Indian folklore

The Indian folklore is very rich and comprehensive. India is an old country which through the ages was ruled by different nations and rulers. Each of them contribute to the folklore of this place.

Storyteller in India

Most of the tells were dispersed verbal and each of the tellers added something to the story. The stories glorify local heroes and places. The legends are mostly told in local languages and dialects. The people worshipped to their heroes and even created festivals named after them. In the ancient times these stories were told by professional storytellers.

Much of the the folklore in India has it's roots at the religions. Following the Sanskrit traditions big part of the tells are not very colourful and epic. On the contrary, often they are very rational. Also as a consequence of the influence of the religion, the tells are different in the different castes.

The folktales has different purposes. One part of them are created to teach the young people religious precepts other are simply for fun. The oral tradition is one of the oldest in the world and it is still very important for the people in India. The reason is that the kids are learning everything from their parents at their homes. This way they understand much more easily and can ask much questions, something that they not always can do in schools. As an addition to this, is that not a big number of the children in India, are going to school.

After all, some of the tells are collected in books as “Panchatantra” and “Hitopadesha” by the folklorists. They started to search for their national identity soon after the independence. They started to collect epics, myths and stories. This was a major challenge because the scholars had to move from village to village and to talk with people about the songs and the customs that they perform. The work complicates because of the different languages and dialects in the different parts of India.

Traditional Clothes and Dances in India

The folk arts in India are usually representing scenes of popular stories and are made mainly from craftsmen. They capture very much details in their work some as clothes, customs and specific ways of celebrating of national holidays.