This book in substance is a short Encyclopaedia of folk culture in India. Here is a brief study of folk life reflected in its diverse creative urges expressed through songs and dances, literature, arts and crafts, works and economy, and beliefs, superstitions and religion. The author has a life-long experience in these fields of study and already made his marks as a regular writer of books and articles on these topics. His popular talks have been broadcast and televised from time to time. He was once sent by the Government of India to the Soviet Union to study its popular culture first hand and his article appeared in a learned Russian journal. The scope of this book is wide and diversified. The author has aptly selected illustrations from folk literature to justify his view point. His translations of the selected passages are simple and expressive.
But "Who are the folk ?" asks the Encyclopaedia Britannica (15th Edition vol. 7, p. 449). The answer offered is. "In Dictionaries 'folk is synonymous with people". To elaborate the idea, it adds, "The adjective folk relates folk products to common people. In dictionaries there are many definitions of 'folklore', including those of rites, dances and music. Terms such as traditions, anonymity and pesantry recur in these diverse explanations."
This authoritative pronouncement is a pointer to the topics discussed in this book. The author's idea is not to add to the topical jargon, but to present a simple exposition of popular life expressed through culture from the craddle to the grave punctuated with love, marriage, separation, leisure and work. Economy plays a distinct role in this pattern of life and naturally attracts the author's attention. In short, this book briefly seeks to present the people's life in totality.
Yet the people comprise both simple and sophisticated groups and the impact and confrontation between the two create deep socio-economic problems which are often reflected in folk consciousness. The author is not oblivious of these baffling problems of modern life created by industrialisation and urbanisation. He has drawn upon the considered opinions of experts, both local and foreign, to support his arguments concerning such complex situations. Life is in a state of flux. Men change, so does the society of men. The author attempts to show how socio-economic changes affect the traditional culture. Here lies the high drama of life which commands deep contemplation. The author, however, is not a pessimist. He ends his book with his belief that man can adapt himself to difficult situations and ultimately comes out triumphant. From that angle this book has a message of optimist.
I have no hesitation in recommending this interesting book to the discerning public.
.Under the weight of external grandeur the inner harmony is lost gradually and one day in a fearsome tumult man's amassed wealth crumbles down to dust. Owing to the limitless largeness of its empire Rome fell into a stupor one day It did not know that it was being weakened everyday by the monstrous mass of matter. The Jews were then as a race subjugated and humiliated. Yet a poor and unknown man of this race revealed the richness of truth which won over the heap of accumulated things. The Jews remined the haughty Romans only these few words: 'Know thy soul to be much greater than thy riches". And it was these few words that ushered a new era in the History of the world.
"Man earned his self-respect and started to seek his soul. There were countless obstacles outside, yet through constant fight with himself he made progress towards gaining the divine wealth of the immortal world".
The conflict between the inner world and the outer world is not merely personal, it is also political and social. Today political structures are changing very fast while the changes in social structures are comparatively slow and rather indefinable. Though man has not secured the divine wealth of the immortal world, his journey towards it has continued from time immemorial. To trace the paths of this journey is the aim of this book. We have searched the footsteps of this journey in the changes of social structures-family, the relations between man and woman, husband and wife and children, changes in the religious and moral beliefs, in education, in emotional expressions and so on. Following the history of this journey we have seen that sometime man's tears have washed away his footsteps, some time man has been lost in the very multitudes of men, and again at some time man's haughtiness has broken the lamp of his soul; We have seen that man has done many in human deeds in the name of religion, has put himself in bondage in the name of freedom, has become slave to machines, and has turned himself into a commodity for the sake of money. The Man's concept of freedom has changed with the change of his sense of social values. The idea of freedom developed in him from the day he marched on to make conquest of nature Religion, however, has always tried to keep man under its sway and thereby preserve his social identity But by dint of his pursuit of knowledge and spirit of inquiry man has time and again flouted the authority of religion, for which he has had to pass through a great deal of suffering and sacrifice. And so changes have come in man's life on earth changes in his family life and social life. The changes have been the outcome of the conflicts in the sense of values, the relations between man and woman, husband and wife, in love and other emotions. Man's dominance over woman has determined the concept of woman's chastity, which consists in the denial of her sexual freedom. However, women have tried to assert themselves. As has been said.
Hindu (935)
Agriculture (118)
Ancient (1085)
Archaeology (754)
Architecture (563)
Art & Culture (910)
Biography (702)
Buddhist (544)
Cookery (167)
Emperor & Queen (565)
Islam (242)
Jainism (307)
Literary (896)
Mahatma Gandhi (372)
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