Formative Facades of Folklore – The Proceedings of two day National on Conference held at Madras University on July 4th and 5th 2019 [2]

Formative Facades of Folklore  – The Proceedings of two day National on Conference held at Madras University on July 4^th and 5^th 2019 [2]

Indian folklore research and lore and dealing with subject varies with ideology

 

Sex education was there in the ancient India: Dr Balakrishna Hegde, in his speech pointed out as to how people from Karnataka eschewing the concept of nationality. Sex education was there during ancient period, as exhibited in the sculptures. He asserted that Lajja-Gauri sculpture has been one of them. Karnataka temples exhibit such sculptures and thus, it is evident that sex education was there already. Refuting the remarks of Sumathi, he pointed out that racially, there was neither Aryan nor Dravidian. There has been a group “Choliga,” in Karnatataka, they say all geology of people they look at and predict also. Thus, the folk people are more knowledgeable.

Dr C. M. K. Reddy, a surgeon, spoke about the existence of surgery in the ancient India, as proven through the literature of Caraka and Sushruta. Thus, he pointed out that India could be a potential place for medical tourism. Particularly, Tamil Nadu has become important attracting 1.2 lakhs foreigners, of which 40% take treatment in Chennai. In the world, 30% specialists have been Indians and Indian origin doctors. The global patients have more confidence in the Indian doctors.

With the vote of thanks by the convener Prabhu Kumari, the morning session was over.

After lunch, the technical session started.

Tourism in India can be increased with potential: The first paper has been about “tourism in India.” There have been 192 countries in the world attracting tourists, but, only, few countries succeed. Switzerland, though, a small country attracts more tourists all over the world. It has only one Alps, but, India has many on the Himalayas. Though, one crore tourists are coming to India, the strength has been getting reduced.

Folk elements depicted and promoted by the Tamil films: The second paper was on the folk concept depicted in Tamil films. Generally, she was describing the films (Karunanidhi’s Parasakti etc.,), without going into the relevance to the “folklore” concept. As the students take the meaning of “country-side” [நாட்டுப்புறம்], they could not bring out the folk-concept or folklore-precept or their facades in the right perspective. While many times, the folk and tribe are used interchangeably, the difficulty to differentiate in Indian context is revealed in their confusion and selective portrayal and sectarian interpretation.

William Thoms – is not known for a paper presenter: A student from Law University started presenting his paper as to how he conducted survey with his “whatsup” friends, collected data through “whatsup” of his friends and tried to interpret the data. He started showing pictures through PPT with such limited, controlled and selective samples. Ironically, he did not know who first used the expression “folklore,” and challenged me. When I told “William Thoms,” he was not ready to accept.  The Constitutional provisions also, he could not tell. It is irony that the way papers are presented in seminars and conferences.

Easops fables-beyond India – proves the popularity of India in those days!

Teyyam, Malayalam folk dance: The next paper presenter delved upon the “teyyam,” pointing out that teyyam means Deivam = god, but her obsessive usage of terminology e.g, dominant class, lower class; upper / lower castes, 300 deities, primeval fear for worship, myth and deification, upper caste ideology, Vedic gods, Hindu pantheon, Sanskritized Malayalam, Pulaya……………..etc., exhibit that she gave more importance to one particular ideology instead of bringing out folklore aspect. It is well known that the Malayalam language itself has already been Sanskritized and therefore, there is no necessity of blaming “Sanskritized Malayalam” now. When she could mention Pulaya openly, she could not mention the names of dominant class or caste in the context.

Easops fables-beyond India – proves the popularity of India in those days!

Birbal and Tenali Raman – story telling: Another paper on the stories of Birbal and Tenali Raman, she was just narrating the stories at length, against, not touching upon the “folklore” theme. He went on telling the whole story, as if she was telling to children, taking almost one hour. However, she could not bring out the “folkness, flk-element” in such stories. In fact, he was giving several wrong information e.g, Tenali Raman was a Tamilian and so on, perhaps, she would have watched the Tamil film only. Perhaps, by Tamilizing the name, Tenali Raman, instead of Tenali Rama, she was confused. In fact, one of audience pointed out this fact. Instead of accepting her mistakes, she tried to argue away. Really, one hour need not been given to her such story-telling.

Again, another stressed upon the protection and preservation of folk arts.

Cilappathikaram – Anklet as a symbol of Justice: There was a special lecture by Prof Maivannan HOD of Politcal Science department. He explained the nuisances of  Kannagi story in the context of Justice as to how the anklet played a crucial role as en evidence in the court of law. He could not differentiate between the Silambu used in “silambu kazhi nonbu” of Sangam period performed for young girls and the silambu used here by married women.

Special lecture by Armstrong – he delved upon the exploitation and commerciaization of folklore

Armstrong was facilitated for his special lecture

The second day proceedings: First, there was a special lecture by Prof. Armstrong and he delved upon the protection of dying folkarts under the LPG processes. The UN recognizes to protect art-forms of all cultures in this world. Again taking the examples of Attakkathi, Pariyerum Perumal etc., he hoped that such films would create awareness among people. Also listing out Terukkuuthu, Udukkai pattu, Villup pattu, Kaniyan kuthu, Kaagattam, Paraiysttam, Raja-Rani Attam etc., he lamented that they are dwindling down. Therefore, he stressed that they should be given prominence in the films and media. However, he was worried about the decimation of such arts by commercialization. He was obviously confused about the idea of films promoting folk-arts and  art-form. Actually, the film business men engage in such enterprises to get popularity and awards, in turn, they promote their business only. After that the artsts would be forgotten.

The paper presented from Nagaland,facilitated

Tribal culture of Nagaland: Then, a Professor from Nagaland explained about the folklore condition in his state. As Nagaland has been famous for the existence of different tribes, they have 28 music colleges and also linguistic college to preserve their traditions. The Centre for Naga Tribal Language Studies (CNTLS) was established in the year 2016. The core emphasis of the Centre is the study of Naga tribal communities[1]: their culture, tradition, folklore and languages as it was, and is. Towards this end, the Centre aims to collect, explore and promote all these aspects through the lens of academic enquiry. The centre also has a vision to endeavor comparative study of Naga tribal languages with a view to map their similarities, diversity and cognate relationship. It also envisions promoting research collaboration with local, national and global institutions with the objective of invigorating and promoting Naga tribal languages and culture on a wider scale.

Folk research and Folklore studies: Moving towards anthropology, sociology or away from history?:Then, K. V. Ramakrishna Rao presented a paper, “Folk research and Folklore studies: Moving towards anthropology, sociology or away from history?” with PPT, explained how the subject originated with William J. Thoms and corresponded with the colonial study of Indians as races, castes and tribes.  Even the “Father of History,” Herotodus and other great Greek experts could not describe India and Indians properly. However, taking them as models, the British had beaten Indians, blaming them for not writing history, chronology etc. Ironically, Herotodus was wring about “Gold digging ants,” the Panchatantra stories reached Greece to be converted into Aesop’s fables. When the Greek experts were conducting discourses in Symposium without dress, Indians were producing good literature as “nomads.” Thus, when, Indians were folk, tribal or civilized ethnic people, their stories considered as been objective, educative and people-oriented. The colonial, Eurocentric and other biases are exhibited through “people without history,” people with crude practices of “dhai or folk-nurses” and so on. Pointing out the limitations of folk-studies, he emphacized to avoid bias, prejudice and pre-conceived ideas against India and Indians.

K. V. Ramakrishna Rao presented his paper, “Folk research and Folklore studies: Moving towards anthropology, sociology or away from history?” 

Folk research and Folklore studies: Moving towards anthropology, sociology or away from history?: Dr Balakrishna Hegde and K. V. Ramakrishna Rao presented a joint paper, “Folk research and Folklore studies: Moving towards anthropology, sociology or away from history? based on the names mentioned in their respective literature. “India” had been attractive for all the ancient civilizations, though the people of the civilizations imagined differently. Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian and other civilizations, Indians were having contacts. The Persians mentioned India as Hindu, Hindustan etc, the Greeks Ind, India, India extragangem and India nreagangem; the Arabs / Mohammedans – Hind, Hind-Sind; the Chinese – Tianzhu, Tenjiku, Shendu, Wutianzhu and so on.

Folklore, tribal and Traditional knowledge system, their protection thereof: Dr Brinda from Law University talked about the legal position about the preservation of folkarts and symbols stressing upon the provisions of UN, Geographical Indication Act, Patent Act etc..  She has not really touched upon the legal and mandatory provisions, but, generally explained. She has not mentioned the Constitutional provisions and the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act as amended etc. In India the legislation that takes care of the rights relating to literary and artistic works, sound-recordings, films, and the rights of performers and broadcasting organizations, is the Copyright Act, 1957[2]. The Act has been amended a number of times with the most recent update in 1994. The Constitutional provisions are given below for the importance.

The Constitutional Provisions: The Constitution of India, the basic law of the land, has not directly addressed the issue of protection of the folklore. Article 29 of the Constitution recognizes as a “Fundamental Right” (Part III) the protection of the culture of minorities. According to Article 29, “any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.” It is possible to protect the folklore of the distinct groups in India based on this provision. However, the majority of the folklore existing and misused now in India belong to small communities who do not come under the scope of the aforementioned constitutional provision. But no legislation has been enacted to protect the same. The only other general provision in the Constitution that can be identified as a source to protect folklore is Article 51A (f). It is the fundamental duty of every citizen of India “to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.” There is also no legislation based on this provision for translating this constitutional objective into practice. Considering the special cultural identity of the tribal population in India, the Constitution envisages special protection of the indigenous communities. Since they are scattered all over India, some living separately and others along with other sections of the society, the Constitution adopted different approaches to protect their cultural identity. The areas where there are only tribal communities, as per Article 371 read with the Schedule 6 of the Constitution, are permitted to have separate Autonomous Councils for self-governance in accordance with their customary laws. The normal laws of the land are applicable only if accepted by the community and the Council has the power to make laws even to protect their social customs. For other parts of the country, as per Schedule 5 of the Constitution, the government has the power to create scheduled areas to protect the interests of the tribes. The application of the normal laws, if they are in conflict with their customs, can be prohibited by the head of the State. The tribes not falling in the above categories are subjected to the normal laws of the land.

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has been issuing books on the issues of protection of folk / tribal signs, symbols, designs etc

Terukkuuthu – the Street-play: Shivakumar, researcher delved upon “terukkuthu,” explaining how the actors are treated. Even the male actors acting as female characters are harassed. He also pointed out as to how, nowadays, the “terukkuththu” like art-forms are exploited by vested groups, linking them with their politics, caste, ideology and other purposes.  As caste has been dominating the Tamil politics, now, certain names of castes have become derogative and they are not mentioned in the public. Thus, in one street-play, a character is addressed as “Idaiyan,” [Cattle-herd] and immediately, sought apology also mentioning such name.

Educational value of folklores: Another paper presenter stressed that folklore should be taught in the schools themselves to create awareness. Through folklore, ethics, spirituality etc., could be nurtured and so on.

Valedictory function, Sankar-Ganesh Music director was the chief guest

Valedictory function – the live demonstration of folk-songs by Sankar-Ganesh: During the Valedictory function, Sankar-Ganesh Music Director and Actor, introduced himself as performing playback music for 1056 movies in many Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannda, Malayalam, Hindi. He gave lively demonstration of folk-songs without any musical instruments, but with music, using his hands.  Explaining how the street-play actors had to work hard in those days, when there was no speaker and sound system. He nicely differentiated among street-play, drama and movie with the technical advancement.

1. Street-play has been the real-original acting space, where, actors and associated workers had to suffer hard to reach the audience.
2. Drama has been modified street-play with the exploitation if technology, camera, speakers etc.
3. Movie / cinema has been the developed form of drama, where, the artistic talents of the actors could be brought out effectively, as rehearsals, re-takes, trials are allowed for correction.

He also sang certain specific songs, where, folk-lorism and folkism are involved. As the consumer-fans change with times, they also have to change, modifying folk-songs to the category od so-called gana-pattu, kuthu-pattu etc.

Valedictory function, Sankar-Ganesh Music director was the chief guest.

Valedictory function, Sankar-Ganesh Music director was the chief guest. Shankar from the duo died prematurely, while Ganesh continued take the band forward with the name Shankar-Ganesh, and has ofted been credited simply as Sankar Ganesh himself

HOD speaking

Music Director Ganesh was honoured

Folklore in Historical Perspective: Prof G. J. Sudhakar pointed out as to how the folklores were connected with past and present in his address on “Folklore in Historical Perspective.” He explained under three categories:

1. As Historical science.
2. Modern concept of folklore.
3. Tradition and implication.

He interpreted with the idea of evolution x devolution, construct x deconstruct and so on.

G. J. Sudhakar, special invitee was honured

Lionade. V. J. Prasuna, Playback Singer and Trustee, Vanamaa Art Educational and Cultural Trust was facilitated by Sankar-Ganesh.

Lionade. V. J. Prasuna, Playback Singer and Trustee, Vanamaa Art Educational and Cultural Trust was facilitated by Sankar-Ganesh. Again with a vote of thanks, the conference was concluded. Several competitions were held for students – essay writing,  rangoli etc., and prizes declared and awarded to the successful students.  The essays written by the students reveal that they have had very limited idea about the subject matter. Mostly, they had taken examples from the films and try to interpret. Even narrating “stories” also, they were not comfortable, as they had written like school children. They have to improve their English, grammar, vocabulary etc.

S. Balakrishna Hegde

Dr G. J. Sudhakar introduces K. V. Ramakrishna Rao to Sankar in his own way

K. V. Ramakrishna Rao sharing some old incidence with Sankar

In the Rangoli competition incorporating folk / tribal concepts, really, the students exhibited their talents. Three groups had done in an excellent manner incorporating such features with humanistic, nationalist and even global perspective.

Rangoli competition for the students of various colleges were going on

Rangoli competition for the students of various colleges were going on, they took different themes and colours.

Rangoli competition for the students of various colleges were going on

Rangoli competition for the students of various colleges were going on, incorporating the folklore

Rangoli competition for the students of various colleges were going on, incorporating the folklore elements, signs and symbols.

Yes, one male also participated!

1964 to 2019 – the folklore research trend has been medieval and barbaric only: The first All India Folklore Conference was held at Calcutta under the auspicious of the Indian Folklore Society from 8th to 10^th February, 1964. At that time, itself, the following areas were identified for research[3]:

(1) Anthropology and Folklore, the outlook and mode of research of anthropologists and the folklorists (2) Approach of linguists and folklorists (3) Essentiality of the knowledge of geography , for field research (4) Folk-cult through ages (5) Folk community in a changing situation (6) Archaeology in the perspective of folk-culture (7) Problems for the preservation of folk-art and craft materials (8) Rituals and Society (9) Folklore and ethnology (10) How scientific study of folklore can be initiate in India.

(11) Does popular music do harm to folk music (12) Humour in folklore (13) Obscenity in folklore (14) Proverbs, riddles, beliefs and superstitions (15) Historical study in folklore (16) How literateurs use myth, legends, songs etc. in their creations (17) What, will be the befitting Indian synonym of the English word ‘”Folklore” (18) The future of folklore (19) How folklore can be used as an important medium of education (20) Folk-industry past and present (21) Sociology and Folklore etc.

And it is found that the folklore researchers, experts and professors have been still in the folkism for more than 55 years and digging the same graves, instead of bringing out anything new.  When the colonial writers, researchers and priests wrote with agenda to divide India, at least, now Indians should try to amend, rectify and bring out the correct picture about the studies.

The colonial interpretation and verbal abuse: The Indian society in process of modification from the impact of the British rule can also be studied from the point of view of folklore. Some attempt has been made in this regard by social anthropologists, ethnographers and social workers to study Indian villages and tribes including little known communities. Mahanlal Roychaudhury cautioned[4], “Since the days of colonial imperialism it became the fashion among the writers of the West to speak of ‘Race’ as determining factor of civilisation. They began to speak of ‘Higher’ and ‘Lower’ races and in our ignorance we accepted that interpretation as the basis of absolute categories”, but, still, the researchers have not come out of such stupor and myth. Particularly, in Tamilnadu or such ideologists, who still believe in race, racism and racialism, and still discourse with “Aryan” and “Dravidian” races fighting with each other. Researchers, scholars and professors may have to come out of such parochial, divisive and emotional perspective and, research, work and publish for the unity and integrity of our nation, India, that is Bharath.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

07-07-2019

[1] Centre for Naga Tribal Language Studies, Nagaland University, https://kohima.nagalanduniversity.ac.in/cntls

[2]  Valasala Kutty, National Experiences with the Protection od expressions of Folklore / Traditional cultural expressions – India, Indonesia and the Philippines, World Intellectual Property Organization,  https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/tk/912/wipo_pub_912.pdf

[3]  Sankar Sen Gupta, Folklore Research in India Official Proceedings & Speeches at the All lndia Folklore Conference, Calcutta, Published by the Reception Committee of the All India Folklore Conference, 1963 Calcutta. Appeared on the 30th August,1964, p.44

[4]  Sankar Sen Gupta, Folklore Research in India, Reception Committee of the All India Folklore Conference, 1963 Calcutta,1964, p. 112