Folk culture of maharashtra

Ek Hota Raja

We are blessed with a rich and complex tapestry of folk art and culture. Its multicolored threads are interwoven tightly with those of history. Throughout ages culture has been a part of everyday life. It was so enmeshed till about a decade ago that it would have been difficult to differentiate it from life itself. It has instilled good values and propagated virtues that have worked in the past towards the betterment of society. These daily activities were different forms of entertainment, news and updates. People had astonishingly clear ideas about philosophy, religion and social values. The different forms of folk lore were used as mediums of educating the society and spreading awareness about various issues all around. They were all aimed at compelling an individual to think about the society as a whole and not just for selfish gains. Also if one sees that kind of people who actually performed these art forms, one realizes that they did it all out of the boundaries of formal education. That is what is so astonishing about these performers. Another observation that one is compelled to make is that in the monarchy of those times, these public performers, instigated people into giving to those less fortunate than themselves, and made it clear that receiving was not as shameful as it is made out today, thus ensuring a flow of wealth in the society all the way from the very rich to the very poor.
And as society has developed, this tapestry has faded, long forgotten, like a dusty heirloom. With the advent of new media, these art forms have lost their place in the public consciousness. Television, radio, and other modern medias have replaced the traditional forms of folk art. In this fast changing world of today , it is essential for us to recapture the essences of these folk traditions and renovate or rethink the contexts from which these come from and the way they can be contemporized to stop them from dying out like so many others.
In the course of our research we found many people who have spent their lives trying to document the folk culture of Maharashtra. The people have poured their whole soul in the works they have done. And as expected we cannot claim to have shed more light than them on the work that we have been able to do in the past two months. We have collected the contacts of these people and are attaching them with our report. And yes, most of what we have found out about the folk culture of Maharashtra has a basis in their study, how ever surfacial it may be on our part.
These people and their work remains an asset and their attempts to revive a dying culture commendable.Referring to indepth studies in this area we have been able to come up with a tree structure that allows one to go as deep as he wishes in the selected area of study and exploration.

Folk Culture of Maharashtra - an overview
Paper presented by
Prasad Bokil & Sheetal Gokhale
Master of Design(Visual Communication)