The History Of Orature

Orature or Oral Literature refers to any form of verbal art which is transmitted orally or delivered by word of mouth.Oratureis a more recent and less widely used term which emphasises the oral character and nature of literary works. It basically means the passing down of knowledge, information and folklore through the oral tradition from one generation to another. When attaining formal education was not the norm of the society, people used orature to pass on their folk literature and stories through oral culture in order to propogate the traditions and customs. The basic idea behind this is human beings have a natural tendency to relate well and understand better what is recited or told to them, rather than what they read through written letters. Oral narratives are preserved in human memories, passed down from generation to generation. Owing to the forgetful nature of human minds and other psychological attributes of human beings, stories passed on from one generation to another are subject to changes and alterations. European thinkers saw epics, such as Homer’sIliad, that were sung before they were written down, as precursors to written literature. Hence, many of the epics that we now read in the form of verse or prose were originally produced as compositions and not literal written stories.

An essential feature of orature lies in the fact that memorizing large pieces of literature is very difficult for ordinary human beings. Hence, orature has imbibed certain special features to make it easier for people to remember. Folk tales were always recited in the form of hymns, songs or rhymes which differentiated the various sounds and allowed easier transmission of knowledge. For example, Valmiki’s Ramayana which was originally only a composition was propogated from one generation to another in the form of verses. Upon the spread of education and knowledge attainment as a formal skill, Ramayana was then converted into a written epic. Oral culture has several benefits of its own. For instance, if one is attaining knowledge through orature, it is imperative for one’s listening skills and memorization techniques to be good. It consists of open communication between the teacher and the student, this leaving little or no space for misnomers. Oral tradition benefits transmission of cultural values and first-hand historical events in a way that makes listeners more active participants in receiving information. This helps people retain what they learn and generates individuals who are capable of continuing these oral traditions. Using oral tradition as a means of passing along stories and histories keeps the human element intact within the events that occurred. It also grants a first-person perspective or a collective look at the conditions of a people during a specific period and relates details that create emotional responses among listeners.However, certain disadvantages of orature include the fact that stories always tend to grow when passed on from one person to another. This constant working and reworking of the text started giving rise to several inconsistencies in the original narrative.A viable example of this is the game of Chinese Whisper where the end resultant word is something entirely different from the initial original word.Hence, several existing epics and folk tales might be entirely deviant from the original compositions simply because they have been so open to changes in the past and have no security of remaining unchangeable.

Perhaps the biggest example of how oral tradition has flourished in India is the legendary epic of Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana.The title may be translated to ‘the great tale of the Bharata dynasty’. The original story of the Bharata war was probably composed by charioteer-bards known as sutas, who generally accompanied the king’s entourage to the battlefield, and composed poems eulogising their feats in war. These poems were transmitted orally. Several lines in the epic such as, “Eight hundred bejewelled sutas..praised him” attest to the fact that the story of Bharata was once an orally circulated composition of the sutas.

For a very long period of time, orature was the only means of propagating literary pieces. Hence, orature has always had a distinct place and has immense importance in the field of literature.