Folk Theater and History: Constructing Indian Identity through The Khyal of Amar Singh Rathore

Abstract

Folklores can epitomize the nation as a unifying principle crossing the horizons of regional divisions and subcultures. The connecting factors of folklores among regional and local levels give an understanding of manifold and contextual-based identities. The collective/coalesce of social memory is understood through the folk narratives. There is a cognitive and affective deliberation that structures the manner in which memory is interpreted. These narratives shape and reconstruct “identity” as they consist of a trans-subjective truth value providing ever new understanding of reality. The present research focuses on the Marwari folk Drama The Khyal of Amar Singh Rathoretranslated by Cecil Thomas Ault and folk performing art Khyal that constitutes meanings and symbols. Khyal, a popular folk dramatic art, is especially linked to martial and romantic ballads of Rajputana. It is indicative of the gap between past and present with spontaneity and originality and is seen as a transmissible entity with reference to the performing arts in the northern region of India. There is an exploration of the dynamics of the origin of the folk narrative of Amar Singh Rathore, a source of Rajasthani culture and identity thus paving way for the other folk narratives that form the pan-Indian identity. The folk literature draws cartographies of a nation or region giving a historical depth and continuity. The dissemination of historical folk anecdotes and their retellings are plausibly a move towards identification. The historical imagination and socio-cultural memory, mostly drawn from Rajasthani rural landscape, influences and reshapes history and culture of Rajasthan, thereby making it a historical artifact providing abidance and insights into folklore as a heritage/national construct. The research reflects and projects the values, feelings, ideas and identity of the groups which identify with and perform this art. Another dimension of the present study formulates an understanding of the forms and style of Khyal folk theater of Rajasthan and how The Khyal of Amar Singh Rathore communicates and travels through linguistic and cultural boundaries constructing new spatial cartographies serving as evidence of connectivity and consistencies.