ROLE OF INDIAN FOLK CULTURE IN PROMOTION OF TOURISM

Volume : 4 | Issue : 2 | Feb 2015 ISSN - 2250-1991

231 | PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH

Research Paper

ROLE OF INDIAN FOLK CULTURE IN PROMOTION

OF TOURISM IN THE COUNTRY

Tourism

Vandita Hajra

Guest Lecturer Muralidhar Girls’ College (afﬁliated to Calcutta

University)

KEYWORDS

culture and tourism, folk culture tourism, Indian folk culture, Indian folk culture tourism

ABSTRACT

A country that has inspired more than its fair share of travel lores and legends - India - offers a hotspot for tourists for unique

folk culture exploration and immersion opportunities. The cultural fabric of India is embellished with unreﬁned yet beautiful

performing folk art forms that fall beyond the purview of formal training, powerful guardian folk deities propitiated by

locals and outsiders alike, crude folk theatre, folk crafts celebrating Indian religious heritage or the mundane daily life,

inspiring folktales teaching the traditional Indian art of living, folk games which claim to be the forebears of Ludo, Chess

etc. and folk medicines which promise alternative and holistic healing The following paper is exploratory in nature providing

an overview of the folk culture in India and its role towards the promotion of tourism in the country.

I. INTRODUCTION

According to Hofstede (1997), “Culture is the cumulative

deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes,

meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial

relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and

possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of

generations through individual and group striving.” When we

use the term ‘culture’, it indicates a horizon as wide as a na-

tion, state or a particular society as a whole. But when ‘folk

culture’ is taken into consideration, it refers to the identity of

a ‘folk group’ - which can refer to any group of people who

share at least one common factor be it a language, caste or

occupation. So within the ambit of the broader notion of cul-

ture, there are a number of folk groups having their unique

cultural characteristics. Therefore, the localized lifestyle of a

culture is folk culture and is quite often imbued with a sense

of place and is different from tribal culture in the sense that

the latter represents the culture of the aboriginal populations

of a country.

In the recent times, the focus is increasing on experiential

travel - the quest on reclaiming what is real with the travellers

seeking to get immersed in the fabric of the destination being

visited. Cultural tourism is gradually bringing about transfor-

mation in the tourism sector in India and has endowed India

with a brand effect. One of the most diverse and speciﬁc deﬁ-

nitions from the 1990s is provided by International Scientiﬁc

Committee on Cultural Tourism : “Cultural tourism can be

deﬁned as that activity which enables people to experience

the different ways of life of other people, thereby gaining at

ﬁrst hand an understanding of their customs, traditions, the

physical environment, the intellectual ideas and those places

of architectural, historic, archaeological or other cultural sig-

niﬁcance which remain from earlier times. Cultural tourism

differs from recreational tourism in that it seeks to gain an

understanding or appreciation of the nature of the place be-

ing visited.” According to Hofstede (1997), the core of a cul-

ture is formed by the value which in terms of tourism will be

the basics for the attraction of a given destinations well. The

different levels of culture are the rituals, the heroes and the

symbols of a given culture which serve as a basis for tourism

purpose travels.

II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To explore the relationship between Indian folk culture and

cultural tourism in India

2. To ﬁnd out the role of folk culture of India in the prom

tionof tourism in the country

III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The following paper is exploratory in nature and is based on

a review of the literature, including various research papers,

books and websites that carry Indian folk dance, music, arts

and festivals related information.

IV. THE COMPONENTS OF FOLK CULTURE OF INDIA

AND THEIR ROLE IN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF THE

COUNTRY: A DISCUSSION

(A) Folk music of India:

One can ﬁnd India’s true rhythm in its folk music, which is

the music of the masses. Similar to folk dances, the learning

of folk music is achieved by osmosis and not through formal

training as economics of rural life do not permit such a thing.

The folk instruments used to accompany the music are crafted

by the musicians themselves from commonly available mate-

rials such as silk, peritoneum, bamboo, coconut shells etc. In

India, one has a song for everything. It is much like having a

background music score for every possible scene of life. The

different aspects of Indian folk music elements attract special

interest tourists i.e. cultural tourists, artists and musicians from

all over the world. The Rajasthan International Folk Festival

held against the grand backdrop of Mehrangarh Fort in the

royal city of Jodhpur every year witnesses an interesting fusion

of international and Indian folk music which draws thousands

of patrons from within India and abroad. The folk music varie-

ties of India can be classiﬁed as follows:

i. Devotional or spiritual folk songs:

E.g. the Baul Sangeet (the music of the travelling bards), Shy-

ama Sangeet (dedicated to Goddess Kaali) and Vaishnavite

Kirtans from West Bengal, Shakunakhar - the Kumaoni form

of Ganesh Vandana, the Krishna Bhajans from Rajasthan, the

Sopana songs (“Sopana” meaning ﬂight of stairs leading to

the temple and the music was traditionally sung by devotees

while sitting on the stairs) from Kerala etc.

ii. Social folk-songs :

E.g. the Nyiga folk song from Arunachal Pradesh containing

sentences of advices for a newly-wedded bride, the Baro-

mashya folk songs from West Bengal sung for welcoming

guests, the Panihari songs sung by women in Rajasthan

which describe their daily chores and scarcity of water, the

Chapeli songs which are an inseparable part of Kumaoni wed-

dings, the folk songs sung in Andhra Pradesh to impart sex

education when a girl starts menstruating, the Ropnigeet and

Katnigeet sung in Bihar during the seasons of sowing and

harvesting paddy respectively, the song of mourning - Alhaini

from Himachal Pradesh, the Hakri and the Ladishah of Jammu

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and Kashmir describing fairy tales/love stories and socio-polit-

ical conditions respectively, the lullaby Palane of Maharashtra

sung to put a child to sleep, , the big crowd-puller at melas

named Bair from Uttar Pradesh, the form of singing which is

based on debate format - quite similar to the musical face-offs

called Kavigaan from West Bengal etc.

iii. Community folk-songs:

E.g. the Bhatiyali music from Bengal was originally created

and sung by boatmen etc.

iv. Magico-religious folk songs:

E.g. the folk song Artya from Maharashtra to soothe the rage

of deities and to ask for protection plague, smallpox etc.

(B) Folk dances of India :

The inexhaustible variety of folk dances of India are a large

body of unrelated non-classical dance forms, characterised

by their spontaneity and the cultural nourishment and respite

they provide through directness of expression, collective age-

less wisdom and profundity of conception. The workshops on

folk dances which are organized nowadays by certain state

tourism boards (e.g. the Chhau Dance workshop organized

in the Victoria Memorial grounds by the West Bengal Tourism

Development Corporation on the World Tourism Day 2014)

are the best ever culture immersion options available to tour-

ists. In India, a home stay experience, a stay at a heritage ho-

tel or a visit to a theme village like Chowki Dhani in Jaipur,

Rajasthan is incomplete without a folk dance performance.

The main attraction of the desert safaris of Rajasthan are the

Kalbelia dance and the ﬁre dance accompanied by music by

local Manganiyar musicians. The Indian folk dances can be

classiﬁed as follows:

i. Social folk dances:

E.g. Jagrana from Jammu and Kashmir performed during

post-wedding rituals, the Jaago dance of Punjab performed

on the night before the wedding, the Chhathi dance from

Haryana which is performed on the sixth day of the birth of

a male child, the Dandiya (stick dance) of Gujarat and the

Dhunuchi naach (censer dance) of West Bengal – both being

an indomitable part of the Navratri celebrations, the Bou Nr-

itya from West Bengal – a part of the newly-wedded bride

welcoming ceremony, the Lavani dance from Maharashtra, the

Chrew or bamboo dance from Mizoram etc.

ii. Agricultural folk dances :

Some examples include the Rouf dance from Jammu and

Kashmir performed during the harvesting season, Baisakhi

from Punjab during wheat harvesting, Loor dance of Haryana

signifying the sowing of Ravi crops, Nabanna - which is a rit-

ualistic dance after the autumn harvest and the Tushu dance

from West Bengal, the latter consisting of villagers praying for

agricultural prosperity using expressions like ‘ghee (clariﬁed

butter) of thirty two (a number depicting wealth) cows’, ‘rice

of ﬁne paddy’ , ‘pots of gur (country jaggery), the Hurka Baul

dance from Uttarakhand during maize harvesting, the Bihu

dance from Assam during Assamese New year, the Lambadi

dance of Andhra Pradesh depicting the daily agricultural activ-

ities, the Nongkrem dance of Meghalaya celebrating ripening

of paddy, the Garia dance of Tripura - which consists of pay-

ing thanks to the God ‘Garia’ for a bountiful harvest as the

life of the people of Tripura revolve around Jhum cultivation

etc.

iii. Seasonal folk dances:

E.g. the Gidda dance from Punjab during Lohri, the Gobbi

dance from the Andhra Pradesh during Makar Sankranti, the

Teeyan dance from Punjab and the Bhadu dance from West

Bengal performed by women during monsoons, the Thiru-

vathirakali from Kerala performed by women during the Thiru-

vathira season etc.

iv. Devotional /religious folk dances:

Examples would be the Dhamali of Kashmir which is a de-

votional dance by pilgrims going to Ziarat to invoke bless-

ings of God, the Phumania of Jammu for praying to deities

to protect the cattle and children from natural calamities, the

Chham dance and the Chhanak dance - performed by Bud-

dhist monks of Ladakh and Lahaul-Spiti region in monasteries

during festivals, the Raut Nacha of Uttar Pradesh which eulo-

gizes the relationship of Lord Krishna with his consort Radha

and gopis, the Garba from Gujarat performed during the

Shakti Pujas (Navratri, Sharad Purnima and Vasant Panchami),

the Deodhani dance of Orissa dedicated to the goddess of

snakes - Manasa, the Pala dance from Orissa - associated

with the cult of ‘Satyapir’ , the Danda Nata of Orissa- invok-

ing the blessings of Lord Shiva, the Kai Silambu Attam Dance

from Karnataka performed in temples during Navratri, the

Karagram dance of Kerala - performed in praise of the rain

goddess ‘Mariamman’ and river goddess ‘Gangai Amman’

etc. Folk dances of India are intricately linked to mythological

stories for e.g. the Bharat Lila from Orissa depicts the small

incident of Subhadra Parinaya from Mahabharata, the Arju-

nanritham of Kerala depicts the dancing expertise of Arjuna

from Mahabharata, the Bhootham Thullal of Kerala enacts the

coming of the ghosts and goblins accompanying Lord Shiva

to enjoy the temple festivals, the Veeranatyam from Andhra

Pradesh depicts the rage of Lord Shiva in his most ﬁerce av-

atar Veerabhadra, the Kalikapatadi folk dance from West

Bengal depicts the how Lord Shiva calms down Goddess Kaa-

li after she is done with slaying the Asuras, the Kirtan dance

performed generally at the evening spiritual gatherings in

West Bengal’s Radha-Krishna temples, the famous Garadi

folk dance of Puducherry which is believed to have been per-

formed by the vanaras (monkeys) to celebrate Lord Rama’s vic-

tory over Ravana in the Ramayana etc.

v. Martial folk dances:

E.g. Povadas from Maharashtra which are based on the life

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the Bratachari Raibenese dance

which consists of sham ﬁghting and acrobatics and the Ran-

pa or stilt dance from West Bengal, the masked Chhau dance

from West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa based on different epi-

sodes the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the Parichakali or

shield dance from the Lakshwadeep islands, the Chaibari Nrit-

ya (a dance mastered by the tea garden workers of Northern

Bengal) and Kukri Nritya from North Bengal performed by the

girls of the community when they ceremoniously hand over

their traditional weapon, the Kukri, to their brothers, before

they set off for the war etc.

vi. Community folk dances:

E.g. the Kalbelia dance by the snake-charmers of Rajast-

han, the ﬁre dance by the Rajasthani Banjara community,

Kachchi-Ghodi dance from the Shekhawati regions , the Ko-

lyachi dance of the ﬁshermen folk of Maharashtra, Ganga

Baidya dance by the snake charmers or Bedes of Bengal etc.

vii. Magico-religious folk dances:

E.g. Brita dance from West Bengal which was traditionally per-

formed by a woman to propitiate the angry deities when she

was unable to give birth to a child, the Malayan Kettu from

the Kannur district of Kerala which was prescribed by healers

to women who had miscarriages, the Kolam Thullal from Ker-

ala – a ritual dance to get rid of evil spirits etc.

The colourful assortment of Indian folk culture is best por-

trayed through its unique art of folk theatre which reaches

out to a large cross-section of the Indian population. Many

socio-cultural institutions nowadays are playing an important

role in revival, propagation and appreciation of Indian folk

theatre by organization of workshops, seminars, fairs and

festivals thereby promoting the cultural heritage and tourism

prospects of India on the global map. The Indian folk art thea-

tre is characterised by the following:

i. The presence of a Sutradhar (narrator), a Vidushak (come-

dian) and an opening prayer song.

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ii. Loud music, dance and make-up, colourful masks and

makeshift stages.

iii. Insight into local dialect, dress, humour and overall atti-

tude.

iv. The themes could be purely mythological or current so-

cio-political happenings.

Examples of Indian folk theatre includes Bhavai and

Akhyana from Gujarat, Jatra from West Bengal which originat-

ed from Sri Chaitanya’s Bhakti Movement, Yakshagana from

Karnataka, Swang from Harayana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan

and Malwa regions of Madhya Pradesh, Naqal from Punjab,

Ramleela during the Dussehra festival from all over Northern

India, Kalaripayattu – a martial dance-drama and Theyyam

from Kerala, Terukkuttu – a Tamil street theatre, Tamasha from

Maharashtra, Bhand Pather from Kashmir which commem-

orates the lives of reshis (Islamic rishis or seers) etc. Puppet-

ry is also a very important form of Indian folk theatre and is

famous in the states of Orissa, Rajasthan, Kerala, Andhra

Pradesh and Karnataka. The Bharat Kala Museum of Udaipur,

Rajasthan holds daily puppetry shows for tourists. A short vis-

it to a local fair along with to witness Ramleela is a form of

offering that features nowadays on Diwali itineraries of many

accommodation establishments in India.

(D) Folk deities of India:

We get to witness a variety of gods and goddesses in the rural

areas of India who do not belong to the higher rungs of dei-

ties of the pan-Indian Brahmanical Hinduism but they are the

regional deities who are closely associated with villages and

towns. These supernatural entities sometimes overlap with

tribal deities also. They are not pan-Indian, they are speciﬁc

to a tribal or caste group, extended family, neighbourhood or

village and they are worshipped to achieve a speciﬁc end for

e.g. good harvest, protection from diseases, fertility etc. Some

examples of such folk deities include:

i. Manasa Devi –

the goddess of snakes worshipped mainly in West Bengal and

other parts of North and North Eastern India, chieﬂy for the

prevention and cure of snakebite and also for fertility and

prosperity.

ii. Bonbibi –

the guardian goddess of the Sundarbans, West Bengal who

protects the forest workers from the predator Royal Bengal Ti-

ger.

iii. The Seven sisters or deities from South India:

Poleramma, Ankamma, Muthyal-amma, Dilli Polasi, Bangaram-

ma, Mathamma and Renuka who are similar to the Saatbibis

of West Bengal: Chandbibi, Olabibi, Ajgaibibi, Jholabibi, Baha-

dabibi, Jhetunebibi and Asanbibi whom researchers believe to

be the transmogriﬁcations of Vedic deities, the Saptamatrikas

(Brahmi, Maheshvari, Vaisnavi, Varahi, Indrani and Chamundi

or Yami) and are worshipped along with Bonbibi.

iv. Shitala

from West Bengal– the goddess who causes and cures pox

and her consort – Jwarasura- the god who causes fever.

v. Gangamma –

a river goddess of Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh

vi. Iravan or Aravan

– the patron god of the transgender communities – the son of

Pandava prince Arjuna and a Naga princess Uloopi

vii. Aiyannar

of Tamil Nadu – a village guardian god

viii. The deity Ashok Sundari

from Gujarat who is beli-eved to be the daughter of Lord Shi-

va and Goddess Parvati

ix. Golu Devta

of Uttarakhand – a manifestation of Gora Bhairav (Shiva)

x. Guggaji

of Himachal Pradesh

xi. Khetlaji, Veer Tejaji, Pabuji, Baba Ramdevji, Gogaji

from Rajasthan who have been immortalized through the fa-

mous Phad paintings of the state

xii. Karni Mata,

the ofﬁcial deity of the royal family of Jodhpur and Bikaner

xiii. Goddess Mhalsa

of Mardol, South Goa who is believed to be a manifestation

of Goddess Durga

xiv. Goddess Banai

– the patron goddess of the Dhangars – also equated with

the river Goddess Ganga

xv. Khandoba Mahadev or Malhari Martand -

a form of Lord Shiva, worshipped in the states of Maharash-

tra and Karnataka

xvi. Vitthala, Vithoba or Panduranga

of Pandharpur in Western Maharashtra, who is considered as

a form of Lord Vishnu

xvii. Jalaram Bapa

of Virpur, Gujarat - founder of the Jalaram movement

xviii. Guru Jambeshwar,

the founder of the Vishnoi community in Rajasthan

Be it the Manasa temple in the union territory Chandigarh,

Jalaram Bapa temple of Virpur, Gujarat, the Karni Mata tem-

ple of Deshnoke, Rajasthan; the ‘Ganga Jatara’ – the annu-

al folk festival of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh which celebrates

the powers of the deity Gangamma, the Pandharpur yatra

which witnesses the congregation of pilgrims from all over In-

dia, the Khandoba Mahadev temple in Jejuri of Maharashtra

or the Vishnoi Village near Jodhpur in Rajasthan– the places

associated with the folk deities of India witnesses hundreds of

tourists every day along with the faithful locals. The Vishnois

of Rajasthan are an eco-friendly sect of the Hindu religion,

known to be very aggressive in protecting trees and wildlife.

The cult was found by great visionary saint Guru Jambhesh-

war Ji in year 1485 AD and he taught to protect plants and

animals since they are important in order to maintain the bal-

ance of nature. The Vishnoi Village Safari was started by Rajas

and Maharajas of Jodhpur to give the glimpse of the real Ra-

jasthan to the Indian and foreign guests and is now an irre-

placeable component of a tourist’s Jodhpur itinerary.

E. Folk games of India:

Games have been an irreplaceable part of Indian culture since

ages. We can draw examples from the mythology of India

where Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati playing Pachisi is a

recurring theme and in the Mahabharata, the Pandavas los-

ing their common wife Draupadi over a game of dice marks

the point from whereon the arch nemesis of Pandavas start-

ed their journey to the horriﬁc end. In this age of pursuing

personal development courses, the signiﬁcance of Indian tradi-

tional folk games lies in the fact that they endowed skills like

basic mathematics, logical and lateral thinking, building strat-

egy, aiming, concentration etc. and were environment friend-

ly as well as suitable for all ages, making way for interaction

between generations. The traditional Indian folk games can be

classiﬁed as follows:

i. Board games like Pachisi, Satranj, Moksha Patamu (an-

cient

snakes and ladders which was based on the concept of rein-

carnation and Moksha of Hindu philosophy)

ii. Outdoor games like kite ﬂying, gilli danda, kabaddi, kho-

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kho, hide and seek, hopscotch, boat racing like Asop Aap

or canoe race from Andaman and Nicobar Islands , Hiyang

Tannba from Manipur and Vallam Kali from Kerala etc.

iii. Martial games like Gatika (Sikh Martial Art), archery from

Meghalaya, traditional wrestling like Kirip from Nicobar Is-

lands, Kalaripayattu from Kerala.

iv. Social games including games played before and after so-

cial functions like marriage ceremony

The outdoor and martial folk games of India serve as soft ad-

venture tourism options and nowadays are promoted in var-

ious tourism festivals. The Snake Boat Race Festivals held at

places like Aranmulla, Kumarakom, Alapuzza etc. from Kerala

or the Canoe Race during Island Tourism Festivals in Anda-

mans are important tourism products from India.

F. Folklore and folktales of India :

1. They range from the Panchatantras, the Jatakas, Hitopode-

shas, the Akbar- Birbal, and Tenali Rama to the religious Vrat-

kathas as well as localised versions of the stories of Ramayana

and Mahabharata. Folklore and folktales of India is a mirror to

our diverse society and are important for passing on the age-

old eternal wisdom and the norms and mores of the society.

These aspects draw a number of visitors to India for cultur-

al studies. Examples of important storytelling traditions from

India could include “Kaavad Bachana” from Rajasthan where

the prop is a ‘kaavad’ shrine – a colourful cupboard depicting

the stories from epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata as well

as the Puranas – with which the storyteller takes the listener

to a visual and sacred journey. In last year’s Jodhpur RIFF, a lec-

ture and presentation was held on the same. It is somewhat

similar to “Pater gaan” from West Bengal, where the singer

unfolds a scroll painting while singing songs describing the

events depicted on the scroll. The organization named Bangla

Natak Dot Com organizes a festival named Pat Maya in West

Bengal which showcases the tradition of “Pater Gaan”.

G. Folk medicines of India:

India has been placed among the top three medical tourism

destinations in Asia (the others being Thailand and Singapore),

mainly due to the low cost of treatment, quality healthcare in-

frastructure and availability of highly-skilled doctors. There are

lot many tourists who are travelling from far and wide to India

for alternative treatment options as well. Traditional medicine

in India can be classiﬁed into codiﬁed (Ayurveda, Unani, Sid-

dha, Homeopathy) and non-codiﬁed (folk medicine) systems.

The ‘folk medicines’ are based on traditional practices, beliefs

and on centuries of trial and error experiences, have been

passed on orally to the practitioners and their knowledge is

jealously guarded. The household “Daadi Maa Ke Nuskhe”

could be the examples of folk medicines as well as the prepa-

rations of surprisingly high curative value by the hakims and

vaids – the unlicensed but not untrained, superbly gifted faith

healers from India. Be it the forests of Himalayas, Madhya

Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh or Car Nicobar – Indian

wildlife boasts of many a medicinal plant from which several

folk medicines are prepared. However, one needs to be careful

of quacks as the WHO notes that “inappropriate use of tradi-

tional medicines or practices can have negative or dangerous

effects” and that “further research is needed to ascertain the

efﬁcacy and safety” of several of the practices and medicinal

plants used by traditional medicine systems. Some important

sites in India where folk healers can be found include Manali

in Himachal Pradesh, Panchvati in Nasik, Kapildhara in Amar-

kantak, Sakshi Ganapati in Srisailam etc.

H. Folk crafts of India:

In the Western world, handicrafts are considered as items

of luxury and are generally individual pieces created by stu-

dio crafts-persons and artists while in a country like India,

handicrafts making and selling is one of the biggest means

of employment after agriculture. They are simply not objects

showcasing skill of the hand but carry a part of the creator, an

essence of the culture he/she was born and brought up in and

a subtle impression of centuries of tradition. Handicrafts in In-

dia form a part and parcel of everyone’s life - from the palatial

homes of the rich to the mud huts of the poor. In India, a

handicraft may be a simple diya or clay lamp or a gorgeous

chandbali earring. The handicrafts of India can be classiﬁed

broadly into folk crafts and ﬁne crafts. The talent for produc-

ing folk arts and crafts are passed on from one generation

of folk artists and craftsmen to the next without any formal

training and this is a part of their daily lives.

Examples can include the beautiful sindoor-boxes - crafted out

of wood/stone/clay and the rainbow-hued bangles of metal/

lac/glass which are so very common Indian tourist souvenirs

and are found all over India; the rich embroidery from Ku-

tch regions and the Bandhni tie-and-dye fabrics from Gujarat;

the mirror-work fabrics, block printed fabrics and Phad paint-

ings (depicting stories of local folk heroes like Gogaji, Pabuji

etc.) from Rajasthan; the puppets and weaving crafts from

Andhra Pradesh; the terracotta toys, conch - shell crafts, Nak-

shi Kanthas (based on local folk tales) and Kalighat Patachitras

of West Bengal (which were also used as the visual compo-

nent of what can be considered as one of the earliest forms

of motion picture – the “Pat-er Gaan” and they drew inspi-

ration from mythology as well as contemporary socio-political

events) ; the appliqué works and the Odissi Patachitras (based

on motifs of Lord Jagannath and Radha-Krishna) , paper ma-

chie products from Jammu and Kashmir, the bamboo crafts of

North-eastern states, the Ramayana-based Madhubani paint-

ings of Bihar, Phulkari fabrics from Punjab, Warli paintings

from Maharashtra , the Kalamkari and Tanjore (showcasing

the divine pairings of Vishnu-Lakshmi or Shiva-Parvati) paint-

ings from South India, the Chikankari of Lucknow, the ﬂoor

paintings - a form of Yantra - drawn to welcome visitors at

the entrance of a house ( known by the different names of

Alpana, Rangoli, Kolam etc.) and even the beautiful Mehendi

designs admired by the foreigners which are important forms

of Indian folk arts and crafts. We can see that just like other

aspects of Indian folk culture, Indian folk crafts and paintings

are also steeped in the timeless heritage of Indian mythologi-

cal concepts as well as local folklores and folktales.

Due to increased connectivity nowadays, both domestic and

international tourists are travelling extensively into rural areas

- to be a ﬁrsthand witness of the life of the local population

of which the folk arts and crafts are an indispensable part.

Some of the important villages which have gained much tour-

istic signiﬁcance because of their art and craft traditions are

Raghurajpur and Pipli in Orissa, Shantiniketan in the district of

Bolpur of West Bengal, the Kutch regions of Gujarat, the re-

gions producing Madhubani art in Bihar etc. They feature on

the itinerary of every tourist wishing to enjoy the folk cultural

aspects of India. Also, the local folk arts and crafts are high-

lighted during several tourism promotional festivals held all

over India throughout the year like the Taj Mahotsav in Agra,

the Ajanta Ellora Festival in Maharashtra, the International

Folk Festival in Himachal Pradesh, the Gurez Festival in Jam-

mu and Kashmir, the Pinjore Heritage Festival in Punjab, the

Kutch Utsav in Gujarat as well as festivals specially dedicated

to arts and crafts like the Surajkund Crafts Festival in Haryana,

the Ashtamudi Craft and Art Festival in Kerala, the Margao

Crafts Festival in Goa etc. Culture, crafts and tourism being in-

separable partners, such festivals are the greatest contribution

in the Indian tourism scenario for product differentiation. The

opportunity to absorb local culture is a key driver of tourism

and festivals which typically possess a local ﬂair are strategic

occasions for tourists to experience new cultures. Folk hand-

icrafts help in diversifying the tourism experience to comple-

ment home-stays, cultural experiences and thereby facilitate

the promotion of responsible tourism principles as they form

an important element of purchases made by tourists, provid-

ing an important economic input to the local economy.

I. Folk museums of India:

Museums in India have become an important partner in the

tourism industry and they are contributing as leisure venues

and by supporting local festivals (e.g. the Soneri Mahal in Au-

rangabad hosting the Ajanta-Ellora festival). Museums today

are viewed as an important tourism cultural product. The folk

Volume : 4 | Issue : 2 | Feb 2015 ISSN - 2250-1991

235 | PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH

museums of India are a treasure trove of the Indian race as a

whole as they store the memories of the Indians, the cultural

dreams and hopes which create link between the past and the

present, the localites and the foreigners. Examples of folk mu-

seums in India could include the Folklore Museum of Mysore

having more than 6,500 unique folklore exhibits, the Museum

of Himachal Culture and Folk Art in Manali which exhibits an-

cient Himachali clothes, kitchen utensils, musical instruments,

handloom, ornaments etc., the Shreyas Folk Museum in Ah-

medabad showcasing art forms of various Gujarati communi-

ties, the Kerala Folklore Theatre and Museum in Kochi, Kerala

etc.

V. CONCLUSION:

Folk culture of India has helped in the growth and diversiﬁ-

cation of the Indian tourism industry - yet it is still largely an

untapped segment in many states. Folk culture tourism fosters

community skill empowerment whilst safeguarding intangible

cultural heritage. Though this segment of tourism brings with

it the impacts of commoditization and trinketization of cul-

ture and creation of pseudo culture, yet it can be considered

one of the most environment-friendly forms of tourism if we

have a pro-poor and responsible approach towards planning

it. Because we have to keep in mind that, in the modern age

of touristiﬁcation, folk culture is being used towards meeting

consumption ends, therefore their intrinsic characteristics are

increasingly getting lost as destinations serve as an answer to

the tourists’ expectations of the experiences which they wish

to live.

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