Oral Tradition of the Indian Tribes

Oral traditions are genres that come to us from our ancestors through words of mouth. They include forms such as songs, myths, tales, chant, riddles, proverbs and so on. They are a continuing and vibrant tradition. They help us connect to the past, knowledge, traditions, rituals, medicines and world views. In this sense, they are a major source of knowledge of arts, crafts, belief systems and forms of social learning. The tribals of India are rich in oral traditions and traditional resources. There have been some efforts to document these and study these resources systematically. But these are not adequate. We need to make significant efforts to document, study and translate them. Without such efforts, we may miss such as repertoire of knowledge system. This effort of ours is a small step towards documentation and study of such resources. In this book we have discussed the concept of orality, compared it with literacy, studied different genres such as tales, songs, dance, painting and plays in elaborate terms. We have also discussed their uniqueness and the fate they meet in the advent of modernity. We hope that the book will benefit students of folklore, literature and culture studies in a significant way.