www.researchgate.net/publication/319837592_Re-interpreting_the_myth_of_LongterokFolklore study has come a long way from the days of antiquity and has
emerged as a discipline in its own right. Not so long ago, it was only
an appendage to subjects like history, anthropology, philology and
archaeology. Geography too plays an important role in tracing the evolutions
of folktales and identifying actual locations from legends and myths. The
ramifications of folklore study can now be heard in political discourse and
ethnic assertions. Further, folklore or/and cultural studies have now become an
integral component of comparative literature in many universities.
Oral tradition, the source of all folklore is now being hailed as the chronicle
of human history by providing evidence to the origin of people and their
subsequent migrations to their final destinations. Jan Vansina, in his book,
Oral Tradition as History (1985) says that the ‘rules of historical evidence as
they apply to oral traditions form a body, a logical train of thought’( from the
Preface, p.xiii).
The paper on the Origin Myth of the Aos seems to exemplify this in authenticating
certain elements of the traditional myth and at the same time placing that
particular culture in a more or less accurate historical-geographical framework.
The other Origin Myth (Mao) addresses the philosophical aspect of myth-
making while the short tale of the transformation of a girl into a bird highlights
the magical as well as the etiological elements of folktales.
The paper on Naga Heroes can be considered as representing Naga culture
at a certain point of history where their world-views came in direct conflict
with the so-called ‘civilized’ notions of bravery and beauty represented by the
colonizers.
The relevance of orality and oral cultures is still being debated in a world which
has gone beyond mere writing to unimagined realms of scientific innovation.
But what good does all this to man on earth if he cannot relate to his fellow
beings in a meaningful way?
The paper suggesting oral tradition as a viable alternative to diplomatic sophistry
in vexing problems deserves serious consideration. And the last paper trying
to trace the root-cause of women’s marginalization in rural society
like the Nagas to ‘tradition’, calls for a radical revision of the very
foundation on which all other aspects of this particular society
stands till today.
Most scholars tend to agree that the oral can never be fully expressed
in the written, experience cannot be duplicated into text. Asked if
native language and native experience can be translated, Gerald
Vizener replied, “Well I don’t think it’s possible, but I think people
ought to intersect themselves in trying to translate it…I think it
can be re-imagined and re-expressed and that’s my interest.” (As
quoted in Writing in the Oral Tradition, K.M Blaeser 1996, in the
Chapter, ‘Intersection with the Oral Tradition’ p.16.)
The viewpoints expressed in these papers as well as the various
paintings of a contemporary artist seem to suggest that folklore in
our era is indeed such an intersection. ❆