WHISPERS OF THE WOODS
Introduction
Storytelling is the “most prolific art form” (McKee 11). It is a fundamental component of human communication, cultural communication, and civilizational movement. The two components of “story” and “telling” show that it pertains to both narrativity and the process of narration. The story draws from the experience and “is passed on from mouth to mouth” (Benjamin, 1936). The existing project engages with folk stories as a response to “all the things without which social life would be impossible” (Thompson 369). The trope of Nature has been explored in the folk stories of the Kumaon region as the lives here are shaped by the rugged terrain, wherein lies their home. The project, in addition to the curation of stories, demonstrates their role in sharing common knowledge, perpetuating cultural practices, and creating ecological awareness. The project is also an attempt at digital storytelling, which is defined as “narrative entertainment that reaches its audience via digital technology and media—microprocessors, wireless signals, the Web, DVDs, and so on” (Miller xiii). The author has chosen the web as a mode of digital storytelling for dissemination of these stories.
Classification of Eight Stories into Four Thematic Categories
The Oxford Dictionary of English (Third Edition, 2010) traces the origins of the term “folk” to Old English as “folc”, signifying “common people, laity, men, people, nation, tribe” (Stevenson, 2010). The equivalent of the word “folk” that exists in Hindi is लोक or “lok”, with corresponding terms such as लोक संगीत or lok sangeet ("folk music"), लोक गीत or lok geet ("folk song"), लोक संस्कृति or lok sanskriti ("folk culture"), and even लोक कथाएं or lok kathaayein ("folk stories" or "folktales").
The folk stories, I studied as per of this project, offer a whiff of the natural landscape of the hills. The patron goddess of the region is Nanda Devi, who appears in folk stories across the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. The reason - she is the daughter of the Himalayas. Different regions of the state have different versions of her story. The district of Pithoragarh, to cite an example, celebrates her as "Gamra" in the Saato-Aatho festival, whereas Almora as "Nanda" in the Nanda Mahotsav. In the book, The Folktale (1946), Stith Thompson observes that folk stories are a response to “all the things without which social life would be impossible” (369). In the context of Uttarakhand, nature is the source of imagination for the people. Therefore, it is not surprising to find the recurrent trope of nature and landscape in the folk stories of Uttarakhand, as the lives of the people in Uttarakhand is shaped by the rugged terrain, wherein lies their home.
Where Bird Speaks and Princess Wilts: Personification in Folktales
Crow is at the heart of the story of “Ghughutiya Tyar”. Set during the reign of the Chand dynasty, it narrates how the son of King Kalyan Chand, Nirbhay or Ghughut, was rescued from the court conspirators. The story is a celebration of the wisdom of crows. Divided into two parts, the first part can be read as a moral lesson on trust. It narrates that the crow loses its beauty and melodious voice on disobeying the sage, who had given it the task of getting amrit or the elixir of life to the hermitage. The second part, on the hand, describes how the crows come to the rescue as the young Nirbhay, the son of King Kalyan Chand, is abducted. They save the young child by raising the alarm and alerting the king. Jawaharlal Handoo, in his keynote titled “Folklore, Public Sphere and Civil Society: The Case of the Marginalised” (2016), highlights the difference between the animals in the real world and in folkore. He observes that in folklore, the small creatures in Nature of “little account” are imbued with wisdom and courage (Handoo 15). It is then not surprising to observe the role of the crows in the "Ghughutiya Tyar" story. The act of fortitude displayed by the crows is rewarded with a feast and becomes a moment of celebration in the hills of the Kumaon till today. “Ghughuitya Tyaar” or “Pusudiya Tyaar” is one of the rare festivals where "not so liked" crows are served with sweet cookies made of flour, which are strung into necklaces by young children.
Personification is used as an important figure of speech in the folktales as the elements of nature are personified and endowed with human-like qualities. The story of “Pyoli” narrates the life of a beautiful girl who was buried at a place, where a yellow flower blossomed. Raised amidst the forest, the sylvan beauty continued to wilt as she failed to come to terms with the life in a palace. The myth of Pyoli has resonances with the flowers described in the Greek mythology, where a flower sprouted at the place where Narcissus died. The parallels between the two suggests the nature of folktales that associate beautiful characters with flowers. Therefore, the list of Kumaoni songs also shows how the flower has become a metaphor for beauty.
The folk story of “Ghughuti” links the creation myth to Ghughuti (Spotted Dove or Streptopelia orientalis) .The Rigveda (10.121) mentions Hiranyagarbha, the Golden Egg as the source of the creation of the universe. However, in the folk stories of the Kumaon region, the creation is attributed to the egg of Ghughuti. The story describes how Ghughuti invoked the sat (truth) to help her lay eggs. One of the two eggs fell down and split into two parts. The upper part formed the sky and the lower part formed the Earth. This story can be viewed as an instance of how the folk stories co-opt stories from a larger narrative and render it a local tenor.
Weaving the Threads of Wisdom: Human Values and Environmental Messages in Folktales
Folktale is a form of narrative that weaves into it timeless wisdom. The oral tradition of disseminating these stories becomes a “primary source of shared understanding, shared wisdom, shared cognition and shared world view” (Mathur 65). Similarly, the select folk stories of the Kumaon region illuminate fundamental truths about life, relationships, and nature. The story of “Nyoli” offers interesting insight into the sister-brother relationship. The brother does not wake her sleeping sister up even though he had travelled long to meet her. He does not disturb an exhausted sister on account of the day’s long work. His consideration for his sister is indicative of the immense love for his sister. In addition, the sister regrets the departure of her brother in an utterance full of angst: भै भुकी, मैं सिती, भै भुकी, मैं सिती!’ (“While my brother remained hungry, I kept sleeping”). The story ends with the death of the sister. The tragic nature of the story reveals the bond of the brother-sister relationship, which has become part of the tradition of “Bhitauli” in the month of Chait (April-May).
The “Pyoli” story reflects the ecological wisdom on the indispensable role of nature in human life as nature becomes the ultimate source of nourishment without which our lives wilt and wither away. Her love for the natural landscape is evident in her deteriorating health in the palace. She realises that she was a wildflower who failed to flourish amidst the confines of the palace walls. In “Introduction” to Landscape and Memory, Simon Schama acknowledges the role of “shaping perception that makes the difference between raw matter and landscape.” The story of “Pyoli” demonstrates the importance of memory in rendering the environments around us meaningful. Pyoli not only lives in the forest with birds, bees, butterflies, and shrubs, she is also nourished by the natural dwelling. Moreover, her consideration for Nature also gets reflected in the promise that Pyoli seeks from her husband that he should not hunt any animal of the forest.
The flower of Masi is part of the folk stories based on the worship of gods and goddesses. In a paper titled "Historical profi le of Nardostachys jatamansi: An ancient incense & aromatic medicinal herb from Kumaon, Uttarakhand" (2023), N C Shah mentions: "The first report of the use of jaṭāmānsī in magico-religious rites known as jaga is from Kumaon" (Shah 113) The story on “Masi” has a religious overtone given the high degree of importance attached to the flower as an offering to the gods and goddesses. The story, therefore, describes the details of the flower, Nardostachys jatamansi. The conversation, captured between an ignorant and a knowledgeable person, is taxonomic in nature as it offers details such as the colour of the flower, the altitude, the environment where it is found, and who can get it. Finally, a list of gods and goddesses are evoked. The story of "Masi" demonstrates how folktales through its oral tradition become a medium to share common knowledge on the flowers found in alpine meadows. The chanchari song becomes not only a mirthful accompaniment to the tradition of khel but also delivers information of the characteristics of a flower. The flower "not only has a religious sanctity but also a high place in the Kumaoni culture" (Shah 114). The reference to the flower appears in many songs in the language too.
The story of the guarding deity, "Bhumiya", is a tale on offering gratitude to the land, which feeds the farmer. It is interesting to note that as a jamindar who failed to offer gratitude to hudkiya, Bhumiya now accepts offering from people as a token of gratitude. The demarcation of a thaan (“sacred place”) in the name of Bhumiya is found at the outskirts of each village, which performs two functions. First, it entails the production of a sacred space (Lefebvre, 1991) for the land deity given the importance of land for the people dependent on agriculture. Second, it also marks a way of marking the boundary separating one village from another. W J T Mitchell, in his book Landscape and Power (1994), views landscape "not as what it “is” or “means” but what it does, how it works as a cultural practice” (Mitchell 1). The sacred space becomes a site of cultural practice as the first produce of the crops is now traditionally offered to the god of fields as a mark of gratitude. The offering is an acknowledgement of the magnanimity of the landscape around. Bhumiya has been described by Edwin Thomas Atkinson in his book titled The Himalayan Gazetteer (1884) as one who “is satisfied with the humblest offering of the fruits of the earth” (Atkinson 825). The satiation of the god through the produce of the earth itself demonstrates the deification of the land through the worship of Bhumiya.
While the agricultural land in the village area belongs to Bhumiya, the region at the top of the alpine forest is overseen by Ari or Aedi. The pastoral god is accompanied by two dogs and is amongst those gods that are propitiated by offering a sacrifice. The two types of pastoral deities are indicative of the two broad categories found in the hills - benevolent and malevolent gods. If Bhumiya lives at the outskirts of the villages, Aedi’s abode is in the places that are not inhabited by people. Such is his dislike that anyone who catches his sight, dies instantaneously or is devoured by his two dogs.
Echoes from the Hills: A Peek into the Culture through Folktales
The story of the “Saato-Aatho” festival reveals the insights into the lives of the people from the Kumaon region. The story demonstrates the lives through a co-opting of a pan-Hindu goddess Parvati with the tinge of localness. The references to clothes, cuisine, and folk dance of the Kumaon region appear in the story through picchodi (a traditional yellow-coloured dupatta (odhni or chunari) with red dots that is worn by married women in Uttarakhand) and nau paathe ghaaghaeri (a traditional skirt of nine parts worn by women at the waist and goes on to cover till the ankle), dashmi ki roti (a dish prepared by mixing whole wheat flour and besan) and khel (a traditional circular formation of people where they move forward and backward to the tunes of the traditional percussion musical instruments of hudka, dhol, and damau) respectively. The story also demonstrates how even gods have human-like traits as Gamra (a local name for Goddess Parvati), who curses her bhabhi (sister-in-law) when she refuses to give a golden diya and a copper container.
A popular blessing दुबै जस जड़ ह्वै जौ, फूलै जस भाड़ी or doobae jass jadh hwae jaw, phoolae jas bhaadi (“May you have roots like a doob grass (Cynodon dactylon) and the bounty of flowers”) also appears in the story. It is a form of a blessing bestowed by the elders in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand to date when they part their ways from younger ones. The doob grass, a metaphor borrowed from nature, symbolises a long life given the deep root system of the grass.
In addition, the reference to months also appears in the stories. Nyoli and Ghughuti are related to the month of Chait (April-May) given its association with the maet (“the maternal place”) on account of the tradition of “Bhitauli”. The mention of Poosh is made in the “Ghughutiya Tyaar” story and hence the festival is also called Pushuriya. The story on Saato-Aatho refers to the month of Bhadon as bhookho maen (“the hungry month”) as no crop is available during this time.
Conclusion
The analysis of the select folk stories prevalent in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand offers a glimpse into the tradition and rituals practised. The "Nyoli" story offers a moving tale of the brother-sister love. The "Saato-Aatho" story is marked by a localisation of the story of Gamra (Parvati), who is visualised as a woman from the Kumaon region through references to picchodi, ghagharee, dyudi, and khel.
Nature not only serves as the backdrop against which these practices are performed but is fount of inspiration that shapes the lives and narratives of the people. The reverence of the landscape finds an expression in the worship of the gods: Parvati, the daughter of the Himalaya, is the patron goddess of the hills. Bhumiya is the protector of land and territories. The high alpine peaks of the hills are treacherous and hence the story of a malevolent Aedi remains alive in the consciousness of the locals. On the day of Makar Sankranti, believed to be one of the holiest days in Hinduism, the region arranges a feast for crows as a mark of its gratitude. The intertwined relationship between human and Nature is exemplified in the tragic story of “Pyoli”. Therefore, it be deduced that folktales serve as repositories of timeless wisdom, reflecting on life, relationships, and nature in the Kumaon region. The oral tradition of folktales becomes an interesting medium for sharing common knowledge and values, perpetuating cultural practices and ecological awareness in the hills of Uttarakhand.
Works Cited
Atkinson, Edwin Thomas. The Himalayan Gazetteer Vol. 3. Natraj Publishers, 2014.
Handoo, Jawaharlal. “Folklore, Public Sphere and Civil Society: The Case of the Marginalised.” Indian Folk-Epics and other Folklore, edited by Mohan Patel and Prashant Patel, Central Institute of Indian Languages and N S Patel Arts College, 2016, pp.13-24.
Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1991.
Mathur, Nita. “Constructing a Thesaurus of Indigenous Folk Concepts.” Folklore in Modern Indian, edited by Jawaharlal Handoo, Central Institute of Indian Languages, 2012, pp.65-72.
Benjamin, Walter. “The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov.” https://arl.human.cornell.edu/linked%20docs/Walter%20Benjamin%20Storyteller.pdf. Accessed 19 April 2024.
Mathur, Nita. “Constructing a Thesaurus of Indigenous Folk Concepts.” Folklore in Modern Indian, edited by Jawaharlal Handoo, Central Institute of Indian Languages, 2012, pp.65-72.
McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. Regan Books, 1997.
Miller, Carolyn Handler. Digital Storytelling: A Creator’s Guide to Interactive Entertainment. Focal Press, 2004.
Mitchell, W J T. “Introduction”. Landscape and Power, edited by W J T Mitchell, University of Chicago Press, 1994, pp.1-4.
Schama, Simon. Landscape and Memory. Vintage Books, 1995.
Stevenson, Angus, editor. Oxford Dictionary of English 3rd Edition. Oxford University Press, 2010.
Thompson, Stith. The Folktale. The Dryden Press, 1946.