South Asian folklore flourished as an oral tradition and was handed down from generation to generation until it was eventually written down centuries ago. Gunadhya of Kashmir, India, is believed to be one of the earliest recorders of oral narratives, composing his Brihat Katha in the Dardic language, Paisachi, during the first or second centuries CE. South Asians, specifically the people from the region comprised of present-day Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, brought their traditions, culture, folklore, and folktales when they began to immigrate to the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Bhutanese American Folktales
Bhutanese and Bhutanese American folktales are created, narrated, adapted, and memorized within the religious, social, and political contexts of Bhutan. Bhutanese and Bhutanese American folktales include fairy tales, stories of ma sang (men with superhuman strength), srin mo (demoness), and srin po (demon), funny stories, stories with talking animals, witty stories, supernatural tales, and tales involving deities, spirits, and yetis (mi rgod). Some popular motifs include talking trees, journeying on cattle business, mothers’ tricks to transform lazy sons, and disguises. Bhutanese folk stories, especially child-lore, are used by first-generation Bhutanese Americans as bedtime stories and also as a tool to teach their language. One of the popular examples of child-lore is Acho Lala (“The Brother Moon”), which features a series of questions about missing food, and playful responses that are quirky and nonsensical.
Afghan American Folktales
Afghanistan is also very rich in folklore and folk traditions. Lamar (published since the 1960s) and Fulklur (published since the 1970s) are some of the folk journals published regularly in Afghanistan documenting local folktales, legends, rituals and customs, poetry, proverbs, narratives, and songs. Folktales and folk traditions prevalent in Afghanistan, including proverbs, continue as a part of Afghan American traditions. They use certain stock proverbs to provide commentary on society or character without being direct or rude, for example, “No rose is without thorns,” which means no one is perfect; “don’t stop a donkey if it isn’t yours,” meaning one should not interfere in the business of others; “a wolf’s pup will grow into a wolf even though it is raised among men,” which means the true character of people born of bad heredity never changes no matter how well groomed they may become; or “it’s the same donkey, but with a new saddle,” referring to people who have gained high positions of which they are unworthy. Balochi and Brahui are two narrative-based proverb traditions used by Afghan Americans. These proverbs are compressed versions of fable narratives that can be understood and enjoyed only by those who are familiar with the fable. Thus, this kind of proverb is more popular among first-generation Afghan Americans. Apart from proverbs, fictional folktales, magic or wonder tales, animal narratives, legends of saints, and religious lore, multiepisodic adventure tales and prose romances are very much used by Afghan Americans. Prose romances are primarily romance quest stories in which a boy meets a girl, falls in love with her, but loses her to an adversary, who can be either the girl’s father or another suitor. Ultimately, the boy overcomes the challenge with the girl’s help and they get married.
Sri Lankan American Folklore
Sri Lankan folk literature was strictly an oral tradition until the introduction of Buddhism in the third century BCE. Before it was committed to writing, storytellers often changed their narration based on their audiences, the time, and the place it was told. Thus, folk genres exhibit variations in their themes, forms, rhythm, styles, meters, and rhymes. This variation is still found in Sri Lankan American folktales. Sri Lankan Americans have their own versions of Jataka tales, Ramayana, and Mahabharata (see “Indian American Folktales” below) that are different from India’s versions. Sri Lankan American folk literature includes humorous and didactic tales, religious tales, adventurous tales with kings and spirits, songs, poems, and ballads related to people’s lives in Sri Lanka. Folktales known as Gamakata that illustrate a proverb or a moral point of view are also popular among Sri Lankan Americans.
Bangladeshi American Folk Songs
Bangladesh shares most of its folk songs with those of West Bengal, India. Bengali folk songs are regularly played in most Bangladeshi American homes. During religious festivals including Durga Puja, they invite folksingers from Bangladesh or India. Some popular Bengali folk song genres are baul songs, bicar gan, and bhatiyali songs. Baul songs are devotional songs influenced by Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism; however, this style has its own distinctive characteristics. Bauls reject established beliefs, customs, and practices and condemn the caste system and the authority of scriptures including the Vedas, Puranas, and Qur’an. Baul singers frame their own songs that are usually associated with the rejection of customs and traditions that divide people (for example, religion and the caste system) and also with love and divinity. These songs are short, consisting of three or four lines ending in a signature line with the poet’s name or his guru’s name. These are composed in colloquial Bengali and are oral in form, handed down from guru to disciple or from singer to singer. Bhatiyali songs are composed and sung solo by boatmen during their leisure time. These songs have slow tempos and free rhythm and are sung without any musical accompaniment. The main theme of bhatiyali songs is love and the loneliness of boatmen’s daily lives. Bicar gan or argumentative folk songs are duels between two folksingers. These are sung to entertain as well as educate people in rural and urban areas of Bangladesh. In the United States, bicar gan has become a part of entertainment as well as nostalgia. The common themes of bicar gan are debates between men and women, Hindus and Muslims, Islamic law and spiritual beliefs, and gurus and disciples.
Nepali American Folktales
Orally transmitted Nepali folktales are known as lokakatha, dantyakatha, katha, kahini, kissa, and ahan in Nepali. Various Nepali tales are regularly told by Nepali Americans. Many of these tales are based on heroic activities, tricksters, kings and queens, and supernatural beings. Such tales are meant to express the thoughts, feelings, fears, and hopes of people in general. Apart from folktales, proverbs are used abundantly by Nepali Americans. Many of these proverbs have legends associated with them. For example, “One should not be like Mukunda Sen in battle.” This proverb refers to the story of the king of Palpa (sixteenth century) who had no proper strategy planned, yet declared war on many kingdoms at once. As a result, he lost most of the wars. Therefore, this proverb is used when people take on more responsibilities than they can accomplish and eventually fail. Nepali Americans also use fables to explain certain natural phenomena that have mythological origins; for example, why the River Seti is white in color and the River Kali is black; why uttis trees grow on the cliff straight and thin while laligurans are crooked with beautiful flowers. However, traditionally in Nepal, these tales are told to the children by their grandparents during winter when everyone gathers around the fireplace; in the United States, these stories are mostly told by parents as bedtime stories. Nepali and Nepali American folktales usually begin with the phrase “eka desma,” which means “in a certain country,” followed by an introduction of the main character and concluded with a rhyme. These stories are not only used to entertain young minds, but also to educate them on the norms, values, and survival skills required to live in society.
Pakistani American Folk Traditions
Much like other South Asian countries, Pakistan also has a rich oral tradition comprising poems, songs, folk stories, legends, riddles, and proverbs. Different forms of Pakistani folk songs are performed on different occasions, even in the United States. For example, sipate, which is a prayer and praise song, is sung by women during childbirth without any musical accompaniment; halo and laro are wedding and circumcision songs sung by women with drums played by male luri and hand clapping and circle dancing; soti, short love songs, are sung by both men and women with musical accompaniment; motk are elegies traditionally sung without any accompaniment on the thirteenth and fourteenth days after the death of a person (this tradition is not practiced any more due to the opposition of Muslim clergy); dastanag are short love duet songs sung to the accompaniment of a flute. Apart from these folk songs, various other folk traditions are also practiced by Pakistani Americans. Sher is one such popular folk tradition. Sher is a refined and elaborate genre of oral poetry traditionally composed by upper-class people and memorized and performed by lower-class people. In the United States, no such division exists. People belonging to any class can compose and perform a sher in any gathering.
Indian American Folktales
India is home to many ancient folktales and folk traditions. Indian Americans try to hold on to those traditions either by displaying them or by actively engaging in those traditions; embroidered and hand-carved items are very prominent in Indian American homes, but they are used only as display items. By contrast, Indian Americans cling to their folktales and other folk narratives by using them regularly in their lives as bedtime stories, as a part of their conversation, or simply as reference. Panchatantra is one such book of folktales. It is a collection of eighty-four animal fables divided into five books. Originally, it was composed in Sanskrit by a Brahman named Vishnusharman. This text is considered to be a book of moral teachings; ethical conduct, proper behavior, and political wisdom are the main themes of this collection. Jataka Tales is another favorite folklore collection. There are 547 birth stories of bodhisatta gradually culminating in the perfected birth of Prince Siddhartha in which he is ready to experience enlightenment, to attain nirvana, and finally to become the Buddha. Apart from Panchatantra and Jataka Tales, Indian Americans regularly read, watch (as cinema/TV series), and tell stories of two great Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The Mahabharata, a Sanskrit text, is known to be the longest metrical work of literature extant in any language. It consists of approximately 100,000 verses and has been calculated to be eight times longer than the Iliad and Odyssey taken together. It is believed to have been composed in the first millennium BCE or perhaps a little earlier. The main narrative centers around dynastic problems affecting the Kuru rulers of north India. Much like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is also an epic story about adventures and kings. The Ramayana stories usually begin with the birth of Prince Rama, who marries Sita, and they are then exiled to a forest where they live for fourteen years along with Rama’s stepbrother Lakshmana. The story further unfolds the adventures that occur during Rama’s stay in the forest. Rama befriends the monkey-king, Sugriva, and his emissary, Hanumana, who later helps Rama and Lakshmana rescue Rama’s wife, Sita, from Ravana, the king of Lanka, who abducts Sita in the disguise of a hermit from her hut in the forest. The story gets more complex and adventurous as it develops further. Various events from the Ramayana are told as bedtime stories to children, or used as tools to impart moral values to second-generation Indian Americans.
Semontee Mitra
See also Afghan American Folklore and Folktales; Gurbani Kirtan; Jinn; Tibetan American Folklore and Folktales
Further Reading
Ferrari, Fabrizio M., and Thomas Dähnhardt, eds. 2013. Charming Beauties and Frightful Beasts: Non-Human Animals in South Asian Myth, Ritual and Folklore. Sheffield, UK: Equinox.
Korom, Frank J. 2006. South Asian Folklore: A Handbook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Mills, Margaret A., Peter J. Claus, and Sarah Diamond, eds. 2003. South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge.
Penjore, Dorji. 2009. “Dangphu Dingphu: The Origin of the Bhutanese Folktales.” Journal of Bhutan Studies 21: 7–42.