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Folklore...Relevance
- Mr. Vachaspati V.

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RELEVANCE OF FOLKLORE IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM 'Culture or civilization, ... is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities acquired by man as member of society' -- By E.B.Tylor, in Primitive Culture (1871). The most comprehensive definition of 'CULTURE', which provide guidance to the Sociologists, Folklorists and Anthropologists. The study of culture is the historical study of man's development in society from the primitive state of affairs. Here the word, 'primitive' is needs to be condemned, and suggested the word 'simple'. However, it is for the convenience the word 'Primitive' used, as the word is familiar to readers. Most of the people believe that folklore studies are confined to peasant societies. But the characteristic features of peasant society i.e., oral traditions, relatively simple culture, mythology, folktales, folkways, and folk life and non-industrial occupations, can be found in tribal populations also. In India almost all the peasant societies or agricultural rural societies are part of mainstream Hindu fold. But the tribal societies are distinctly different from the Hindu culture, which are relatively isolated geographically. Next to Africa, India has the largest concentration of tribal population. Most of the tribal societies are either living on hills or forests, and plains with few exceptions. According to Robert Redfield, its small size, physical isolation and high degree of homogeneosity, and group solidarity, and the absence of literacy characterize folk society. As the religion, the Hinduism is dominant in India, and the process of Hinduization is on, apart from industrialization, the tribal societies experiencing the 'culture contact' and thus changing. Some of the name of the tribes is mentioned in Hindu mythology like Bhils, Savara etc. Some tribal societies are in the process of Sanskritization. Gonds, the second biggest tribe in India in Central India is on verge of becoming a Hindu caste. The impact of industrialization, cultural contact on tribes proved destruction on many tribal societies in India. Hindu legends and traditions, fairy tales, animal tales, fables, myths penetrated deep into the tribal cultures. There is a relatively correct definition between rural and urban societies, but it is not the case between peasant and the tribal societies. In fact, for the term, 'Tribe', there is no satisfactory definition anywhere. Even the Constitution of India has not defined them clearly except by scheduling the tribes under Article 342. There is a problem of taxonomy of classification of tribal societies. The classifications by Anthropologists, Sociologists and Folklorists are ignored by others, but take other classifications basing with bias. The taxonomical term used by the Government, Primitive Tribal Group (PTG) is nothing but looking them down. Instead the government should better use other words like Endangered Tribal Group, like that. N.K.Bose has divided the tribal people into three principle categories, basing on the manner in which they primarily make their living. They are (1) Hunters, Fishers and Gatherers, (2) Shifting cultivators, and (3) Settled Agriculturists using plough and cattle, and nomadic cattle keepers, artisans and laborers, and workers in plantations and industries. My main reason for writing this article is to reassert the methodological priority of the search for the laws of study of tribal culture, and in the science of man and his culture. According Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckholn, the concept of culture, in the sense of a 'set of attributes and product of human societies, and therewith of mankind, which are extra somatic and transmissible by mechanisms other than biological heredity '(1952:145). Originally folklore was the study of curiosities of culture, but gradually it became specialized as the study of popular literary activities. We can find very few professional folklorists. The folklore process which covers the story of folklore in any society from its discovery and definition, fieldwork and archiving, analysis and theory, to its recycling and application, authenticity and ownership, revival and commercial use, cultural and political functions, its relevance to national, social, ethnic and local identities, and the emergence of emancipatory folklore work in traditional and modern communities and nations. It includes the impact of modern media and political development due to the implementation of 73rd and 74th amendments in India. The traditional authority structure among the tribal societies has been witnessing changes. Originally the folklore consists of ancient customs, festivals, old ditties and dateless ballads, archaic myths and legends. The methodology to study culture is the same whether the investigator is Sociologist, folklorist and anthropologist. Only the field area varies. If sociologist study the urban society, Folklorist studies the Peasant societies and Anthropologist emphasize on the tribal societies. An anthropologist believes that it will be easier to understand the relatively complex societies, if we understood the relatively simple cultures. The success or failure of these experts here will be a response not to the competence among them, but also to the ambience of the national system within which their studies take place. Clearly, the task and success of these experts will be much greater if national policy is based upon tolerance of cultural variation, and a determination to link national development to the interests of the sub-cultures which make-up the nation, and the creation of a national social system based upon a respect a interaction between members of such sub-cultures. Before launching a policy for the welfare of the simple societies i.e., tribal cultures, it is necessary to study their beliefs practices, folklore, in short, their culture. Their cultural phenomenon could be studied under 'emic' terms, and should identify the areas of convergence and divergence. But the government and others do not properly realize this, even at present and in the past. In past, these kinds of situations resulted in several rebellions by the tribal people in India i.e., in 1778, Revolt of Mal Paharias of Chotanagpur against the British Government, to the recent 'Greater Nagaland' by some sections of Naga people in Northeast. Reasons for tribal discontent elsewhere in India are attributed to multi-dimensional i.e., harshness of forest laws and regulations, inadequate credit facilities, inability of protective legislation, ineffective measures in tribal rehabilitation who are displaced by development projects, ethnocentric feelings by both tribal and non-tribal, variations degree in cultural development, lack of proper representation in legislatures. The beliefs of Tribal people and practices and how people perceive the welfare policies of the govt. can be understood by experts i.e. sociologists, folklorists and anthropologists in better. There are two kinds of elements in every culture i.e., Core and Fringe. Culture 'Core' is,’ all the elements related to the subsistence', and the culture 'Fringe' is all the remaining elements. Elements consist of traits and the trait is least divisible part of culture. Where there is change in the culture “Core” the result could be beneficial or fatal. When there is change in culture fringe the results could be less beneficial or less fatal. The government, with the help of experts should identify these Core and Fringe of a particular society. Tribal people everywhere lived in intimate relationship with forests and their entire existence have been linked with forests. There existed a 'symbiotic relationship' between tribal and forests. Not only economic life but also the religion-social institutions are in relation with the surrounding forests. Many a flora and fauna have been their objects of worship (Totem). With the destruction of forests and displacement by development projects resulting in change in their emphasis on socio-economico-religio-magico phenomena. As a consequent result the Chenchus have taken to crime in certain areas. Bhaviskar (1955) has traced criminality among the Bhil and the Bhilala of Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh to the growing control of the state over the forest resources and degradation of cultivable lands. G.P Reddy's study highlighted the failure of Chenchu's Resettlement scheme and failure of Chenchus to adopt for agriculture by govt. of Andhra Pradesh. Govt. failed to recognize the traditions of Chenchus and thus resulted in the failure of these schemes. Resettlements Housed builds have burnt bricks, with systematic drainage facilities. But after few months most of the Chenchus abandoned these houses. The reasons are Chenchus have the habit of burning the hut after the death of a member of the family or they abandon the entire gudem or move slightly to the other side of the gudem if they are many deaths due to epidemics, and by tradition they semi-nomadic and move freely in the forest and are not habituated to live in permanent huts, and they use to construct huts under trees, which factor was not considered when the colony was constructed with well laid out streets and brick-walled huts. And the failure of Chenchus to adopt agriculture by the British started on Co-operative basis under which land was allotted to them the reasons for the failure to take-up agriculture can be attributed to-Chenchus are primarily food-gatherers and have less agricultural skills, are individualistic and marital instability which is essential for agriculture as more hands needed. Instead of these policies the govt. could have developed bee-keeping industry, forest based cottage industry. This is the only one of the case study to explain the failure of government initiative. Verrier Elvin reported the Dormitories in tribes of India, particularly in Northeast. The Tribal Folk of Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and NorthEast have this institution. This institution has a great bearing upon the socio-economic life of their society. Dormitory is a place to accommodate guests and serves as a meeting place for gossip and recreation by the old and young. Youth gather in it in the evening to dance, sing, and play, to participate in the folk tales and folklore, and even do sexual activities for the purpose of training. Strict secrecy is maintained as regards the happenings in side dormitory. The precise significance of the dormitories lies in the training that they provide to the members. The scope of the training imparted to the dormitories is much broader than that provided in a school. But it is sad to note that the cultural contacts with the non-tribal and spread of Christianity now norms of living have been introduced to the tribals and consequently they are feeling ashamed to attend these institutions. Among the tribal people of India, the institution of marriage is more advanced regarding the age of marriage of the youth than their advanced neighbors. There is enough opportunity for the satisfaction of sex impulses outside marriage. Premarital sexual chastity is not rigidly insisted upon in a large number of tribes. Monogamy, polyandry and polygyny are found among the tribal of India. Divorce and widow remarriage are unlike traditional Hindu society, is universally permitted. Drinking is also a part of their socio, religious and cultural practices. In all the ceremonies and rites connected with birth to death, marriages, festivals, and propitiating evil spirits to cure tribal societies, in short, during almost all the occasions. The tribal indulgence in drinking has no exchange basis with any scopes for terms of trade and exploitation, but promotes solidarity among them. But the modern laws related to alcoholic beverages, marriage and inheritance leading to the change in their social structure. Various development plans by the government have failed at three levels: (I) Policy, (ii) implementation and (iii) Recruitment and Training of personnel. The policies are stereotyped, devoid of tribal bias. Because of this sum tribes got benefited, others experienced 'Cultural Shocks', resulted in inequality among the tribal groups. Perhaps the most critical government policies to affect tribal peoples were those relating to their possession of land: any modification of the traditional man-land relationship would undoubtedly have a major impact on all aspects of tribal culture. Many good government plans have failed at the implementation level because persons concerned with implementation are generally unsympathetic to them, bottlenecks due to administrative flaws. Unless the important aspects of tribal life are well understood, it is believed that the programs however good and useful cannot yield fruitful results. Government development policies designed to bring about changes in local hydrology, vegetation, settlement patterns, and to increase population mobility, and even programs aimed at reducing certain diseases, have frequently led to dramatic increases in disease rates because of the unforeseen effects of disturbing the preexisting order. Aside from these apparently voluntary changes, it appears that more often dietary changes are forced upon unwilling people by circumstances beyond their control. In some areas, new food crops have been introduced by government decree, or as a consequence of forced relocation or other policies designed to end hunting, pastoralism, or shifting cultivation. Food habits have also been modified by massive disruption of the natural environment by outsiders. In fact Swidden cultivation or Shifting Cultivation and Pastoralism, both highly successful economic adaptations under traditional conditions, have proven particularly vulnerable to increased populations pressures and efforts to raise productivity beyond their natural limits. Shifting, or Swidden Agriculture, has come under government attack almost as pastoral nomadism. To administrators it appears to be a wasteful process, but in most tropical forest environment under aboriginal conditions it has proven to be a very sound and stable form of adaptation where shallow soils and heavy rainfall place severe limitations on agricultural activities. Many of the innovations are in fact tailored specifically for the needs of the world market, and accepting them very often means also accepting a variety of other related innovations and an ever-increasing dependence on the world economy.The development programs have introduced in tribal culture to modern capitalist economy. The subsistence character of economy is on the whole declining. It has accelerated inequalities among the various segments of tribes. Before the advent of British it is believed no tribal individual died of hunger, but with the introduction of modern laws now it is felt that tribal are suffering from 'Poverty'. The only identify left with tribal today is their existential situation-increasing poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and destabilization including the depending nature resulting from dispossession of land and increasing marginalization. The loss of primordial attributes is massive. Our Five Year Plans laid emphasis on industrial growth, both in manufacturing and also in agriculture. In the latter sector we have encouraged large irrigation projects, chemical fertilizers, etc. which, by and large, benefit the substantial and not subsistence farmers. Many projects like Sardar Sarovar Dam, Steel Plants of Chotanagpur plateau, some Railway lines are developed deep in the tribal regions, resulted in 'acculturation'. The ownership of land among the tribal is governed by a set of customary rights. While it is true that, by and large, among tribal of Bihar, individual ownership either managed by the village council or settled with the chief is also not rare; among the Maler of Raj Mahal, for example, communal ownership is prevalent. In many agricultural tribes the village community owns certain types of land as such and the laws of inheritance, in matter of details, vary from situation to situation. Most of the tribal had their own land, from which bulk of their population got economic support. With the gradual change in the land laws and regulations, with the introduction of Zamindari system, during British Era, the tribal were dispossessed of their land and forests. The pace of industrialization and with it, that of urbanization has been correspondingly accelerated after the first world war and especially after India's independence. The tribal belt of middle India is the grip of industrial revolution, and consequently there is rapid urbanization, in comparatively short of time, which has been termed as 'Industry-based Urban Explosion'. Industrialization, consequent urbanization, deep in the tribal regions of Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh has greatly affected the folk and primitive tribal population, which till recently led a homogeneous, distinctive and folk style of life. The influx of non-tribal into the tribal regions, as skilled workers to work in the industries, led the break-down of social structure, and consequent re-alignment of that structure, resulted in unlawful activities like, extremism, loss-of-face, inferiority complex of the tribal individual, prostitution, land alienation, poverty, child labor, venereal diseases, bonded labor, increase in infant mortality, loss of their folklore etc. The linguistic and cultural policies and massive influx of majority people in to tribal habitats have accentuated the threat to their cultural identity and generated a sense of deprivation. This also resulted in 'Culture Shock'. Rivers(1922) speculated that the sudden total transformation experienced by many tribes caused a form of shock that made people stop producing or desiring children, in some cases they simply died because life was not longer worth living, Already, the tribe, the tribal societies in Andamanis on the verge of extinction. Many numbers are in pipeline for extinction. It is well known fact that the tribal folk of India have an integrated well-balanced social system and functioning and used to lead a corporate life during the pre-independence era. But under the British Administration, their corporate life received a severe blow. Accepting novel technologies in most cases must mean a total abandonment of traditional economic self-sufficiency, and this is not always an easy change to promote. Primordiality or the tribal geneus is not static. It has always been changing but at the same time retaining its form. In come cases there has been crude tribalization or indigenisation of the modernization process. Though the social legislation on marriage permits polygyny to the tribal, there is enough evidence to show that the present trend or tendency of marriage towards the practice of monogamy. The status was attached to polygyny and larger size of family is looked with contempt by the tribal society. Actually, the contact of tribal with the non-tribal people has created disrespect for the practice of polygyny among them. Even today a tribal is likely to enjoy some higher status in his own society by having two wives, but his frequent interactions with the wider society make shy - a laughing shock. The polygyny attribute of primordiality is gradually but surely lossing ground in the wake of market economy. Our understanding of the efficiency of herbal medicines is still rudimentary; however, the systematic procedures for evaluating them are just being developed. The tribal populations, who closely follow the nature, identify the herbs of medical quality, with out the knowledge of their botanical identification, chemical nature etc., they use these herbs to cure illness and attribute the results to the natural gods. There are sub-fields in Sociology, Anthropology like medical sociology, medical anthropology, Ethnomedicine, and there is a need for medical folklore. The Constitution of India has laid down that 'the state shall promote with special care the educational, and economic interests of weaker sections of the people, and in particular of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. But, the factors of crucial triangle, 'Development, Primordiality and Social Change' decide the fate of the policy of the government. Here lies the roll of experts like, Sociologists, Folklorists and Anthropologists. India is one of the 27 countries of the world, which has ratified the International Labor Organization Convention no.107, on tribal and indigenous population, 1957 which abides that when in 'exceptional' circumstances, in the 'national interest', the tribal are displaced, they shall be provided with lands of quality, at least equal to that of the land and land based resources, both collectively and individually occupied by them, suitable for their present needs and future development, but India never recognized the corporate rights over land and land based resources, and discriminately uprooted the tribal people at will. Indian experiment to uplift the tribal people has been hailed both in official and academic circles. It seems there are few countries in the world with such elaborate systems of preferential treatment and institutional provisions of special protections and privileges for the tribal. But the rhetoric of these provisions has totally ignored the tribal rights on forests and land. There are around 500 tribes in India, among them 72 are called as 'primitive'. The Indian govt. has a notoriously poor record, for the tribal population, who are displaced by the development projects i.e. hydroelectric, steel plants, coal mines, national roadways, railways etc. Because of this there is constant cultural contact between people from plain areas and tribal societies. The stories of gods, of creation and destruction and metaphoric relate to nature, beliefs, and songs they use to sing to celebrate victories undergoing change. Ordinary events happening during the day are attributed with prophetic significance. A world of fantasy, belief in spirit, duality of soul, apprehension to all natural phenomenon and their interpretations greatly influence their approach to life, now changing due to Industrialization and cultural contact. Social organization among the tribal is another important aspect of tribal life. It tends to influence their economic system, problems and operations. A proper understanding of their social organization is necessary for chartering about their socio-economic change and determining the strategy for it. The social Organization of the tribes in India is very diverse and often quite complex. Their co-operation and close dependence on each other is rather imperative at low levels of economic existence usually in harmony with nature and environment. The Hillman cares little for his individual rights and cannot conceive existence outside the tribe to which he belongs. He has no urge to acquire more property, to add field to field or to buy a store of grain against a year of want. The tribal operates at a low level of economic activity and has poor accessibility too fertile lands in the plain, modern technology, institutional and markets facilities. They have their own lands, forests, technology, institutions and facilities. Even they have their own dialects. The tribal religions are more specific to each tribe or group or community at least by nomenclature. The tribal religions are commonly characterized as 'Animistic'. Their style of worship is simple than mainstream population. Much worshipped deities are Goddess of diseases. Every illness that befalls on them is attributed to’witchcraft’. Such beliefs and practices are hindrances in accepting the modern medicines and norms of public health. Measures introduced as a part of development program. Most of the efforts made to make the tribal benefited from modern public health programs have met with failure, as there is no cultural backup. The importance of education as an agency of modernization, as well as a source of employment, has long been realized in our national plans for tribal welfare. There are various aspects of tribal education-medium of instruction, text books, teachers, audio/visual approach, types of schools etc-which have been thoroughly studied by the tribal units of the National Council Educational Research and Training and the Indian Council of Social Science Research, on a national scale, the study of tribal education. But the education has remained confined only to that section of the tribal that came under the influence of the Church, particularly in Northeast. The rate of literacy is above national average in Northeast among tribal societies. Development is term comfortably ethnocentric term, resting on assumptions of progress and inevitability, but it might better be replaced by a more accurate and less ethnocentric term such as transformation. The point of view that development is matter of interdisciplinary concern is of major importance. Hence an appropriate recommendation might be to enlist social scientists in the effort of devising an inter-disciplinary curriculum for the training of development analysis advisers. The object of such a curriculum would be to create a corpus of socio-economic advisors, rather than technical project administrators. Here the contributions of sociology, folklore and anthropology are potentially to link education to the cultural goals of the society, and perhaps to draw attention to some skills and incentive orientation, which might be overlooked by, displaces less concerned with cross-cultural values. The first prime minister of India, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru delivered some anthropological and prophetic words regarding the tribal development in the form of Pinch Shekel. They are: 'We cannot allow matters to drift in the tribal areas or just not take interest in them. In the world of to day that is not possible or desirable. At the same time we should avoid over-administering these areas and, in particular, sending too many outsiders into tribal territory...It is between these two extreme positions that we have to function. Development in various ways there has to be, such as communications, medical facilities, education and better agriculture. These avenues of development should, however, be pursued withing the broad framework of the five fundamental principles '. Now the questions need to be examined by all sectors are: what is the role of folklorist in this process? What are his skills and contributions? How do we define his code of ethical conduct in research? What is the relationship between scholarly community and traditional one? In what direction can or should it be developed? What will be the impact of UNESCO's international recommendation for the safeguarding of traditional culture and folklore in the sphere of folklore theory and practical work in the field of traditions? What is the role in big and small nations, in developing and postindustrial societies and in the process of economic integration and different strivings for political or cultural independence in the world, and its relevance to India? What is and will be the outlook for folklorist after in the new millennium? Can we say that we are able to prepare a developmental strategy, which can be true for all tribal communities, big and small? Have we been able to pose the right kind of questions? These questions need to be answered by the experts themselves. Almost all the problems of human society can be solved when we find the origin of the problem. To find the origins the knowledge of culture is essential. India is a plural society, and the plurality must be respected. No one opposes the development, but the development should not be at the expense of tribal societies otherwise called as ' Victims of Development'. Really these cultures could not have survived for half a million years if they did not do a reasonable job of satisfying basic human needs. A High Degree of Social Engineering required to repair these societies. -------------------------------------- References: 1. Chenchus and Development Programs, in Tribal Development in India by M.Satyanarayana and V.Gangadharan. 2.Philosophy of NEFA by Verrier Elvin 3.Tribal India Today by Nadeem Husnain. 4.Indian State and Tribal Development, in Tribal Development by Jagannath Pathy. 5.Dynamics of Tribal and Non-Tribal Interaction, in Economic Development of Tribal India, by P.C.Mohapatro. 6.The Problems of Development of Small Tribes, in Tribal Development in India, by N.C.Chaudury. 7. C.H.Browner, Bernard R.Ortiz de Montellano, and Arthur J.Rubel, A methodology for Cross-Cultural Ethnomedical Research, in Current Anthropology(1988).p.681 8. Cyril S. Belshaw, The Contribution of Anthropology to Development, Current Anthropology(1974).p.520. 9. B.K.Roy Burman, Transfer and Alienation of Tribal Land, Tribal Development in India. 10. John H. Badley, Victims of Progress (1975). -- a. Folklore: A term use to describe the customs and habits, or typical behavior patterns, characteristic of a given community or folk. b. Folk life: with in the tradition of European ethnology, this term refers to the study of the traditional everyday culture of the folk. C.Animism, word coined by E.B.Tylor (1871) means,' belief in spiritual beings'. D.emic: a view from inside. E.Sanskritization: word coined by M.N.Srinivas in Religion and Society among Coorgs of South India (1953).

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