Punjabi folklore

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Folios of a manuscript of Heer Waris Shah (Waris Shah's version of the Heer-Ranjha folktale), circa 19th century Folios of a manuscript of Heer Waris Shah (Waris Shah's version of the Heer-Ranjha folktale), circa 19th century.jpg
Folios of a manuscript of Heer Waris Shah (Waris Shah's version of the Heer-Ranjha folktale), circa 19th century

Punjabi folklore (more particularly its folksongs) are a core part of the Punjabi culture. [1] [2] Other important components of Punjabi folklore are farces, anecdotes, idioms, folktales, and sayings. [3]

Contents

Research

Origin

Richard Carnac Temple argued in his 1884 work, The Legends of the Punjab, that the plot structure of Punjabi folktales and bardic poetry was indistinguishable from one another, albeit with the bardic poems being more textually conservative (as they had been governed by metre and rhyme due to being in verse form). This led him to believe that the folktales originated from the bardic literature, existing as degraded derivatives. [4]

I hope to show here abundantly that the bardic poem and the folktale are constructed on precisely the same lines as far as the pure story goes, even where the former is fastened on to really historical characters and mixed up with the narrative of bona fide historical facts [which Temple evidently values]. The folktale is very often in fact a mere scene, or jumble of scenes, to be found in the poem, where only the marvellous story has been remembered, while the names and surroundings of the actors to whom it is attributed has [sic] been forgotten. (Temple, v-vi)

— Donald Haase quoting R. C. Temple, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales, page 895

Themes

Depiction of Raja Rasalu beating Raja Sirikap in a game of chaupat (pasa), original sketch from a Punjabi storybook, reproduced by Charles Swynnerton in 'The Adventures of the Panjab Hero Raja Rasalu, and Other Folk-Tales of the Panjab' (1884) Depiction of Raja Rasalu beating Raja Sirikap in a game of chaupat (pasa), original sketch from a Punjabi storybook, reproduced by Charles Swynnerton (1884).jpg
Depiction of Raja Rasalu beating Raja Sirikap in a game of chaupat (pasa), original sketch from a Punjabi storybook, reproduced by Charles Swynnerton in 'The Adventures of the Panjáb Hero Rájá Rasálu, and Other Folk-Tales of the Panjáb' (1884)

Punjabi folktales commonly incorporate stories involving animals which teach a moral lesson. [5] This is a theme which originated in ancient India, with a surviving example being the Panchatantra of the third century BCE. [5] Other prevalent themes found within Punjabi folklore is a suspcision of those in positions of power, and folly & pretense used for derision. [5]

The heroine in Punjabi folktales (a pari/fairy or a princess) can be found inside a fruit or vegetable, which they are named after, or in the form of an animal, such as a mammal (monkey or goat) or a bird (swan or peacock/peahen). [6] [7]

History of study

Book cover of Tales of the Punjab by Flora Annie Steel Tales of the Punjab.pdf
Book cover of Tales of the Punjab by Flora Annie Steel

Academic folkloristic research into and the collecting of the large corpus of Punjabi folktales began during the colonial-era by Britishers, such as Flora Annie Steel's three papers on her studies of local Punjabi folktales (1880), with a translation of three fables into English, [2] Richard Carnac Temple's The Legends of the Punjab (1884), Flora Annie Steel's Tales of the Punjab (1894), and Charles Frederick Usborne's Panjabi Lyrics and Proverbs (1905). [8] [3] Native Punjabis have also contributed to this field, with some names being Devendra Satyarthi, Mohinder Singh Randhawa, Amrita Pritam, Sohinder Singh Wanjara Bedi, Giani Gurdit Singh, and Sukhdev Madpuri, whom have contributed published collections, encyclopedias, anthologies, and renditions in this field of study. [8]

List of Punjabi folklore

See also

References

  1. ↑ Temple, Richard C. (1884) The Legends of the Panjab. Bombay: Education Society's Press, [1884–1900] (Reissued with an introduction by Kartar Singh Duggal: Rupa and Company)
  2. 1 2 "Folklore Research in India – Punjab". Varia folklorica. Alan Dundes, International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. The Hague [Noordeinde 41]: Mouton. 1978. p. 205. ISBN   978-3-11-080772-1. OCLC   561720258.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. 1 2 Luhar, Sahdev (2023). Folklore Studies in India: Critical Regional Responses. N. S. Patel (Autonomous) Arts College. p. 53. ISBN   9788195500840.
  4. ↑ "South Asian Tales". The Greenwood encyclopedia of folktales and fairy tales (in three volumes). Donald Haase. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 2008. p. 895. ISBN   978-0-313-04947-7. OCLC   192044183.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. 1 2 3 Folktales and fairy tales : traditions and texts from around the world. Anne E. Duggan, Donald Haase, Helen Callow (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, California. 2016. p. 834. ISBN   978-1-61069-253-3. OCLC   923255058.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ↑ Kaura, Wīrapāla (2005). Pañjābī loka kahānīāṃ: rishatā nātā prabandha (in Punjabi). Wārīsa Shāha Phāuṇḍeshana. p. 104. ISBN   9788178561561.
  7. ↑ Pūnī, Balabīra Siṅgha (1994). Pañjābī loka sāhita ate rītī riwāja (in Punjabi). Sarawaprīta Siṅgha. p. 57.
  8. 1 2 Datta, Amaresh (1988). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Devraj to Jyoti. Vol. 2. Sahitya Akademi. p. 1309. ISBN   9788126011940.
  9. ↑ Shuaib, Haroon (6 January 2022). "Raja Rasalu: An Epic Folklore from Sialkot". Youlin Magazine. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  10. ↑ legends of the Panjab, Part 1 By R. C. Temple, Page121
  11. 1 2 3 South Asian folklore : an encyclopedia. Peter J. Claus, Sarah Diamond, Margaret Ann Mills. New York, NY. 2003. p. 497. ISBN   978-1-000-14353-9. OCLC   1222776533.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ↑ Aftab, Tahera (2008). Inscribing South Asian Muslim women : an annotated bibliography & research guide. Leiden: Brill. p. 511. ISBN   978-90-474-2385-0. OCLC   608597790.
  13. ↑ Kothiyal, Tanuja (2016). Nomadic Narratives: A History of Mobility and Identity in the Great Indian Desert. Cambridge University Press. p. 252. ISBN   9781316673898.
  14. ↑ Appadurai, Arjun; Korom, Frank J.; Mills, Margaret A. (2015). Gender, Genre, and Power in South Asian Expressive Traditions. South Asia Seminar. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 203. ISBN   9781512821321.

Further reading

Folktale collections
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