THE EPIC ORAL AND WRITTEN Edited by LauRI HONKO JAWAHARLAL HANDOO JOHN Mrs FOLEY Central Institute of Indian Languages Mysore, India{ISFNR XIth Congress Papers: Volume Gener Editor EEE) Jawaharlal Handoo ‘This volume is published bby the Central Institute of indian Languages, Mysore, India, ‘with the support from the Acedemy of Finland Copyright © 1998 the authors and the Central Institut of Indian Languages Printed at CIIL Press, Mysore, India 1998: ISBN 81-7342.055-6 Acknowledgements ‘This book is based on papers delivered at six panel sessions on “Oral and Semiliterary Epics” organised by me for the XIth Congress of the International Society for Folk-Narrative Research held at the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore in January 1995. At first the editing was in the hands of Dr. Jawaharlal Handoo of the CIL and Prof. John Miles Foley of the University of Missouri, who ‘asked Me. Scott Garner to undertake the technical editing. Original- Iy [declined to become an editor ofthe volume because of other urgent projects, Buta year later Dr. Handoo asked me to reconsider my deci- Fron. In January 1997 the digital materials were transferred to Turku, ‘where the final editing and page-making were done at the Kalevala Institute of the University of Turku (Project No. 2/97). The Academy sport for the technical editing. Mrs. Anneli retary of the Kalevala Institute, has been resp varmonising the manuscript, page-making and typo- graphy, and Mrs. Susan Sinisalo has checked the language of contri- of Finland grant during the final volved in the te swami, Director land advice, and to my colleagues, Prof. Foley and Dr. Handoo, for their continuous interest and support at the different stages of the project LHAN A Sasi eect datidiantanieaa Contents Laut Hono Introduction: Oral and Semiliterary Epics Oral Composition of Epics |Laurt Hono AND ANNELI HONKO Multiforms in Epic Composition Jou Mies Fouey ‘The Rhetorical Persistence of Traditional Forms in Oral Epic Texts Moa SKAFTE JENSEN ‘A.B. Lord's Concept of Transitional Texts, in Relation to the Homeric Epics Epic Traditions in India Hepa Jason Indian and Euro-Afro-Asian Epi Joun BrocawcroN Formulaic Expression in the Ramayana: Evidence for Oral Composition? May BrockiNeron ‘The Relationship of the Ramayana to the Indic Form of "The Two Brothers” and to the Stepmother Redaction - Susan S. Waotzy - ‘Creating a Modem Epic: Oral and Written Versiois of the Hindi Epic Dhola 31 7 8Epic and History ors Eos, Mental Text, Landscape, Politics, and Written Codification: The Irish Epic Téin BG Caailnge Tsanc Otawats ALERT ““Alaro:Ataoja Osogbo”: A Yoruba Palace Historian Integrating Oral and Written Laurs Harvie “The Poetic “T” as an Allegory of Life Kessren TroseD ‘The Collection of Greenlandic Traditions: Oral and Semiliterary JuncaanTiacwo ‘Gesar in Contemporary Tibetan Society Juazea “Minstrels: A Golden Key to Epic Study List of Authors 163 180 Introduction: Oral and Semiliterary Epics ‘Laur! HonKo mance and alwaysa compromise. ‘Another source of confusion in defining epic is the view held by scholars who regard the name of the hero as a sufficient “epic” link150 Mary Brockington TR 131 “Tiger as False Friend to the Cow” tigress! cub and calf, warned by ventures. rts Purges 0-22 No Il London [frosts weno Sos ee er oF CLrrr— Parsons. 453. Appendix no. 2. [rom the westem bo Helbsrare two omensur often tp eae Sa Heroes are human sons of cow and tigre; cow's eon ils gress os pre- ‘caution TR 300, Cow survives, ® Crook, W. (ed) 1893-94: The Cov and the Tigress. (Queries 3122-28. No, 260 [Coleted inthe Pl Heroes are animal. Tiger cb avenges cow on Sharma, Nagendra 1976: Hansey and Bansey. in Palas of Nepal. 108-10. ‘No. 30, De. (Possibly ewniten by editor) Similar to previous variant: Tiger cab ils other. Day, Lal Behar 1883: The Stony ofthe Rakshasas. In Foll-Tles 1-82. No.4 London. (Ranke ind 5) {From Bengal] Heroes are human halbrothers, sone of man with human an ‘wives. Rgacr kills man and other wife her son kl ee TR 300. TR_300 “The Dragon-Slayer” Princess offered as reward for killing monster; hero kills monster, removes, tokens from corpse which prove his identity when unwelcome, lowelase {impostor tries to claim princess as bride. Many Bodding, P.O. 1925-28: Rakas ar dam reak: The O} oli-Tales. 3 vols. 3: 284-88, No. 2. Oslo. Bengal’) ‘The joint heroes are Rama and Lakgmana, heroes ofthe Rimiyana; they do ‘not accept princes a bride, TR 217 “The Cat ‘with a woman and imy game alten with he sisi aun ut ia ens ies Creating a Moder Epic: Oral and Written, Versions of the Hindi Epic Dhola ‘SUSAN S. WADLEY My primary concer today isthe interaction between written and fe tnown a8 Dhol. In pat, 1 ‘erste written performance that own az ba} shen, an epic tradition known as Dhol ed for several hundred yet, Conidered by local scholars oye, or "great posty” (as are the Mahibhévata and tradition continaes tobe immensely popular. while doing doctoral disertation e- about 80 mies east of Agra, sme 150 the western fringes of he segion where ings of companies with markets in rural western [Jttar A tripartite epic Let me briefly summarize Dhola with reference to its oraland written history. While its singers refer to twenty or more maidan (elds) or larai (battles), historically and narratively it has three152 ‘Susan S. Wadtey ‘major sections, each with a different oral and written history, “The first section tells the early history of Raja Nal, born to Raja Pratham of Narwargarh after a gi on with one rice grain that raised as the daughter of a demon but in reality an exiled apsara from Indra’s heavenly kingdom. Since Motini is non-hu- man, she cannot bear a child for Nal and eventually ascends to heaven, although her special powers allow her to intervene on behalf in his later adventures. terials for this p: e singers are unconcerned about the jous portions, refer- ring to the whole as Nal Purana and call it “our Mahabharata”. spisode drawn from the Mahabharata, Here Nal meets and marries Damayanti, whose fa- ther wishes to have Indra as a son-in-law. But Damayanti, in the Dhola version, is in reality the incarnation of Vasuki, king of the snakes, and has taken birth as a human in order to win Nal's hand, after he rejects her in her father’s king- i, brings misfor young to Mari, same as those from the ta, though many de- this section are om the Mahal is portion clearly has ‘knit and various verna ‘The third section is the story of Dhol and his child-wife Miri, Married while infants, Dhola and Mara are separated. As a spondences to a Jain bal- jasthan whose most fa- the sixteenth centu- ry. Many later versions of the R: lustrated manuscripts, © Composed in medieval Rajasthani di jons in Rajasthan. these ballads are still Creating @ Modern Bpic: Oral and Writen 133 sung by Manganiyar musicians in the western desert regions. Other versions were and are performed by Ehayal (folk opera) troupes throughout Rajasthan since at least the early nineteenth century and ‘also found in manuscript form, the medieval lok tory, genet Songs, a style not unlike the Dhola considered here today. These Rajasthani literary versions of Dholi-Mari can be seen as original compilations by given authors of lyrics and verses familar to them or newly created following known metrical conventions. Most prob- ably oral versions of Dkol2-Mara co-existed, as they do today, in the Braj region. “The history of the union of these three somewhat disparate parts remains unknown. But both the Rajasthani Dhols-Mara and the NalDamayanti sections had a Raja Nal, giving them a total- ly fortuitous similarity. Further, both formed parts of the repor- ing. groups, where the fortuitous similarity of name was undoubtably noted.? "A Braj scholar, Ram Narayan Agrawal (personal communica- tion), dates Dholé as we know it t0 the early nineteenth century ge Lohvan near Mathura asked the Devi writing something which would make hearing the Rajasthani Dhola-Mari, he wrote 360 stanzas, which he sang with cikara and dholak. t popular throughout the Braj region. The difference between written and oral performance Ceztainly it was well-known in the latter part of the nineteenth cen tury: Ram Swarup learned it 5 by ‘only in the early 1990s and the other by Matol Singh of Bharatpur, ‘who died at age 62 in 1991. Both versions were published in Hathras by Deepchand Booksellers, who have let Gajadhar’s version go out of print in favor of the newer rendition by Matol Singh. In 1994, the Swners of Deepchand reported that Matol Singh's version remained 2 some ofthese matters are considered in Wadley 1988: 3-25. Acording t Gerson {Gs00, the Cheaper version of Dios Mara hae a roiminary section on Raj Na154 Susan S, Wadley the most popular printed version, although perhaps a dozen other ious bookshops around the region. day and the subject of the DI {2g he found wat he sought ~ singing with Iy started writing bis own version, creating his melodic structures He asp resenched gath (in Madhya Pradesh) fead other epics and folk ting what seemed ‘elevant into his version. Sometime in the 1980s he began publishing his version, one mata (o fe rewrote the cone maidan to the core corpus, ‘magdhotal, the ending in which Dhola and Mara are submerged by the rising lake. More recently he has been writing yet other episodes, unknown to the older oral tradition. In some rather primordial way ‘Matol Singh represents the process of vernacula creation as Yet there are vast discrepancies betveen his writen and per zed vrs cepa tht pl oa eon eee el and writen performances thats faacamentl to understancng I dian oral and eae te conveyed, to whom, Singh’s aesthetic goa wad what are the goals of judgm« different audiences and how do these guide at Mato student of pore meter stances has created his own meter, and the accompa} them. Yet ike most Dholé singers he borows heavily from the Creating « Modern Epic: Oral and Writes, ass ong styles of the Braj region. His text, however, does differ from the earlier popular printed version of Gajadhar by relying less heavily on local genres and moze on his own newly created styles. Furthermore, he enjoys playing what are best called verbal g: he proudly showed me one section where his name and village were incorporated into the text as the first letter of sequential lines. Thinking of those scholars who pour over texts by long dead authors, and find such hidden codes, I appreciated Matol’s ability int out his games to mel) His written text also contains his tatements about the world in which he lives, based on gious system that he embraces. Finally, the written narrative thread. What is printed is the poetzy. performed is a combination of song and nar- rative, where the audience is continuously Kept abreast of the story through narrative prose pauses. These aze absent from the written - Mari: manuscripts in Rajasthan text. In examining early edges, clearly in hand and after the initial poetic text was created. Finally, Matol is constrained by the requirements of the printers: the pam- phlets in which Dhola is produced generally have 24 or 28 pages [End the publishers want a text that meets those constraints. Hence he ‘must produce each episode in the required space, & constraint that ‘carlier manuscript writers did not face, at least in the same way.” ‘oral performance is a sung event. To be successfu it must be musically interesting as well as tell a good story. Dholé singers ac- company themselves with either a cikird, a two-stringed bowed instrument, or a harmonium or both. The lead singers in all the troupes with whom I have worked have played one of these two in- struments. In one case a harmoni ‘lays the cikara while he plays the player is always present as well. ‘or steel tongs musica is of his performance. Matol's troupe then consists of himself as lead singer and harmonium player, a second singer who also plays the cikara, a thied singer who also plays a tambourine- like jastrument, and a drummer. Critically, Matol does not retain control over the texts and styles of his assistants. They have the Be oe of audio 1.60 inate fame, om orl productions i note, ‘ented question hat Ihave nt yet crip.155 Susan. Wadiey option to be as creative as they like, using styles and texts either eared from other singers or composed on the spot. A strict adherence to predefined text is not maintained. Further, humor dominates over philosophy. And it is that the audien low tive essential dles it when talking about Nal battles Phul Singh P: The textual difference ‘This first example compares the part of the episode known as “Mo- tini’s Wedding”. This first piece is from the version of Ma- tol Singh as published by Deepchand Booksellers, Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. In this segment, the young Raja Nal, raised in house and thinking tha thread 1e hand of the Seth of Dakshinpur, “I am ow us the son for whom you have arranged (Creating a Modern Epic: Ora and Writen ‘The Raja of Narwar wishes to view the child How can we refuse his request? ‘Kings, saints and homets.are not touched by clever people, All are anxious to see the son...” The Rani thought, “Whatever is written. in- my fate, that cannot be negated.” ‘The Seth took Banwari [Na's name}.and reached the cour, Seeing the son on his lap, all were transfixed, Narwar’s lord kept crying: “How can one understand fate? t Narwar today, I would give my. whole teasury,, For a.son like you today. at Narwar.. No.matter the number of rebsths, There will be no wife like Manjhs, Fate has caught me in its web, Hear me, itis all a matter of fate, Or the prince of Narwar would have emained, Instead of growing each day in Dakshinpur, But people are useless against fate.” In this piece, Pratham clearly laments. the fates that have not given him a son. Meanwhile, Manjhi is worsied about showing-her face, for then Pratham will recognize her. In the oral vgssion, she is: more creative in dealing with her potential recognition, while she also follows her wifely duties of not eating before her husband. ‘The oral version comes from Matol's troupe's oral performance of the same segment ofthis epic (sung in December 1985+by MiatolSinght and troupe in Jodhpur, Rajasthan; Wadley Collaction Tape 88: 10). So Raja Pratham came to. Dakshinpur bringing, 200-soldiers; ‘And was welcomed with much pomp and'show,. ‘And the Seth said: “Maharaj, this is our grandson, our daugh- ter’s son...” ‘And the Sethani said to Manjha: “Daughter , eat, for we cannot. “Oh mother, Ihave taken a vow. Oh mother, itis not yet noon.188 Susan. Wadley Oh how can I eat and be righteous.” ‘Then Manjhi ate only at one in the afternoon. ‘whose thread ceremony is today? Show me this nephew I may see his beauty.” Hearing these words, the Seth rejoiced ‘Then the Rafa said: “TM reward you by taking him with me..” Hearing this, Manjhi began to cry. When queried, stared and in his, apps he later wept: “Oh, all my work is spoilt _ My nang would contimae, Bey ae sme Dergt fe goaded cane om te 100, mil fhe goddes spoke inst Why do you cil him in your lap? You made your own i ‘Why do you reper ‘At home your neigh lies, ‘comes from the episoe in which the absence of any parents, f friends, the goddesses provide for the wedding, with retinues, food, etc. Here Harman sings of the wedding procession and the foods CCreiting « Modern Epic: Oral and Writen 159 prepared fort But it is not a completely solo performance, for the intera tween the several singers is a key element of the performance style. joving gently in the breeze, bride, ‘And the one from Narwar a groom, Narad blessed both, Listen, Govind my friend, Matol of Dhamri is saying, Motini has completed circling the fire. -kably unelaborated discussion of a marriage cer- rersion is dramatically different: 1 should marry now. Narad came beating a drum, ‘And Narad Muni said: "O daughter Motini, what is the delay? Marry him even if must get the money from Inidra.” ‘And Motini smiled. Bet dowry is wrong in these times... ‘The Mantras for circling the fire were chanted by Natad, ‘Durga sang the wedding songs.. ‘Then from villages everywhere came (the miarriage procession ‘of the demons and witches, along with salty snacks Khir and rasgula, twisted jilebis, ‘And masur and urd too,160 Susans, Wadley Here the martiage is described ‘in minute d thythm and energy. This scene appeals As I reflect upon the many oral and written “texts” produced over the centuries in South Asia, the interplay between styles in these productions of Matol Singh leads me to conjectures about the Seals of poet-authors such as Tulsidée in composing the Raman Titmanas. He, too, undoubtably performed: were his performariccs, ke those of Matol Singh, ridically different events? References Gite, Genge A. 1850 A Gramma of the Dialect of Chaitin in the Can Sieh Gch aon SUSE me yedharitds Hatha U8 Depend Singh Mat nds mania am Has 8 Dogs eae Wadley, Susan $198: Dhole: a Novh Indian Fak Cones ee oltre ‘Sales a2'3-25 Willams, Richard A. 1976: Dolman me Duh and the ie ofthe Hind Lt ery Tredton. Unpobished doctoral dwenaion, The Geng Epic and History