Punjabi folklore (more particularly its folksongs) is a core part of the Punjabi culture.Temple, Richard C. (1884) The Legends of the Panjab. Bombay: Education Society's Press, [1884–1900] (Reissued with an introduction by Kartar Singh Duggal: Rupa and Company) Other important components of Punjabi folklore are farces, anecdotes, idioms, folktales, and sayings.
Research
Origin Richard Carnac Temple argued in his 1884 work, The Legends of the Punjab, that the plot structure of Punjabi folktales and bardic poetry was indistinguishable from one another, albeit with the bardic poems being more textually conservative (as they had been governed by metre and rhyme due to being in verse form). This led him to believe that the folktales originated from the bardic literature, existing as degraded derivatives.
Themes
Punjabi folktales commonly incorporate stories involving animals which teach a moral lesson. This is a theme which originated in ancient India, with a surviving example being the Panchatantra of the third century BCE. Other prevalent themes found within Punjabi folklore is a suspcision of those in positions of power, and folly & pretense used for derision.
The heroine in Punjabi folktales (a pari/fairy or a princess) can be found inside a fruit or vegetable, which they are named after, or in the form of an animal, such as a mammal (monkey or goat) or a bird (swan or peacock/peahen).
History of study
Academic folkloristic research into and the collecting of the large corpus of Punjabi folktales began during the colonial-era by Britishers, such as Flora Annie Steel's three papers on her studies of local Punjabi folktales (1880), with a translation of three fables into English, Richard Carnac Temple's The Legends of the Punjab (1884), Flora Annie Steel's Tales of the Punjab (1894), and Charles Frederick Usborne's Panjabi Lyrics and Proverbs (1905). Native Punjabis have also contributed to this field, with some names being Devendra Satyarthi, Mohinder Singh Randhawa, Amrita Pritam, Karnail Singh Thind, Sohinder Singh Wanjara Bedi, Giani Gurdit Singh, and Sukhdev Madpuri, whom have contributed published collections, encyclopedias, anthologies, and renditions in this field of study.
List of Punjabi folklore The Adventures of Raja Rasalu The Legend of Raja Sálbán The Legend of Guru Guggalegends of the Panjab, Part 1 By R. C. Temple, Page121 Puran Bhagat The Ballad of Sheikh Khokhar Heer Ranjha Mirza Sahiba Sassi Punnun Sohni Mahiwal Yusuf and Zulaikha The Ballad of Dulla Bhatti Dhola Maru
See also Vaar Punjabi Qisse Mirasi Punjabi folk religion Punjabi folk music
References
Further reading
Folktale collections Accessed 2 Mar. 2024. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024. (collected from a source in Narowal, Panjab)
Bedi, Sohinder Singh Wanjara. Punjabi Lokdhara Vishav Kosh (in many volumes) [in Punjabi]. Lok Prakashan. ISBN 978-8190860031.
External links
The Legends Of The Punjab : Temple, R. C. The Legend of Guru Gugga Puran Bhagat Guru Gugga Loona by Shiv Kumar Batalvi The Marriage of Ghazi Salar Raja Jagdeo Raja Gopi Chand Arif Lohar Sings Mirza Punjabi Folksongs explained in English The Adventures of Mir Chakur The Ballad Of Isa Baniya Princess Adhik Anup Dhai Madna the Brave