tales:

The tales of this sort are the extraordinary ones. These deal with the
adventurous work of human beings who are the chief characters of these
tales. Here the normal human being fights with the superhuman characters
engages in struggles with them and finally overpowers them and wins. The
hero’s life begins with various obstacles on his way but the hero successfully
overcomes them.
According to P. Goswami, “in tales of this sort the reins are
thrown on the neck of the imagination, and heroes and heroines with
marvelous ski 11s£ihid'achievements, supernatural adversaries, magical means,
often with a complex! plot, are their features. They are wholly fictional.”66*
Again Thompson, notes that “the clear-cut distinction made by the Irish
between legends supposed to be true and purely fictional tales, would be
very rare for example in India.” 67

66*. P. Goswami, Op-cit, p .93

67. Ibid, p-94 .. ............
 139

In this type of tale the hero or heroine’s character seems to be

peculiar. He or she just thirsts for happiness and achieving that objective
leads one into lots of trouble. He or she is either suspended, tortured, or
murdered barbarously but gets the subsequent life. That is why this kind of
tale is called the wonder tale. Thus the hero or the heroine turns into more
powerful character and becomes a man or a woman with colourful life. He
or she begins his / her life from nothing and gains a lot of wealth later, and
subsequently marries a nice and beautiful partner.

According to some scholars the magical tales are the reflection

of imagination o f earthly life. Again for some other people, through these
tales their unconscious desire is expressed. Moreover they express their
antisocial feelings (against the injustice of society) and the exploitation they
suffer at the hands of the powerful. These tales are very much valuable in
tracing the real history of the human societies. On the other hand, in these
tales a trial has been shaped up to bring in animals, power of nature and
earthly things to a civil humanitarian shape.

Among the Assamese magical tales the following are

noteworthy:

1.Tejimala,
2. Champavati,
3. Panesai,
4. The kite’s daughter,
5. The demon Astrologer,
6. The tale of Phulkonwar,
 140

7. The tale of Kamalakuwari,

8. The tale of Monikowar,
i
9. The king of Sowanpahi,
10. A tale of two princes,
11. Teja andTeji.

Etiological tale and explanatory tale (Type 2000-2399):

t

It is very close to the local tradition “other terms for it are etiological, Nature
Sage, parquet story.” 68 These kind of tales mainly deal with the origin of
!

different things, origin o f the earth etc., things like Mango-tree, betel nut,
i

betel nut leaf, crushed rice and other things that are related to some religious
purposes or puja also the themes of the etiological tale. Again explanation of
natural business, the origin of hills and mountains, the birth of rivers, pond-
lakes etc., birth of different birds like Hudu, Owl, Crane, Jam Dakini, flowers
like Keteki, Kopou etc, belong to this category. Why it happened? How it
happened? - ail the answers o f such questions are concealed in the etiological
Tale. According to Stith Thompson “the local legend often explains the
existence of some hill or cliff or tells why a certain river menders over the
landscape. There are similar stories explaining the origins and characteristics
of various animats and plants, the stars and mankind and his institutions.
Frequently this explanation seems to be the entire reason for the existence of
the story, but more often than is usually recognized these explanations are
merely added to a; story to give an interesting ending. Such explanations may
indeed be attached to almost any narrative form, such as Marchen or the hero
tale.” 69
68. Stith Thompson, Op-cit, p. 21
69. Ibid \
 141

Jokes or humorous tales:

Stith Thompson observes, “short anecdotes told for humorous purposes are
found everywhere. They are variously referred to as jest, humorous
anecdote, merry tale and (German) Schwank. Among some they are usually
animal tales, but even where this is true the action is essentially that
characteristic of men. Important themes producing these popular jests are the
absurd acts of foolish persons (the numskull tale), deception of all kinds, and
obscene situations. There is a tendency for jest to form cycles, since
humorous adventures become attached to some character that thereafter
attracts into his orbit all kinds of jest, appropriate and inappropriate. The
same hero may be celebrated for his clever ruses, and for his utter stupidity,
and obscene tales may often be told about him. But jests frequently detach
themselves from cycles and may be encountered in most unlikely places.
They are easily remembered and universally liked, so that they travel with
great ease. Some of the funny stories heard today have lived three or four
thousand years and have been carried all over the earth.” 70

P. Goswami has used the word Tetkuti as the alternate term for
joke or humorous tale in his book Tetkuti Kino fisher is the introducer for
the word joke. Jokes are “a playful judgment.” 71 Again P. Goswami
observes some of the Assamese jokes are essentially animal tales. For
example “Officer Fox,” “Teacher Fox,” and “The Tiger’s Marriage,” as
shown at No. 11 above are jokes types.
70. Ibid, p.9 ___
71. Ibid, p, 10
 142

There are different interesting jokes tales in Assamese folklore.

Some of them are given below:

1) Jokes of Gohai Parabhu,

2) Jokes of Brahman Thakur,
3) Jokes of Saikiani and Hazarikani,
4) Jokes of Majumdar,
5) Jokes of Dogs,
6) The Seven Numskull,
7) The Brahman’s servant,
8) The son-in-law,
9) Pharing, the All-knowing,
10) The Astrologer,
11) The fruit of the tree planted by oneself.72

Trickster tales:
In Assamese these tales are called the Teton or the Teton’s tale. Here the
main character or the hero of the tale cheats the other characters. ‘The
interest is in the cleverness of the trickster who goes about his work with
comparative impurity. The trickster may on the occasion be deceived
himself. Further the trickster is frequently an animal. Among North

72. N.C. Sarnia, Lokasanskriti, Pp. 1-5 and P. Goswami, Ballads and Tales o f Assam,
Pp.6-11.
 143

American Indians trickster stories are very popular. The trickster among
these people is frequently the Culture Hero who initiates a custom or gives
the people some item of material culture. The role of the Culture Hero is not
seen in the makeup of the Assamese trickster, whether man or animal”.
Stith Thompson observes, “The adventure of the Trickster, even when
considered by themselves are inconsistent. Part is the result of his stupidity,
and about an equal number shows him overcoming his enemies through
cleverness. Such trickster as Coyote, therefore, may appear in any of three
roles: the beneficent Culture Hero, the clever deceiver, or the numskull. As
we look at these incidents, we find that this mixture of concept is continually
present, so that any series of adventures is likely to be a succession of clever
tricks and foolish mishaps.” 7'1

The Assamese trickster tale mainly centers round the Teton.

Teton may be a human being or a fox. “Teton seems to have a cycle to
himself. Some of the adventures attributed to Teton are also found among
the tribes skirting the Assamese speaking population.” 75 In Freudian
analysis Teton indicates the male genital organ .76

Sometimes Teton is seen to be cheating his own self only when

he goes to cheat others. The tale of “The Blue Coloured Fox” can be
illustrated as an example in this sense. Other trickster Tales have been
shown below:

73. Stith Thompson : Op-ci, p . 10

74. Linda Degh :Folk Narratives in Folklore and Folklife: An Introduction , p.69 .
75- 7 6 . N.C. Sarm a. Op-cit, p.62
 144

1. The Officer Teton,

2. Teton Tamuli,
3. Bamunar Bahuwa,
4. AjalaandTentan,
5. The Trickster,
6. The Fox and the Elephant,
7 . TheFoxahdtheTiger,
8 . The priest and the Tiger.

Cumulative, chain or formula tale (Type 2000-2399):

According to Linda Ddgh, This group includes playful, witty, game like
forms with a brief narrative core. The single m otif can be used fo r the
introduction and the conclusion o f a complex tale, fo r children's
entertainment, or fo r a humorous trick o f refusal to tell a tale. As with
certain thing tales (AT 1875-1886), the narrator o f the formula tales does
not demand attention to and concern fo r the content but rather exempts
emotional response to the stylistic devices he employs.

P. Goswami is of the view that here in this tale type the pattern
is more important than the plot. He further says that the cumulative tales are
told often in the. spirit of pure fun. “It includes playful, witty, game like
forms with a brief narrative core. The single motif can be used for the
introduction and the conclusion of a complex tale, for children’s
entertainment, or for a humorous trick of refusal to tell a tale.” 77

77. P. Goswami ,Op- cii ,Pp. 106-07.

 145

Here in this type one circumstance forcefully make another

circumstance liable to do something (cause and effect situation falls on wit).
This way one after another cause rises to answer the former. Stith Thompson
observes that; “something of a game is also present here, since the
accumulating repetitions must be received exactly, but in the central
situation many of these tales maintain their forms unchanged over long
periods of history and in very diverse environments...”78The cumulative tale
always gradually works up to a long routine containing the entire sequence.

D ilem m a tales:

In Assamese dilemma tales are called Samasyamulak Sadhukatha {dilemma

tale]. Sometimes it is defined as the Scmkatmulak Sadhukatha. [problem
tales]. In this type of the tale there is a story and at the end of the story there
arouses a dilemma with regard to the solution of the problem or the dilemma
generated in the story. In a dilemma tale there arouses a question to which
the solution is required. That is why it is called the riddle tale too. In
Sanskrit there is collection of tales of this kind of tale chain that is known as
Betala Pancabingsati. In Assamese the following two may be considered as
the dilemma tales.
1) “There was a young man in a village who did not have any
near relatives to help him. He married a girl and within a few
days he had to be away due to his own business. 1le kept an old
woman of the village with his wife. On the very day of the
young man’s departure there came a ghost who too wanted to

78. Stith Thompson ,Op-cit, p. 319

 146

sleep withthe girl at night. He took the form of that young man
and began to stay there pretending to be the young man. The
lady did not pay much attention to the ghost and asked him to
stay in a different room. After some days when the actual
husband came back the riddle or the dilemma aroused to select
the actual husband. The villagers brought a big bamboo and
asked both of them to enter into the bamboo. The real husband
could not enter the bamboo [as he was not a ghost]. Thus the
problem was solved.” 79

/j) “A beautiful young girl, her lather, mother and brother selected
three bridegrooms for her. When she appeared at the marriage, at
the time three of them appeared at the place of the bride and three
of them fought for the girl. At last the girl died. Three of them
burnt her and buried. One o f them went away to bring the
medicine to bring her back to life. Another went away with her
asthi [remains] to throw in the river Ganges. And the other waited
near the dead body to keep watch at the burial place. In due course
the girl was brought back to life. Now the dilemma aroused who is
to marry the girl. The bride herself made the problem clear as she
accepted the man who has given her rebirth with medicine as her
father. The second one who threw her asthi in the Ganges as her
son and the third one was she accepted as her husband.” 80

79. N.C. Sarma:,Lokusamskrili,P. 63

80. Ibid

i
 147

Numskull tales (Type 1200 to 1349)

Linda Degh observes that the “Numskull Tales or the Numskull Stories
form a specific narrative group that mocks the stupid acts of a whole
community ”81 This technique brings the Numskull Stories close to the
anecdote. They are brief, often reduced to a simile or a proverbial saying.
They are variable and tend to cluster around localities presumably settled by
silly people. _

Again according to Stith Thompson short anecdotes are told for

humorous purposes and they are found everywhere. They are variously
referred to as jest, humorous, anecdotes, merry tale and German Sachwank.
Among some they are usually animat tales, but even where this is true the
action is essentially that of the characteristic of the men. Important themes
producing these popular jests are the absurd acts of foolish persons (The
Numskulls), deceptions of all kinds, and obscene situations. There is a
tendency for jests to form cycles since humorous adventures become
attached to some character who thereafter attracts into his orbit all kinds of
jests whatever appropriate or inappropriate. The same hero may be
celebrated for his clever rushes and for his utter stupidity. And for his clever
rushes and utter stupidity, obscene tales may often be told about himself.76
The next subtype of prose narrative is the legends. According to
Bascom legends are prose narratives, which, like myths are regarded as true
by the narrator and his audience, but they are set in a period considered less

81. Linda Degh , Op-Cit, P.71

 148

remote, when the world was much as it is today. Legends are more often
secular than sacred and their principal characters are human. They tell of
migrations, wars and victories, deeds of past heroes, chiefs and kings, and
successions in ruling dynasties. In this they are often the counterparts in
verbal tradition o f written history, but they also include local tales of buried
treasure, ghosts, fairies and saints.

Again the third subtype is the folktale. As mentioned above

Folktales are prose narratives, which are regarded as fiction. They are not
considered as dogma or history, they may or may not have happened and
they are not to be taken seriously. Normally though they are told only for
amusement yet they have other important functions. Folktales may be set in
anytime and any place and in this sense they are almost timeless and
placeless. They have been called “nursery tales” but in many societies they
are not restricted to children. They have also been known as “fairy tales.”
But W.R. Bascom has refused it as the narratives about fairies are usually
regarded as true and because fairies do not appear in most folktales. Fairies,
ogres, and even deities may appear, but folktales usually recount the
adventures of animator human characters.

Text, texture and context:

Text, texture and context are the three levels of study of folklore item. If we
want to understand the folklore materials clearly and elaborately, we must
 149

know the text, texture and context of any kind of folklore item. The text of
folklore item is essentially a version or a single telling of a tale, a recitation
of proverbs, a singing of a folksong etc. The text may be considered
independent of its texture. In fact folklore as a discipline will never be
adequately defined unless or until all various genres or forms of folklore are
rigorously described. A folklore item is bound to mislead if only internally
analyzed. For example, the superstition “breaking a mirror is seven years
bad luck” has no effect on the people who do not have faith on any kind of
superstition. They cannot find out any reason to have any kind of
relationship between mirror and luck.

The most important characteristics of folklore is the

transmission which can be transmitted in two external ways i) some folklore
items are transmitted orally from generation to generation ii) and some items
are learnt spontaneously only by watching. For example, the children learn
playing marble only by following the others who plays marble they do not
learn from their parents or great grand parents traditionally. But proverbs
and riddles are transmitted orally. Besides external criteria we must be aware
of other phenomenon, which are form, function and theory - so called a
decisive criteria—which is internal. For example, the rhyme is an aspect,
which is present in both the proverb and riddle. If we do not observe it
internally, we will be in a puzzled position because in both cases rhyme
cannot be the only aspect to distinguish proverb and riddle. We cannot easily
define any kind of folklore item although it is available in every branch of
our life. Thus, to have a proper kind of definition of the folklore materials
three levels of analyses, which are text, texture and context is necessary.
 150

Text as mentioned above is a version of a given item that may

be collected either orally or by written form. Eventually folklore is called a
science of tradition, which acts as a media in which the past events are
transmitted in the form of oral and unwritten texts.

The traditional folklorists previously insisted upon the

authenticity of the text. The prominent folklorist of this period Richard
Dorson states, “a text, in the parlance of the folklorist, represents the basic
source, the pure stream, the inviolable document of oral tradition. It comes
from the lips of a speaker or singer and is set down with word for word
exactness by a collector, using the method of handwritten dictation or
mechanical recording. What the state paper is to the historian and creative
work to the literary scholar the oral traditional text is—or should be—to the
student of folklore.” 82

Again “for contextual folklore studies a text is necessary but

not sufficient documentation, they require proximic, kinesics, paralinguistic,
interactional descriptions all of which might provide clues to the principles
underlying the i communicative processes o f folklore and its performing
attributes.” 83
According to Alan Dundes, texture may be regarded as the most
important method o f analyzing the different genres of folklore material that

82. R ich ard M . D orson : 1964,ed. Buying the Wind:R e g io n a l F o lk lo re in the U n ited

States.C h icago, p . l

83. D an B en A m o s and K en eth G o ld stein : Folklore Performance and Communication:

Introduction, p. 5
 151

are especially verbal in nature. He says, “...texture is the language, specific

phonemes and morphemes employed...” 84 The textural features are
linguistic features in different verbal forms of folklore. For example, the
textural features of “a proverb includes rhyme and alliteration.” 85 There are
other textural features, which include stress, pitch, juncture, tone and
onomatopoeia. If anybody wants to translate a folklore genre one must be
acquainted with textural features of the particular genre. Because the more
important the textural features are the more difficult it is to translate. The
fixed phrase genres are difficult to translate, as their wording and content are
constant. For example, tongue twisters arc dependant upon textural features.
They deviate from one linguistic community to another. On the other hand
folktales which are free phrased forms o f folklore may be changed or vary
when they are migrated in different places by the bearers by diffusion or by
migration. :

As the study of texture in folklore is basically the study of

language, the textural studies have been made by linguists rather than by
folklorists. Moreover, there have been many theoretical and methodological
advances in the area of linguistics and therefore there has been a tendency
among some linguists to try to define folklore genres upon the basis of
textural characteristics alone.

8 4 . A la n D u n d e s :I9 7 8 : Essays in Folkloristics, p.25

8 5. A la n D u n d es : \962:Trends in Content Analysis : A R e v i e w A r t ic le .M id w e s t F o lk lo r e

1 2 , p. 36
 152
r

The aforementioned realization has been termed by Dundes as

the “Linguistic Fallacy” which indicates to reduce the analysis of folklore to
the analysis of language. In case of folklore it is difficult to find out the
textural feature as in some proverbs or rhyme show the textural feature but
things become difficult when it is available in case of riddles too. In this way
certain texture features are in great use in delining folklore genre.

The texture is that which cannot be translated into any other

languages but on the other hand the text can be translated. For example, the
proverb: “Coffee boiled is coffee spoiled” can be translated into any
language. Text may be the subject to structural a n alysis. But folk lorists have
ignored the context, which is the specific social situation till Malinowski
stressed the point.

Malinowski’s concept o f the context of culture and context of

situation has played an important role in the study of folklore. He reacted
against missionary type of dictionary, which provided English equivalents
to oceanic languages. He suggested that outsider could understand these
languages properly only if they consider the context of reality. This cultural
reality, according to him, includes “the material equipments, the activities,
interest, moral and aesthetic values with which words are co-related.” m
Most of the time it seems that the knowledge of cultural reality in general is
insufficient for elucidation of the meaning of texts and the particular context
of situation has to be accounted for. 87
86. Dan Ben Amos and Kenneth S. Goldstein (ed): Folklore: Performance and
Communication: An Introduction 1975 , p. 2
87. Ibid , p. 2
 153

In the early part of 1925, Malinowski in his classic essay Myth

in Primitive Psychology gave stress on the importance of the social and
cultural context o f storytelling. He spoke about kukwanebu (fairy tales) and
wrote, “the text, of course, is extremely important, but without the context it
remains lifeless. As we have seen, the interest of the story is vastly enhanced
and it is given its proper character by the manner in which it is told...88
Malinowski proposed the concept of “context of situation” as
the key for language interpretation and fused the two terms and suggested,
“this concept of cultural reality is strictly analogous to the context of
speech” (i.e. situation).88*He focused in the study of non-written languages,
their magic formulas and their narratives from the reported document back
to their existence as living, dynamic, verbal, social reality. Thus the shifting
focuses from text to context as folklore studies extend to a conceptualization
of folklore in which the communication and performance are key terms.89

The traditional view of folklore that it was the study of text

only was discarded by Malinowski as a result of which the idea of contextual
studies of folklore developed. In his book Coral Garden and their Magic he
nicely elaborated the idea of context. He noticed in the Trobean Island that
the people of this island practiced three kinds of stories like myth, legend
and tale in three different contexts, which in particular helped him to
understand the meaning and importance o f the stories and was attracted by

88. B ro n is la w M a lin w o s k i: 1926 ,Myth in Primitive Psychology, New York, R eprinted in

M a g ic S cien ce and R e lig io n and oth er Essays ( N e w Y o rk , 1948) p. 104.

8 8 *. M a lin w o s k i, Coral Gardens, p. 22

89. Dan B en A m o s , Op-ci, Introduction,P.3

 154

that. Therefore, he explained that both cultural context and performance

context could help to understand and analyze folk literature. In his Coral
Gardens and their Magic he has shown that languages are not doctrines but
these are social phenomenon only. In this respect he has exemplified the
particular context that is he tried to understand the ethnography of speaking
of the missionaries of Pacific Ocean directly translating into English. But his
attempt was quite unsuccessful as he realized that without knowing the
context the language is incomprehensible. He ascertained his idea by saying
that language is related to cultural equipments, customs and belief,
enthusiasm, moral and aesthetic values. Without understanding them the
study of language is meaningless, lie further observes that besides eultuinl
context, performance context like physical movements, situation, performer-
audience etc. are also important phenomenon. By “the particular context of
situation” Malinowski has meant both circumstantial inform ation-
surrounding speaking—“the facial expression, gesture, bodily activities, the
whole group of people during an exchange of utterances and the part of the
environment on which these people are engaged. 90

This is the very important point where we are made aware of

the tremendous break from “the text orientation" to “the context situation"
which is called the “methodological development” in the study of folklore.

In 1935 M alinowski refined his earlier notion o f context and

90. Malinwoski: 1965, ( 'oral Hardens and Their AA/g/V !! I he Language of Magic and
Gardening, Bloomington I irsl published in 19.L5 ,p. 22
 155

discussed about the term the contextual specification of meaning as part of

his ethnographic theory of language. Thereafter he made an important
distinction between the “context of situation and the context of culture.” He
showed clearly how the meaning of words, sentences, narratives and other
genres of speaking were conditioned by “the situation in which the utterance
is being made and the situation to which it refers.” 91

In 1960’s the decade when the prominent folklorists like Dan

Ben Amos, S. Goldstein, Roger D. Abraham, Alan Dundes were greatly
influenced by the book entitled Coral Gardens and Their Magic and
involved themselves in the contextual approach to folklore studies with a
view to developing its objectives. Later they criticized Malinowski on two
grounds: 92

a) He raised the idea of context but did not elaborate it i.e., he did
not mention about the observer and the performer.
b) He did not observe the context from the point of view of
cultural context of a particular ethnic group.

Among them Roger D. Abraham enriched his theory of

contextual situation or circumstances by saying that there are many

91. Malinwoski: 1935 Ibid, London .Pp. 73-75

92. Dan Ben A m os, 1982, Folklore in Context, New Delhi .South Asian Publication
 156

components of context like audience, performer, time, place and other

arrangements rolled into one. According to him the performer should have
following categories of aspects, which should be taken into consideration
during text collection along with contextual studies. These are:

a) Age
b) Sex
c) Caste
d) Social position
His contemporary folklorist Dan Ben Amos developed his
contextual theory by taking the idea from:

a) Functional Anthropology
b) Sociolinguistic viewpoint
c) Ethnographic viewpoint

These three levels are based on contextual data of entire

performance context of social interpretation.
In this respect Dan Ben Amos says that “folklore artistic
communication in small groups” that is "in which people confront each
other face to face and relate to each other directly. ” Other contextualists
proved that performer, audience, occasion or situation all is essential; in
other ways they are equally important Thus folk literature became accepted
as "a social process ”93 According to Ben Amos folklore is a kind of social

93. Richard Bauman,Basic Concept ofAnalytical Perspective , p. 39

 157

interaction - interaction between performer and audience. In this context we

can mention the example of Assamese marriage songs. If any one goes
through the text of Assamese marriage song and he does not know the
context that is the Assamese culture at all, instead of getting the aesthetic
pleasure out of them he/she may be disappointed and may even feel
uninterested in these songs and possibly may begin to hate them.

Before Ben Amos, Alan Dundes in his article “Text, Texture

and Context” included in his book Essays in Folkloristics (1978: pp. 22-37)
and also in Interpreting Folklore (1980) mentions about the tripartite
movement of folklore. He says, “in text, tilings are collected, could be
written down and could be recorded. In texture linguistic quality of text is
investigated and in context situation is observed.” He further mentions that
“a knowledge of context can explain variations in text and texture if on the
other hand context data were not available, the folklorists would possess
alternate punch lines of the text without much possibility of determining the
specific reason for alternation. Context cannot always be guessed.” 94 He
also pointed out “the psychological significance of the correlation of text
variation with the context.”95
Alan Dundes observes that the collection of context is essential
for all genres of folklore. He notices that context is absolutely unavoidable
for proverbs and gestures. Proverbs are of fixed phrase genre of folklore.
These must be recorded in the original native language so that texture would

94. Alan Dundes: 1978, Essays in Folkloristics, p.32

95. Ibid, p. 33
 158

be preserved. And again about context which is as important as texture. In

this connection he has illustrated an example of proverb. “1 am not angry,
but the buffalo’s tail is shorter.” It would absolutely be difficult to
understand this proverb if we do not know the context, only text and texture
are not sufficient to understand the proverb. The meaning of proverb is
concealed in the context of the following narrative:

A farmer goes to the field to plow it. He works from morning to

noon. He is hungry and waiting fo r his wife to bring his lunch.
After a few hours, he cannot wait any longer. He cuts the tail o ff
the buffalo, which has been pulling the plow. He bakes it and eats
it. The wife finally comes with his lunch and asks him whether he
is angry with her. He replies, "/ am not angry, but the buffalo’s
tail is shorter. ” Thus the proverb is the last sentence o f tale. ” 96
r , _ i

In this connection Dundes has expressed that anyone can accept

it easily that what is unsaid is much more important thsn what is said. “In
fact, the text alone is almost meaningless to members of another culture.” 97

Further Dundes observes :

96. Ibid, also Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, “A Parable in Context” In

Performance and Communication. Eds. Dan Ben Am os et al, pp. 105-106.

97. Ibid , p.35
 159

/ would like to propose three levels o f analysis each o f which is

the task o f definition. With respect to any given item o f folklore one
mayanalyze its texture, its text and its context. It is unlikely that a genre o f
folklore could be defined on the basis o f just one o f these. Ideally, a genre
should be defined in terms o f all three.

His followers attributed Malinowski’s theory of communication

and performance, which are the key terms of contextual analysis of folklore,
and the latter highly focused on that term and developed the term
consequently.

Rightly does observe Dell Hymes :

The notion o f performance is central to the study o f folklore as

communication. Indeed it is through the study o f performance that folklore
can integrate its scientific and humanistic aims in a forward-looking way.
On the one hand the notion focuses attention on social interaction and the
kinds ofcommunicative competence that enter into interaction. Here folklore
research joins hands with a number o f interests and approaches in the social
and behavioral sciences. On the other hand, folklore makes a distinctive
contribution to the study o f communication events, by focusing attention on
the stylized content and conduct within them. Here folklore enhances its
concern with the aesthetic and evaluation dimensions o f life... 99
98. Alan Dundes, Essays in Folkloristics, p.35
99. Dan Ben A m os, Op-cil, p.ll
 160

Several folklorists have made important use of the notion of

performance as developed by scholars such as Abrahams, Bauman, Ben
Amos, Dundes, Goldstein, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and Alan
Lomax. 100 The term became prominent in linguistics through the works of
Noam Chomsky.

Says Richard Bauman, “performance is a mode of

communicative behavior and a type of communicative event.” 101 The term
may be aesthetically employed in a neutral sense to designate the actual
conduct o f communication. It also suggests an aesthetically marked and
heightened mode of communication framed in a special way and put on
display for an audience. The very conduct o f performance highlighted the
social, cultural and aesthetic dimension of the communication process.

The folklorists gradually developed the awareness of

performance and it had its culmination through the ideas of Richard Bauman
who declares that in one common usage performance is the actual execution
of an action, modes or other factors that represent the potential for such
actions and an abstraction from it. In the performing arts these distinctions
can be seen in the contrast between composed guidelines or models for
artistic presentation such as plays, scripts or musical scores and the
presentational rendition of those works before an audience.

100. c f .the earlier distinction between active and passive hearers o f tradition .( C.W.

Von Sydow, on the spread o f tradition , in Laurits Bodker ed “ Selected Papers on

FolkloreCopenhagen, 1948 Pp. 11 -18.
101. Richard Bauman: BasicConcept of Analytical Perspective, “ Performance” Pp 39-41.
 161

Previously folklore scholars were interested in the collection of

text but later on the scholars added the idea of context to it. After that the
scholars gave stress on performance, which followed textualization. The
performing art is a development in folklore theory, which not only does
study the text but also points out different degrees of complexities of
folklore. According to some scholars the performance approach is also
termed as ethnography of art.

The performing art and the study of performing art both are not
equal. The study of folklore performance includes oral literature, customs,
material culture etc. In other sense it is a theoretical development, which
stresses on performance, audiences, settings, situation, interaction and
creative text.

Barre Toelken has said about the totality o f performance, which

involves complexities of studying folklore. Folklore event is the totality of
folkloric occurrence. According to him, if totality is the folkloric event,
performance is the activity. For him performance theory is not only the study
of performance but it also takes into account certain complexities of folklore
performance in a given situation. There are various components of folklore
events like storytelling, performers and audience interaction face to face.
Performance is the activity, that is, drama, playing, singing, dancing etc. He
also says that when we observe an event we observe the sequences of events
and the performance activity is a multidimensional activity.
 162

Similarly Dell Hymes notes that folklore performance and

communication is a sociolinguistic activity. Being a noted linguist he first
developed folklore theory from the viewpoint of ethnography of
speaking.Thus the theory of performance and communication is indebted to
Hymes’ “Ethnography of Communication” ,01*theory. He said that when we
study language the understanding of grammar and structure is not enough.
For him social interpretation of language is much more important than these
structural aspects. This social interpretation consists of certain components
and they are:
1.Sender
2. Receiver
3. Topic
4. Channel
5. Message
6. Code
7. Scene or situation

Other dimensions such as addressers and addressees, audience

and performers etc., are also there but these seem included in the Hymes’
above classification. The performer of folklore knows a set of rules, a
system of communication, a grammar in which the relationships between the
attributes of verbal messages and the social cultural reality is in constant
interplay, transforming symbols and metaphors, styles and structures, themes
and forms of situation. 102

101*. Dan Ben Amos .(ed), Op-cit, P. 3

102. Ibid,?. 3
 163

Malinowski says that from the viewpoint of the contextual approach to

folklore the communicative attributes are primary. It makes good sense to
base the meaning of a text upon both the intention of the speaker and the
attitude of the listener. They are interdependent upon their actual
communicative events. 103
The development of performance theory raised another
important function of folklore, which is termed aesthetism in culture.
Bauman points out that this aesthetism constitutes the artfulness of
performance. In this context he has referred to the influential definition of
folklore that highlights interest in aesthetic dimension, which has been pul
forward by Dan Ben Amos.

Says Richard Bauman:

folklore is artistic communication in small groups in which

people confront each other face to face and relate to each other directly.
One line o f analysis now becoming increasingly influential, centers on the
nature and conduct o f performance influenced by the insights o f literary
theory and symbolic Anthropology. Here, the principal interest lies in what
constitutes artfulness in speech and action, not only in the formalized genres
o f verbal art and symbolic enactments o f ritual and festival but also in the
les marked ways o f speaking and acting. Those who explore folklore as

103. Ibid,P.3
 164

performance also study the functional note o f artfulness in the conduct o f

social life... 104

Recently, the linguist William Labov has suggested some

interesting, rather operational distinctions that have arisen from his research
into naturally occurring verbal conduct both linguistic and folkloristic. 105
Labov has found it useful to distinguish that behavior which neither person
in community can interpret and can report; that which they can interpret but
cannot report; and that which they can neither interpret nor report. These
distinctions imply a fourth behavior which persons can report but not
. , .106
interpret.
The three dimensions - the interpretable, the reportable, and the
repeatable can be regarded as an aspect of the abilities of component
members of a culture or community. 107

Dell Hymes states:

4<performance is a cultural behavior fo r which a person

assumes responsibility to an audience, is a quite specific, quite special
category. Performance is not waste basket, but a key to much o f the
difference in the meaning o f life as between communities. ” 108

104. Richard Bauman, Op-cit, p. 39

105. Labov: Paper presented in Columbia University seminar on the use oflanguagc 1967.
106. Dan Ben Amos (Ed.), Op-cit, P.3.
107. Ibid, P.3.
108. Richard Bauman, Op-cit, p 39
 165

“In an oral tradition performance is a mode o f existence and

realization. " 109

In recent years greater emphasis has been placed on

individuality and on creativity of folklore under the influence of the
performance centered approaches. Examination of the performances of
folklore in concrete situation o f use has provided a productive framework. In
this framework there seems a study o f the interplay of tradition and
innovation in actual conduct of social life. Folklore texts are the product of
the complex interplay o f communicative resource, social goals, individual
competence; community ground rules for performance and culturally
defined event and structures. Tradition, the collective, the communal, the
conventional are not fore shaken here.

Thus from the above discussion it is clear that the text and the
texture as well as the context - these three levels have played unavoidable
roles in folklore in general and oral narratives in particular.

In this connection it may be said that to understand any kind of

folklore material clearly and elaborately we must know text, texture and
context of any kind of folklore item - the context being the variation of text
and texture.

i 09. Alan Dundes, o p -c il, "The Text Texture and Context

 166

Hence, if we need to have a systematic study on any folklore

item we must study the text, texture and context of that item. Again in the
case of context, performer, audiences, communication etc. are essential. We
cannot avoid any one of them. Only then we will have a perfect study of
folklore which is a dynamic phenomenon and also very vast area of inquiry
and which certainly demands a multidisciplinary approach for its evaluation.