Populism in Folk Narratives: Tales from Pañcatantra and Bātāṅ rī Phulwārī

The populist nature of folk narratives is evident in the groups they represent, the medium of representation, and the inherent criticism of atrocities, hypocrisies, and power-centric politics within these expressions. Drawing from popular folk narratives, this work looks at how common character stereotypes such as political rulers, feudal lords, and financially powerful mercantile community members become representatives of underlying complex cultural and socio-political systems. Most of these characters hold powerful, influential, and affluent positions in society. This work, therefore, locates stereotypes in select Indian folk narratives to identify how these frozen folk characters depict lived realities of intersections of populism, religious power, and economic dominance. Moreover, it also traces multiple instances of counter narratives, in both traditional and more contemporary retellings of Indian folk narratives, that are potentially radical, subversive, and resistive.