Celebrating the Legacy: Discussion on The Saga of Indian Folklore was chaired by Mimi Ezung and the discussants were Balwant Jani, Farooq Fayaz, Hariram Meena, M. Priyobrata Singh, M.D. Muthukumaraswamy, Rawail Singh, Vidya Kamat. Folklore is what creates the basic understanding of literature in societies. When we are young, we listen to folktales of the country, usually in the form of bedtime stories or stories from the elderly and they remain with us throughout our life. We can say that folk tales are a fun element of literature. The wisdom and moral stories that are passed on from generation to generation are what our folklore is comprised of. The writers explore the world folklore and the traditions that caused folklore to become an essential part of literature and its present situation. Each of the writers spoke about what folklore means to them and how they understood folklore. The session was an exchange of stories from different communities and some very interesting examples of different versions of popular folktales. The folklore has kept many societies going and has become the very law of the present even though India has one Constitution, we have a provision called ‘customary laws’ which becomes the proof of the value systems and ethics that have been passed on because of the folklore and have now become a norm for these communities. The impact of the values and norms that have been passed on is, such that with the removal of these practices the very functioning of these societies and communities would be a collapse, this will cause the societies to hit a dead end, from, where they will have to carry on and rewire a new system of functioning. The session presented to the audience the fact that folklore contains one of the finest and richest pieces of literature which have been valued greatly by the members of the society and educate the people about the social functions that have been constructed because of folklore.
The Role of Books in Indian Independence Movement was chaired by Sitanshu Yashaschandra and the discussants were Bijayananda Singh, Chander Trikha, D.M. Mulay, Sheoraj Singh Bechain, Tarun Vijay, Thamizhachi Thangapandiyan, Vasireddy Naveen. The reason why we can understand the importance of Independence is through literature. The literature of Independence is valued greatly by our society, its existence is so essential that even right now many contemporary issues, beginnings of projects and achievements are acknowledged by paying respects to the writers and the freedom fighters who led this country to be free. The idea of India didn’t exist pre-independence but the movement which led and created the idea of independence constructed the very foundations of India. If not for the writers of the Independence movement we would not be able to communicate our thoughts and struggles across the borders of the many provinces. The generation then wasn’t as technological a gifted as we are so during that age mediums such as letters, books, journals and diaries, enabled society to be in contact and kept the movement growing. Literature has played a very significant role in India’s Independence and to mention a few writers Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Maithili Sharan, Rabindranath Tagore, Munshi Premchand, etc., instilled the sentiment of patriotism within the citizens of India. The literature inspired the individuals to join the Independence movement and understand the importance of being an independent country, it enabled them to express their views and understand the views of other individuals who might not speak and live the same life as them but experienced similar struggles as them and felt the same pride in them. Literature of the Independence movement is a revolutionary achievement that stimulates the feeling of patriotism within the citizens of the country irrespective of the time and age. The panellists suggested that the audiences might be aware of the importance of the literature of the Independence movement but they don’t know the reasoning behind the importance of literature from the Independence movement and the session introduced them to themes that explain various areas that were impacted because of the literature of the Independence movement.
