Exploring the Meaning of Genre in Two Indian Performance Traditions

Abstract

Two performance traditions found in modern India raise questions about the ways genres are transformed by changing social, cultural, and economic circumstances. Using the examples of ＂Dhola＂, an oral epic from the Braj region of northern India and ＂patas＂, scroll/songs from West Bengal, this paper examines both the traditional and modern meanings of genre via these two traditions. The ＂Dhola＂ functions much like a novel, a heterogeneous compilation of secondary genres including song, chant, narration, reported speech, and more. Now ＂Dhola＂ is found on audio-cassettes and DVDs, shifting its performance style and content away from the oral performance on a village verandah while adding new secondary genres and new content. The ＂pata＂ (plural for ease for English readers, patas), traditionally a performed sung scroll, presented a unity of illustrated scroll and song, which has disappeared as the scroll alone has become a commodity sold to urban Indians and tourists to be hung on their walls as folk art. Exploring both the ＂patas＂ and ＂Dhola＂ over time-in print, oral performance, audio-cassette, or museum exhibitions-leads to an understanding of the ways genres are grounded in social practice. These two traditions, sharing a worldview from below (both are products of marginalized lower castes), allow us to explore the intersections of social value, linguistic and painted conventions, and the world thus portrayed. They are just two examples of the transformations of folk genres occurring around the world due to the influences of globalization.