Five South Indian Oral Epics: Textual analysis, comparison, social relevance

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Heidrun Brückner
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2014 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 252904189

During the past few decades, scholars in India and throughout the world have increasingly realized the significance of oral epics in South Asian regional languages. Despite this, most of these valuable source materials have not been recorded or translated, let alone analyzed or studied. Further work is needed, especially on the modes of transmission of these texts in particular communities and social groups, on the ways that the texts are embedded in religious and social practices, and on the texts' roles in the constitution of individual and group identities, including those of language communities and larger social groups.The project aims at addressing these questions on the basis of oral epics in the South Indian, Dravidian languages Tulu and Kannada. The proposed study comprises fresh recordings of epic texts or portions of them, applying methods of linguistic fieldwork; their comparison with versions recorded earlier, if available; interviews with singers (both female and male) and with other people who know the traditions; and the documentation of the performance contexts, especially the ritual context. Special attention will be paid to more recent developments: for example, certain communities or their representatives have started in unprecedented ways to control and canonise textual and performative dimensions of the tradition, and to use it to claim higher social status and privileged access to material and political resources in their region. Last but not least, we will explore to what extent gender can account for significant differences in the direction these processes take.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants