The definition of folklore might look long and tedious if we
say "Whenever a lullaby is sung to a child; whenever a
tongue twister or a riddle or a countingout time is used in
nursery or school; whenever sayings or proverbs are told; whenever
a mother shows her daughter how to sew, spin, weave, embroider,
bake an old-fashioned pie; whenever a farmer on the ancestral
plot trains his son in the ways long familiar; whenever a village
craftsman, carpenter, carver, shoemaker, blacksmith trains his
apprentice in the use of tools; whenever in may callings the
knowledge, experience, wisdom, skill, habits and practices of
the past are handed down by examples or spoken world, by the
elder to the new generation, without reference to books or print,
then that is called Folklore." However, in Bangladesh,
there is an enormous amount of influence of folklore in our
old and modern Bengali literature. Therefore, to analyse and
understand our culture and literature, we must be familiar with
the folkloric heritage of Bangladesh and how it was collected
over the years. Being a Bangladeshi, it is good to learn something
about our rich heritage.
If one is to make a historical survey
of Bengali folklore, covering all branches of formalised folklore,
such as tales, songs, ballads, proverbs, riddles, charms, superstitions,
myths, legends and similar traditional materials, he must be
acquainted with social and ethnic conditions of the country.
The folklore of Bangladesh is heavily influenced by different
races which were present years ago. The abundant folklore of
the present-day Bangladesh, therefore, contains a variety of
elements, which is partly to be explained by the historical
forces.
From the third century AD onwards,
the Mouryas, the Guptas, the Palas, the Senas and the Muslims
came one after another to rule the land. As a result, they grafted
their ways of life and cultural traits on the indigenous population.
Subsequently, Portuguese, French and English ships anchored
in the harbours of Bengal. They left not only their merchandise
but also their customs. Of these foreign traders, the British
became the most powerful. They were able to consolidate their
authority at the expense of the fading empire of the Mughal
rulers. The battle of Plassy in 1757 ended with the defeat of
the Nawab of Bengal. The British victory ensured the supremacy
of the British East India Company over the entire sub-continent,
which included Bangladesh, for nearly 200 years. As a result,
the folklore of Bangladesh presents an interesting variety,
both anthropological and sociological.
Since a number of races established
in Bengal, it only naturally follows that each race left its
own mark and it was not only physical but also cultural, which
collectively formed the basis of the future higher culture.
There is no denying the fact that the first phase of folklore
collecting was started by the British rulers of India, though
the purpose behind it was obviously political and administrative.
As soon as the British East India Company became ruler of Bengal
it requested the British civil officers to learn about the people
of the land through their culture and customs. Consequently,
under the directive of the Company, scholars like William Jones,
a judge of the old Supreme Court, Calcutta, established the
Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in the year 1784. This Society
promoted the study of the humanities, including the materials
later recognised as folklore.
Under the British initiative, the study
of folklore was advanced primarily by the British civil officers
and European missionaries.
After the Sepoy Revolution of 1857,
there followed more congenial atmosphere to investigate folklore.
In 1858, by a proclamation of Queen Victoria, the administration
was transferred from the East India Company to a Viceroy, the
representative of the Queen of England. From then on, the English
officials before leaving England, were instructed to mix with
the Indian people to try to gain their confidence, and also
to respect their religions, culture and customs. The officials
who came to India were clearly familiar with the anthropology,
ethnology and of course, folklore. The officials launched many
journals and publications, which richly contained enormous quality
of folklore materials.
Along with the civil servants, the
missionaries of Great Britain, Europe and the United States
made important contribution to the folklore collection and publication.
Since their aim was to preach Christianity among the natives,
it was incumbent on them to know the native customs. Among the
missionaries, William Carey was remarkable. He served in Fort
William College from 1800-1831 and with the help of native munshis
he published a series of Bengali books, edited newspapers and
encouraged the translations of Sanskrit folktales known in oral
traditions.
Other missionaries, such as Caleb Wright
and Right Rev. Reginald, on the other hand, were causal travellers
who kept excellent information in their books about the customs
and traditions of our country. The missionaries were followed
by the ontique collectors such as Kanailal Ghosal, Rajendranath
Benarjee and many more.
The second phase of the folklore movement
was introduced by Bengali scholars of nationalistic tendencies.
Rabindranath Tagore was the pioneer during the period. From
1885 to 1899, he published four essays showing the importance
of Bengali folk literature. 'These four essays were compiled
in his book Loka-Sahitya (Folk Literature) in 1907. Tagore patronised
others and he himself collected a large number of folklore materials
from his vast estate of East Bengal, including Bangladesh. He
himself wrote : "When I was at Selaidah, I would always
keep close contact with the Bauls (mystic folk singers) and
have discussion with them, and it was fact that I infused tunes
of Baul songs into many of my own songs". Many people say
that 'Tagore used numerous folklore themes in many of his poems,
songs, dramas, novels and short stories. Other scholars, who
made important contribution to folklore were Upendra Kishore
Roy Choudhury : Toontooni Pal (1910 Book on Toontooni) and Mitra
Majumder Takore: Thakur Mar Jhuli (1906 Grandmother Stories),
Monsur Uddin (collector of Baul songs), Jashim Uddin (who was
famous for his folklore themes in dramas and poetries) and Abbas
Uddin(who made folksongs popular).
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The third phase of folklore movement
began in Dhaka, then East Bengal, in the year 1938, when the
Eastern Mymensingh Literary Society was established. This promoted
the collection and study of folklore. Folklore activities were,
however, much accelerated when the then government established
the Bangla Academy in Dhaka in 1955 to promote research work
on Bengali language and literature and collected, preserved
and published folklore materials. Folklore candidates, appointed
by the academy, worked in regions rich in folklore. As a result,
folklore materials of high quality poured in on an unending
stream. So far, the Bangla Academy has published many books
on folklore.
Bengali ballads which are called Gatha
or Geetika in Bengali are one of the earliest variety of folksongs.
The dates of origin of Bengali ballads will safely go to up
to the Middle Ages, if not earlier. Divergent opinions have
been expressed as to the origin of ballads. There are two contending
groups : (1) communalistic, and (2) individualistic.
The first group saw in ballads a continuing
traditions from the primitive ages and thought that these were
made by a kind of communal improvisations for communal recreation.
Later, critic suggested that people were too indefinite, too
disorganised for such concerted efforts, and that ballads were
composed under the direction of a leader who brought the necessary
discipline in songs and who functioned as the main organiser
and guide. According to the critics, after an individual ballad
was composed, it passed on from people to people, community
to community through oral traditions. In the process some were
changed, improved and sometimes even deteriorated. This individualistic
theory has been accepted by the scholars at both home and abroad.
Behind ever art is a man, behind the
man is the race and behind the race is the social and natural
environment and these influences are sure to be reflected on
folklore. Bengali ballads give us an idea of the Bengali society
in the Middle Ages, its joy and sorrows, laughter and tears.
Bangladesh is the land of rivers -- almost all villages are
linked with rivers. There is a proverb which says, "There
is not a single village without a river or a rivulet and a folk
poet or a minstrel".
The struggle for existence was not
as hard in Middle Ages as it is today and the minstrels and
folk poets had ample opportunity to enjoy nature and pass care-free-time
in composing songs and stories. Moreover, they were always patronised
by the local feudal lords.
It was, of course, Islam that gave
the highest acceleration to the development of the Bengali ballads.
The Turks conquered Bengal at the beginning of the 13th century.
Muslims brought with them a huge store of Persian literature.
The low-caste Hindus for the first time in their life had the
opportunity to talk and mix with the conquering race. They saw
that there were no barriers to caste and creed among Muslims
and that all men were equal in Islam. In due course, the influence
of the Persian romances reached the remote corner of the country.
Gradually, the Hindu society also came to know of this and humanism
like the south wind blew over the literature of Bengal. Even
though these stories and songs were composed earlier, they were
unfortunately collected from the oral tradition only by the
second decade of the 20th century. It is quite obvious that
these stories underwent a great change. Earlier the poets were
patronised by the feudal lords, but in the later period probably
when the poets lost their patrons in the British period, they
became the "property of the masses rather than the classes".
May be, for this reason the quality of the folk stories and
songs, composed in the later period, deteriorated.
Many stories and songs have been collected
till now. The ballads are usually sung in accompaniment with
tabors, drums, and other folk instruments. Ballad stories are
sung by a leader who is called "Gayen' and he has a group
of associate singers called 'Paile' who join in the chorus in
illustrating the episodes.
There are innumerable varieties of
folk songs in the riverine Bangladesh which are sung by different
cultural groups in different parts of the country. The most
popular variety of songs can be divided into many different
classes.
The first class of songs can be divided
into "Work songs" or "Occupational songs".
These songs include harvest songs, which are sung at the time
of harvest or cultivation; songs of the bullockcart drivers
or palan-quin-bearers sung at the time of carrying passengers
from one place to another; songs sung by labourers when they
built roofs of a house; 'sari-gaan', sung by boatmen in the
month of monsoon, at the time of boat race, etc.
Kavi, however, bases mostly Hindu myths
and legends and is also sung by two rival singers. They are
usually sung at the time of Hindu festivals. Kavi, like Jari,
may also be sung throughout the year for pure entertainment.
Both Kavi and Jari sometimes go beyond
the limit of their particular subject and in the course of singing
introduces modern topics or amusing national and local events.
Sometimes when ritual singers indulge in personal attacks through
the exchange of sharp wits, the audience bursts into laughter.
We see that all the folk songs and stories of Bangladesh inform
us about the then society. It depicts clearly how the people
used to think, their customs, and what the principles they used
to follow. Through all the folk materials collected over the
years we can learn more about our country's history and tradition.
We learn that Bangladesh has rich cultural and folklore heritage,
which may be compared with any other country of the world rich
in folklore. Since folklore has already been accepted as a social,
cultural and ethnic study, Bangladeshi Folklore will also have
a distinct place in the study.
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