Epics in Imprints-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

FEBRUARY - AUGUST 2003
FOLK TRADITIONS RELATED TO MAHABHARATA IN SOUTH INDIA
India has a very rich and vast repertoire
of folk traditions. As it is not possible
to deal with all of them in such a paper
an attempt has been made to briefly
describe the folk traditions of South India
mainly that of Tamilnadu and Kerala. But
before that it is necessary to understand
what one means by the term ‘folk
tradition’.
A folk tradition by its very nature
implies the ‘other’ which is ‘not-folk’ and
therefore it is as against the ‘other’ that this
is defined as ‘folk’. The ‘other’ is the
‘classical’ be it literature, music, dance,
painting , and so on. The classical is
dependent on certain rigid aesthetic rules
and regulations and is structured to a set
pattern. Students of Sanskrit will know
what this means in the context of a
voluminous literature which is available,
dealing with the various aspects of
culture, including that of sculpture and
temple construction. A holistic approach
to life which underscored the philosophy
of ancient India and permeated its various
aspects encouraged this development, so
much so, that all the classical arts aimed
at discovering the rhythm of the universe,
of which the human being himself was an
expression. The classical arts were also
connected with the goals of human
existence and became different means to
achieve the ‘intangible experience of the
unmanifested unity’. It was thus a part of
the sacred lore and had a spiritual end in
view.
T.S. Rukmani
At the same time it is interesting to
observe that there is a rich source of
evidence for both the classical and folk
artistic traditions going back to vedic
times. There is also ample evidence for the
continued existence of music and dance,
both classical and folk, throughout the
ages. It is this rich tradition which finds
expression in one of the earliest works of
this kind extant anywhere in the world
and called the Natyasastra whose author
is Bharata.
Natya literally means dance and
therefore one would expect the Natyasastra
to deal with the theatre and staging of
plays. But ancient theatre was not just the
spoken word as in Greek theatre but a total
experience both visual and intellectual
where music and dance played vital roles
in developing the theme. It was assumed
that every actor or actress would combine
himself/herself all the three functions of
actor, dancer and singer. It is perhaps this
legacy which finds place even in present
day cinema where no movie is complete
without the song and dance sequences
and every hero or heroine is supposed to
be an accomplished musician and dancer.
The Natyasastra talks about the
natyadharmi as opposed to the lokadharmi
styles or the margi as against the desi style.
Bharata also talks of the four divisions as
Avanti, Daksinatya, Panchali and Odhra-
Magadhi thus pointing to the prevalence
of the art in all parts of the country. Thus
the folk and the classical traditions have