Folk Literature and the Rise of Vernaculars in India-Inferences and Analysis

Abstract

India is a vast and diverse country having a natural treasure of folk tales and folk literature. Folk literature may be a part and parcel of the language and culture of any society. Folk literature also called folklore or oral tradition is that the lore (traditional knowledge and beliefs) of cultures having no written communication. It is transmitted by word of mouth and consists, as does write literature, of both prose and verse narratives, poems and songs, myths, dramas, rituals, proverbs, riddles, and therefore the like. Nearly all known peoples, now or within the past, have produced it. The diversity of India’s culture ensures a wide but complex range of literature which is based on the traditional language and customs from different regions, religious and social groups, and tribes. Most of the Folk tales are created, spread, and retained in the vernacular languages as Folktales exercise a powerful influence over the popular imagination, with folk heroes often being deified in villages. This paper deliberates on various aspects of the Indian Folk literature regarding its connection with the development of regional vernacular literature in India.