Culture & Folklore

Mahendra Kumar Mishra, Orissa The number of Ramayanas and the range of their influence in South and South east Asia over the past twenty-five hundred years or more are astonishing. Sanskrit alone contains some twenty five or more tellings belonging to various narrative genres.(epics,Kavya or ornate poetic compositions, puranas or old mythological stories ands forth.) …

Ramkatha in Oral Narratives and folk performance of Orissa Read More »

Mahendra K Mishra State Tribal Education Coordinator Orissa, India et’s imagine a tribal habitation without a road. Before the road, no jeep or truck could reach there. No forest contractors, forest officers were in the forest. The worldview of the people was of the forest as eternal as the earth and the universe. Huge resources …

Sacred worldview in tribal memory: sustaining nature through cultural actions Read More »

Mahendra K Mishra The present study is based mainly on the available folklore material of Central India. While studying it, the influence of the Ramayana tradition upon the indigenous tradition has been noted, and the parochialization of the universal characters of the great epic tradition and its influence on many ethnic groups have also formed …

Influence of the Ramayana Tradition on the Folklore of Central India Read More »

Mahendra K Mishra Introduction : Toki Parab is a festival observed by the Kondh-paraja tribe of Kalahandi and Koraput districts in the state of Orissa. The Kondh-paraja tribe live in the Jaipatna, Koksora and Thuamul Rampur Panchyat Samitis, especially in the eastern part of kalahandi bounded by the Nawarangpur sub-division of Koraput district. Kalahandi was …

Toki Parab: A festival of female Infanticide in Kalahandi Read More »

Dr Mahendra K Mishra The Ramayana and the Mahabharata composed by Valmiki and Vyasa respectively, have given due importance to each and every part of the subcontinent encompassing lands, forests, mountains, rivers and peoples of different castes and races. The assimilation of these two epics with the regional and subregional cultures have evolved from a …

A Hero of the Mahabharata in Folklore of Central India Read More »

Redefining Folklore: From Academic Domain to Public Sphere Mahendra Kumar Mishra 3 In 1989, we conducted a seminar on Gond folklore in a Gondi village. Eighty Gond traditional leaders attended the meeting. Government sanctioned three thousand rupees to our organisation to conduct the seminar. But while attending the seminar, eighty Gond leaders contributed their share …

Redefining Folklore: From Academic Domain to Public Sphere Read More »