Culture, Folklore and Oral Traditions
What the exam tests
This domain asks you to classify oral genres, identify deities and festivals, and explain social function rather than merely summarise a story.
Genres and terms
- Wari is a story or tale; eshei is song. Oral traditions also include proverbs, riddles, laments and ritual invocations.
- Myth explains cosmic or divine order; legend is anchored in a remembered place or hero; folktale travels in variants.
Cultural complexes
- Lai Haraoba is a ritual festival honouring Umang Lai deities through dance, song and possession.
- Sanamahi is a central deity in Meitei religious tradition; Panthoibi and Phouoibi are goddess figures associated with love, war and paddy fertility.
- Khamba–Thoibi is a legendary romance with oral and literary versions.
- Yek Salai clans organise kinship and marriage rules.
Worked example
Classify Khamba–Thoibi. It is not best called a short folktale: it is a legendary romance with named heroes, a specific Manipuri setting and ritual-ceremonial importance. Its variants show oral transmission, while Anganghal’s epic shows literary reworking. Name both layers.
Traps
Treating oral texts as fixed; mixing deity functions; ignoring performance context; and assuming pre-Vaishnava and Hindu layers are sealed off rather than syncretic.