From the Desk of the Editor-in-Chief

Since last one year I have been extensively travelling across the country and experiencing the diversities of the vast land. We have so many ethnic groups, so many languages and so many religions and customs! We have sufficient ground to establish our self and separate identity in relation to the other , but still we feel one. This has been made possible due to our heritage and tradition that we have inherited from the generations. Being in my own village I am a global person.

 Some of us love tradition and some are in transition. Some try to discard the old fashion and try to transform the whole world. Some of us like the tradition and don’t accept the transition. But some of us try to synchronise the tradition with the transition and create a blend of the past with the present. But we survive with our respective thoughts, ideas and beliefs. 

In 21 st century, a new trend has emerged to voice the marginalized. Mellineum Development Goal ( MDG ) 2010 advocates for the marginalised and has suggested a lots of activities to be adopted in development sector. People on the other hand are uniting to fight the injustice, though it is fragmented, scattered, but they fight for their human rights. Globalisation has one language, one ambition and one culture. This is to create a space for those who can. It never stands for the cannot. Therefore the people who are in the side of cannot are raising their voices against this ideology. Consider how the developed countries are grappling with the human crisis as well as environmental crisis. They are also entangled with the masters of technology and try to resolve the issues and problems through technologies. Technologies can create a lot of things, but it cannot create a Jesus Christ or a Buddha. When heart become heartless there 

6 Lokaratna Vol III never laid the humanity. Human values are degenerated. Still we believe that this degeneration will invite regeneration. Now the gap of local and global is reducing. A Dongria Kondh young man can fight against the multinationals in London and the most sophisticated scientist is also believe the tribal priest for his perseverance. Now indigenous are also cosmopolitan and now environmental scientists are also eager to adopt the sacred nature. Some where the social knowledge is becoming more stronger than the experts and the nature of achieving the knowledge is becoming more human and experiential than the theoretical. We as the practitioners of knowledge, who wish to learn from the most nonliterates are ready to understand the alchemy of nature from the age old man and women and want to perpetuate the human knowledge across the globe. This volume, as usual, coming up with very rich articles related to epics, oral traditions, tribal knowledge, performing arts, traditional drama, oral tradition of death ,ritualperformance and on folk goddesses. This volume contains the articles of some Indian folklorists and Indologists. Very interestingly this volume captures the report of the SHARP International Conference 2010 held in Helsinki University , Finland which can
be the best source of understanding the Indian context of Book Culture from the below. Another Report on Common Wealth Game 2010 held in India reported by Rasika Abrol of New Delhi. Tara Duglas, an English tribal art animator from England who propagated tribal art of India in England are two interesting work. This volume also contains the dance tradition of Orissa represented by Odishi dancer Madhulika Mahapatra in Karnataka to search the roots of Odissi dance. Book review section contains the review of one famous book Popular Culture written by H John Weaver
published by Peter Lang, along with some other books published in Odisha. I am thankful to all the writers who have gladly contributed to this volume. 

Special thanks to Dr Harekrishna Meher and Dr Chitrasen Pasayat for their editorial assistance. I am thankful to the Director, National Folklore Support Center, and Chennai for his support to get this volume published in NFSC web site for the wider readership. I am also thankful to Prof. Mark Turin of Cambridge University who has been kinds enough to link the web journal of Folklore Foundation that is released from NFSC, Chennai with the World Oral Literature Project. I hope that this solidarity would safeguard folklore scholarship across the globe. 

Mahendra K Mishra