Feature
Sunday, June 02, 2002
Compiled by SDNP
Head
lines
CULTURAL AND FOLKLORE HERITAGE
Bangladesh Sangbad Shangtha
 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).
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.
Top of the page
|
