Oral tradition

Of Maternal Uncles and Mangalik Brides: Sakuni in the Folk Narrations of The Mahabharata

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Seema Sinha1, Kumar Sankar Bhattacharya2 & Sailaja Nandigama3
1Ph.D. and a Post-Doc from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, Rajasthan. Email: p2015101@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
2Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, Rajasthan. Email: kumar.bhattacharya@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
3Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, Rajasthan. Email: sailajan@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in

[Received February 10 2023, modified 24 July 2023, accepted 25 July 2023, first published 29 July 2023]

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 2, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n2.23
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Abstract
The timelessness of The Mahabharata lies in its ability to re-invent itself, thereby giving the society a chance to re-negotiate, revise, and revive the discourse. It also gives the so-called ‘villains of the piece’, well established in the ‘rogues’ gallery’, a chance to redeem themselves. One such character is Sakuni, the ‘shrewd’ maternal uncle of the Kauravas, whose negative image in Vyasa’s textual universe is questioned by the folk renditions of the grand epic. The Oriya Mahabharata by Sarala Das views Sakuni not as the master conspirator who brought about the great war, but as a victim who suffered because of the court politics of the Kauravas. The strong popular culture that supports him is also evident in the narratives of the Kalbelias of Rajasthan, and in the folk renderings of the epic in Kerala. This makes us reflect as to why the meta-narrative has vilified Sakuni and treated him with contempt when the folk traditions view him in a more charitable light, or at least give him the benefit of doubt. This paper utilizes narrative research methods to understand the dehumanization of Sakuni in the dominant discourse. It employs the postmodern theories of psychoanalytical criticism and deconstruction in the study of the petite narratives associated with Sakuni to facilitate engagement, plurality, and divergence in the discourse. The paper attempts to read the chronicles of self, society, and social justice in these lesser-known narratives to liberate Sakuni from his filial debt and relocate him into the discursive universe.

Keywords: The Mahabharata, Sakuni, discursive, petite narratives, oral tradition, plurality, social justice

[Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, Reduced Inequalities]

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Literature of North East India: Oral Narratives as Documents for the Study of Ritualization in the Darlong Community of Tripura

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Benjamina Darlong, Tripura University, Tripura, India

Abstract

The abstract attempt to read into rituals of the Darlong community of Tripura pitched on different phenomenal vines. The Darlong believed that there exists spirits, shadows and supernatural elements in every living and non-living body of nature. In the orature of the Darlong community, there are many such instances where the people response the natural happenings and old practices that are rooted in the oral narratives there by developing their rites and rituals. This article will investigate into the oral narratives and the evolution of certain rite and ritual that are either abandoned or carried out till today. However, it must be remembered that the Darlong, accepting the Christian creed in 1919, no longer preserved the belief today.

[Keywords: Darlong community, ritualization, oral narrative, Christianity]

  1. Introduction

Oral narratives are cultural materials and documents transmitted verbally from one generation to another in speeches or songs that later take up the form of folktales, folksongs, ballads, sayings or even chants. No doubt, the origin of this tradition may date back to some stone age when men knew not the art of writing yet watermark their every deed for their forth coming generations. It might also have originated in circumstances where a grandmother or a grandfather attempts to quench the thirst of their grandchildren about the outer world which according to them is a world full of adventures and strange happenings. In this way, it is possible for a society to transcend materials of the past across time. The Darlong oral tradition records the lives of the common people, their beliefs, simple joy and sorrow, customs and their encounter with strange forces of nature. It can be considered borrowing its accounts from an individual’s or group’s cultures functioning as a mediator to political decisions, validates conduct, release emotions and evaluate their social administration. The general themes of the tales are adventures, love, beauty hunting, hero tales, legendary tales, revenge and vengeance. The tales also manipulate the customs, rites and rituals of the people, beliefs faculty to form the plots and sub-plots or the wardrobe of it. On the other hand, they also records all the notable events of the past embedded with thought provoking stories revealing the historical, cultural, inhabitation, religious aspect and names of the kings, queens and chieftains of the community in the past. The folksongs also memorized almost all the drive made by the people. For instance, song for dead, song for harvesting, word play, song for encouragement, song celebrating success, song sang on their usual way of challenging the evil spirits, songs celebrating their hunting spirits and their way of courting their beloved etc.

The Darlong community does not have any written document. Hence, the community preserved their traditions and cultures through oral tradition and artifacts, which too is in a dwindling state. Every materials with which the community define its identity, existence and world where he is living in, taking from the anthropological myth to fairy tales are transmitted from generation to generation through oral tradition. Nevertheless, there are some writings maintained by early educated person on different subjects and those documents which the Village Council maintained in regard to their respective villages called ‘Khuahniangsia’, which of course is a product of later age. To begin with, the Darlong literature had its genesis of documentation with ‘Parkam’ (a collection of nine folktales) and followed by ‘Tian Thephung Bu’ (collection of folktales) by Pu. Siamkunga Darlong, Darchawi. Beyond these, there are monthly or weekly bulletins such as ‘Darlong Eng’, ‘Varna Sirbi, ‘Saibual Rawl’, ‘Vanglai’ etc. which records sermons, tales, songs, poetry, jokes, sayings, fictional stories and articles giving an explanation on varieties of topics like the ‘Tharlak Kut’ and other fest of the community. In addition, there are some referential writings of Holy Bible’s testaments in Darlong language like ‘Johana Hrilfiahna’ (reference on the Gospel of John) by Rev. Tlanglawma Darlong of Darchawi and ‘The Darlong of Tripura’ by Letthuama Darlong through Directorate of Tribal Research Institute, Govt. of Tripura. Recently, a successful effort on audio recording was made from Mr. Muana Darlong and as a result, the community could document their folksongs in ‘Ngaibang’. In the latest Tharlak Kut held on 11th– 12th Jan. 2013, Venue; Lamkhuang Khuahlui, effort has been made to revive the oral tradition of the community….Access Full Text of the Article


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Ritualistic World of Tuluva: a study of Tu?uva Women and the Siri Possession Cult

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Yogitha Shetty,University of Hyderabad

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Abstract

The paper could roughly be divided into two sections: first provides a brief outline of Bh?t?r?dhane or the ritual-performance traditions of the Tulu-speaking region in the coastal region of Karnataka. Second offers an insight into the mass possession cult of Siri, which like the other rituals of Bh?t?r?dhane derive their referential script from the oral tradition of the land. Connected intricately with the Siri epic or p??dana, Siri rituals are performed annually in many places of the coastal region of Karnataka. During these rituals thousands of ‘afflicted’ women gather and get ‘possessed’ by the pantheon of Siri spirits. This paper is an attempt to delve into the emancipatory potential that this platform could offer women who participate every year, first as novices and then as adepts. Keep Reading

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Contemporary Gujarati Poetry: For Whom Are They Writing?

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Mukesh Modi, D. M. Patel Arts and S. S. Patel Commerce College

Abstract:

The writer here describes the various ages and traditions of Gujarati Poetry, looks into the present condition and questions the practice of writing poetry for the pundits’ sake.

 Middle Age Gujarati Poetry

Gujarati poetry has basically evolved from Bhakti Literature of the 15th and 16th centuries. Oral tradition of Gujarati folklore dates back to the 12th century. So many seekers/devotees contributed immensely to the development of Gujarati poetry. Gujarati literature is divided broadly into two periods. The period from 12th century to the early 19th century is known as Middle Age, and the second period from 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century is known as Modern age. Looking at the Middle Age Gujarati literature, we find that the period was, as is the case with other Indian literature, dominated by poetry. In Gujarati, we have Narsinh Mehta Mirabai, Akho, Premanand, Shamal, Dayaram, Bhalan, Nakar, Bhim, Raje, Pritam, Dhiro, Bhojo and many others. With few exceptions, most of these poets liked to be known as devotees more and poets less. As Dr. Ramesh Trivedi mentions: “There was neither a consciousness of being poets nor attachment to being poets.” The central theme of Middle Age Gujarati Literature was religion. Since the society of the time was dependent heavily on religion, the hymns to devotions, wisdom and detachments were the major themes of the poetry of the age. Keep Reading

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