Perception through the Personified: A Study of Children’s Folklore from Bihar, India

Abstract

The research explores the children-related literature of Bihar, an eastern state of India, in order to find their impact on the perception of the listeners. There is a range of research on folklore from India; however, there has yet to be much research on children-related folklore in Bihar. Considering this research gap, the present research intends to study the effect of children’s folklore on shaping their psyche. Through a qualitative analysis, the research attempts to find answers to questions such as: how do the verbal elements of the Bihari folklore affect children’s way of thinking; do these folk genres always boost their wisdom or at times question their sense of perceiving morality; does folklore play any role in spreading awareness. We recorded rare folklore and folk beliefs and interviewed the natives of three districts as representatives of the ancient Magadh, Mithila, and Anga regions of Bihar. We concluded that folklore and folk beliefs could be important tools in spreading wisdom, humanitarian perspectives, and environmental consciousness among children. Therefore, the folk genre contributes to raising awareness of cultural norms within society.