Digital Transformations

Folksongs, Memory and the Sacred Metaphors in Haryana’s Landscape

Abstract

Folklore is capable of reflecting the feelings and desires of the folk that creates a material, cultural and spiritual value for the people. Drawing materials from the immediate environment, people have since time immemorial not only created folklore, but also mythology and the belief system and owing to the manner of subsistence, contact with the neighbouring groups produced common set of rules within and between men and the tribes/ groups, formed customs. These have further been impacted with every stage of development and greatly transformed in the present state of globalization and technological advancement. Progressing from one stage of culture to another because of altered circumstances, the past is preserved and related to the coming generations through memory, where mythology synchronized by metaphors, customs and belief systems regulate the life of man. Remembering and forgetting is integral to human existence and with technological expansion man has also endeavoured to keep alive the memory of his past, and also of the present, for the generations to come. However, in what form is this memory stored and transferred impact the way it would be remembered. From oral to textual to digital, the development is seen as a hope for preservation of diminishing folk traditions and folklore, but it is also argued that it comes with a cost. It has its own limitations. The paper, thus delves into the dynamics of folklore, particularly of Haryana, memory and the impact of technology and digitization in serving as a preservation source.