FRAMES, TALE TYPES AND MOTIFS : THE DISCOVERY OF
INDIAN OICOTYPESBrenda E.F. Beck
University of British ColumbiaThe term oicotype refers to a specific folk tale pattern popular with a particular social group or in a limited geographic region. An Indian oicotype would be one which described a preferred South Asian folk form. However, do any particularly Indian story telling patterns actually exist? Our present knowledge of South Asian oicotype patterns is very scanty. Although work on oicotypes is still in its infancy everywhere, a few useful observations have recently been published concerning specialized North America folk tale patterns. A brief mention of these ca help provide a starting point for a new effort to develop parallel generalizations about India.
Baughman (1966 : Introduction) has compared traditional Anglo-Saxon and new world story types and found the tall tale to be an overwhelmingly American form. He has suggested, for example, that the American "lying tale" builds on an exaggerative style already present I European folk traditions, but that this tendency has been further encouraged by the physical, intellectual and emotional climate of America's unique new world environment. Richard Dorson has further outlined certain traits of national character that enjoy a vivid expression in American mainstream folklore. Without specifically using the term oicotype, Dorson stresses the importance of optimism in America. He also links this idea to a popular public vision of the U.S. as an earthly paradise (1980 : 86). He then links America's Western frontier, and the central role of advertising in the national economy, with another folk theme he calls "boosterism". American folklore has the double quality, he argues, of gross exaggeration and of entrepreneurial self-aggrandizement. The boosterism he speaks of appears in older stories about self-made frontier heroes as well as in the modern-day salesmanship typical of small town tourism.
Both Dorson and Baughman rightly insist on the importance of historical experience in determining the major unique features of a national folk tale pattern. Similarly, in India one would be well advised to look for folk themes that link to this region's prior social experiences. Old religious and political rivalries abound in Indian folklore. There are also hints of an Indian version of a frontier spirit imbedded in popular dacoit and robber stories. Similarly, the courageous farmer-warriors who gradually settled India's dry, upland areas can be called frontiersmen. In Indian history, the frontier spirit involves an ancient tradition of great forests, places where kings have found magical power and ascetics still escape from wordly concerns. Rather than boosterism in the American sense, South Asia's population demonstrates a preference for linking local heroes to great epic figures. Reincarnations of personages described in the Mahabharata and Ramaya¸a are particularly common in local story telling. Many tale motifs also link popular Indian folklore to myths founding standard religious and mythical works (puranas). Instead of boosterism one might speak of a Indian mythologizing tendency. If America's folk patterns are clearly future oriented (Dunes 1975 : 227), Indian ones generally strive to maintain their links to the past.
These differences in national folklore habits provide us with some significant ideas for study. By establishing oicotypes and thereby comparing similar tale forms across varied societal boundaries we may gradually determine what aspects of story telling are universal and what aspects are specifically expressive of more localized attitudes and values. Once we can identify specific cultural and national oicotypes in folklore, furthermore, we may then hope to study processes. For example we can try to assess in what ways, and how fast, a tale borrowed from one culture has become transformed to suit its host environment (Dundes 1975c : 33). Similarly, it will then be possible to ask how different social groups each adjust a given story to suite their own special perspective on the human condition (Blackburn, 1978). An identification of oicotypes, then can make a major contribution to understanding the interplay between local cultures and more universal features of human tradition.
In discussing oicotypes, Dundes introduced the very helpful concept of a "frame" into which many stories from a given group or area can fit. A frame is a kind of background of very general cultural attitudes against which the events of an individual story must be viewed. For example, in discussing East African folk tales, Dundes points out that many of them fall within a "friendship" frame (1975b). That is, two characters in the story form a friendship bond but later that newly formed trust is somehow misused or betrayed. This frame is larger than a given tale plot, and friendships can be formed between various types of characters in a variety of ways. A friendship can also be broken in many ways. Dundes argues that a concern with the formation of friendship bonds and the display of their ultimate fragility "frame" a large corpus of variations and unite them under a single, East African theme.
A fairly extended study of the Thompson tale type compendium has led me to postulate the existence of four similar frames that describe that portion of his index catalogued which is uniquely Indian. These four Indian frames concern: (1) The sibling bond, (2) The patron/client bond, (3) The threat of an adversary, and (4) The strength of individual desires. The four perspectives were defined gradually as I sought to combine my extended knowledge of Indian social attitudes with a repeated sorting of specific tale types described by the Thompson index. The bulk of this paper will now develop this scheme in relation to those Indian materials on which Thompson reports. I will first discuss each frame separately and illustrate it with extended examples.
Each frame refers to a basic set of South Asian story values. Respect and support between siblings, for example, is greatly emphasized in Indian culture. Mutual obligations towards one another revolve around ascribed brother/sister ties that exist from birth. Those moral bonds can either be upheld in a story, or shattered by inappropriate behaviour. Similarly, the hierarchical relationship of patron and client is highly valued in India. A senior partner is expected to be protective and giving, while the junior is enjoined to be devoted, helpful and submissive. These bonds, too, can either be upheld by a story or shown to be wrongfully broken. Even friendships in Indian stories tend to have a hierarchical and complementary quality. But they differ from the sibling ties described by frame one, by being basically voluntary in nature.
Frames three and four differ from the first two in that neither of the latter takes a particular moral bond as its primary base. Instead, frame three deals with the idea of an unprovoked attack. Like the repeated challenge by asuras in Hindu mythology, in frame three a protagonist is forced to protect himself against thieves, demons or generalized ill fate (poverty, illness, etc.) as in the previous two cases, frame three contains stories that show a protagonist as successful, and also ones where he is unsuccessful in meeting such a challenge. Frame four, finally, does not depend on a relationship with any particular counterpart at all. In frame four, the story is centered on the desires of one person. That person sets out to fulfil a wish or to obtain a goal no matter what the social context or the practical odds. This reminds one of the more general Hindu moral imperative that selfish desires be carefully controlled.
Some Indian stories uphold primary social values, while others emphasize the fragility of human relationships and the difficulty of attaining an ideal outcome. Thus, Indian folk tales can be said to balance pessimism with optimism. Dundes' depiction of East African stories, by contrast, suggests that the later mainly favour a bleak view. There most friendships are ultimately broken by deception. In Native American Indian tales, Dundes sees another kind of frame. There, individual actions are self-centered and relate more directly to demands of a spirit dominated world (1971). Friendship superstructures are apparently absent in these American Indian tales. This culture area, unlike India, also favour the bleak view. There men consistently violate contracts made with supernatural forces or beings, whereas in India the protagonist more often works with such spirit beings.
The table of contents of the Aarne-Thomson index breaks into four large categories: (1) Animal tales, (2) Ordinary folktales, (3) Jokes and anecdotes, and (4) Formula tales. For the purposes of this preliminary work on frames, I have chose to study only parts two and three (types numbering 300 to 1999). These form the bulk of the material outlined and contain the richest descriptions. These sections also encompass all the stories where the main protagonist is human. Indian cumulative tales, where a repetitive sequence of events happens in turn to a number of characters, tend to focus on animals and, except for their special genre form, might well be included in category one. Once we can establish a convincing set of frames for the human stories, the remaining animal ones can be quickly understood. This is because stories about animals usually revolve around human ethical issues that become projected onto a non-human realm.
Many anthropologists, historians, philosophers and psychologists have attempted to isolate specifically Indian patterns or themes. But very few folklorists have approached Indian tales with this idea in mind. The Aarne-Thompson Tale-Type Index, however, provides an obvious place to begin on this task. Its data base consists of roughly 266 published books and papers, mostly in translation of varying quality. These publications refer mainly to pre-independence ethnographic work. Some volumes date as far as the nineteenth century. Though several of the collections used are of a high standard, others are poorly done. It is easy to criticize the Aarne-Thompson selection of source materials, then. It is also easy to critique the tale typologists. My purpose, is merely to glean some positive insights from this enormous compendium. An index is merely a place to begin a thorough search for unique themes.
In chart one, I have taken all of the tale types in the Aarne-Thompson index found in section two and three and isolated all those reported to rest solely on South Asian sources. These specific folk tales, jokes and anecdotes should provide us with a useful first step towards defining a set of India-specific oicotypes. A full listing of these tale types, by number and by name, can be found in an appendix. All the optimistic, socially valued outcomes are listed on the left; relatively pessimistic ones appear to the right. I now discuss each of the four frames in detail.
CHART ONE : FOUR STORY FRAMES
(Showing All Aarne-Thompson Tale-Type Numbers Between 300 and 1999
that have a Strictly South Asian Set of Sources Listed)
The Frames
Tale-Type Numbers Having
A Successful Outcome for the Protagonist(s)
An Unsuccessful Outcome for the Protagonist(s)
1
2
3
1) Sibling Bond
450A, 567A, 897
315A, 780A, 923B, 976A, 1633
2) Patron/Client Bond
302B, 465D, 516A, 534, 535, 546, 622, 670A, 674, 709A, 910H, 939, 949, 978, 11640
875E, 875B2, 875B3, 1532, 1534A, 1692, 1693, 1707
3) Threat of an Adversary
655A, 926A, 934D’, 951C, 1152, 1646, 1653E
910J, 1168B, 1525N, 1962A
4) Action Motivated by the Strength of Individual Desire
411, 413, 433C, 459, 467, 516B, 653B, 855, 856, 881A, 888A, 977, 1409C, 1525Q
369, 462, 612A, 896, 926B, 1250B, 1295B*, 1331B*, 1511, 1685A
Frame OneThe pattern of two or more brothers or half brothers going through a series of adventures together appears to be a very important theme in Indian story telling. The pattern is apparent as early as earliest recorded versions of the great Mahabharata and Ramaya¸a stories. The group of brothers theme appears to be particularly linked to Indian epic and adventure stories where male siblings repeatedly face outside challenges together. Two features of this common pattern are especially characteristic of India, by contrast to other cultures. For one, Indian brothers regularly appear as a cooperative set. Their aggression, apparent, seems mainly directed against outsiders or relatively more distant kin (agnatic cousins and in-laws in particular). In other epic traditions brothers are found more often in situations of direct and aggressive competition. According to Thompson's motif index, A 515.1.2, or Sworn Brothers as Culture Heroes, is widely reported from India, as is P.311, Sworn Bretheren. The second key feature of this sibling frame is that the contrast between elder/younger is commonly highlighted even when the two are twins. In Indian stories a younger brother often becomes king at the end of the tale, while the elder retreats into religious activities.
These several sibling patterns all play on a strong Indian tradition of joint inheritance and the accompanying joint management by brothers of family property. They also reflect a hierarchical Hindu value framework where religious duty is prestigefully associated with the later stages of human life. The same older/younger norms which govern most brotherly interaction also merge with a general cultural stress on hierarchical relationships. Type 567A, the Magic Bird-Heart and the Separated Brothers, contains all of the above features (except twinship) and also adds to them the interesting fact of a lengthy sibling separation. In this tale type each brother goes through a specific chain of adventures independently, but the two are reunited after the elder is chosen king. This framework allows for a dramatic sense of unity in adversity, without providing an opportunity for direct competition. It also requires that the elder brother eventually yield his political position to the younger, an opportunity that does not exist where the junior sibling wins a kingdom for himself (see frame four and the discussion of the Arecanut Princess).
The other key dimension of sibling unity in Indian stories involves the rights and obligations that bind brother to sister. Hindu tradition (if not modern law) generally decrees that women inherit their share of the wealth as dowry (movable objects) and not as land (which is immovable). Brothers are not freed of their sisters by the dowry, however. Instead they are again expected to support their sisters from common holdings if such a woman should encounter grave hardships during the early years of her marriage. Sisters, in turn, are seen as a source of blessings and can insure prosperity for their brother's families. It seems likely that this brother/sister support pattern is an especially prominent feature of South Indian folk traditions (Claus, 1975; Hart, 1975; Beck, 1974), and that is less important in the North. The comparative role of sisters in folklore, both North and South, would be a very useful pattern to research in this light.
Tale-Type 450, Little Brother and Little Sister, has no specific entries from South Asia in the Aarne-Thompson index. Instead these stories seem to be recorded in the Aarne-Thompson index as number 897, the Orphan Girl and Her Cruel Sisters-in-law. The type is supported by thirteen examples from India and none from elsewhere. From the wife's perspective, a sister-in-law provides obvious competition for her husband affections. I can think of several important examples that appear in my own folklore collection, in which a cruel sister-in-law mistreats her husband's young sister.
Stories (and songs) in my Tamil folk collection also describe the key bond between an unmarried sister and her elder brother(s). A sister may bless her brothers' swords, for example, or inspire their heroic endeavors generally. Such a woman is viewed as a magical source of her brother's prosperity, and in return such men are seen to protect their sister's in comfort. Tale type 450A, The Brother Transformed To a Snake, depicts this idea rather well. There a brother and sister are first driven forth together (by a step-mother). The brother then protects his sister by killing a snake. Next the sister finds a flowering tree growing from the snake's body and tries to bless her brother by touching him with its blossoms. But at this moment the brother becomes a snake, though later he is returned to his normal self. Thus, this tale type nicely illustrates the principle of reciprocal care expected of opposite sexed siblings, and the belief that special magical bonds exist between them.
Stuart Blackburn, in an article on "creation myths" has noted the further interesting fact that an incestuous brother/sister pair are central to stories about human beginnings told by the tribesmen of Central India (1977). He argues persuasively that this motif must have been known to Munda speaking peoples long before the bearers of Indo-Aryan culture arrived. If correct, this would give the brother/sister bond a special place as an ancient frame theme of Indian civilization. Blackburn goes on to describe how the same sibling incest motif is currently imbedded in a wider set of stories concerning an original flood and an earth diver. These later themes are widespread in North America, as well as I Northeast Asia, however. In a separate article Shulman has pointed to the importance of surviving floods in Tamil puranic Indian mythology. Though that theme is widespread, Shulman plays up the particular Indian emphasis given recurrent flooding and the wresting of creative life from disorder and chaos. That latter perspective fits nicely into my frame three where wresting with, or surviving the attack of, mysterious adversaries provides the key theme.
There seem to be very few stories that stress a third logical sibling bond, that between sisters. Though several sisters may be compared in a story, especially in regard to their marriage prospects, Indian folk tales do not focus on mutual obligations between women. This absence is reasonable, of course, in a patrilineal and patrilocal society where sisters each go their own way at marriage. It would be interesting to pursue this correlation further by looking at the folklore of matrilineal, or matrilenealy influenced parts of India. Claus, for example, reports folk stories about twinsisters about twin brothers reported from elsewhere. We might expect to find similar transformation of typical Indian story frames among the matrilineal Nayar of Kerala.
The other half of frame one contains folktale types that describe transgressions against important sibling bonds. In tale type 976A, The Thief Exposed By a Story, one brother steals from a jointly held hoard of jewels. The dishonest sibling is then later exposed by self-implicating answers to a wise man's questions. More vivid are the tale types that go all out in breaking social convention by depicting acts of sibling cannibalism. The Cannibalistic Brothers, 780A, is represented by twelve Indian examples. Here a group of brothers kill and eat their sister after noticing how tasty the food is she has prepared: it contains a drop of blood from her cut finger. Type 315A reverses the direction of this sibling-to-sibling aggression. This time there are five examples reported, all depicting a princess who became a cannibalistic ogress. After consuming animals, kings, and the inhabitants of a city, she finally turns to her own brother. He is captured, but later escapes from her by a nurse. The sister is finally killed, herself.
It is significant that such a strong frame of sibling obligations is found countered by an equally strong set of reversals what could be more horrifying than eating one's own brother or sister? But, at the same time, a sex difference is noticeable in these several tale types. The brothers actually commit the broad terrible act of murder, while sisters die in their attempts. This, too, fits an Indian pattern: men tend to commit sacrifice by outward aggression in war, in hunting, or even by sacrificing animals at temples. Women, on the other hand, most frequently turn violence against themselves, in suicide or other forms of self torture (Beck, 1982). While the former theme is certainly found in many cultures, female suicide is a popular Indian motif. All of these reversals play upon two main sibling bond types. Brother/brother cannibalism is reported in stories from Central India (motif G73.1). There is only one example of girls eating a sister, however, and it comes from Mirzapur (motif G73). It would be interesting to ask if this story can be linked to localized matrilineal customs.
One further form of reversal contained within the sibling bond framework concerns the aggressive behaviour of a younger child against its elder competitors. In tale type 1633, Joint Ownership of a cow, an older brother claims the back half of the shared animal and gives his younger mate the front. Thus the elder gets to milk the cow while the younger has to feed it. Here is an obvious exploitation of an age difference and the breaking of a contract about equal sharing, later countered by a trick that the younger sibling uses to gain a fair portion of the goods. In 923B, the Princess who was responsible for her own fortune, a king asks his several daughters which has been responsible for their good fortune. All the elder girls flatter him by saying that he himself is responsible, but the youngest refuses to fall in line and instead claims that she should take credit. The father punishes her severely for this. However, eventually this daughter gets her revenge through a combination of wit and skill. In the end her husband becomes wealthy and inherits a kingdom. Meanwhile, her father loses his own domain. This could be seen as an example of a parent-child struggle. But the story, viewed overall, clearly singles out only the youngest female as a challenger. Hence it seems to be, at least equally, a story about the oppression of the weak by stronger and older well, while he gives his youngest to a pauper or a cripple. It is only through the girl's special efforts that this undesirable husband later succeeds. These tales end with protagonists' sweet revenge.
The triumph of the weak and the small is a very important Indian theme. Though it is not uniquely South Asian, this motif does have an important expressive quality in a society where hierarchy is strong and the inferior very often is disadvantaged. The result is a wide range of stories where a junior partner is seen to succeed against great odds. Three nice examples of this that use animal motifs are L315.10, Mice Overcome Camel; Rabbit Slays Rhinoceros. It would be interesting to ask whether social hierarchies are especially rigid or elaborate, and if their incidence decreases in areas where rank order is moderate or weak.
Frame Two
Frame two is very similar to frame one except that the relationships it encompasses are voluntary and not kin based. Here the key bond lies between two persons of rather different social positions. The characters involved are thus patron and client, advisor and pupil, or simply two acquaintances of unequal rank. Of these, the first two are especially prevalent. As in an interaction of elder with younger siblings, each senior partner is here expected to support and protect, while the junior is asked to aid and to serve loyally.
There are three archetypical examples of such mutual bonds of loyalty. The first is that of a king and his minister, or a prince and a youth of lower rank. The two set out on a series of adventures together, during which the junior partner consistently helps and serves his senior. In 516A, the Sign Language of the Princess, for example, a youthful friend helps a prince to win a lovely high status woman. The Aarne-Thompson index reports twenty stories of this kind and I have several more in my own collection. A second sub-type concerns a similar relationship between a king or a hero and his friend. Here the main figure is someone who is threatened by 302B, Hero With Life Dependent on His Sword. In that tale the protagonist's wife is coveted by a rival. He sends an emissary to steal her and to destroy the king's defensive sword. But the friend recovers and restores the hero's weapon. He also rescues the stolen wife and loyally returns her to his patron. A third variant involves a demand from a god, or the imposition of a curse, requiring that a hero make a great sacrifice. This theme is illustrated by 949, The Faithful Servitor, where a poor man befriends the protagonist and steps in to offer himself or his children in the king's place. The gods are pleased by these actions and later restore the willing sacrificer to life.
An important variant of the faithful servant theme shows the protagonist as the servant of god himself. The particular god or goddess "tests" that follower's loyalty directly. A devotee, for example, may be required to wander in poverty, labour at menial tasks, or to sacrifice in other ways for an extended period. At the end of these trials, the god or goddess is pleased and the devotee is restored to his former stats. This is tale type 939, the Offended Deity.
In another sub-type, which seems less common, a man is helped by an amoral but sociable demon. The two enjoy a covenant similar to that which commonly exists between a devotee and a god, or a king and his loyal minister. That is, the demon serves the man and helps him to obtain personal ends (rescue a tormented wife, seek fortune, etc.) in exchange for various material rewards, that partnership, unlike previous examples, is quickly terminated by the senior member after his own ends have been accomplished. Nonetheless, the parting is amicable and the demon appears satisfied by the fair deal. This is tale type 1164D, The Demon and the Man Join Forces. Nine examples have been reported from India.
One final variation in the use of frame two concerns a partnership between protagonist and animal. In 910H, Never Travel Without a Companion or Stay Alert, a man decides to take a crab on a journey. Later, when that man unexpectedly becomes a king, this crab helps him in many ways, including killing several attackers. In another type,. 465D, or Animal Brothers Help the Hero, the protagonist has a special bull who helps him fight adversaries. In 535, The Boy Adopted by Tigers, various wild animals help a hero survive in the forest, and/or manage to arrange a marriage for him with a lovely woman. In 534, The Youth Who Tends the Buffalo Herd, buffaloes or cows help the protagonist. In 546, The Clever Parrot, a talking bird wins a princess for the king. Animals also help women under similar conditions. Now, however, the helpful tend to be childlike or small (a calf instead of a bull). Birds, though they also help men, are especially common assistants for women, as for example in tale types 670A, 674 and 709A. significant, too, is the fact that women are commonly said to understand animal speech, an ability not mentioned for males. However, in tale type 622 a man listens to an inanimate object (his bedlegs talking). These (squeeking) supports warn him of impending danger or attempt to help him in other ways.
This second frame can also be seen to cover less fortunate outcomes. In the most obvious and simple of these a senior member breaks his contract of protection and nurture. For example, in tale type 1532, The Voice from the Grave, two men connive to obtain the wealth of a recently buried man. The lesser partner in this crime hides near the grave while the more assertive one goes to talk with the relatives. He tells them that the dead man has left a major debt. Later, when relatives come to the grave to ask the advice of the dead man's spirit, a confederate calls out from hiding that the debt must be paid. The more aggressive partner then absconds with the payment and his hidden confederate loses out. This same theme also surfaces in many animal stories. Subordination for the weak, and a relative advantage enjoyed by the strong is also exemplified by various Indian examples catalogued as J420 through J429 in the Thompson motif index. For example, in J426.2 the friendship of a snake and a frog ceases when the snake wants to eat the frog. Such stories reflect the darker realities of any hierarchically structured milieu.
In a most of other tale types these themes of exploitation are carried to a still more extreme point. In some, the weaker member of the confederation is made a fool. In tale type 1692, The Stupid Thief, one of a band of robbers is sent into a house while the others wait outside. But there he is unable to grasp directions accurately (his confederates knew he was slow-witted), and ends up being caught. A major component of this and similar tale types such as 1693, The Literal Fool, and 978, Youth in the Land of Cheaters, is that the person taken advantage of fails to see behind superficial words or actions. As a result, confederates or patrons either take advantage of the innocence, or make fun of it, or both. Sometimes, as in 1534A, The Innocent Man Chose to Fit the Stake, the person made a fool is of high status (a king).
In other tale types, specifically 875E, /875B2 875B3, a person giving an order is simply embarrassed by someone who makes him see the absurdity of his demand. These reversals involve some element of initial trust in the words of a respected person. That trust becomes misplaced when those words are either (1) purposely spoken in a way they can easily be misunderstood, or (2) purposely calculated to embarrass and undermine the unsuspecting receiver. A prime example is tale type 1707, The Noseless Man. In that story a man who has lost his nose persuades others that they too will see God if they cut off their own nose in a similar fashion. The listeners are trusting and soon perform the painful act, whereupon the shrewd adviser laughs at their foolishness. What seems particularly Indian about these many examples is the great importance given to seeing through the superficial. As Hinduism often abhors a philosophy of life based on senses, so Indian folklore makes much of the fool who takes the pretended wise man too literally.
Another twist given to frame two is provided by situations where a patron unjustly doubts the faithfulness of his loyal subordinate. I tale type 178B, The Faithful Dog as Security for a Debt2, a master lends his dog to a wealthy creditor to help away thieves. This dog serves the creditor well and is finally returned with a letter of thanks. But the master, upon seeing the delegated dog at his door, the master kills it in anger. Later, the man reads a letter of thanks attached to the dog's neck, but it is too late to reverse his actions. Emeneau has linked this to a second well-known story called the Brahman and the Mongoose. There a mongoose is killed for having blood on its mouth when the baby of the house is found missing. In reality the mongoose has killed a snake in a loyal attempt to protect the child. Several South Indian stories notably the epic story of Shilappadikaram, carry the same idea further by having a person die from grief over a similar error.
Finally, frame two contains tale type 243, The Parrot Pretends to be God. Here, a pet bird breaks a contract demanding respectful service and either (1) decides a lawsuit against its master, or (2) reports on an infidelity in the household. The master then tries to kill the faithless pet but it escapes. The parrot now leads the former master to believe it is a god. When its orders are followed, in front of an assembled crowd, the parrot uses this opportunity to ridicule its patron. This is the theme of the literal fool, but reversed so that the subordinate embarrasses a superior.
Frame Three
Frame three contrasts with the previous two in that all normal responsibilities of social actors are suspended. In situations covered by this frame an adversary simply appears on the scene. No prior social bonds are recognized that might temper that contest. The most noticeable Indian motif or theme in this category is disguise. In a large proportion of the available examples either the protagonist or the assailant takes a visibly unexpected form. Sometimes, instead of dressing up, a protagonist uses various deceptive props to trick his adversary. Consider tale type 951C, The Disguised King Joins the Thieves. Here a king, threatened by a group of people who wish to steal from him, joins the enemies after putting on a disguise. As this kind has no formal understanding with that gang, he is breaking no social contract by secretly listening to their plans and boasts. He then encourages them to rob his place and meanwhile engineers their capture.
In other examples it is the enemy who wears the disguise. In tale type 962A, a demon challenges the protagonist to say who is the true husband of the victim's wife. A judge suggests that whoever can enter a pot is the real spouse. The demon takes up this challenge, his true nature is revealed, and he is caught. In a third variant, tale type 1152, a man finds himself challenged by an ogre. To awe his assailant the clever hero claims that an even bigger ogre resides inside the house. To prove this, the protagonist pokes objects through his doors and windows. Displaying a rope he claims this to be a hair from the hidden ogre. Then a winnowing fan is claimed to be an ear, curds are said to be its spittle, and the beating of a drum is said to be sound emanating from the great monster who beats his chest. The challenger becomes intimidated when the hero continues in this fashion. In one further example, type 655S, four clever man successfully allay suspicions that they have stolen a camel. All of the above stories combine two key characteristics of a special Indian value pattern: (1) great respect for intelligent, clever solutions to difficult dilemmas, and (2) great honor accorded those who can differentiate appearance from reality.
One further sub-theme which appears in association with frame three concerns fate. In tale type 934D1, the adversary is seen to be fate itself. A protagonist is told that, though poor, he will always own one bullock. The man proceeds to sell his bullock each day so that the gods must replace it. Similarly, when the same man learns that his sister is fated to be a prostitute he advises her to demand a handful of pearls per customer. The god must come in disguise to visit the girl himself, since no ordinary human can afford her price. God soon tired of these regular duties and agrees to lift his fateful pronouncements.
If fate is an important theme in Indian folk literature, however, so is the concept of sheer luck. In 1646, The Lucky Blow, a man unwittingly knocks off a king's crown. When a poison snake is found concealed within his headgear he believes that man has saved his life. In this and similar way luck is also embedded in many Indian stories. In 165E, for example, a fool acquires a fortune by accidentally dropping animal entrails onto a prince seated under the tree he has climbed. The prince, frightened, flees with his followers, leaving behind all his goods.
Various inverted outcomes for stories classified under frame three also fairly common. In 152N two thieves attempt to deceive each other. They exchange various things, but then discover that false claims have been made by both parties. It is a standoff and neither party ends up gaining the advantage. In a second sub-variant only one party to the contest tries deceit. In tale type 1168B a demon and a man come to an agreement that the latter will pay the former an annual sum. But the demon tires of this arrangement and soon tries to devour the man. The latter responds by striking the demon with a mallet. This severely frightens the adversary and the story ends with a standoff. Both endings remind one of mythological contests between demons and gods in Hindu myths. After the churning of the ocean neither the devas nor the asuras can be declared winners. When it comes t the struggle of evil forces against good ones the Hindu perspective favors balanced outcome.
Another variant of the perpetual contest idea is found in tale type 1962A. Here the confrontation is carried through an infinite regression, so that it finally becomes inconsequential in the wider view of things. When the great wrestler or eater in this story brags and challenges a skilled opponent the two find themselves: (1) wrestling on a woman's arm' (2) contesting on a handkerchief, and (3) finally battling in the eye of a princes. In the end she perceives the struggle as a simple speak of dust which momentarily affects her vision. Taking up the same matter from another perspective is tale type 910, never plant a Thorn Tree. This is rather like the old English proverb " don't throw stones if you live in a glass house". The man who plants the thorn tree (probably hoping to keep others off his property) ends up catching his own turban on the bars. Hence, if bragging and aggression tend to end in stalemate, a reasonable counter-strategy is to avoid inflecting difficulties on others. This philosophy is also reminiscent of the Hindu emphasis on pacifism and self-restraint.
Frame Four
Frame four differs from three by taking the egocentric interests of one protagonist as its main reference point. Now personal interests are to be pursued no matter what outside-Thompson index (413, 467, 516B, and 856) use this frame. The key focus for all of them is a man who after one (or several) exotic women. All together 51 stories Are listed under these four tale types. In about half of the cases the protagonist first obtains some sort of magical object. In the other half he Os magically transformed, himself, using some sort of disguise to gain access to the woman he courts.
Tale type 411, contains a variant of this seeker theme. Here a king marries a girl who is a snake woman. When the king discovers her true form he becomes frightened and has her burnt to death. But in the ashes a magic pebble is found that can turn anything to gold. The chosen lady must have been valuable after all. The snake transformation theme is particularly popular in India. The larger concept of an inexorable male quest for magical and beautiful women, however, is something this culture shares with many other areas of the world.
A common variant of the quest idea is that several suitors (often four) woo a woman by various individualized means. The question then arises as to who shall be chosen as groom. The tale type is 653B, The Suitors Restore the Maiden to similar to a form Dundes describes as popular in Africa (1971, p. 182). The question as to who should marry the girl demands resolution and seems particularly suited to societies where legal cases are debated by village elders (as is the case in rural India). In 855, the Substitute Bridegroom a bride a whisked away by a man who intended to serve only as a stand- in for the groom at her wedding. She falls in love with the real groom, and later manages to identify him from a large group who each tell her a story. In 1525Q a woman is courted by two thieves. She promises to become the wife of the cleverest one and they type, 306A, makes the man the chooser. This time the girl is preselected but insists upon hiding herself amongst others who are similarly clad. All of these provide variations of a basic male seeker theme. All further introduce a note of disguise, of cleverness, and of formal or legalistic martial reasoning. If the general story type is not limited to India, these motifs do point towards specially valued local ways of telling a popular romantic tale.There are many quest stories involving men who seek after women, but what about the reverse situation where a woman pursues a man? There are many fewer Indian tales that can be described this way. In one exemplary case, 433C, or the Serpent Husband and the Jealous Girl, a woman marries a snake who is later transformed into a handsome man. This neatly inverts tale type 411 where a man marries a woman who becomes a snake. Both serpent spouses are magical. But the male is frightened of his bride, while the woman is happy with her groom. In the latter tale type another girl is Jealous of the first one's good luck. She therefore tries marrying a snake herself. Alas, that woman is bitten and killed for her presumption. Two of the three women in this tangle of motifs are killed at the hands of males for their affinities with, or attraction to, a reptile form. None of the males suffer a similar fate. As mentioned earlier, women are most often depicted as the victims of aggression rather than as aggressors themselves.
A more common pattern in Indian folk stories is the focus of a wife who is faithful to her husband through many adversities. Thee tales I would classify in this category are 881A, 888A, and 977. If the male quest is described as seeking after beautiful women, then in these faithful wife stories the female one can be labeled "holding onto one's husband". Without a husband there is a great "lack" for Indian women, to use Prop's terminology. In all the relevant tale types a woman's husband is threatened. As a result, her secure social position becomes endangered. All the magical techniques women use to revive their husbands from death, free them from the hands of enemies, or re-identify them after a long separation; seem to be directed at overcoming such a loss. If the males in these stories are motivated by desire in the simple sense, then their female counterparts are driven by fear of a social lack of a more formal kind. A single tale, supported by one example only,1409C, speaks of an Obedient Husband who followed his wife's instructions and walked home slowly. Alas, he was thereby too late to find her lover visiting. Here, a trusting husband is made out to be a fool.The concern that women have in Indian folk stories with preserving their husbands parallels a similar concern for their children. A common thread in these tales is the fear of being disowned if barrenness continues. The classic examples is tale 459. here, a woman goes to the extent of using a doll's image of a child after being turned out of her husband's home for not bearing one naturally. She eventually informs the husband that she has a son, but that he must not see it. When the time for the child's wedding comes the woman then puts the doll image in a sedan chair. A god pities her and gives the doll life. Afterwards the husband agrees to take his wife back.
Various motif listings specific to India further indicate a special cultural concern with persecuted wives. These include: S411.2, Wife Banished for some Small Fault; S411.3, Barren Wife Sent Away; and S416, Queen Banished When She Defeats King in Argument. The fact of the rejected female partner is also vividly portrayed in many stories. A few motif examples are S436, Cast-Off Wife's Head Shaven; S437, Cast-Off Wife Sent to Herd Cows; and S438, Abandoned Queen Blinded. Such typical motif patterns seem to document female fears about losing a husband.
Tale type 369, The Youth on a Quest for His Lost Father, also deserves brief mention. The search described features a juvenile male who seeks to retrieve a lost parent. This is a "lack" syndrome similar to that described above for females. A.K. Ramanujan has pointed out (1971) that South Asian Hindu stories favour inverted Oedipal themes. In tale type 369, for example, a young day seeks to restore his father to life. This lack provides a contrast with the focus on a son killing the father found in many Greek and European tales.
Many typical fourth frame stories also depict situations where a protagonist is unsuccessful in his or her quest. For males, a good example is found in tale type 896, The Lecheros Holy Man and the Maiden in a Box. Here a man falls in love with a beautiful girl but she spurns him. He continues to try all sorts of tricks, but the girl is finally rescued and the suitor killed. The difference is that his object of affection was totally inappropriate. Unlike the stories about an unwed prince who sets off to find a queen, a holy man must strive for sexual abstinance. The burning sexual desires of holy men stand out as a particularly Indian theme and is extensively documented by classical documented by classical Hindu mythology (O'Flaherty).
Another type of male oriented tale emphasizes the fool. A dumb man may seek something unattainable (1250B, A Visit To the Sky), and fail through some silly error, or an incompetent son-in-law (1685A) may desire sustenance (and even sexual satisfaction from his mother-in-law). All are highly inappropriate desires. Tale 1295B*, where a man who orders his doorway broken down so that he need not dismount from his camel in order to enter, belongs in the same category. Though successful in attaining a limited goal, this protagonist makes a public fool of himself in a wider context. Two other minor tale types, 926B and 1331B* also seem to belong in this group.
Similar patterns exist where women are concerned. In 612A an ungrateful wife becomes a prostitute, receives a boon from a king who is pleased with her, and then asks that her husband be killed. He cleverly asks her to return what she has given him, however, and she ends up being murdered instead. This female variant contains several of the motifs mentioned above, including inappropriate desires that backfire or remain unfulfilled. It also places a high value on a clever escape from a tight fix. Two other tale types complete this category. They are 1511 where a faithless woman murders her husband, but is then spurned by her lover; and, 462 where an ogress pursues married men but is finally slain. This sole tale type where a woman openly pursues, a man depicts an ogress who operates in the forest. Furthermore, she is ultimately unsuccessful. The type is important, as there are 24 Indian examples reported. Notable, too, is the fact that sch ogresses commonly assume the disguise of young girls. By contrast, men do not flaunt their sexual identify when wooing women; rather they try to conceal it.
This completes my discussion of the Aarne-Thompson folk tale, joke and anecdote types reported uniquely from South Asia sources. As a next step it will be helpful to take one popular folk tale as an example of how the materials in an individual folk tale collection can be usefully linked to this four frame scheme. The story I have chosen is a popular one in Southern Karnataka: The Arecanut Princes (Handoo, 1978). This fanciful tale falls easily into frame four: Action motivated by the Strength of Individual Desire. A prince is unwilling to marry the woman selected for him by his parents, and in that way is different from his complaint elder brothers. He then sets out on his own quest for a bride, determined that he will marry the daughter of an arecanut king. Along the way he acquires magical objects from several saints and then uses these objects, as well as the saint's advice and aid, to ward off various monsters and fearful animals that threaten to block him from his goal.
The Arecanut Princess
Once a king had five sons. The elder four married but the youngest prince did not marry the bride shown to him. Hence he had to search for a wife himself. He departed, hoping to marry the daughter of Arecanut King. O his way, however, he met a saint who blessed him with magical lemon, a stick, coal and some bits of turmeric. The saint also advised the prince to meet his brother. This the prince did, and that second saint also give him magical agents. He then asked the prince to meet a third brother. This also the prince did. That saint gave the prince more magical agents and told him to use each one in turn if he got into trouble. This man also advised the prince not to place the arecanut (in which he would find the princess) on the ground once he had obtained it.
The prince left, crossed seven seas and finally reached the Arecanut King's tree. There the princess lay inside an arecanut. When the prince was about to pluck the nut, a RakÀasa appeared. The prince threw his magical lemon at it. The RakÀasa disappeared. At this point lions, tigers and other monstrous beings also appeared. The prince, out of fear, threw all of his magical things at them. But these animals and monsters killed the prince. The third saint then happened to see this dead, half-eaten prince. He brought him back to life, and gave him back his magical things. This time the prince plucked the arecanut and returned. The animals and monsters pursued him, but the prince escaped to a town with the help of his magical objects. Feeling tired, he then put the arecanut on the ground and retired into a fast sleep beside a well.
While the prince was asleep, the princess came out of her arecanut. Soon a Kumbara girl came to fetch water and felt jealous of the princess; she then managed to change dress and jewellery with the princess and to push the latter into the well. Then the Kumbara girl assumed the position of princess and entered the nut. The prince, unaware of this, took her and walked home. Sometime later, however, the prince happened to pass by the same well again. There he saw a beautiful flower. He plucked the flower and gave it to his wife. She recognized it as the real Arecanut princess and ordered it thrown into a ditch. A sandalwood tree grew from that blossom. Next she ordered the cutting and burning of that plant. However, the woodcutter hid a piece of the cut tree inside a huge pot at home.
After some time the woodcutter and his wife saw that piece of wood change into a beautiful maiden whom they adopted as a daughter. Later, the prince went on a hunting expedition and overheard some girls narrating the Arecanut princess' story. In this manner the prince finally came to know the truth about what had happened. He then buried the Kumbara girl alive, married the real princess, and ascended the throne.
(Adapted from Handoo, 1978, pp.82-5)
Although there is a brief reference to a sibling group at the beginning of this story, the action never returns to a comparison between the hero and his siblings. The link to the helpful saints is also a passing one. This illustrates the fact that several frames can be combined in one story (in this case all four are present: siblings, patrons, adversaries and a quest motivated by individual desire) but that one will be clearly dominant. In this case, the prince's quest for a marriageable princess is the key perspective (and hence frame) that binds the protagonist's many adventures together.
The unifying effect of the quest theme in this arecanut story can be seen clearly in the second phase of the action. After prince meets the various challenges provided by his forest adversaries, he finally finds the sought after arecanut. He plucks it, but then fails to follow one saint's instructions. Next a jealous low caste girl comes along, finds the princess emerging from her nut. The conniving woman arranges to change clothes with the arecanut lady, pushes the princess into a well, and crawls into the nut to replace her. The prince wakes up unaware of this exchange of identities and takes the false spouse home.
Suggestive similarities exist with all four tale types listed under the lover-seeks-exotic-bride principle. Type 467, The Quest for the wonderful Flower, provides the closest fit. For "Flower", however, we must now read "arecanut". There is also tale type 413, Marriage by Stealing Clothing, since this is the way the low caste impostor makes herself the bride. Similarly, type 516B, The Abducted Princess, is important, since the arecanut woman is temporarily lost. And we cannot ignore type 856, where a youth is driven forth by his father when he announces whom he wants to marry. In the original tale type, furthermore, the price becomes an impostor in order to elope. The arecanut story provides a simple inversion of this when a female decides to act as an impostor. These links suggest that much tale type material can be grouped thematically. I shall call such groupings tale patterns. In the present case it seems reasonable to speak of a pattern called "Man seeks/wooes beautiful women". These patter, plus the four general frames bring us close to formulating a special iocotypes. Before completing the picture, however, I must finish the arecanut story.
Sometime after the exchange of a true princess for a false one, the prince happens to pass by the well in which his true spouse was thrown. The rival woman, who is now by the prince's side, sees a flower growing from the well. She recognizes this as the real princess. When the prince plucks it, she orders the flower thrown in a ditch. Later, when a sandalwood tree grows from the blossom she also orders it cut down. But the woodcutter saves a piece of the tree and hides it inside a pot. Later that wood chip becomes transformed into a beautiful young maiden. She is quickly adopted by the woodcutter's family. Still later, on a hunting expedition, the prince overhears some girls describing the adventures of an arecanut princess and they mention her current whereabouts. The prince understand s the truth about what has happened at this point. He then buries his present wife alive, marries the real princess, and ascends a throne.
The end of this story provides a happy outcome for the male bride-seeker. His heart's desire is won and his early rebellion against his father becomes justified. Many colourful motifs in this story give this theme its specific Indian flavor. For example, at least two of the tools the saints offer the hero are true cultural markers: the Lemon and a piece of turmeric. Similarly, the maiden is hidden in a series of magical containers: an arecanut, a well, a flower, a sandalwood tree and, finally, a woodcutter's pot. A series of other important motifs contained in this story are also listed in the chart below:
CHART
TWO : THE ARECANUT PRINCESS (A Tentative Oicotype)
|
Frame |
Tale pattern |
Associated Motifs |
|
Action motivated by the Strength of Individual Desire |
Man seeks/wooes beautiful women (special details)
1)
seeker has patron(s)
|
Youngest brother becomes king. Saint provides magical tools (Lemon, turmeric, etc.) Maiden is hidden in magical containers (arecanut, well, flower, sandalwood tree, pot) Saint revives protagonist after his death. Exchange of identities: false and true spouse Burial alive Discovery
of truth through listening to a story |
A frame is a general value context upon which a large number of folk tales, jokes and anecdotes draw for significance. A frame adds meaning to a story and gives it some bearing upon our understanding of the human condition in general. Frames vary significantly from culture area to culture area. Yet, without a reference to specific tale patterns and motifs, a given frame is too abstract to constitute an oicotype in itself. In order to build up culture and group-specific themes we must flesh out a set of general frames by linking them to more specific units of description. This is the purpose of the tale patterns, which indicate particular social settings and social interaction structures.
Tale types are sub-units of more general tale patterns. They focus on typical action sequences. Motifs provide the concrete and culture-rich details that add local color to a give account. In order to define specific oicotypes successfully, we must search for a association of specific frames with specific tale patterns, tale types and motif clusters. The chart describing the tale of the arecanut princess, approaches what I mean by an India oicotype. It could be fleshed out further by discussing other variants.
The final chart provides a rough outline of a number of other South Asian oicotypes.
This table summarizes the discussion of our basic frames presented in the body
of this paper. In it each tale pattern can be considered a separate, nascent oicotype,
in relation to a general frame (on the left) and to a cluster of specific motifs
(on the right). Each resultant pattern needs to be further explored individually.
The arecanut story, for example, fills out one of the tale patterns contained
by frame four. Much work needs to be done in linking motifs with specific tale
patterns and frames. The appendix to this paper describing popular motifs in the
Thompson-Balys index should be helpful in this task.
CHART
THREE : A SUMMARY OF AARNE-THOMPSON POLKTALE,
JOKE AND ANECDOTE MATERIAL REPORTED
SOLELY FROM
SOUTH ASIA
| Frames |
Tale Patterns |
Motifs |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
1) Sibling Bond |
A set of brothers A special devotion expressed between brother and sister A weak or disadvantaged junior sibling tries harder |
Younger brother becomes king, elder chooses retreat Siblings steal from each other Sibling cannibalism Women die themselves, men succeed in killing others Triumph of the weak or small against elders |
|
2) Patron/Client Bond |
A loyalty between king and minister or prince and his friend who: a)
set out on adventures A loyalty between a person and some supernatural being or animal A partnership is exploited by its senior member Roles of a junior and senior partner get reversed |
Diety tries a person’s loyalty and eventually rewards him
Women understand animal speech A person is made a fool because he cannot see truth behind superficial signs or a literal wording A senior unjustly castigates or murders a loyal subordinate |
|
3) Threat of an Adversary |
A king contests: a)
with thieves A man gains benefits by sheer luck |
Great value placed on intelligent or resourceful solution Great value placed on seeing through superficial appearances A context is unresolved and ends in a balance A confrontation ends in an infinite regression to inconsequentiality |
|
4) Action Motivat-ed by Strength of Individual Desire |
A
man seeks/wooes beautiful women A woman goes to great lengths to obtain a child Child seeks a parent, especially the son seeks a father A person seeks something inappropriate and fails to obtain it |
Attempted seduction by stealing a woman’s clothing Use of disguise, cleverness, and formalistic reasoning in matters pertaining to weddings Description of cast-off, prosecuted or barren wife
A progress pursues a man in a forest
|
Some of the more interesting questions that can be asked using this chart concern the variable popularity of various frames, tale patterns and motifs by South Asian sub-region and social group. Is the sibling bond frame, for example, particularly prominent in Dravidian areas? Is the patron/client frame particularly popular with peasant groups? Will relations by social class relate to differing kinds of resourceful solutions? Linking popular patterns to particular areas and groups will also help us to learn more about the social norms, mores and ideals of varied types of people who make up the South Asian culture area.
Finally, there is the question of genres. I have dealt with ordinary folk tales, jokes and anecdotes. Animal stories need to be studied for parallels and for differences. And what about myths? Can mythical material be fitted into these same frames? I am not sure. Myths tend to bend into each other more than stories do, so that discrete beginning and end points are harder to recognize. Weaker action sequences and stronger motif patterns characterize the myth genre myths also tend to focus heavily on nuclear family bonds and particularly on parent/child or husband/wife interactions. Neither of these two issues loom large I these present tale types. Other genres, such as the proverb, also seem to place more emphasis on nuclear bonds. They need to be re-examined too. This paper has focussed solely on folk tales, jokes and anecdotes described in the Aarne-Thomson tale-type compendium. It represents a small first step. Others must now build on these findings. We are still a long way from finding a set of internationally viable oicotype patterns for the Indian culture area.
NOTES
1) This issues to be largely related to myth, as in the Laksmi/Alaksmi motif, or in stories about the seven sisters/seven mantrikas.
2)
Here is an example of an animal tale, not included in the tale type listings 300
- 1999, but which shows a theme present in the later corpus clearly projected
into the animal domain.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
|
Baughman, E.W 1966 |
Type and Motif Index of the Folktales of England and North America. Indiana University Folktale Series, No.20, The Hague: Mouton. |
|
Beck, Brenda E.F. 1974
1982 |
“The
Kin Nucleus in Tamil Folklore”, in Thomas Trautman (ed.), Kinship and
History in South Asia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for
South and Southeast Asian Studies, pp.1-27. |
|
Brown, W. Norman 1920
1921
1927 |
“Escaping one’s Fate”, in Studies in Honor of Maurice Bloomfield. New Haven: Yale University Press. “Vyaghramari or the Lady Tiger-Killer: A study of the Motif of Bluff in Hindu Fiction”, American Journal of Philology (Baltimore), Vol.XLII “Change of Sexes: A Hindu Story Motif”, Journal of the American Oriental Society (Boston), Vol.XLII. |
|
Claus, Peter J. 1975 |
“The Siri Myth and Ritual: A Mass Possession Cult of South India”, Ethnology, Vol.14, No.1, pp.47-58. |
|
Dorson, Richard M. 1978a
1980 |
“American Folklore Vs. Folklore I America”, Journal of the Folklore Institute, Vol. 15, pp.97-112. “Boosterism in American Folklore”, Journal of the Folklore Institute, Vol.15, pp.181-182. “Rejoinder to ‘American Folklore Vs. Folklore in America’: A Fixed Fight?” Journal of the Folklore Institute, Vol.17, No.1, pp.85-89. |
|
Dundes, Alan. 1971
1975a
1975b
1975d |
“The Making and Breaking of Friendship as a Structural Frame in African Folktales”, pp.177-188 in Pierre Maranda and Elli Kongas Maranda (eds.) Structural Analysis of Oral Tradition. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp.171-188. “From Etic to Emic Units in the Structural Study of Folktales”, (reprint of 1962) in Analytic Essays in Folklore. The Hague: Mouton, pp.61-72. “Structural Typology in North American Indian Folktales”, (reprint of 1963) in Analytic Essays in Folklore. The Hague: Mouton, pp.73-79. “The Study of Folklore I Literature and Culture: Identification and Interpretation”, (reprint of 1965) in Analytic Essay in Folklore. The Hague: Mouton, pp.28-34. “Thinking Ahead: A Folkloristic Reflection of the Future Orientation I American Worldview”, (reprint of 1969) in Analytic Essays in Folklore. The Hague: Mouton, pp.226-38. |
| Emeneau,
M.B. 1940 1941 | "A
Classical Indian Folktale as a Reported Modern Event, The Brahman and the Mongoose",
"Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol.LXXXIII. "The Faithful Dog as Security for a Debt", Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol.17. |
|
Handoo,
Jawaharlal | “Morphological Analysis of Oral Narrative”, in Current Trends of Folklore. Mysore: University of Mysore, Institute of Kannada Studies, pp.61-103. |
|
Hart, George L. III. 1975 |
The Poems of Ancient Tamil. Berkeley: University of California Press |
|
O’Flaherty,WendyDoniger 1973 |
Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
|
Ramanujan, A.K. 1971 |
“The Indian Oedipus”, in Symposium on Indian Literature. Simla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study. |
|
Shulman, David 1978 |
“The Tamil Flood-Myths and the Cankam Legend”, Journal of Tamil Studies, Vo.14, pp.14-31. |
|
Thompson, Stith 1955-58
|
Motif-Indix of Folk-Literature, 6 Vols., 2nd ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. The Types of the Folktales, 2nd revision (based on original work by A.Aarne), FF Communications 184. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. |
|
Thompson, Stith and Jonas Balys 1958 |
The Oral Tales of India. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. |
|
Thomson, Stith and Warren e. Roberts 1960 | Types of Indic Oral Tales: India, Pakistan and Ceylon. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedealatemia Academia Scientiarum Fennica. |
I.
Folktale Types Indexed in the Aarne-Thompson Compendium that are Linked
Exclusively
to South Asian Sources :
Ordinary Folk Tales
302B
Hero with Life Dependent o his Sword.
306A
The Pursuit of the Heavenly Maiden
315A
The Cannibal Sister
369 The
Youth on a Quest for his Lost Father
411
The King and the Lamia
413 Marriage
by Stealing Clothing
433C The
Serpent Husband and the Jealous Girl
450A
The Brother Transformed to a Snake
459
The Make-Believe Son (Daughter)
462
The Outcast queens and the Ogress Queen
465D
Animal Brothers Help the Hero
467 The
Quest for the Wonderful Flower (Jewel)
516A
The Sign Language of the Princess
516B
The Abducted Princess
534
The Youth Who Tends the Buffalo Herd.
535
The Boy Adopted by Tigers (Animals)
546 The
Clever Parrot
567A
The Magic Bird-Heart and the Separated Brothers
612A
The Ungrateful Wife Restored to Life
622 The
Talking Bed-Legs
653B The
Suitors Restore the Maiden to Life
655A
The Strayed Camel and the Clever Deductions
670A The
Woman Who Understood Animal Language
674 Incest
Averted-Talking Animals
709A
The Stork's Daughter
780A The
Cannibalistic Brothers
855 The
Substitute Bridegroom
856 The
Girl Elopes with the Wrong Man
872B2 Converting
a Moslem into a Hindu
875B3
Moving the Well
875E
The Unjust Decision: The Oil Press Gives Birth to a Colt
881A
The Abandoned Bride Disguised as a Man
888A The
Wife Who Would Not be Beaten
896 The
Lecherous Holy man and the Maiden in a Box
897
The Orphan Girl and Her Cruel Sister-in-law
910H
Never Travel Without a Companion or Stay Alert
910J
Never Plant a Thorn Tree
923B
The Princess Who was Responsible for her Own Fortune
926A The
Clever Judge and the Demon in the Pot
926B
The Ring to be Cut in Two and Divided Equally between Two Quarreling Persons.
934D1 Outwitting
Fate
9391 Offended
Deity
949 The
Faithful Servitor
951C The
Disguised King Joins the Thieves
976A The
Thief Exposed by a Story
977 The
Eloping Couple and the Robbers
978 The
Youth in the Land of the Cheaters
1152 The
Ogre Overawed by Displaying Objects
1164D
The Demon and the Man Join Forces
1168B The
Tree-Demon Pays the Man to Save the Tree
Jokes and Anecdotes
1250B The
Fool Dangling from the Elephant's Tail
1295B* Man
on Camel has Doorway Broken Down so that he can Ride In
1331B* Letters
too small
1409C Obedient
Husband Walks Slowly
1511 The
Faithless Queen
1525N
the two Thieves Trick Each Other
1525Q
the Two Thieves Married to the Same Woman
1532 The
Voice from the Grave
1534 A
The Innocent Man Chosen to Fit the Stake (Noose)
1633
Joint Ownership of the Cow
1646
The Lucky Blow
1653E
The entrails Dropped from the Tree
1685A
The Stupid Son-in-law
1692 The
Stupid Thief
1693
The Literal Fool-The Burning of Lanka. Pots Broken, Fire Set
1707
The Noseless Man
1962 A
The Great Wrestlers
Animal Tales
56C 170A
58 176
59 178B
64 223
68 233A
122C 233B
122H 239
122Z 241
131 243
157A 248A
Formula Tales
2013
2034D
2023 2034E
2028A 2042
2029A 2042B
2029B 2042C
2029C 2042D
2031C 2045A
2031A 2045B
2031B 2047
II. Most Extensively
Indexed Motifs in the Thompson-Balys Volume on India:
(The column on the left
indicates the number of lines devoted to listing sources: roughly three sources
are cited on each line)
| No.of
Lines Required toListSources | Motif Number |
Motif Description |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
13 |
N
451 |
Secrets overhead from animal (demon) conversation |
|
10 |
D
231 |
Transformation: man to stone |
|
9 |
D
721.3 |
Disenchantment by destroying skin (covering) |
|
8 |
B
491.1 |
Helpful servant |
|
7 | B
216 B 360 B 505 D 630 D 1812.3.3 G 84 K 1051 K 1335 K 1911 K 2213 N 681 N 683 N 711.1 N 817 Q 241 S 260.1 S 262 S 451 |
Knowledge of animal languages |
|
6 |
B 41.2 B244.1 B 450 C 331 C 611 D 191 D 621.1 D 672 D 1076 D 1470.1.15 E 30 E 113 E 761.3 F 582.1 F 913 G 530.2 H 94 H 171.1 H 346 H 931 H 1212 H 1235 J 163.4 J 1112 K 511 K 512 K 522 K 543 K 941.1 K 1837 K 1911.2.2 K 2212.2 M 370 N 812 N 831.1 S 165 T 11.2 T 15 T 16 T 24.2 T 211.2.1 T 511.1.3 T 548.1 W 154.8 |
Flying horse |
|
5 |
B 422 B 431.3 B 469.9 B 552 B 582.1.1 D 185.1 D 610 D 615 D 700 E 0 E 670 E 715.1.3 E 728 F 303 F772.1 G 72.2 G 530.1 H 11 H 11.1 H 175.1 H 324 H 133.5 H 1385.4 F 1191.1.1 J 2233 J 2415 J 2511 K 11.1 K 335.1.1.2 K 533 K 941.2 K 1321.1 K 1715.1 K 1836 K 2112 K 2248 L 10 L 111.4 L 162 M 21 N 7 N 101 N 111 N 347 N 451.1 N 452 Q 112 Q 211 Q 285 Q 432 R 10.1 R 11.1 R 146.1 |
Helpful cat |