SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The present thesis contains the text, along with an English translation of a collection of folk songs that are current in the Merath district of Uttar Pradesh. This is preceded by an introductory study of these same songs. The Collection, the first one from this area, represents about two fifths of larger number collected by the writer during a total of ten months spent in the field. The selection was made in such a way as to ensure that all types of songs are adequately represented. All the songs were obtained at first hand. The introductory section begins with an account of the Merathi language area, its inhabitants, their religious beliefs and practices, their superstitions and the important social events of village life, particular reference being made to birth and marriage ceremonies. In this, way the background to the songs is established and the significance of the numerous allusions to the life of the district becomes clear. There follows a classification of folk literature, so that the place of the songs; in this wider corpus can be seen. The next chapter gives a study of the subject matter of the songs of the collection, especially as regards the way in which it reflects the married life of the people. There follows a discussion of the form of the songs and the technique of composition which may claim to represent a new departure in the study of the folk poetry of northern India. The nature of Merathi folk poetry having been thus described, it is then shown how it influenced Hindi literature to a considerable extent. Here a number of correspondences between the two are noted for the first time. The introductory section concludes with an examination of the main grammatical features of the dialect, stress being laid on the points of difference from Standard Hindi.