Abstract: All histories of mainstream culture are based on written literary sources and accord only a peripheral status to oral sources (exclusive or territorial voices). The earliest works in two South Indian languages, Tolkappiyam (naadaga vazakkum ulagiyal vazakkum) in Tamil and Kavirajamarga (marga and desi) in Kannada have acknowledged the existence of these binary opposites. Marga is the homogenized, neutralized mainstream culture and desi is the heterogenous, regional or community specific exclusive culture. No cultural history has a perfect balance of both marga and desi, the marga always having an upper hand due to the nexus between politics and culture. The dominant culture tries to homogenize all the indigenous cultures making it a tussle between secularization and vernacularization. This paper makes a survey of the contributions made by the non-native scholars without a‘ Eurocentric standard of judgment’ and the contributions made by the native scholars with a ‘regional and national consciousness’ to the formation of the cultural history of Tamilnadu. Acknowledging the fact that Tamil had preserved its individuality independent of Sanskrit and the Tamil classical tradition had incorporated the regional elements in it, it goes beyond to see the contribution of the oral tradition, by looking at the birth and growth of folk epic Annanmar Kathai (hereafter AMK) to the Tamil culture and to the Indian culture as well. The folk epic has three texts - verbal, performance and ritual. An overview of all the three texts are given. The ritual or devotional text is given more attention to define the characteristics of folk religion. The complementary nature of both vedic and non-vedic traditions are outlined.
Keywords: mainstream culture, community specific exclusive culture, marga, desi, secularization, vernacularzation.
Title: Mainstream Tradition and Exclusive Traditions: A Study of Kongu Folk Epic Annanmar Kathai
Author: Krishnaswami P., Mallika Krishnaswami
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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